Originally from San Diego (So-Cal), mellow and easy-going. I like to listen and observe at first to figure out situations and then usually I become more extroverted. Basically, I try to keep my mouth closed until I know what's going on. This is especially helpful when living in a foreign country. :)

I love reading and learning languages. I'm fluent in Norwegian and speak it pretty much on a daily basis (because I live in Norway, fyi). I'm even trying to learn a dialect (dork/crazy?). Decent in Spanish comprehension but can't really speak it anymore because Norwegian pushed it out of brain. I learned how to read Middle English a la Chaucer in college. I cherish proper grammar and spelling. I'm kind of a dork like that. :) I get along really well with musicians and people who have travelled a considerable amount--I even seem to unconciously float towards musicians. I play viola and hardanger fiddle, which is a really crazy awesome nine-stringed sympathetic Norwegian folk violin. It's called hardingfele in Norwegian, sounds rather ethereal, and sometimes people compare it to a kinder, gentler version of bagpipes.

Often I am reading, making jewelry, knitting (mmm...textiles), writing poetry, articles or papers, speaking Norwegian, swing dancing (lindy hop), cooking, or playing music--essentially, engaging in some form of creative self-expression. If I'm doing something, chances are I'm extrememly passionate about it. That said, I do enjoy new experiences and am usually pretty much game for anything. Living in a foreign country has contributed to a wide variety of new experiences throughout the past year, some of which I knew I was getting into and other which I didn't, but did not regret them in the end. I suspect this year will be much the same, and yet totally different...

quickmatch people: verbivore

I'm living for my second year in Norway, getting a Master's degree in Norwegian folk music. I have some Norwegian relatives in this valley and am enjoying getting to know them, as well as a bunch of crazy folk musicians and swing dancers across the country. I've developed a lot musically and personally during the past year and I assume this year will be no less challenging. On a day-to-day level, I'm just enjoying life up in the mountains. Mostly I play fiddle, check the thermometer in my house to see if I should build a fire or not, and go to the library to use the internet.

ear-kissing and dressing well (or so I'm told), knitting, dancing, making food from seemingly zero ingredients, converting US recipes to metric, remembering my flashlight, dressing in layers, listening, making jewelry, making friends with an ancient Norwegian washing-machine, living without a microwave, keeping in touch with people long-distance, staying chipper in murky situations, reading Middle English, partying til 5 am Norwegian-nachspiel-style, sleeping in past noon and developing (and thriving in) a nocturnal lifestyle, learning how to rake, and making up my own knitting designs.

Very often, I have either knitting needles or a fiddle in my hands. Sometimes you might notice my creatively stylish outfits, jewelry and makeup, natural blonde hair and red lipstick. Perhaps my curvaceous figure (in a good way) might draw your eye. If you would like answers from other people's mouths: "your style equals hot, spunky, daring, saucy, hip, sexy. curvy." But seriously, my knitting needles and fiddle get a lot of comments.

not limited to...
a) books/literature: Nearly anything by Shakespeare (Measure for Measure, Titus Andronicus, Much Ado About Nothing, Measure for Measure again and again), The Canterbury Tales, Memoirs of a Geisha, The Liar's Club, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the Harry Potter books, Erlend Loe--Naiv Super, and Kurt Quo Vadis... Latest conquest: Watership Down. Newest book on the nightstand: Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, and Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Vern.

b) Quills, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Batman Begins, The General's Daughter, Billy Eliott, I Heart Huckabees, Run Lola Run, Buddy, Bare Bea, Eternal Sunshine, Elling, The Count of Monte Cristo, Rushmore, Garden State, Amelie, Elling, Hero, Gosford Park, Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill," Pirates of the Caribbean, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Closer, Shakespeare in Love, Monty Python's Holy Grail, MP Life of Brian, also Flying Circus episodes, Black Adder, Fawlty Towers, Simpsons, Family Guy.

c) Beck, The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, J.S. Bach, The Fire Theft, Cake, Norwegian hardingfele, Swedish folkmusikk, Frou Frou, The Fiery Furnaces, Ani DiFranco, Stravinsky, Radiohead, Elliot Smith, Sondre Lerche, Sondre Bratland, Ravel, Shostakovich, Rebecca Clarke, Bloch, Royksopp, Modest Mouse, Jeff Buckley, Kent, Bright Eyes, swing music like Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, much more, Missy Elliott, Eminem, Miles Davis, Thom Yorke, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Andrew Bird, Rasputina, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The White Stripes, Iron & Wine, Nick Drake, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Black Eyed Peas, The Faint, Ani DiFranco, Nina Simone, reggae music, salsa music, Tenacious D, Ben Folds Five, Fiona Apple, The Albumleaf, Colin Hay, PJ Harvey, The Chemical Brothers...and the list goes on.

d) anything I can come up with using Norwegian foods from a really small grocery store in a home without a microwave. I adore gourmet ingredients but rarely get ahold of them. Pesto and fresh tomato and mozzarella slices, fresh salmon, fresh mountain fish (�rret), pumpkin pie, a good red wine with linguini and homemade sauce(onion and garlic are welcome), blue cheese omelettes, potatoes in all forms, Norwegian heart waffles, Danish pancakes, cheddar cheese (I'm a bit snobby with my cheese, but I like a wide variety...new, old, yellow, white, brown--any kind as long as it's over $3!), good coffee, green tea, Yorkshire tea, cheap red wine from Chile sold at Trader Joe's, pear cider, Norwegian Akevitt, South African Amarula, gin & tonic, whisky, tequila (especially in margeritas!), Mike's Hard Lemonade and Cranberry, , Corona while in San Diego, Guinness and bitters when in London, Blue Moon while in the midwest.

1) expressing myself through some creative form, 2) music (at least one Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday album), 3) my imagination, 4) touch, 5) my hands, 6) dancing. plus 7) a pen for sketching future projects, making lists, or writing down my thoughts or letters to friends, 8) rules to break

my next jewelry or knitting project, the future, hardanger fiddle, hardingfele, norsk musikk, fashion and reasons behind it, opening a boutique, that I actually live in Norway, cross-cultural interactions, cultural differences, learning Norwegian or other languages, how to improve my playing or writing or swing dancing. lindy hop, how the pickings are exceedingly slim up here in the mountains but how lucky I am to have found the right guy...how to get across the river by my house without disturbing the 3 neighbor cows, whether I should pick the raspberries today or wait one more day... which shoes to wear...the practical ones or the slightly less practical ones, and how nice it would be to live in a city where it's possible to wear impractical shoes on a daily basis. how great it would be to get a car. whether or not I can get a job here and whether or not my residence permit will go through for next year.

Typical=boring. Every Friday is different every week for me...I could be making a delicious dinner with friends, playing fiddle, maybe going to the pub or a friend's house, making out with my boyfriend, watching a movie, knitting and drinking tea. Perhaps staying up late designing jewelry, or possibly reading or writing.

I'm not very good at being on time. This can vary depending on the situation though... I'm slowly improving.

any of this sounds interesting to you; if you like to travel and want a friend in Norway; if you share any of my interests or are just curious; if you can use a semi-colon correctly; want to know how to use a semi-colon correctly. :)