Happy New Year!

I know, I know. I've not been good at this the past months. Let us hope for an improvement this year! I have missed it.

I thought we would kick off the new year doing a recap of the resolutions from last year before I present my new ones. The post from last year can be found here.

1. Walking 10 000 steps. I don't think I succeeded in this. I did manage it probably more often than in 2016, but I could have been better.

2. Finding a morning workout routine. I never found a good routine, and really never got started at all. A total failure. Oh well.

3. Geocache more. Well. I did not find more caches than 2016 or even 2015. But I did hold my first event and I added both Åland and the UK to my list of countries cached in. I found 60 caches in Sweden! My cache number 500 is coming up, and I already know which it will be.

4. The temperature project. I did it! I know I haven't posted here, but it will come, I promise. I don't know if I can post retroactively, but we'll see. Pictures are coming, stay tuned!

5. Train more on Duolingo. You know, I actually had a 100 day + streak. And then I forgot it one day and lost motivation completely.

6. Start saving money. I made it pretty far, but the Christmas shopping disturbed the plan. I still think 12 000 Norwegian kroner is quite well done.

I will mark number 3, 4 and 6 a success. And that is 50%. Not complaining. Hopefully, next year will be even better.

New resolutions:

I. Walk 10 000 steps a day. Yes, I'm not happy with the results from last year. I also don't really know how many days I actually did meet my goal. My brother didn't like his Fitbit, and gave it to me. I now have a better way of tracking my steps and other things. To have a complete tracking of how many days I actually reach 10 000 steps I'll track it by crossing off on an actual calendar. Going for at least 50%.

II. Actually work out. I've already started a bit with an app called 8fit. I think it works because I'm almost always sore after a workout and the workouts are short and it is free. Christmas obviously disrupted it all, but It's time to get started again. The goal the app set for me, or I set myself, I can't really remember, is four times a week. Most of the workouts I've had until now have been 9 minutes. This should not be a problem.

III. Geocache even more. My goal this year is adding at least two new countries, reaching at least 600 found caches and attending more events. Maybe even FAD in Sweden and Vikingevent 2018 in Norway, both Mega Events. I'm kinda bummed for not being able to attend FAD in Uppsala. This, of course, requires me to maybe get some geocaching friends to go with.

IV. The Year of Photography. Hear me out! I just came out of a year of checking temperatures. This year I would like to do something else creative. I used to enjoy taking pictures, but the joy has sort of gotten lost for me. I'm going to give myself different challenges each month. I have not decided all the different tasks yet, but January will be Alphabet Month, and I will take the pictures with my phone. February I will use my DSLR camera, but the theme is to be decided. I also hope to be able to use actual film for one of the months. And maybe lend a library book about photography and sort of work through it. I'm just jotting the ideas down here before they leave me.

January: The Norwegian alphabet contains 29 letters and January has 31 days. I'll be starting tomorrow, on the letter A. One picture relevant for each letter, and one day "off" if I need it.

V. Continue language training. Stop caring so much about the streak.

VI. Save more money, but not at the same rate. Last year became a bit economically painful, because of my saving routine. I still want to save money, but maybe a little less? If I save 666 kroner a month I'll reach 8000 in a year. I think that's okay. And it satisfies my inner satan.

VII. Learn to knit. I got two books on knitting, yarn, and needles for Christmas. This is the year I will learn how to knit.

VII. Set up a plan for organizing and cleaning to stay more on top of things. I like crossing things off lists, but am not too happy about cleaning. Combining the two might help me. I would like to have one in place before school starts in the middle of January. 

Sunday Update - Week 30

Well, hello there. Bet you are surprised by this post. Just because there is really a long time since the last one. It has been a hectic few weeks, arriving in Uppsala last Sunday and an intensive week with lectures and general tourist-ing. And geocaching because I just have to when I am at a new place.

I really should be studying, obviously. Even as I am writing this I really should be studying. And I probably won't be doing this post in Norwegian as it seems my Norwegian syntax didn't want to go to Sweden with me. Norwegian and Swedish are so close to each other, and my brain seems to adapt very well to hearing Swedish all day. So well, in fact, that writing in Norwegian is really hard right now. I know this because I've been logging geocaches all day from my trip to Stockholm yesterday. There were only 11, but it took forever because writing suddenly is a lot harder than normal.

Summary of the past week?
Sunday: I left my home around 11. I really don't remember the exact time. My train from Hamar left 1208, and I wanted to make sure I got on that because I had to connect to the train bound for Stockholm at 1442. And then I had another train from Stockholm to Uppsala 2111. I made all my trains and arrived at the hostel in Uppsala a little past 2200. I did not regret paying a little extra for a seat on 1. class. They had free mini muffins. And really comfortable seats.

