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Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Finnish National Board of Education

Today was the meeting with the Ludvigsen committee (us) and the Finnish National Board of Education - it truly was a very interesting and inspiring meeting <3 
And if anyone was wondering; no, we did not go to Finland to make a copy of their school in Norway. We went to learn more about their thoughts about their system and their process to get where they are.

In Finland they do not have national tests, so they don´t get that ranking of schools - and what I really loved hearing was that when people ask how they know if a school is a good school or not, they say that every school is a good school 😀 The teachers are probably less "free" than in Norway, though - with a curriculum that is waaay more detailed than ours (600 pages...!)
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After we finally arrived Helsinki last night, we ate dinner at Olo - a fantastic restaurant! We were lucky that the restaurant accepted us, since we were more than an hour late for our reservation...because of snow and ice and hail at Gardermoen (winter - *yuck*). The airport apparently shut down just after we left, so I guess we were lucky that we didn´t get more delayed.
Anyway; the food was absolutely delicious, and I´m so glad they accepted us!

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til From the airport
Maybe airport blogging will be my thing in 2015 too - like it was in 2014 (at least the last part of that year) 🙂
I´m currently at the Seafood Bar at Gardermoen, drinking a latte and waiting for my flight to Helsinki. It´s actually a little chaotic here today (quite a lot of snow outside...), but they don´t say anything about any delays, so I have my fingers crossed.
The goal of the trip this time is to learn about the Finnish educational system (since I´m in Ludvigsenutvalget) - I think it will be very interesting, and I hope I´ll go back to Oslo again tomorrow with new inspiration 😀
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I have to share a "Pon & Zi" - they are so cute <3

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til 2014 *check*
It´s time for another recap of 2014, and then I´m definitely "done" with last year. The first recap was about my biggest moments of 2014, but as a girly blogger it´s essential to show a lot of selfies and outfits, so today I want to share my 12 favourite outfits/selfies of last year <3<3<3
I have also gone through a lot of the outreach/science communication work I did last year (the Institute want to know, of course 🙂 ), and I must say I am actually a little proud of what I managed... I gave at least 30 talks, and if I count how many people I reached last year it´s at least 15000 (the two TEDx talks helps quite a lot, of course). If I also think that I "reach" 30 pupils through every teacher I talk to, the number doubles (I gave several talks to teachers around Norway last year). Also, the blog had an average of 15000 hits per month - which I think is quite ok for a pink blog about nuclear physics and research and stuff 😉
This year I hope to do even better - I want to reach more people (through the blog, and through talks), I want to give better talks, and I want to inspire more people to go into science <3 

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Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Heavier than heavy water
I think this will be a great week - at least it started good <3 
My Monday consisted of basically two things: reading papers (scientific ones - OMG they are tough to read; it takes seriously forever to get through just one), and a very fun, inspiring and secret meeting - really want to tell you all about it now, but I have to wait a little while (it´ll be fun, though) :/

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Publisert 2 kommentarer til 31

Yesterday was my 31st birthday, and during these 31 years I´ve "achieved" different things...I made a list of some of the first things that came to my mind:

I´ve been pregnant, I´ve given birth, and I had a daughter <3 

I´ve learned 2.5 languages, I´ve travelled to 5 continents, and I lived abroad - in Paris. I started university, and I earned a master´s degree. I have failed courses at the university. I have been in love (several times) and I´ve been heartbroken (once I was so shocked and devastated that my entire body stiffened - my neck, back and arms ached for more than a week). I´ve lived in 15 different places, and I have owned two of them - the 15th I bought all by myself. I´ve worked as a dance teacher, I´ve worked as a "normal" teacher, I´ve worked in a perfumery, I´ve been a consultant at the Norwegian radiation protection authority, and I´ve worked at a science library.

I´ve had dreams that were shattered, and I´ve had dreams that are still there. 

I´ve weighed 100 kilos. 

I have been depressed. 

I have danced on stage, I have sung on stage - I have danced AND sung on stage. 

I´ve published scientific papers, and I have talked at scientific conferences. I´ve been accused of cheating, and I´ve been accused of lying (when I had actually never been more open and honest in my entire life - guess I´ve learned that being honest and telling the truth doesn´t meen you have to tell everyone EVERYTHING)
I´ve been dumped by facebook chat (a little bit like the post it in Sex and the City: "sorry I can´t don´t hate me").
I have given two TEDx talks, I´ve written several opinion articles for Aftenposten, I´ve been inteviewed, I´ve been an "expert" on the radio, and I have been on TV. 

I have voted.   

I´ve talked to thousands of kids about science, and why it is awesome, and why they could choose science if they really want to change the world <3

I hope my year as 31 will be a good one - I must have learned something by now, or what?

had a small celebration - girls night - with Alexandra, my mother, my sister, and her daughter Andrea last night, and it was really nice 🙂

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Publisert 2 kommentarer til 10 facts about heavy water
So yesterday I was interviewed by the newspaper Dagbladet about heavy water (since they´ve made this new show about the Norwegian heavy water and how they bombed the factory during world war 2 - love the show, btw 😀 ), and I was thinking It´s really long since I´ve had a "10 facts" blogpost, and I think this is the perfect occasion! I therefore give you 10 facts about heavy water <3 <3 <3

