17th May - Norwegian Constitution Day

Ok I'm finally, finally getting around to posting about Norway's National Day, which took place on the 17th May. 

First of all, I apologise for the lack of (good quality) photos. I'm quite short, especially in comparison to Scandinavians and as a result, I was often unable to see over the crowds! 

The Norwegian Constitution day is a national holiday and celebrates the day on which the Constitution of Norway was signed, declaring Norway's independence. It was signed on the 17th May 1814 and this date has been celebrated ever since. 

On this day, the Norwegians are all dressed very beautifully in their national dress. There is a huge parade that takes place, where children from all over Oslo walk, play music and carry flags through the town. 

Isn't this little guy the cutest? Honestly, seeing little babies and children all dressed up in their national dress is the cutest thing!

I personally loved the musicians and the dancers, they were very impressive. 

After watching the parade for a couple of hours (we managed to squeeze ourselves into a teeny tiny gap at the front so we were standing there mesmerised for quite some time), we took a short walk up to the palace, where we saw the King waving from the balcony. Naturally we waved back. 

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, looking for candy floss stands and watching minature music displays, before joining the crazy queues for the T-bane. 

How does your country celebrate it's national day/independence day? We don't have one in England, nor do we have a national costume, which I think is such a shame! However, we will be having a big celebration this year for the Queen's diamond jubilee. It will be fun to make an English version of this post! 

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It Matters Monday - Should the age be lowered for cervical cancer screening?

There are not many things that bother me. I tend to keep out of politics, avoid confrontation at all costs and I never really get involved in campaigns or protests. However, there is one thing that is extremely important to me. If you live in England, you may have heard the recent news reports about smear tests for cervical cancer. I recently filled in a questionnaire which was aiming to find out how clued up young people are on these tests and how likely they are to take them in the future. It is clear that the need for these tests is very much in the forefront of peoples minds at the moment. The thing I have a problem with, however, is the fact that us girlies have to wait until we're 25 until we can take the test.

25 is far too old, in my opinion. In recent years there have been too many deaths of those under the age of 25, deaths that could have been prevented if those girls had been allowed to have the smear test at a younger age. In my group of 5 close female friends (from my hometown) two of them had already contracted HPV which was in the process of developing into cervical cancer. Both were told that they were in the beginning stages of cervical cancer and were promptly treated. Those two friends were lucky enough to have significant enough symptoms to warrant a test. 

HPV stands for Human Papilloma Virus and is the most common sexually transmitted infection worldwide. It is more common than Chlamydia. In a large number of cases, it does get cleared by the body, naturally, within a couple of years, but it can also lead to cervical cancer. In 2008 a vaccination was introduced that prevents this virus. However, the vaccine can only be administered to girls between the ages of 9 and 25 who have not been exposed to HPV before - ie girls who have not yet had sexual intercourse. That leaves a gigantic gap for us girls who have not been able to get the vaccine, but still have years before we can get the smear test. That means if we have the virus, it has plenty of time to develop without our knowledge. 

I understand that there are health risks when having the smear test underage. The results are not always reliable and of course it's expensive too. However, I firmly believe that those of us who are experiencing unusual symptoms, have been diagnosed with another sexually transmitted infection or who have not practiced safe sex and believe that we have been exposed to the infection have the right to be tested. After all, is it not better to be safe than sorry?

What are your views, my dears? Do you think the age should be lowered, or at least that allowances should be made for those of us who might be experiencing some of the symptoms of this terrible disease? 

Also, please feel free to join in with my new Monday blog theme 'It Matters Monday'. It would be lovely to read about the things most important to you guys (and it's nice to get a little inspiration when we're stuck for post ideas, isn't it :) I'll put the button up in my sidebar shortly, in the meantime feel free to copy it from here.

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Simple Pleasures Series - Simple Iced Coffee

In this little series, I'm going to show you some simple (& delicious) ideas that I've either found around the web or come up with myself. I hope you enjoy them!

Todays post will be a quick recipe for a very simple iced coffee, made from only milk and frozen coffee. I came across the idea of making coffee ice cubes on Pinterest a little while back and Eunseong and I had been dying to try them out ever since! So one morning after breakfast, we boiled some water and added some coffee before letting it cool to room temperature. 

(I recommend 1 tablespoon of instant coffee powder for each mug of hot water. I know that this sounds strong but they melt slowly so it gives just the right amount of flavour).