Monday: We got our keys and had a late meetup dinner in the evening. But between getting the keys and the dinner I made my way to the station to get a bus card, and then to IKEA. I had to buy an extra pillow. I was really close to bringing my own, but I kind of gambled on the pillow they provided here being enough. It really wasn't. Also, I needed food and shampoo, conditioner and soap since I didn't want to bring that extra weight all the way here. With my hair, I can leave whatever little shampoo might be left over after three weeks. It probably won't be much. 

Tuesday: First lecture. Thankfully we start at 10, and so I am actually awake when it begins. We had some introduction to the course, plans and got internet access at the university, and then a course in Swedish pronunciation. In the evening I went exploring around town and discovered a rainbow. Among other things. 

Wednesday: Lectures about Swedish literature and language history. Most of the language history I already know, since it basically is the same as Norwegian language history. But it is my favorite subject, so I'm not unhappy.  Fell asleep really early in the afternoon, since I hadn't got a good nights sleep in ages because of stress and unfamiliar beds. Woke up again around 20 and went for a walk. It has been really hot here, and a late walk is really nice because the temperature is a lot more comfortable for a person that can't wait for fall. 

Thursday: A guided tour in the oldest part of Uppsala. And a trip out to Old Uppsala. You see, Uppsala was moved, I think in the middle ages. This was because of the land raising up since the last ice age. The Old Uppsala lost its close connection to the sea and a new cathedral was proposed closer to where the sea was then, in a town then called Östra Aros. The pope approved of this, as long as the name moved with it. But the Old Uppsala is most definitely a place you should go if you are ever in the area! I also bought dish towels with runes on them, and another Tors Hammer necklace, in the museum shop there. I love museum shops. They really are the best. It was really hard to choose a picture from this day, there really was a lot to see. But this is the first runestone I saw here, it is in the church wall at Old Uppsala.

Friday: More Swedish literature and a little on dialects and their status in Sweden. After school, I went to look for some more runestones, and found a whole bunch! Went to bed early after a long week.

Saturday: Went to Stockholm! Held a little geocaching event, met geocachers and had two of them show me the best caches in Stockholm city center. Went to the old part of Stockholm(Gamla Stan) and bought a handbag and churros on the shopping street Drottninggatan. Got really tired from all the walking, all the people, and the heat. I still did not get to do all the things I wanted to in Stockholm, I might have to go back. My bed finally felt like my own when I got home. 

Sunday: Today I've been taking it easy. Got out for a few hours to find some caches, to keep my streak. Ended up covered in seeds. The kind I hate it when Zelda is covered in. Missed Zelda a lot when I found a small forest to hide in, where there were shade and a comfortable temperature, and she would have loved running around in it. I miss my collie kisses. Went home, did some laundry, postponed reading and wrote this in stead. Going to bed early to charge up for another intensive week of learning. 

If there is anything you would like to know just ask, okay? 

New Years Resolutions // Nyttårsforsetter

I'm not really big on the New Years resolution-thing. I don't really see why I have to start something new at the exact date of everyone else, and that it has to be the 1st of January. But well, I have a few this year anyways. Here is my list, and progress, since we are already the 8th of January.

1. Walk 10 000 steps a day. This should not be a problem, since Zelda need her walks every day. Still, it has had a rough start, since I've started the year being ill. But as soon as I stop coughing every hundred metres I'll get it going. I have this neat app on my phone that track steps for me. It's nice, since I always have it with me anyways, and am still playing Pokemon Go.

2. Find a short morning workout routine. I am alway very tired when I wake up, and I have this theory that if I can start the day with a little workout routine I might get more energy. I haven't gotten to this yet either, because of being ill, but I am both grudging and looking forward to getting started with this.

3. Geocache more. Moving to Hamar was a stupid move, Geocache-wise. I had already found most of the caches around here, and so I don't get to do it as much as I did in Oslo. But I have decided that I am allowed to go caching, even for just one. After all, I will be going to Oslo up to three times a week, so I have the opportunity to do so. I just used to plan for whole days of caching.

4. Do a temperature project. Ok, so you might need some explanation. I got the idea from Lion Brand. They suggest a blanket, but that would be to much work for me, since I do have studies. And it would be a bit pricey. I decided to do more of a scarf-like project. I probably won't wear the finished project, since it would be too colourful for me. I just like the idea for some reason. I've made a colour scale and everything, and I already have seven rows.

5. Step up my Duolingo game. I've been using Duolingo for many years. Mostly for learning German since I didn't get to learn it in school. Last year I started up with some other languages as well, and right now I'm doing French, Spanish and Irish. I also do Swedish and Danish even though they are both neighbouring languages and countries to Norway. I just want to get a better feel of the languages. French and Spanish I started as a gateway to latin. How that will pan out I really don't know, but I love learning languages. Irish is just a curiosity thing. I have a BA of comparing Celtic and Old Norse culture, with major in Old Norse, and I just wanted to see what Irish was like. Anyways, a daily routine will be put in place. And it is a great thing for me to do on the train ride home from Oslo.

