Weekly Review April 28, 2013

I had my last lecture (during which Mario Götze's transfer to Bayern Munich was announced; I am still not sure whether this was a good move) of this semester and therefore, I am now officially in study mode. When I am not studying, I am at the gym to make me feel that I did at least one useful thing a day. Oh and we had our first rooftop party. You know, it's kind of spring here. The sun is shining and it's around 10°C. So why not spending the evening outside on a rooftop, right? I must say, it was worth the goose bumps and the dangling, as we can see the Oslo fjord from our rooftop.

Beauty
New in this week: John Frieda Luxurious Volume Shampoo
It does make my hair kind of fluffy but I am not sure whether it also dries out my hair. So far, I cannot say if it's a 'yay' or a 'nay' product but I will keep on testing.

Books
As I have finally switched to study mode, I am reading all day long. In the evening, I am happy if I can just watch TV and switch off my brain. On Saturday evening, I managed to read some pages of Nate Silver's book (review will be on the blog as soon as I am finished).

Celebrities
I love celebrity gossip. In this week's news, Reese Whiterspoon and her husband got arrested. Best thing about this is her mugshot which looks like a blurry image of a beauty blogger presenting her eye makeup.
Kim Kardashian finally got divorced, which is great for her, as I really don't want to imagine Kanye living with the fact, that his child legally is Kris Humphries' child. What is not great is Kim's maternity wardrobe. Okay, it's not maternity fashion, she just squeezes into normal dresses, as usual. She should get some lessons by the duchess of Cambridge, who looked radiant this week in a mint Mulberry coat, a baby blue 50s dress, a navy blue floral dress and a polka dot topshop dress which of course was sold out within an hour. 

Food
On Tuesday I went out for a pre-Champions-League sushi dinner with a good friend. As we planned to watch the game at a pub in Grünerløkka, we went for dinner right next to the pub at a place called lille asia. And here is my delicious maki plate, all shrimps.

Oh these iPhone colors... That wasabi's green color was a lot less intense in reality

Instagram

I kicked off strawberry season this week (and already had 1kg in the first two days). This was my study snack on Monday afternoon.

Working on a group assignment. 3 hours of Excel and Stata and we're still not done.

After the 3 hours, I forced myself to step by at the gym. I did some abs and my favorite sling workout. That's all I can do after an afternoon with Excel files.

I was wearing my favorite ring this week, a Cartier beauty that once belonged to my late father.

My gym here in Oslo (Nydalen Athletica) got a remodelling this week and they've added some motiviational quotes like this one.

Listened to this record all week long.

Oslo at 10 pm (rooftop view).

Music
This week, I spoiled myself with a new CD, the deluxe edition of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'The Heist'. What a brilliant record.

Nails
I didn't even have the time to change my nail color more than once this week. Long days at the library and gym afterwards (plus football and party in the evening) made it hard to find time for a mani change.

Essie - Forever Yummy

Essie - Madison Ave-hue

In light of spring, my toe nails are currently wearing a bright yellow by alessandro. I cannot show a picture here though because my toes are not the prettiest part of my body.

TV
It's Champions League time! We enjoyed the first game (Bayern - Barcelona) at an Irish pub with around 500 screens (okay, according to their webpage they have 40 but it feels like more). And what a game that first semifinal was. May this finally be the end of that incredibly boring tiki-taka. I am so bored by this and I am happy that several teams now have proven that this is not the ultimate way of playing anymore. The second semifinal, Dortmund vs. Real Madrid, I've watched at home. Another great game that already makes me look forward to the final.

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I am so excited...

Today, I have booked my flight back home to Switzerland. So, on the 15th of June, I will be back in the holy land of chocolate, cheese and Luxemburgerlis. With all the studying now, being in Oslo became a lot less appealing (surprise, ha?). It is a great city but I feel like it is time to go home.

Impressions from Copenhagen

A week ago, I travelled to Copenhagen with some friends. We took the cruise ship to get there (not my favorite way of transportation). After a night on the sea, we arrived in Copenhagen. It is a lovely city, unfortunately, the weather was not our BFF. Fog, rain, fog and wind. We had only one and a half days in Copenhagen but it is definitely worth another visit. Especially because they have Topshop, Sephora and &other stories.

Bye bye Oslo!

You can NOT miss the little mermaid. You could but luckily she is sorrounded by tourists all day long.

Sounds very professional

I can't pass by a royal palace without taking a picture of the guards.

Swiss German insider

Nyhavn. Not as cute as on sunny postcards.

looks comfortable

Someone will not have a boat this summer.

That's what you expect at a brewery. A car hanging in a tree.

German insider

Woohoo, lavender street (didn't smell like it).

Now that's a mix.

Here is Garfield!

Probably the place to be for teenagers and desperate housewives (or whoever loves this vampire stuff).

Opera house

And now we're leaving again. See you soon!

