I passed!

I just got the results of my thesis examination, the outcome of my stay in Strasbourg, and I passed! And not only did I pass, but on a three-level scale (of "pass") I was credited at level two with a "pass good!" Now I can rest peacefully with respect to my thesis--although the peace will have to wait until I have celebrated the result!

Those who want to make their own judgement can download the thesis (PDF, 1MB) and read about "Search Engine Credibility."

Touchdown!

Another touchdown

Standing upright, I managed to touch the floor with my fingertips for my very, very first time today! This highly unusal event happened as I was stretching after today's crawling class (swimming), which I attend every Monday afternoon for the next three weeks. Although not the greatest event in my life, it was a nice achievement. Particularly because today I was awfully tired after a calm but nevertheless eventful week-end, dominated by New York cheese cake and a very nice visit to see my sister's new cat Hercules (featured above).

Having lived through the long week-end, spent one day at work, doing the touchdown thing, and taking a French lesson, I finally had time to post some pictures from my visit to Saint Petersburg the previous weekend. Enjoy!

Where the f... did my eggs go?

I am certain I bought a pack of eggs yesterday or the day before, but now I can't find them and I need them for baking a cake for tomorrow! Of course, this can wait until tomorrow, but nevertheless... Maybe it is just another symptom for the stress I experience these days. Where it comes from is hard to say, but it feels like I cannot get enough things done and at the same time I am not doing anything. Where do all my time go? Sure, I go to work every day, and I attend French lessons two evenings a week and try to study French between those lesson. But this shouldn't occupy more than just a small amount of the total sixteen hours I have each day and doesn't explain why my apartment looks like a constant mess. It feels almost like the last couple of days in Strasbourg when I was awake for two days and nights in a row, slept for three hours and worked on the following day. I feel like a becoming zombie.

I'll try to leave the zombie behind in the swimming pool tomorrow morning.

..."Yesterday" became a poor blog title.

There is mainly two reasons for this. I prefer focusing forward in time, and I have a bad memory. Whether those two are related I don't know.

So, I am changing the blog title from Yesterday... to something else. I think I'll just go creazy on the creative-o-meter and name this blog equivalent to its predecessor from Strasbourg: Asbjørn in Oslo!

...the invitation to St. Petersburg came through.

And why would I need an invitation? Well, it is part of the process of getting a visa for Russia. As I am not staying in a hotel, I had to get Mari to send me an invitation. Yesterday it came through on fax, and today I went to the Russian embassy in Oslo and picked up the visa. Though "picking up" may not be the proper term, as it came quite expensive. Not only because I started out with the wrong address, resulting in two tours around Oslo in taxi before I got to the right place, but also because it is expensive to get a visa the same day you apply for it... One thousand Norwegian crowns, to be precise (that equals some 128 euros according to the American Express Currency Converter).

Yesterday I also had my long-awaited ADSL broadband connection installed. The guys from the telecom company said it would just take fifteen minutes to install it. This seemed sound to begin with, considering that the line was active until I returned from Strasbourg. However, fifteen minutes became half an hour, and turned into one hour. By that time, I had finished both lunch and dessert and started doing my homework in French while the guys worked on the line. After two hours they finally made it work and I could return to the office. Yesterday I worked late.

Tomorrow I am getting up at 05:45, and with three cans of Norwegian liver paté in my bag I am flying to St Petersburg to visit Mari for the week-end.

...Lucas invited me to a concert with Melophonia.

Lucas lives with Ava from my class last year, and a classmate of his, Håkon, plays in Melophonia. Last night the band played at Dattera til Hagen (Hagen's Daugther) in Oslo. Their music is a mix of electronica and rock, and their performance last night was excellent!

...I attended my first French class in Oslo.

It wasn't really a class though, but an individual lecture at Berlitz with one teacher and me as the only student. As such, it was highly efficient. It helped a lot that I already know some French, and I expect progress to slow down. Nevertheless, I believe this to be a good way of improving my rather poor French, at least so that I can hold a simple conversation—hopefully already when I visit Strasbourg early in December.

Talking about travelling, yesterday I picked up the ticket for my trip to St. Petersburg next week-end. Now I only need to get the Visa, and I'll be ready to visit Mari and see the city that Lonely Planet terms "one of the most beautiful cities on earth."

Oh, before I press the "post" button: Yesterday, I formally agreed on the terms for my transfer to the consulting part of Accenture and thus reached the main goal of studying for a master's degree. I now await the results of my thesis examination.

...I returned from Athens...

Athens!

...after visiting Galatia, one of the friends I made in Strasbourg, for the weekend. It was lovely down there. Galatia is lovely, that's true, and so is her mother and father who hosted me. But the sunny, warm weather also contributed to make my stay a nice vacation from the wet autumn in Oslo. Days were easy, no hurry at all. Maybe because Galatia's mother took us out to try Tai Chi Saturday morning, after which we simply drifted up to the fabulous Acropolis and afterwards down to a café in the city. Here, Lena from my class in Strasbourg and her boyfriend joined us, and they made me try both Frappé and another drink I can't remember the name of. Anyway, the Frappé was best. They also made us go and see an exhibition of Esher at the Herakleidon art gallery, as well as spending a nice night out in a couple of bars.

Sunday, Galatia made her debut as a careful driver on the highway, and we spent some time trespassing on the sports grounds from last years Olympic Games. Afterwards we attended a farewell surprise party for one of Galatia's friends, held in an apartment with the most amazing view of Acropolis, and finished the evening with some of Galatia's nice friends and with the movie Elizabethtown.

Monday, I was amazed by how well the Greeks have watched after the ancient Panathinaiko Stadium—it appeared brand new. Obviously the result of my lack of knowledge, as the stadium was almost completely rebuilt in the mid-nineteenth century and later renovated. We also saw the Temple of Olympian Zeus—or at least the remaining impressively massive columns from it.

What we did not see was Chris, Galatia's boyfriend. But maybe he'll show up next time I visit Athens and my friends there—hopefully in combination with a sailing trip in the Mediterranean.