6. Start saving more money. I found this saving challenge where you save 1 dollar in week one and keep adding one for every week. The end is almost 1400 dollars. I've converted it to Norwegian crowns, by adding a zero. And also found a sheet that makes it easier to keep track. What I'll use the money for? Probably leaving the country to go Geocaching. I am dreaming of the oldest cache in Europe...

And I think that was it. For now.

My step counter app. // Skrittellerappen min.

Colour scale for temperature project. I have no hope of putting the two outer colours to use, but I liked the symmetry. // Fargeskala til temperaturprosjektet mitt. Jeg håper ikke jeg får bruk for de to ytterste, men jeg ville bare ha de med for symmetriens skyld.

Progress so far. // Fremgang så langt. 

Jeg er ikke så stor på nyttårsforsetter. Har aldri sett meningen med å måtte starte noe nytt samtidig med alle andre og akkurat den første januar. Men jeg har klart å lage noen allikevel da. Så en liten liste og rapport på fremgang hittil.

1. Gå 10 000 skritt om dagen. Denne burde ikke være noe problem, med tanke på at Zelda trenger turer flere ganger om dagen, hver dag. Men allikevel har jeg ikke kommet så langt med dette hittil i år, siden jeg startet året med å være dårlig. Den dagen jeg klarer å gå hundre meter uten å hoste skal jeg også klare å komme i mål med dette. Jeg bruker en app på telefonen til å holde orden på det for meg, siden jeg har med meg den over alt uansett. Og fordi jeg fortsatt spiller Pokemon Go da. 

2. Finne en kort morgentreningsrutine. Jeg er så trøtt om morgenen, og bruker så lang tid på å våkne. Jeg har et håp om at en kort treningsrutine om morgene kan får opp energien. Jeg har ikke kommet i gang med denne heller, men jeg både gleder og gruer meg til å sette i gang med det. 

3. Geocache mer. Det å flytte til Hamar var skikkelig dumt for meg som geocacher, ettersom jeg allerede har tatt mesteparten av cachene i området her. Jeg får heller ikke beveget meg så mye rundt som i Oslo, så jeg får ikke cachet i det hele tatt egentlig. Men jeg har nå gitt jeg lov til å ta en cache mens jeg først er i Oslo, noe jeg jo kommer til å være opp til tre ganger i uka. Og selv om noe at det liker best med geocaching er planlegging av ruter, er det bedre med en geocache enn ingen. 

4. Gjøre et slags temperaturprosjekt. Jeg fikk ideen fra Lion Brand.  De foreslår et teppe, men det syns jeg blir for mye jobb, i tillegg til studiene, liksom. Så jeg bestemte meg for noe som nok kommer til å ende mer som et skjerf. Jeg har laget fargeskjema og leser av temperatur rundt klokka 7 om kvelden. Jeg vet ikke om jeg kommer til å bruke et skjer med så mye farge, men jeg liker ideen, og det blir spennende å se resultatet. 

5. Bruke mer tid på Duolingo, lære mer. Jeg har brukt Duolingo i flere år, og det begynte med tysk. Men nå har jeg lagt til fransk, spansk, irsk og svensk og dansk. De to siste er mest for å få mer følelse med nabospråkene, for selv om jeg i det store og det hele skjønner hva de sier og skriver har jeg ikke muligheten til å skrive de selv. Fransk og spansk la jeg til for å komme litt inn i retning latin. Vi får se hvordan det går, men det er uansett gøy å lære nye språk. Irsk ble med bare fordi jeg er nysgjerrig. Jeg har en bachelorgrad i norrøne og keltiske studier, men jeg har min fordypning i norrønt. Så jeg ville bare se hvordan keltisk språk så ut. Uansett skal jeg fremover bruke mer tid på å lære meg alle disse språkene samtidig. Jeg tror det kan være en grei aktivitet på toget hjem fra Oslo.

6. Bli flinkere til å spare. Jeg kom over en spareutfordring, der man sparer 1 dollar i uke en og legger på en dollar hver uke. Resultatet på slutten av året blir nærmere 1400 dollar. Jeg gjorde om til norske kroner ved å legge på en null, så håpet er å spare 14 000 kroner i år. Jeg fant et skjema som gjør det lettere å holde oversikt over hvor mye man har spart. Det er ikke sikkert det blir så lett, men jeg skal i hvertfall prøve. Jeg har ingen spesifikke planer for pengene, men jeg drømmer om å finne den eldste geocachen i Europa...

Så det var det, for nå.