  1. Heavy water is heavy - around 10% heavier than light water (as a nuclear physicist working with reactors I actually call normal water for light water :V)
  2. Heavy water is chemically called D2O, instead of H2O (normal/light water)
  3. The D in D2O is for deuteron
  4. A deuteron is a heavy version of hydrogen (an isotope of hydrogen), and it´s heavier because it has a neutron in its nucleus in addition to the proton (normal hydrogen has only that one proton in its nucleus) - thus a deuteron is twice as heavy as a hydrogen
  5. Heavy water can be used as a moderator (something that slows down the speed neutrons) in a nuclear reactor (this is what the Germans wanted it for during WW2)
  6. If you use heavy water in a reactor you can run it on natural uranium - you don´t have to enrich the uranium (like the Americans were doing in the Manhattan project)
  7. Heavy water doesn´t "eat" neutrons, like light water does - which is why we love <3 it
  8. Germany wanted to make plutonium - and it´s a really good idea to do this in a reactor with heavy water and natural uranium
  9. Norway doesn´t produce heavy water anymore, but we use it in our two research reactors, in Kjeller and Halden 😀
  10. India are researching reactors using heavy water and thorium - which is really cool!
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This is a picture of me, wearing a kimono, writing about heavy water in my living room:

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Publisert 3 kommentarer til Back at the office
I really love that feeling of a fresh start - a new year, where you haven´t made any mistakes (yet 😛 ), and you´re just a good PhD student (or whatever 😉 ). Today´s my first day back at work after christmas, and I´ve started a real recap of the work from before the Berkeley trip - I´ve actually spent several hours on going through logbook stuff, and tomorrow I´ll continue together with supervisor Sunniva.
As you can see I´m wearing a white shirt - like I said I would do more often this year...all in all it´s a good start 🙂

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Happy new year!

Happy new year everyone, this is my song for 2015...<3

This year will hopefully be a good year - stable, and not too much of a roller coaster ride... 😉 I don´t really have new year´s resolutions, but my plans for 2015 are to write more (I will try really hard to do it two hours everyday), give at least the same amount of talks as in 2014, get pictures on my walls, wear more white shirts and black bras (spend less time on figuring out #whattowear),  get less hurt and try not to hurt others, realize I can´t do everything and spend less time on doing stuff I´m not really that good at - if others can do it better, be happy alone, say more yes, say more no, and less maybe. I think that´s about it 😀
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"We think Stian was the only one that was funny"

This Snapchat photo of Steffen and me is btw the only photo I have from new year´s eve - it was a very fun night, and I was (obviously) more concerned about enjoying it than taking pictures 🙂

Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til 12 moments
2014 is over in a couple of hours, and I´m looking back at a year filled with ups and downs (that´s life, isn´t it?)
Here are 12 moments from 2014 (I may make some bigger blogposts about this year, but for now I´m looking at one "big" moment from each month) - a sort of insta-sum up of 2014 😉
So...enjoy!
The seventh of January I turned 30, and I celebrated with one of my best friends - Charlotte <3


I was on the front cover of the newspaper Morgenbladet; in an article about women and science

Charlotte defended her thesis in medicine, and got her PhD degree 😀


I gave the talk "OMG NUKULAR ATOMZ RADIATION MELTDOWN!!!1" at The Gathering


A lot happened in May - the biggest "ups"; like going to Japan to make Sushi and Nuclear...


...and the biggest "downs"; like when I was reported to the National Commission for the Investigation of Research Misconduct


In June I managed to buy my very own apartment (just me!) - "Rose Castle" ;)

July was so hot, and Oslo was a perfect place to be - we went on the ferry to the islands almost every day


Then, in August, finally the day came when I moved into my apartment - I still think I have the nicest view, like, ever 😀


September was a mess (still with several ups, like meeting the fabulous Vibeke Fængsrud) - I got sick


I was in one of my first debates about nuclear power at Oslo Bokfestival - it went ok, and I met some great people, like Bård Michalsen, who has written a book about the comma (that I still haven´t read :/ )


I held my second TEDx talk, this time in Geneva - about "Why science should be more pink"


Then I went to Berkeley again; and after a tough fall semester I was proud that I managed to get results (yes, it´s still the uranium) and give a talk!


Publisert Legg igjen en kommentar til Instamoments
Even though I didn´t manage to "complete" the advent calendar, there´s been quite a lot of (nuclear) physics related blogposts lately - and very little personal stuff. This is, of course, in one way is great, since nuclear physics is awesome, but it´s also important to talk about one self and everyday life, and not just physics - it´s hard to understand, but after all, life is more than physics and the lab 😛 
It´s been too long since I shared some instamoments with you, so today is a good day to do so 🙂 
(If you want to, you can follow me here)
I´m learning to be Parisian - love <3 this book // halloween // morning selfie with my morning coffee
reading Einstein #oldschool // Paris with my mother // Alexandra swiimming

"whu science should be more pink" - my TEDx talk in Geneva // little sister Carina and her Magnus 🙂 // ready for the christmas party with the wonderful people in Bulldozer Film
Andrea has spent the night at Rose castle // my fantastic colleague Ann-Cecilie and me on our way to Berkeley // morning swim selfie

flying Widerøe on my "tour" in the north of Norway // kiss me <3 coffee // fall
fun night with Henrik and Anders // the dress! // ready (almost) for "God morgen Norge"

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Now it´s time to go and get my make up on, fix my hair, put on a dress (haven´t decided which one yet), and fix Alexandras hair (she has been wearing her new christmas dress for hours already 😉 ), and then I think it will be time for dinner and presents...
Merry christmas everyone!