Segue Norway

I'M BACK FROM NORWAY!

OK, now that that is out of the way, I thought I would point out that I only realised a few weeks ago that "segue" is segway....
Anyway, Oslo was amazing, that's all there is to say.
I stayed at my friend Nicolai's (who I'm sure you'll remember I met in Japan last summer) flat in the centre of the city.
It is not a huge city, but it sure is expensive! I paid the equivalent of over £7 for 500ml of Guinness, and that was from a can!Honestly, however, I can't say I was that bothered as I was enjoying myself too much.
Me, Nicolai, his girlfriend YanXi, and his flatmates all went bowling on the first night, which ended in complete disgrace for me as usual because I am a horrible bowler. Another day we went to see The Expendables, which was a brilliant mindless romp, with all the big names (and norwegian subtitles).On Friday I think it was, we ended up at a Chinese Christian BBQ in a church where we gatecrashed a wedding. (Don't ask). Lots of craziness for sure! We also visited Sognsvann that day, a really nice lake and forest on the outskirts of Oslo.
I also did the standard tourist-y stuff like visiting the town hall, the habour etc. The pictures will speak for themselves. Enjoy!

Various views of Oslo from the top of the Rådhus:


Vigeland Sculpture Park
Sognsvann Lake

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the vast majority of Norwegians I met, spoke perfect English as well which was useful. Another point I will make is that DAMN Oslo is expensive! also that I find it hilarious that the Norwegian word for "Orange" is "Appelsin" despite the fact that Appelsin clearly signals to english speakers ANYTHING BUT oranges. I think this is best summed up in the words of a friend of mine.
"Maybe apple is orangesin" :D

Well, thats enough out of me for the time being, i have more jetsetting to do! TO GREECE!
See you in another week!

{EDIT}
PS. After Oslo, I never want to eat brownies again.

Jeg går til Norge

This will be my last post for a week, ill post Norway photos next tuesday, then there will be another week of absence as i'll be in Greece. Jetsetting wohoo, only without the massive amounts of money.

In other news, Iron Maiden's new album The Final Frontier, is a great album indeed, its typical maiden, some epics, some ballads, but always ROCKIN'. This album shall keep me company on my many aeroplane journeys in these next few weeks.

And so I bid you all adieu. (For a week or so :P)

Music

If there's anything that has dominated my free time this summer, it has indeed been music. I just got my new pair of proper Sennheiser HD201 headphones (as opposed to earphones) to enable me to enjoy it all that much more.
I must say that my musical taste as diversified quite a lot since the New Year, so I now feel inclined to share some of my new found happiness with you all!
Not so much happiness in some cases, particularly this first one:

Warning: Watching from a distance (Doom Metal) I'm not entirely why I like this album, it has a lot of slower riffage, clear melodic vocals, and a rather depressing atmosphere; but it is very powerful and moving. See what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=774GvRN2yKk

Alcest: Souvenirs d'autre monde (Black metal/shoegaze) Now this, I really love, its a french band spearheaded by Neige a famous black metal vocalist, whose other exploits (Lantlos/amesouers) I have also enjoyed. This type of music I've been delving into for a while now since a friend introduced me to this band, its a mixture of fast lo-fi black metal and melodic spiraling guitar passages; with vocals showing just as much diversity from tormenting black metal vocals to ethereal singing. I really do find it hard to describe this band, but as usual, you'll have to be the judge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t1XqYgukd4

Agalloch: The Mantle/ Ashes against the grain (Folk/Black/Doom metal)
Agalloch are a band I discovered while pursuing my newly found interest in metal-gaze type music (Alcest and the likes). They play a nice mix of folk and doom metal with the occasional sprinkling of black metal. They tend to use long (sometimes acoustic) musical interludes and sparse vocals, which are mostly either a rather haunting style of singing or an evil sounding growl. I really enjoy the vast sound-scapes and atmosphere they create with their music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCAsN09ZAzE

凛として時雨 (Rin toshite Shigure) (Cold rain it could be translated as)：just A moment (J-indie/rock/punk)
Now this is a very interesting album, its not your usual J-indie rock affair in the vein of AKFG and the likes. I really like the interplay of the male and female vocals here and the musicianship. The music itself is astounding I find, i'd say its a mix of Post-rock sounding rhythms to metal and standard rock riffs. The vocals however, are the most interesting part, they seem to be deliberately sung outside of the normal vocal comfort range; its hard to describe, but you'll see what I mean if you listen to them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwzsfLeieo0

On the subject of music, i'll be getting up especially early tomorrow morning (edit: this morning) because THE NEW IRON MAIDEN ALBUM IS OUT!!! From what I hear, its amazing, I can't wait to hear it. Well, good night from me, if I can sleep that is.

THE GREAT ADVENTURE BEGINS

OK, so a year later, and I'm back again, its summer, and there's not a lot to do.
Like last years Japanese adventure, I've got a more trips to make this year. First off is a week in Oslo, followed by a week in Greece, then 2 final weeks at home before my year in Japan! (which is gonna be awesome :P). I'll be posting pics from Norway and Greece, either during the trips or when I get back, it depends whether I take this laptop or not.
Lots to look forward to!

In related news i've been accepted into Nagoya university and handed in my student visa application too.
Funny story there...
I had to hand my passport into the embassy, and the guy told me to come and pick it up on Wednesday, I say OK and walk out, only to realise that my flight to Oslo is on Wednesday morning and will obviously need my passport >.< so I then had to rush back in and beg the guy to have it ready by closing time on Tuesday. So now, the day before my holiday I have to rush into London to pickup my passport in the hope that they've actually finished with it. Never a dull moment around here, no sirree.

I'll be posting pics from Norway and Greece, either during the trips or when I get back, it depends whether I take this laptop or not.
Lots to look forward to!