Weekly Review April 21, 2013

What a week that was. I spent a lot of time checking news pages regarding the tragic events in Boston.

TV
A couple of weeks ago, I watched my first "Tatort". It's a crime series in German TV, airing once a week on Sunday evening and it started in 1970. My mother is watching it and so far, I wasn't really interested. I have been watching several old episodes this week and I will now make "Tatort" my new Sunday evening ritual.

Shopping
It was time this week for some serious beauty shopping. I needed new facial products. My skin is not really causing problems but as I am aging, I thought it might be time to invest in some good products. After some beauty blog research and asking my best friend, I decided to go for Clinique and Origins. At Steen & Nordstrøm, I found all the products on my wishlist.

My cleaning routine is now so much more fun. I really enjoy using these high-end products and my skin also seems to be happy about this new routine.

Food
My food highlight this week was today's breakfast. Yesterday, I bought some strawberries and today, I included them into my breakfast. Banana, mango, strawberries, müsli and vanilla jogurt. It was delicious.

Books
I had no time to read in any of the books I am currently reading. The only thing I read was Elle magazine. Okay, that was not really reading, more looking at pictures.

Nails
As usual, my nails wore a variety of colors this week.

Essie - Miss Fancy Pants (and football)

Catrice - I sea you!

Essie - Turquoise & Caicos topped with Essence - glorious aquarius

Instagram
This is how my week looked through Instagram filters.

Bringing a little Switzerland to Oslo: Sechseläuten

Spending the night watching CNN (yes, the coverage was crappy)

This is heaven, right? W.B. Samson

Oslo, sunshine, over 10 degrees: I am wearing ballerinas. Without socks.

This is how my next weeks will be like. Studying at the library and spending an enormous amount of money on coffee.

E. L. James - Fifty Shades of Grey

Yes, I did it. After consistently mocking the book, I finally read it. Okay, it wasn’t entirely voluntary. My best friends decided that I shouldn’t start my 24th year of life without being the ‘proud’ owner of all three fifty shades book. My revenge was that I constantly sent them text snapshots via WhatsApp. I just had to share some of that stuff. The fact that I use the word ‘revenge’ gives you a slight hint on my impressions of this book.

It is terrible. From the first page on. I don’t even know if I should be happy about the fact that there are obviously still so many people reading books or if I’d prefer they wouldn’t read, instead of reading such bullsh*t (yes, I have to use this word here).
First of all, the characters. I will not compare them to Twilight folks, as I haven’t read Twilight (yes, shocking right? I also didn’t read Harry Potter and the Hunger Games and I don’t feel like I’ve missed something). Anna Steele. What to say about her? A university student without a computer. Ha, ha, right! I can accept the fact that she is not into all the newest gadgets out there (it is kind of fashionable to do that…) but no computer at home? Naaaaa… But hey, she could still be a great person right? Unfortunately not. She is so naive, I really wanted to slap her several times. No sexual interests so far (at least as unlikely as the computer issue), Anna is equipped with an inner goddess whose sole purpose in the book is to annoy the reader. On this blog, I’ve read that this inner goddess bla bla comes up 58 times. 58 times?! I don’t know what’s wrong with her inner goddess but she’s definitely talking too much. Too much nonsense.
And then there is Christian Grey, the dream of every housewife. I don’t know why. That guy has some serious issues. Serious meaning the only place he should be is a clinic. He should definitely not be hooking up with Anna. He’s a dominant control freak with crazy fantasies. I didn’t feel attracted to him at all, there is really nothing about him to like.

Of course, with characters like that, the story also sucks. Christian wants Anna, Anna hesitates, Anna falls for him, Anna has one orgasm after the other, Christian dominates her, Anna starts hesitating, they split. A story you could probably tell on 100 pages, unfortunately the book is a lot thicker.
Worse than the characters and the lame story is the writing. Everything is described very detailed. I am pretty sure, E.L. James has used almost every adjective. You want to imagine how Christian Grey looks like? Well, there is not a lot of room for that, as she describes his look onto the last hair on his head. She uses the same words over and over again. It is, regarding writing style, one of the worst books I’ve ever read. I will probably not read the other two, although I feel that this book is like an accident, I just want to see how bad it can get.

By the way, my friends refuse to read it, after I’ve sent them a snapshot of the tampon scene…

My "I want to read this"-list

Whenever I read about a book that sounds quite appealing, I write it down on my wishlist. For that, I have a classic black Moleskine notebook. The list is a mix of books in German and English, although I am planning to use my French a little more in the future, so maybe I’ll get some of them in French. The list grows faster than the list of the books I’ve read and so far I’ve not managed to synchronize the speed here.

