Norwegian Christmas traditions in Hawaii

Friday 7^thDecember, my roommate and I had a little gathering for some of our Norwegian friends at our place. Next week is our last week at HPU, and we have all our exams. Therefore we wanted to something nice before the craziness starts.

Every Christmas, we eat porridge, which is rice and milk cooked together, and we have cinnamon and sugar on it. There is some more traditions around this dish. A lot of Norwegians, put a boil of porridge on the balcony to the Santa Claus.

We aslo had a competition, which is another tradition we have, were we put one almond in the porridge, and the one that finds it. gets a price, which was a chocolate snowman. I guess this game started to get kids to eat up their porridge. At least that worked on me because I wanted to win so badly. 

We listened to Christmas music, had on Christmas hats and drank red wine. It was a fun night. The Christmas traditions are different here in Hawaii. It is fun to experience something new, but it was nice to do some of the Norwegian traditions too.

Video interview with Agnes

 















One of the assignments we have had in the class I’m taking; writing for the new media was to make a video of a classmate. I did a interviews with Agnes Østengen(22) from Norway. She is studying to become a journalist, but her big dream is to become an author. I wanted to know a little more about this dream, and find out why she has let go of it now when she has become older. 

Honolulu City lights. The major goes Gangnam style

Some friends and I went to Downtown. December 1^st, to see the Honolulu city lights. We hadn’t little knowledge on what was going to happen, but we knew there was going to be a parade and some entertainment. When we got there, we realized how big this thing was. The streets were filled with people.

There was different booths were you could buy different food, and there was a lot of huge Christmas decorations. The Christmas tree had fishes on it, and one of the decorations was a Shaka Santa Claus- real Hawaiian style! Then there was some speeches, and live musical performance. It was really fun to watch.

Then the Electric Light Parade along King Street started. The parade showcased fire, police and emergency vehicles. It was fascinated how much work they had put into some of these things. One of my favorites was a marching band playing “Gangnam style”; and suddenly the major, Peter Carlisle, joined the dance with the Hawaii Pacific University dance team. It was really funny and unexpected.

 

Opening Press Conference - Hawaii International Film Festival

On October 11, I attended the opening Press Conference for Hawaii International Film Festival. The conference was held at Rumfire at Sheraton Waikiki. It was hosted by executive director of HIFF Chuck Boller, and the panel consisted of; Debra Zimmerman, Georja Skinner, Princess Liz Kawananakoa, Ruth Bolan and Peter Shaindlin.

 One new initiative this year is HIFF creative lab that will explore a broad range of fields such as acting, screenwriting directing and music for local and visiting filmmakers.  The workshops will give the opportunity to interact with the industry. 

The festival have over 300 international guest and media from all over the world are attending. The major of Honolulu Peter Carlisle handed over a twenty thousand dollars check to the festival. 

 - It’s important to celebrate the arts and the creativity, and this is one of the greatest film festivals in       the world.

Next up speaking were Georja Skinner who is chief officer of the state of Hawai’i’s Creative Industries Division in the Department of Economic Development and Tourism. She said that Hawaii has a lot of great storytellers and their vision is; begin small but grow expeditionary. 

Ruth Bolan mentioned how important media is to the democracy, because everyone needs a voice. She is the executive Director of Pacific Islanders in Communications which sponsor pacific showcase, to bring films from the islands in the spotlight. 

One of the people who have been recognized for their talent is the local writer Davis Kop, who is sponsored by HIFF. He came up to the panel and expressed how much this means to him because it tells that he is heading in the right direction. 

  

- My advice to other story tellers is to be fearless and to keep writing, Davis said.

At the end of the conference, Bolan told that there are going to be some celebrities attending this year’s festival. One of them is the Japanese film icon Koji Yakusho.

Hawaii Five-O season 3 premiere on Waikiki beach

Sunday, September 23 the Hawaii Five-0 Season 3 Premiere took place on the sands of Waikiki Beach. Producers, actors and eager fans showed up on this sunny day exited to see the episode of the show.

HPU student and Hawaii Five-0 fan Maren Bjørgum

It was a big screen on the beach, bands preforming and different stands with food. The area was filled with camping chairs, laughter and parasols. People from the whole island gathered friends and family on this sunny day. One of the fans who also attended last year is Maren Bjørgum. She has followed the show since she went to the event last year.

 - Last year, we sneaked in the front, and I actually had eye contact with Scott, she giggles. 

Mostly the beach is filled with tourists, but this evening the local people also were at Waikiki. Nearly 6000 people attended, and it was an atmosphere. A lot of eager fans surrounded the red carpet in the sunset.

 - I am very pleased that it started to rain like it did last year. I got ongoing comments from the old ladies next to us, and it was a good mood through the whole view, Maren Says. 

Maren hoped to get a glance of the actors. To her disappointment either Scott Caan or Grace Park attended the premiere, but she thought the episode was great. There were lots of cliff hangers, as it should be in a first episode of a drama series. 

The dream- behind all reason

As a little girl HPU student Agnes Østengen(22), dreamt of being a writer. The journey of life changes a person’s goals. She still loves writing, but now she studies to become a journalist. What makes us let go of our childhood dreams?

In ten year Agnes sees herself working in one the biggest papers in Norway, in the cultural department. She says things have changed since she was a girl.  She felt the need to set more realistic goals. Also, work and school takes all her time, and she doesn’t have space for dreaming anymore. 

-             In middle school I had a crazy fantasy. I often wrote books, and every Christmas I used to make this calendar with 24 different stories, she explains laughing.

She says she always loved writing. In high school they were forced to write more factual texts. This is what she mostly has done since then. After high school, Agnes took one year of cultural journalist studies, before she began to study Media and communication.

-             At first I wanted to study journalism, but when I got into Media and communication studies, and I liked it a lot, because I have learned to use many different media channels, Agnes says.

She has had different jobs in addition to school. Her first journalistic work was in a local newspaper. Agnes says she has developed a lot in the later years, after getting some journalistic experience. She appreciates she got the chance to learn my doing. After this, she got to work for Oslo fashion week, where she became PR- chief. 

-             I have learned a lot from working with PR, but I was often jealous at the journalist. I like to write more creative and detailed stories, Agnes says engaged. 

After some thinking she tells that behind all the reason, she dreams about writing books. She wishes she had more time to write more as a hobby. Her ultimate dream is to rent a house at the beach alone, where she could write all day.