April | 2011 | Irina Bernebring Journiette

2011/04/25

110425 – What I actually do

This morning I realized that I’ve actually never told people what I do here. So I decided to give a quick summary of what happened last week and is happening this week. Every Thursday at five I officially go on weekend, then I go home from campus and try to get all next weeks studying done. Last Friday me and my other half and partner in crime–Helena–headed over to a Autumm’s house for some drinks. There we met up with some other tri-teammates and had a great night just hanging out and talking. I love that when we hang out, topics of discussion reign from everything to triathlons to the U.S laws regarding abortion and how to eat a cookie without touching it with your hands. Then when we got back home around 2 in the morning I engaged in a lively and super interesting conversation about American sexuality with two of my wonderful housemates, Monica and Kimmie. One of the best things with living as I do is the opportunity to have spur of the moment interesting conversations from very different cultural perspectives.

When I woke up I would, normally have run to the gym which is only five minutes away, and/or joined Helena at her pool for some down time. But since I’ve been and still am sick I stayed at home in watched TV until Helena came and picked me up and we headed to our friend Nils place in Venice, LA. He had some Swedish friends visiting and so we came up and then we all went clubbing in H-wood. It was–as clubbing in LA always is–Epic. Leaving I sprained my ankle which put a damper on my Sunday.

However, I still had a great Sunday evening too since Sif, Elim and Helena all came over and made plans for “the Royal Wedding” in Britan. We are going to dress up in pink dresses and tiaras and bake a cake and watch it together. So, that’s my plans for Thursday/Friday. Otherwise this week is as intense as usual. Today I’m conducting an interview for a story I’m writing. Tuesday it’s (as always) time for Taco-Tuesday. Wednesday I have a short class and then it’s Marie’s birthday. Then I have two three-hour workshops in Poetry and Fiction writing on Thursday. Then the wedding. Friday I still haven’t made any plans. And Saturday Nils and his friends are hopefully joining us for a night in the town at Woddy’s in Newport. Newport is completely different from LA, but equally funny to strut around in after a couple of glasses of wine.

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2011/04/23

110422 – Coachella

…I came back Monday but have been unable to fully grasp my experiences until now. It was majestic. I saw, Afrojack, Cee-Lo Green, Kings of Leon, Robyn, The Black Keys, Bloody Beatroots, Duck Sauce, Jack Beats, Kaney West, Nas/Damian Marley, Ratatat, The Strokes, Tinie Tempah, Trentemöller, Two Door Cinema Club, The Tallest Man on Earth, Steve Angello, Mumford and Sons, Laidback Luke, Chuckie, Empire of the Sun, Arcaide Fire, Animal Collective. It was insane, I can’t find the vocabulary to describe what I experienced. Enough said. Hopefully I’ll soon get some pictures from Josefin (I wasn’t allowed to bring my camera inside the venue) and then I might be able to show you.

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2011/04/23

110422 – New York, New York

Spent a week in my favorite city a while back. Elvina flew in from Sweden to spend a total of four weeks in the US. Two weeks were spent with me, first in New York and then here in Irvine. Of course we had some crazy events happen. Events that only can happen to two crazy ladies that share a last name. During our first day we walked around East village and Union Square a manikin at Desigual almost fell on top of Elvina after she was admiring the bag attached to it. At night we met up with my gorgeous NY friends Ariel and Pilar and had dinner at Ilili before heading over to one of their friends penthouses in the Lower East Side. Day two we spent shopping: and literally stayed in the store until we where dying of hunger. Grabbed a quick snack in Little Italy and took a stroll through China Town before heading over to the movies and catching a late-night showing of some movie I can’t seem to remember. (It can’t have been particularly good) When we got back to Brooklyn I realized that I by mistake had bought a pair leg-warmers instead of knee-stockings. It does not at all seem funny know, but it was actually hilarious when it happened. Day three we spent shopping up and down the 5th and of course played the big piano at FAO Schwartz. We then had mid-day tea at Alice’s Teacups II and went for mani-pedi’s in Brooklyn. Then we had dinner with Sif who also was staying in Brooklyn and Samantha, my other NY friend whom I first got to know in Sevilla last year. Then we went for drinks with Sif’s Guiseppe at the Standard NY before heading back home to the crazy people we were staying with. Day four we went shopping on Bedford in Brooklyn and Elvina found some great vintage before we met up with Ariel and had a quick goodbye lunch at Spice. When then headed out to do some more shopping but where in shock when we realized that the shop-assistant had hung all our clothes back because we took to long in the fitting room. Elvina had a fit and started screaming to the her and what met with the comment: “Lady, it wasn’t like I threw away your things, you haven’t bought it yet.” It was absolutely the funniest moment ever. Especially since it was followed by Elvina running all over the department store trying to find her clothes again before the store closed three minutes later. The last three days we spent doing more shopping and eating, we found a great place–Thalia, in the Theater district. We also met up with Simret and Wille from LA, who spent a couple of days in NY for drinks and Abdulla and Felly from Irvine for dinner and icecream and Elvina managed to almost get caught in a Subway door. All and all, we had a great stay in NY.

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