So, this is it, my wishlist:
Josh Lieb – I am a genius of unspeakable evil and I want to be your class president
Sue Townsend – Queen Camilla
Daniela Larcher – Zu Grabe
Kevin Wilson – The Family Fang
Emily Barr – The first wife
Eleanor Brown – The weird sisters
D.J. Connell – Julian Corkle is a filthy liar
D.J. Connell – Sherry Cracker gets normal
Melissa Hill – Something from Tiffany’s
Michael David Lukas – The oracles of Stamboul
Alexander McCall Smith – The charming quirks of others
Alexander McCall Smith – The forgotten affairs of youth
Alexander McCall Smith – Unusual uses for olive oil
Alexander McCall Smith – 44th Scotland Street
Vanessa Farquharson – Nackt schlafen ist bio
Richard C. Morais – The hundred foot journey
Robyn Sisman – The perfect couple
Katharina Münk – Die Eisläuferin
Paul Torday – The Legacy of Hartlepool Hall
Zoran Drvenkar – Sorry
Leslie Dunton-Downer – The English is coming
Jolyan Fenwick – It could have been yours
Olivier Magny – Stuff Parisians like
Mehmet Murat Somer – Die Prophetenmorde
Claude Izner – Madame ist leider verschieden
Claude Izner – Ruhe sanft mein Herz
Chris Moore – Ein todsicherer Job
Cordula Stratmann – Sie da oben, er da unten
Giovanni di Lorenzo – Wofür stehst du?
Walter Satterthwait – Miss Lizzie
Katherine Pancol – Les yeux jaunes des crocodiles
Natasha Solomons – Wie Mr. Rosenblum in England sein Glück fand
Gerhard Loiblsberger – Die Naschmarktmorde
Ellen DeGeneres – Seriously, I’m kidding
Rebekka Reinhard – Würde Platon Prada tragen?
Stefan Kuzmany – Das können Sie glauben!
Mohammed Hanif – Alice Bhattis Himmelfahrt
Jean G. Goodhind – Mord zur Bescherung
Jean G. Goodhind – Mord ist auch eine Lösung
Hjordt & Rosenfeldt – Der Mann, der kein Mörder war
Marc-Uwe Kling – Känguru Chroniken
Meg Donohue – Das beste Rezept meines Lebens
Jenny Colgan – Meet me at the cupcake cafe
Varg Gyllander – Der lächelnde Mörder
Tomas Sedlacek – Economics of good and evil
Chris Ewan – Schwarze Schafe in Venedig
Jan Fleischhauer – Der schwarze Kanal
Charlaine Harris – A bone to pick
Martin Suter – Die Zeit, die Zeit
Jussi Adler Olsen – Erbarmen
John Green – The fault in our stars
Therese Bohman – Die Ertrunkene
Roberto Constantini – Du bist das Böse
David Foenkinos – Souvenirs
Michael Frayn -Willkommen auf Skios
Schilddorfer & Weiss – Teufel
Jack Schwager – Market Wizards
Rita Falk – Griessnockerlaffäre
Jon Stewart – A citizen’s guide to democracy inaction
Jon Stewart – A visitor’s guide to the human race
Bill Maher – The new new rules
Thomas Platt – Was sucht die Sardelle auf dem Schnitzel?
Jenny Colgan – Welcome to Rosie Hopkins Sweet Shop of Dreams
Jenny Colgan – Christmas at the cupcake cafe
Tina Fey – Bossypants
Karolin Park – Hi, Society!
Nassim Nicholas Taleb – Antifragility
Sheryl Sandberg – Lean in
Dan Brown – Inferno
Gerd Schilddorfer – Falsch
Jörg Maurer – Unterholz
Ben Aaronovitch – Broken Homes
Paul Torday – Salmon fishing in the Yemen
Daron Acemoglu, James Robinson – Why nations fail
Emily Schuman – Cupcakes and Cashmere
Joel Haahtela – Die Verschwundenen von Helsinki
Thomas Rath – Der Fashion Rath
Jojo Moyes – Ein ganzes halbes Jahr
Derek Blasberg – Classy
Dirk Stermann – Sechs Österreicher unter den ersten Fünf
Dirk Stermann – Stoss im Himmel: Der Schnitzelkrieg der Kulturen
Renald Feisel – Wie Dracula den Kopf verlor und Sissi die Lust
Lisa Birnbach – True Prep: It’s a whole new old world
Philipp Tingler – Wie frei sind wir noch? Eine Streitschrift für den Liberalismus
Rory Freedman – Skinny Bitch

Let's get this started...

I have no idea where this journey will go to but I am ready for take off. This first post is written in a dorm room in Oslo. No, I am not Norwegian, I am currently on an exchange here. It is my last semester of ‘real’ classes before I will start my master thesis next semester. You want to know a little something about me? I am a Swiss girl, holding a bachelor degree in economics and am now on my way to finish a masters in banking and finance. I love books, nail polish and makeup. Therefore, this will be the focus of this blog. Maybe additionally some thoughts about news and politics, posts about the rest of my student life and about traveling. Or I will post my favorite Ecards. And reviews about TV shows. You see, I really don’t know where this thing is going but I am willing to give it a try.