A great day

It’s been a great day, starting with talking to Luke on Skype. He got a job that gives him a lot to do until I’ll be there. He seemed happy about it, and I’m really happy for him. Didn’t expect him to get a job after just 4 days, and I’m really proud of him. I felt very happy after talking to him, and I have been smiling ever since. People really noticed at work, which has a great influence with the costumers. After a couple of hours at work I got another reason to smile, even more. The founder of the company I work for gave me a compliment on my effort in the shop. He had noticed that I sold for over 19000 kroner alone yesterday, which is unusual and great for both me and the company.  So summed up: work is great, Luke is great and this day went by quickly!

This is a song I have been listening to a lot at work. I think the lyric is beautiful and it makes me think of Luke. Enjoy it =)

"To Do" list

I have so many thoughts these days but it’s still challenging to know what to write in this blog. Lately I have been focusing on how much I miss Luke and how lonely I feel. I’ll admit that it was hard facing my empty room for the first time after Luke left, but today I found myself smiling when I was walking my dog. I realized how happy I am, even though Luke is thousands of miles away. I know that I want to fight for this relationship, no matter what. I know I’ll be happy in Australia and I’m counting down the days. But I do know that these months will be challenging and that I’ll be feeling lonely some times. That is why I asked for advice from a friend of mine. My friend has gone through the same thing with here Australian boyfriend, so she knows from experience. She told me to make a list, to keep busy. So I did. I wrote a long list of everything I need to do before I can leave to Australia. And now I know these two months will run past, because I have no idea how I’ll finish the list on time. 

Hotel in Abu Dhabi?

I’m sitting here dreaming about traveling to Australia. It’s only been 4 days since Luke left, and everything I do feels weird somehow. It’s even weird driving my car without having Luke controlling the music from one of our IPod’s. These days have been flying past, and I’ve had a lot of fun with friends I hardly ever see. But I have also fantasizing about booking a hotel in Abu Dhabi on my 14 hour stay there in August. 

I have been looking at hotels, and I fell in love with Crowne Plaza a 4 star hotel close to the airport. Abu Dhabi is an exciting place to be, and I really looked forward to it until I read the warning to travel in UAE. So now I’m not sure if I should stay in the airport for 14 hours or if I will take a taxi to the hotel and back, without any sightseeing. The hotel looks great and it is cheap too, but I’m going to need some time to decide what I’m going to do.

Help me decide? I'll write soon =)

Back to a long-distance relationship.

Luke is back safe in Australia. And looking at Facebook I know it was for the best for him and his mates. He has been missing them and they are crazy about having him back, so I’m glad I’m not keeping him away from his life anymore. Even though our months have been amazing and his stay in Norway saved our relationship, I have been feeling guilty about taking him away. Well now he can play with his band (Drowned Cities) and have fun with his friends and family again, and we have to calculate every time we can talk on Skype. I’m glad we have tools such as Facebook and Skype, letting us keep in touch while we are thousands of miles away. But I know it can be annoying to plan when to talk, because of the time difference. When it’s 12 AM in Norway it’s 8 PM in Australia. Another thing is being disconnected from the internet or disturbance so that I can’t hear what he is saying. Even though it can be annoying it is the only option we have, and I’m grateful having that option. imagine in the old days they had to write letters every now and then to keep in touch, waiting for weeks to see if he was still in to you and alive. I’m glad I live in these technological times!

Ever since Luke left I have been doing research online to see how long I have until I have to apply for my Working Holiday Visa. They say that one should apply 6 to 8 weeks before arrival, meaning I have to apply next week giving them approximately 6 weeks. That wouldn’t have been any problem, except the requirement for 5000AUD in my account plus a fee on 235 AUD (total amount 30 501 NOK). I don’t have that kind of money on me, I’m a student! Luckily, I have my family helping me out. I’m truly grateful that they support me and help me even though they prefer to have me staying in Norway. Now it looks like I have enough money, and I will apply for the visa next week. I’m not applying today because I want to do this right. That’s why I want to talk to the Australian embassy to check if it’s 100% legal to use the Working Holiday visa for the purpose of living in Brisbane with Luke. I think it is but better to be sure than being discovered doing the wrong thing, which can sabotage our relationship.

I’ll let you know when I know next week! Write soon.

Bye Bye Luke

I’m sitting here, struggling with finding the words. I have so many feelings at once so writing about it is challenging. 

I can start with letting you know that I just came home from the airport and Luke is on his way home. Our 4 months is up, and now we have to be apart 2 months again. I felt weird on the way to the Airport and once we had parked, I was really fighting the tears. When he had to go I couldn’t stop the tears, even though I knew that I would be coming after in 8 weeks. I’m sitting here and it feels weird not having Luke around. For several months now Luke and I have seen each other all the time, and now we’ll have to be apart. It feels weird and unfair. The majority of relationships don’t have to go through with spending time apart and all the different Visas applications, because they are from the same country. It’s challenging but when in love it’s definitely worth all the trouble.

