Who Mari

[Mari]

OK here we go, after reading about everyone else for a year I''m going to share my story.

I''m Norwegian by birth and I spent my childhood in Norway, but I''ve lived most of my adult life elsewhere.I did my first big trip when I was 17. I went and lived with a family in Wisconsin for a year, a great experience.

After going back to Norway to finish my basic schooling I went to southern France (Toulouse) for my degree. Loved the climate, the food, the language... but I ended up meeting a boy living in England

, so after "commuting" for a year and a half, I moved to London to do a Masters degree.

I''m still in London, I work for the British government as an economist, and throughoughly enjoy my job. I''m still with the same boy (though he''s grown into a man now). We bought a house toghether 2 and a half years ago that we have completely renovated (just finishing).
Just as I didn''t know what to do with my time as we were finishing the DIY, he proposed, so now I''ve got a wedding to plan.

My diamond fascination started just over a year ago, I''ve always loved sparkly stuff, but never really thought of diamonds in particular, until I was in New York to see a friend and she loves them. We went and had a look at a few shops, and I was surprised at how differently they could sparkle, and decided to find out why. I did an internet search and came across pricescope, and haven''t looked back since, I''m hooked.
I got my first diamond for christmas by my lovely fiance. It is a 21 point H VS round brilliant set in a four prong basket pendant. I''m totally in love with it, and keep staring at it. The only problem being that the chain is slightly short, so I go completely cross-eyed in the process.

 

[fire&ice]

Welcome Mari!

from the other side of the pond!

 

[Mara]

Cool story, Mari!

A little pendant eh? Lovely! Seems like you may need a longer chain? Or a mirror affixed to your chin? Hee Hee.

 

[Mari]

That's one logical and one imaginative solution which I won't tell my other half.

I recon we'll end up with the expensive one and go for another diamond in a ring, (you can never have too many) but I've agreed that we'll get the wedding out of the way first so we know how much we can spend.

I really want a Regent, but I think that I'll have to actually see one in person to be sure.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

Great story Mari & welcome to Pricescope..

If you have time it would be fun to see pictures of the newly remodeled house..

 

[Mari]

I will post some pictures soon, at the moment there is still some finishing touches left to do (such as last bits of painting, and haning doors etc ,an then I will get the camera out.
It's a lovely flat, in a house built in the 1880s, and the ceiling are 11'6" tall (we had to buy scaffolding to paint the ceilings.)

 

[Jaded Gem]

Hey Mari! Welcome aboard. If you don't mind me asking. I am a bit nosey. You said, "I'm Norwegian by birth and I spent my childhood in Norway, but I've lived most of my adult life elsewhere.I did my first big trip when I was 17. I went and lived with a family in Wisconsin for a year, a great experience." Which part of Wisconsin did you stay at or which high school did you go to? I ask because the high school I went to had an excellent exchange program where one could live with a host family for up to a year while going to school there as well. I've met a lot of close friends of mine through that program. For example, I became close to three exchange students from my years in high school. One was a girl from Finland, another girl from France, and the other was a boy from Germany. I still keep in touch with my friend from France. I wonder if we are talking about the same high shool, but then Wisconsin is a big state. I'm sure there are other programs at other schools like my high school. Anyway, welcome aboard. Hope to see more posts from you, and congrats on the engagement. Good luck with your wedding. I'm sure you will keep us posted, right?

 

[winyan]

Hi Mari

It's grand to have you here on PS! I love the variety of people we seem to aquire, the diversity just adds so much!

I would love to go to Norway someday, my SO affectionately calls me "Nord" because of my love of X-country skiing!

win

 

[Mari]

Jaded Gem
I don't mind you asking at all. I went to Case high school in Racine, but if it's the same high school it's a major coincidence.

I'll definately keep you posted on the wedding plans, we're not planning ot get married until next summer (2005) so I've got plenty of time, but I'm already flapping like a headless chicken, there are so many choices.

