May Is Here

Today is the first of May and a holiday in Norway. They celebrate Labor day on the first, so everything is pretty much closed down for the day. The sky is overcast today and it was raining earlier on this morning, but I've always been a fan of rain, I just find it to be relaxing. The days are dwindling down until my departure and it's just amazing at how fast my time here has flown by. I'm leaving for home in about 2 weeks and I am ecstatic to get back. There are a ton of great things, opportunities, and people waiting for me back in Sioux Falls and Grand Forks and I can't wait to be wrapped up in all of it :) But until then, I'll soak up what's left of my journey here in Norway.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I went to the Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo with some of the faculty from ACN. Steiner, The founder of the ACN, was good friends with Thor Heyerdahl, the man who headed the Kon-Tiki expedition, so he gave us a special tour of the museum. I hadn't heard about the Kon-Tiki expedition but what I learned I found to be very interesting. Thor Heyerdahl was a norwegian explorer who had studied geography and zoology. In 1947 he set out on a journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. He and his team believed that the people of South America could have settled the Polynesian Islands before the Columbus-era. So, they built a a raft using only material and techniques that the people of that time would of had access to and sailed across the Pacific Ocean. The journey took 101 days until they reached the islands making their theory plausible. The museum was pretty incredible and they had the actual Kon-Tiki raft that the men used on display. When I heard that they used a raft I was thinking about something fairly small, but the raft they built was pretty epic haha. It was made from balsa wood which is incredibly light and floated in the water very well. Anyways, like I said before, Steiner was good friends with Thor Heyerdahl and his family and still keeps in contact with Heyerdahl's son Thor Heyerdahl Jr. (who is also an explorer). He was supposed to come down and visit with us but his wife was sick so he was with her, but he relayed a message to us saying that we could pick out any book we wanted from the gift shop and he would sign it for us and ship it to us later! I thought that was pretty cool. So when I get back to the states I'll be getting a book signed by a Norwegian explorer :)

Tuesday is the She & Him concert and I'm very excited. It's at a pretty small venue that holds about 200 people so it should be another great intimate concert experience :) After that it's just a few more days until I make my return home, and I can't wait. I keep saying this, but it's just so true. This trip to Norway has changed me and made me grow in ways I never thought possible. I used to be afraid of change and I was never very good at dealing with it, but this experience was all about change. It challenged me and pushed me, but the changes that I've experienced while here have been life altering so incredibly positive. This is an experience that I will never forget because it has played such a big role in who I have become. This was exactly what I needed in my life and I am forever grateful.

Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 in A Major, II Allegreto

If you have not heard this beautiful piece of music created by Beethoven, I suggest you check it out. It is incredibly moving. I first heard this particular symphony in the film The Fall. It is repeated throughout and definitely has a way of seeping its way into your brain.

Anyways, here I sit at my place in Moss, listening to Beethoven, trying to find a new book to teach from for the Fall semester. I'll be teaching Comp. 120 again which is "Writing The Research Paper." I've narrowed it down to a few choices. "This Is Your Brain On Music" by Daniel Levitin, "Pop Culture: The Culture of Everyday Life" by Shirley Fedorak, "Superfreakonomics" by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner, or "Eating The Dinosaur" by Chuck Klosterman. I want a book that focuses on more current events so my students can relate and I also want something that will generate some good in class discussions. As interesting as "This Is Your Brain On Music" is, I feel that the content may be too limiting and specific for thorough discussions. The Pop Culture book could be interesting, but I fear that the writing style may be somewhat bland. "Superfreakonomics" is a sequel to "Freakonomics" written by the same authors. The first book had been taught before, but they pulled it out of rotation at school because it's been used so often, but this new one just came out, so that might work out well. I really like Klosterman's work and I recently taught "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" this past semester. The book went over well and prompted a lot of great in class discussions on our society and the mass media's effect on our lives, thoughts, and perceptions, and the students generally had a lot to say not only in class, but also in their papers, which was great. The only negative about Klosterman's work is that, when being used as a teaching tool, his work is pretty informal and unorthodox, which can confuse some students who are developing their writing abilities. Alongside "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs" I also taught from a book called "Cod," which was about the Scandinavian Cod Wars, and that was more of a research book with good examples of how to cite sources and what not. Looking back at what I have written, it looks I've narrowed it down a bit. "Superfreakonomics" and "Pop Culture" seem to be the safe bet...but sometimes playing it safe stifles creativity..hmmmm :P We'll see how things play out. I just need to figure it out By this week so I can turn in my book order.

Only three more weeks until my return. I miss you all and can't wait to see you!

