INGRID (ENGLISH VERSION)

HOME SWEET HOME

When I talk to people about my interests during the last grade of comprehensive school, they think I was totally crazy. But the truth is that during that time, I really liked fantasy books, Lord of the Rings, Andersen's tales and everything related to Disney, movies, comics etc. On the other hand, my childhood dream job was to become a geologist, in particular an earthquake scientist. I was fascinated by any scientific thing, the universe and the natural world, in general. I liked watching documentaries about science or nature on TV and learning about the world. That's why people cannot understand how possible it could be that one is interested in fantasy books as well as science. Well, this is something I cannot explain, but all I surely know is that one day I could be reading Andersen and the  next about volcanoes.

Prior to my graduating from elementary school, I was solving maths exercises on my own. This was something I really liked to do and my classmates thought I had completely lost my mind, as no one likes solving maths exercises. For me, though, it was a way to escape from reality, especially when I would combine this along with listening to minimalist music or film soundtracks. I knew that nobody could distract me from that. However, to this day I cannot understand how advanced mathematics can help you in practical everyday affairs. Far from that, though, I have always believed that the more you learn in your life, the more sane your mind is. And of course, I would advise all middle-aged people start learning a foreign language, solve crossword puzzles or Sudokus or make up haiku verses. It's possible that you can prevent yourselves by having Alzheimer or dementia. Now, as for me, I liked maths, because it was the foundation of all science.

After my graduation from elementary school, I moved with my family back home, back to Kirkenes. You cannot imagine how relieved I was feeling. I had missed Kirkenes so much - I had missed everything there. Besides, I had never enjoyed life in Cefalonia. And here, of course, I would get to know this kind of people I had always wanted to. However, we didn't settle down at the same place that we did six years before. My parents bought a house in Bjørnevatn, a village about ten to fifteen kilometres away from the centre and about three kilometres west to the Russian border, again next to the forest and the lake.

Monica and I started High School in 2008, but this time we were classmates for the following reason. In our High School, there were two music teachers, one of each group of students: the one was a Greek woman whose name was Anthi and the other one Aunt Kati. It would be really uncomfortable if your teacher was your own aunt, and surely being classmates with your sister is less problematic. Your aunt wouldn't know how to behave to you, in case she was teaching you at school.

This time, things were quite different than Greece. Children were friendlier and less talkative - exactly what I wanted to find. I could make new friends there, without caring about what they were thinking about my 'odd' character. I met two girls, who were three years older and were also at my school. The one of them was a blonde, Laura, but we soon gave her the nickname Lulu, because those days she was tiny and shortie. The other girl was Dina, who had started to get a beautiful high dramatic soprano voice, as she had then started to have classical singing lessons. Both of them were then 15 and they had a passion for music. I remember myself back then telling them: "I have a friend, called Vivian, who is Irish".

The fact that I moved back to Norway was something really good for another reason too. I started piano lessons too, but Kati was not my teacher anymore, because she said that I had achieved such an advanced level, that I had better have another teacher. Thus I enrolled to a music academy, which Dina also was classically trained in. That's why sometimes we were makind duets, appearing together in concerts as well as the final examinations of the academy. I had even considered seriously starting busking in the street along with my instruments. I intended to complete my musical education, so that I could use my skills in the future, in case I couldn't find a job. You see that those days I didn't even think about my future as a full-time musician. I was absolutely sure I would become a scientist, at least in a survey field. And of course my parents have never pressured me to become something I never wanted to. I would aways decide what was best for myself and for my future. However music was something I have always loved and have had a passion for.