 

[Jaded Gem]

Hey Mari. Yeah, you'll do fine at your wedding in 2005. Hey it won't be till next year, right?

Wow, I know where Racine is which is south of a major city that I grew up in. Have you been up to Milwaukee? Anyway, I've been pretty lucky that my mother in law is planning a wedding reception for my husband and I for her side of the family and our mutual friends out there. He's from out West. We just got married last July for my side of the family and friends. We both come from huge families, and we have many friends. We weren't able to plan a back to back Midwest and West coast wedding because my husband was tied down to work. On top of that, two of his cousins, one from his mom's side and one from his dad's side, had also gotten married this past July in California and we flew in for that. We also had another friend who had gotten married this past July. Let's just say that all the weekends in July were booked with a wedding.

So we didn't want to steal anyone's thunder or ruin any honeymoon planning by also staging one in July in Cali.

Anyway, I would love to see more postings by you. I have an uncle, aunt, and cousin who live in London. I hope to make it out there soon. I just love to travel.

Take Care.

 

[Mari]

Win

My family would love you, ever since I was born my parents brought me out when they went skiing, first wrapped up in a big sheepskin "sack" and dragging me behind them on this special cloth-covered sled. (I'n no idea what it's called in English). From I could start to walk I was taught to ski, and I remember spending all my childhoold winter holidays outside skiing, for hours and hours on end.

The thing is that I'm a complete bookworm really, and wanted to spend the holidays reading all the books I'd brought, and I think my parents was always slightly dissappointed that I wasn't more enthusiastic. My mum still skis every opportunity she gets, and tries to get me out there when I'm home.

 

[pqcollectibles]

Hi Mari and Welcome to Price Scope!

It's great to meet people from all over the world here!!

You can fix the problem with the pendant by moving the diamond to your finger, in a ring!!

 

[winyan]

Hiya Mari...

I think it's the same in English, we call it a "Pulk"...but we probably adopted the Norse name for it!

Yup, I'd probably have a great time with your family!!

win

 

[AGBF]

Welcome, Mari...I don't know how I missed this. You sound extremely interesting. Did you study economics in school or did you somehow wind up in an economist's position after studying something else? (I *think* one of my husband's oldest friends got a graduate degree from the London School of Economics in mathematics(?) then went into telecommunications.) Anything quantitative, save chemistry, is foreign to me, though. I can talk about books with you, though . What genre(s) do you enjoy?

Deborah

 

[Kamuelamom]

Welcome Mari!

 

[Mari]

Hi Jaded Gem
We were in Milwaukee all the time. We used to go to that big mall ( I think it was called something like Half Mile?) as you do when you're 17 and suddenly face American rather than European clothing prices. I came to America with 1 suitcase and had to ship 8 big boxes with clothes and buy an enourmous backback when I left (and I still had to leave half the stuff I bought).
And I could do this on an allowance which in Norway was considered low.

I went back this October, and the mall had closed down, I was devastated.

But the lakefront in Milwaukee is absolutely amazing.

 

[Mari]

Win
Exactly, it was pulk, which is the norwegian word for it.

 

[Mari]

Hi AGBF

I studied economics at university (5 years of it). And I'm actually one of the few that I know that actually work as an economist, everyone else seem to be in finance or management consulting. I fell into it at universite actually, it was my freanch teacher who suggested that I'd enjoy studying economics in France as it was a social science with a high mathematics content, and I'd get to improve my French without studying it. ( I wasn't sure whether to study languages or mathematics or sociology).

Now what genres do I enjoy? I'm actually a really indiscriminate reader, I'd read the phone book if that was the only thing available

I prefer fiction, and I generally wont choose thrillers or detective stories, but there's one if front of me I'll read it.

I tried to draw up a list of my favourite authors, but I give up, there are so many I enjoy.

At the moment I'd say there is an asian theme in my reading; Japanese, Chinese, Asian-American. I'm currently reading the bonesetter's daughter by Amy Tan.