A New Mantra

Today was a beautiful day, not just physically, but also emotionally, spiritually, etc... It was kind of an overcast day and it rained here and there, but there was definitely a certain beauty to it, and it made me feel good. Lately I've been listening to a lot of instrumental music, specifically the music from a band called Explosions In The Sky. They have an album called The World Is Not a Cold Dead Place and I've been listening to it on Spotify. The more I listen to it the more at ease I feel. It's very powerful and moving music. After listening to it on an online radio, I felt the need to search for it, and sure enough, I found a vinyl version of it at Tiger Records in Oslo, so I decided to take a spontaneous trip. I had gotten all of my work done and figured "you only live once, right?" After I bought the record, I opened it up and began looking at all the great stuff inside. It's a double LP set, meaning the music is spread over two records, but there are only three sides of music, so the blank side of the second record has doves etched into it and this phrase, "The world is not a cold dead place because you are breathing, because you are listening." and I just found that to be incredibly moving and quite fitting. There are times when we feel like our lives are the pits, things are too difficult to over come, or we just have this constant idea that life won't get better, but it can and it will. There is beauty everywhere, we just need to open our eyes to see it, perk up our ears to hear it, or hold out our hands to feel it. Beauty and love is all around us.

P.S. Mom, I know what you're thinking..."More records!?" hahaha but look at the wonderful insight I got from it ;) haha love ya.

-Xavier

National Record Store Day!

As you can tell, I am pretty excited about today :) I was planning on taking the train to Oslo to go check out the record stores on this day of vinyl celebration, but I decided to stay in Moss and check out the local record store again, which ended up being quite a fantastic experience. The owner was working there today and we ended up having a pretty great conversation about music, different styles, and how it's a universal language. He makes his own music, mostly hip hop and house stuff and he played me some of his stuff that he's made over the years. It was really great stuff, especially the hip hop stuff. The rhymes were in Norwegian and they were super sick and flowed insanely well! I told him about my music and what I've been up to lately and he seemed pretty interested and said that if I ever have anything I want to sell in the store I was more than welcome to send the stuff his way because, as he stated, "My mission is to expose the world to new music." which I thought was pretty cool :) I ended up buying some more records and he knocked off 50 kroner! (which is like $8!) I got the soundtrack for A Clockwork Orange, The Warriors soundtrack, No Jacket Required by Phil Collins, and Them by King Diamond. My national Record Store Day was pretty epic, how was yours?

The Record Books

Friday brings joy, and tomorrow is National Record Day...so it looks like this will be a weekend for the record books :)

I ♥ Bonfires.

Today was another great day in Moss. After class today I went down to the beach with my friend Tor. We just hung out and watched the seagulls and swans chill near the water. We thought they looked hungary so we went to the grocery store across the street, got some bread, and fed some of the birds haha which was something I haven't done since I was a little kid. Later on in the afternoon, after some relaxing at the house, I went up to the dorms to get ready for a bon fire :) Me and several of the other students walked out into the woods behind the dorms to a fire pit and had ourselves a nice bonfire. We made hotdogs and smores and just had a great time. The weather was beautiful and I absolutely love bonfires, so it was an epic night :)

I discovered that Saturday is National Record Store day, so as much as I would love to save some money, I'm feeling a calling to go to Oslo and just spending the day in several of the record stores and maybe making a single purchase. I say single purchase because I'm trying to save up for an Engelhardt Swingmaster upright bass :)

So yeah, it was a great day and it looks like it should be a great weekend :)

A Beautiful Day

Today was a gorgeous day in Moss. The sun was shining and it was about 54 degrees :) After some breakfast and guitar playing, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day. I went for a walk down near the harbor and decided to explore a little more of Moss. I went around the harbor and crossed the bridge to the other side of Moss and stumbled upon the beach that I had been told about before. There were quite a few people out today, considering the weather, and everyone really seemed to be enjoying themselves. I had brought my camera and took a ton of photos haha Just more to add to my collection. Speaking of photography, I've been thinking about trying to set up a show for when I get back; maybe asking a coffee shop in Sioux Falls or Grand Forks. We'll see what happens :)

Other than that, it was a pretty chill day. I tried something different for supper tonight and made a stir fry. I had never tried it before, but it turned out pretty good and I really enjoyed it. I also have a bunch left over which is nice...saving some money!

Yesterday I was looking back at my previous blog entries, especially the ones that i first wrote, and it's crazy to see how much has changed, not just with my attitude but also my life. I knew that this experience would change things, but I had no idea how big or positive those changes would be. Although I had some rough patches, there was always something good to help me get though. This experience has been absolutely amazing. I've learned a lot of things about myself and life and Im eager to bring the things I've learned back to the states with me. I have 5 weeks left. Only 36 more days. I can barely believe it. Time certainly has flown by and I seemed to have missed it haha. I can't wait to see everyone. I miss you all!