Once our coffee was cool, we poured it into little ice cube bags (these are so cool! I was quite amazed by how smart they were!) but I'm sure it works to use a regular ice cube tray too. (Just watch out since it might stain :)

We let them freeze over night, before adding them to glasses of cold milk the next morning. 

The result was absolutely delicious! It tasted just like creamy iced-coffee but was so much simpler to make! Ours did look a little bit messy, I didn't realise that the coffee colour was going to leak into the milk so quickly - the original picture that I had seen showed a pretty contrast between the dark brown and the white. Ours didn't look quite so sophisticated, but the lovely, mild coffee flavour made up for that. 

What do you think? Have you tried this before? You can do this with chocolate or strawberry syrup too, for a lovely cold, milky drink :)

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Photo A Day May - Part Four

From the left...

13. Mum - I love this picture of my mother that was taken when she was a little girl. It came in a set of four and was from a black and white photobooth. I think she looks so grumpy and pouty. Isn't it the sweetest thing?

14. Grass - This little patch of grass leading to the sea was filled with lots of pretty wildflowers.

15. Love - Sometimes we need to remember how much we are loved. Eunseong helps me with this regularly. This sweet note of hers made me cry on the plane. I had to pretend I was sleeping to try to cover my tears and sniffling! 

16. What you're reading - Another example of my ongoing Carl Sagan obsession... 

What are you reading, my dears? Do you have any recommendations for me? I'm looking for a sweet, summer story that's easy to read, but I'm not that into girly books. I'm actually starting a project, in the coming days, that will mainly be about Roald Dahl, so I've just placed an order for a collection of his books. I'm so excited to receive them!

I hope you're all having a perfect, lazy Sunday. 

inspire nordic

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Eurovision Song Contest 2012

Are you watching it with me right now? Who would you like to see win? Here is my favourite Nordic act:

I should really be supporting Scandinavia, but I (not so) secretly adore Jedward :D 

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I ♥ Bournemouth

Sorry for not writing for such a long time. I can't believe it's already been a whole week! 

After flying back to England on Monday evening, I've spent the last few days exploring my new town and wandering around the beautiful seaside.

I'm currently working on some new posts, including a small series where my little brother and I try out some simple summertime activities in order to give all you mummies out there some sweet ideas :)

That's it for now. I hope you are all very well and enjoying the hot weather, it's 28 degrees (82F) here! Jack and I are just finishing watching Mr Popper's Penguins before we go back to the beach for a swim and some ice cream. What a lovely place to live! 

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Photo A Day May - Part Three

From the left...

1. Something you do every day - We have a small balcony by our kitchen and I like to stand there each day and look at the view. There isn't much to see, just a few trees and a small mountain in the background, but you'll never be more thankful to see the fresh green leaves of the trees than when you've spent the winter in an icy Scandinavian town... 

2. A favourite word - One of my favourite words is 'smultronponny'. 'Smultron' are those tiny forest strawberries and 'ponny' means 'pony'. It's a kind of Swedish candy that I love, but I kind of just love saying that word.

3. Kitchen - You might have read about my amazingly disgusting kitchen that I have to share in this flat. I didn't want to gross you guys out so I took a picture of our painter's ladder instead. He painted the walls that same shade of horrid-weird yellow. I made friends with him while I was eating my toast, he seemed like a nice man. 

4. Something that makes you happy - Ice cream makes me happy. Especially when I get to eat it while I'm wandering around in the evening, chatting with a good friend, with the sun's warmth still in my skin. What makes you happy?

Thank you all for your sweet 'good luck' wishes. The exam went ok, I feel like I could have done better but that can't be helped now. Today I had a very long and tiring day sorting out paperwork, ready to leave here. I finished my essay as well, which was the last piece of work I had left to do. I'm feeling relieved but also a little overwhelmed so I think I'm going to take it easy tonight before the crazy packing and cleaning mission begins! How are you all doing? I miss you! I can't wait to get back to normality so I can spend some time here with you all! 


PS: If you have a moment, please pop over and see Gail, she's walking on Sunday for Autism Speaks, an organisation that helps families who are affected by autism. She's written a lovely post about why 'Team Isabella' are walking on Sunday and it would be great if you could show them some support :) 

inspire nordic

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