Thinking back it has been a great 4 months and I’m really looking forward with more time with the love of my life. Yesterday we went out to have our last dinner together in Norway. He chose Hard Rock Cafè, my favourite restaurant chain with awesome decorations, great food and good music! But after the BBQ at my dad’s no one of us was really hungry. Luke told me he had an Idea and he took me outside a Hotel close to the restaurant. He showed me a piece of paper, with booking information from several days ago. He had booked us in to a hotel for our last night in Oslo. It was perfect!

 Surprises like that are awesome, and no one loves surprises more than me. I love surprising people as well, and I have 2 months until I can start surprising him with something. But let’s take first thing first; I have to get 5000AUD to get a visa before I can enter Australia.

4 days left!

It’s 4 days until Luke is leaving back home to Australia. So tomorrow we are going to Oslo, giving us a couple of days to enjoy the capital city. Luke’s getting a tattoo there as well, to remind him of Norway and his trip here to be with me these 4 months. I think it’s awesome that he wants something permanent to remind him of the time he traveled the world to be with me.

Of course i have mixed feelings about Luke leaving Norway. But He has to go back in order to find a job, and a place to stay before I arrive. I’m not ready to leave yet because I have several stuff I need to sell, I have a job I need to stay in for another 2 months and I need to save up 30 000 NOK until I can apply for a Working Holliday Visa. So it’s reasonable of him to leave and for me to stay another 2 months. And I have bought the ticket to Australia so I know that it’s going to be exactly 2 months until I see him again. Because both of us have a lot on out mind those two months, I think the time will fly past.

I want to share with you some photos from our last trip. This time we went to Stavanger to see the Pulpit Rock, and it was awesome. The walk takes two hours and is known to be challenging for some people. I found it a bit painful because I’m struggling with my ankle, waiting for an operation. But the view was worth it, here are some photos:

4 months in Norway!

Being apart was hard, but we kept in touch through Skype and Facebook. The biggest problem was the time difference. When he woke up I was done at work and when he was done at work I went to bed. It was hard to find a time, but we did speak for a long time almost every day. After 45 days it started to get irritating, having to calculate when we could talk, knowing that I had to stay in Norway for another 4 – 7 months. The 13th of February Luke came to Norway to see me. It was awesome to see him again, and I couldn’t believe he was right here in My Norway! The day after he surprised me with a hotel room with a view, because he knew how much Valentine meant to me. It was perfect, and I love having him in Norway. Since he came we have traveled a lot, both in and out of Norway. 

The best trip was Alta where we had a lot of luck with us. We got an upgraded hotel and a better car for free and even though it was announced rain, and it was good weather most of the time. In Alta I introduced Norway in a Nordic environment, with meters of snow and a great mountain view. We visited Alta’s Igoloo ice Hotel, which melts every summer and is rebuilt every winter. We also went dog sledging, ice fishing and hunting for the Northern Light. When waiting for the Northern Light in a perfect spot with free coffee and snacks we saw a shooting star, and later a bright strong Northern Light was visible over us. It was a perfect moment.

We had one other perfect trip together during his stay in Norway, our road trip to Rock Im Park, Germany. The first day we took a boat from Kristiansand to Hirtshals and drove to a hostel in Hamburg. I love driving but it was challenging to drive in such a big city as Hamburg. The second day we continued to Nürnberg where the festival was. We stayed there for 5 days, with two of my friends, which I met in Australia. The weather was perfect and I loved seeing bands like Avenged Sevenfold, In Flames, All That Remains, Bring me to the Horizon, August Burns Red, Volbeat, Funeral For a Friend, Escape the Fate and Masterdon. But the best was seeing my favourite band, Avenged Sevelfold! It was my first Festival experience and I love that I could share that with Luke. On our road trip back  home we had two stops, one in Hannover and one in Aarhus. I had a cold, and I was pretty glad I didn’t have to drive as each day as I had done on the way down to Rock Im Park. 

Home to Norway.

The day after the Muse concert we traveled to Sydney together, as Line and I would be going home from Sydney airport. Luke came with me because he had never been in Sydney and he really wanted to spend as much time with me as possible before I had to leave. Right before we left I put Luke’s Christmas present on the bed, that way he would see it when he came back. I had also made a scrap book from our time together and hidden it in my bag, which I left behind thinking that I would come back one day soon.

Being in Sydney was fun, but I didn’t like the place we stayed at. Our hostel was placed in Kings Cross, one of the bad areas in Sydney, with prostitution, strip clubs and drunken people fighting in the streets. It didn’t matter because we were sightseeing a lot. With a guided tour we went looking at Sydney’s famous attractions like the Sydney Harbor, looking at the Opera House and the bridge. We also looked at Bondi beach and traveled with a boat to see Manly beach. At the airport Luke gave me my Christmas gift, a beautiful silver bracelet with a heart on it. Leaving him was hard, not knowing what would happen. But at the same time I felt that it was going to be OK.