May favorites

The winter would not quite let go, even when spring was supposed to arrive, but these last few weeks turned into balmy nights, sweet and heavy air and standing on tip-toes to reach for the summerdresses in the back of our closets. It was attempting line dance with Nora on my terrace, lots of passion fruit sherbet and planting currant bushes in my garden. It was long days spent outside until the sun had worn me out. We found an islet while hiking in the forest and went swimming. Drinking lemonade at sunset by the waterside and feeling the heat of the sun as it kissed our backs. It was dance performances exploring contrast, saag paneer and naan, art gallery visits and podcasts about regrets, love and lie detectors on the bus. Looking back, I can't believe I managed to squeeze all of this into my days packed with exams, missed phone calls and a backpack so heavy that it bruised my shoulders. But in the end, what was the essence?

Loving

Healing, love, believe - The three oracle cards I pulled this month. "I receive and give love today and always!", "Phenomenal healing energy flows through every cell in my body!", "The best is yet to come!". - The tiny mantras I tried to keep in the back of my mind.

Sweet potato brownies - I would eat these every day if they only cost a dollar. For some reason, the sunny weather has me craving brownies?

Herbarium - Tucking wildflowers in-between pages of Prozac Nation and my math textbook, and pressing them the minute I got home. It's no secret that I'm not an expert at this. Despite my inability to put newspaper in-between pages like I was supposed to, I enjoyed keeping my eyes open for any flowers growing wherever I went and all the different species to notice.

Marina Abramovic: Portraits - An exhibition consisting of staged portraits of the artist herself. The series has its origins in nostalgic childhood memories and includes a video installation of stories from her troubled childhood.

Listening

May playlist - This month we made a playlist packed with our favorite Norwegian artists, made up of a song about IUDs, a musician known worldwide in the 90's but perhaps forgotten in the most recent years and a mix of tunes that you probably haven't heard of before.

Okay Kaya -  Kaya Wilkins is a singer and songwriter, based in New York, that goes by the name Okay Kaya. Her songs mostly concerns sexual health and she's been touring Europe the last few months, preforming in different churches. Her album 'BOTH' is in fact dropping on vinyl today, through which she explores themes such as mental health, sexual/racial/national identity. I recently attended one of her concerts in Oslo, and I must admit that her performance left me speechless. I still occasionally listen to a voice record on my phone that I took during the performance, trying to feel like I'm back in that moment again. Her music does not revolve around reaching the highest notes, but rather the atmosphere. Every melody is somewhat melancholic and with the acoustics of the tiny church and the candles surrounding her, I felt as I'd entered some sort of realm of dream-like reality. The concert was very intimate and lines such as "Do you dance like you fuck? Or do you dance like you make love?" and "Would you come with me, to get an IUD? Maybe if you come with me, I will let you come in me..." felt so strange but perfect to be singing in a church.

Watching

Youtube videos - A variety of videos to get inspired or simply disappearing for a while (or procrastinating during finals week).

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - This is perhaps not necessarily specific for this month in particular, as Amélie is one of my absolute favorite movies. But in context of my French exam I decided to rewatch it and it proved yet again to be such a beautiful classic. It is "french" is all the right ways and the cinematography is literally a work of art itself. If I could choose to live in a movie, I believe it would be this one.