No street lights

So here we are, in Denmark, pretty much in the middle of nowhere.
5 suitcases, a few bags, our dog Atlas and us.
Starting over again in a new country, after everything had started to come together so nicely in Norway. But the only thing we're sad about right now, is the fact that we won't be able to see all the lovely friends and colleagues we have there for some time.
We're making this into our own little adventure right now, and going wherever life takes us, really!
We know we have some wonderful friends and family that are with us no matter what.
And as long as we have each other, that is the most important thing.
After all, that is why we're doing all this!

Loads of love,
Malin

Oh, hi!

So what the heck happened to Venus & The Moth?
Why have I been so quiet the last 8 months?

Well, there's been a lot going on in our lives. And I mean a lot.
Our lives have changed a lot over the past 8 months in a lot of ways, we've had some external problems, but we are still together, still going very strong and still very happy!
Let me sum it up for you:
- Daniel started his new job in May.
- We were interviewed for Daniels application in June.
- I started my job at the gallery in June.
- We found ourselves a place to rent with our roomie Julie in July.
- We moved all our stuff (and my old stuff) from my moms place to our new house.
- We got loads of stuff for really cheap (and some even free!) for our new place thanks to my grandma.
- We got a dog!
- I started school again in August.
- I finished the project exams for my first two modules in November/December.
- Daniels application got denied in November...
- We sent in two complaints about Daniels denied application in November.
- We saw a bunch of lovely friends and spent Christmas eve with family in December.
- Daniel was asked to leave the country as soon as possible, but luckily we got the deadline delayed until the 20th of January.
- We packed up as much as we could of our life in Porsgrunn in January.
- My amazing mom drove us all the way to Zealand in Denmark the 19th/20th of January.
- We now live in Denmark and are looking for an apartment.

Yes, that's right. Our life was pretty great in every way until November, when we got the letter from the Directorate of Immigration about Daniels application being denied.
We were both working and enjoying what we did, we got an amazing little Italian greyhound as a new family member, we were spending time with friends and eventually I started my digital media design course, which I love. And then our lives were turned upside down a little bit. But we stayed positive, we were so sure it was a mistake in the Directorate's part, as I have read the rules over and over and have found nothing that gives them the right to deny Daniel a residence card. But yet they did, and then they processed the complaint surprisingly quick, and his complaint was still denied, and he was asked to leave the country.

But we are still staying strong and positive! Nothing can keep us apart, not even Norway!
I swear all this crap are just making us stronger. And I still feel so, so lucky to have Daniel as my husband, because none of this has affected our relationship negatively, in any way.

So now we're in Denmark, with 5 suitcases and our little iggy.

I will be writing some more in-depth posts about these happenings, so stay tuned. I'm planning on keeping this blog going from now on, as long as I have internet I'll try to keep everyone up to date on our adventures!

Peace and love,
Malin

The deal with the application - so far

So, as I mentioned, these last few months have been incredibly stressful.
Spending every day worrying about whether the person you love more than anything in the world will be able to be by your side in the near future, or even in the same country as you, takes it's toll.
Luckily we've both been good at staying positive, and luckily we have each other to vent to, and to pull each other back up when we fall down. We've both been so worried and stressed that it has affected us physically, but then the other one of us has always been there to take care.

Even though this situation sucks, I feel so lucky and endlessly happy that I have Daniel, and I am so thankful for what a great husband he is.

For those of you who don't know, this is a short summary of our application history:

• We scheduled an appointment to apply for an EEA residence card fo Daniel, and got one the 8th of January at the local police district.
• We handed in all our relevant paperwork, and was told the application was complete and would take 6-8 weeks to process.
• After about 10 weeks, I contacted the police district to check up on the application, and I was told there had been a lot of absence in the offices due to illness, so everything was a bit delayed.
• After another 2 weeks after that, I called the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to ask some questions regarding the application, and I was told it had been sent to them because our situation was a bit too complicated for the police to know what to do with. We got some answers cleared up and was told the goal was to have the application processed within 4 months after the hand-in.
• This week I called to clear up something else, and was told the application had been sent back to the police district again so that they could interview us, as the police district failed to tell us that we had to attach a questionnaire about our relationship to our application.
• It has now been 3 months, 4 weeks and 4 days, and we are still waiting just to be interviewed.

I do realize that in a lot of situations, the waiting time is a lot longer, and the conditions are generally worse. We are renting a room in my mums house, we have enough money for food, and we have each other, our lovely pets and family and friends around us.
But when it's about being with the love of your life or not, not knowing what is going to happen, and knowing that your lives can turn around completely just from opening a letter, waiting without knowing is really difficult.
We want to get our completely own place, we want to get steady incomes, I want to keep on studying, we want to travel and visit our family and friends elsewhere in the world. We want to start living our life as a married couple. But we can't do any of this properly, 100%, before we know the result of the application.

Like I said though, we are staying positive, we are hoping for the best, and we do have a plan b.
It's just difficult to not know.
But as long as we can be together, we're both very happy!

Photo by Benedicte Eikenes Thomassen

Loads of love,
Malin

Our plan (for now)

Some of you guys probably want to know what our plan for the near future is, in regards to our living situation.
We have two good friends, Bjørnar and My, studying and living in Genoa, Italy at the moment. I've thought about Italy for a long time, 'cause the city sounds amazing and beautiful, the climate is better and the temperature is more stable. Just what I need.

Image from Wikipedia

I've been in contact with the academy they're both attending, and I've decided to take a few courses there. And luckily, our two good friends have a spare double bed and an extra room they use as a studio. So we pretty much have a place to stay and I have somewhere to study!

Even though I won't get financial aid from Norway, Italy is so cheap that we'll be fine with the money we already have.
And also, living together in Italy for three months or more will make it a lot easier for Daniel and I to get him a residence permit once we're back in Norway, which means he's probably able to get a job! So it's pretty much win-win right now! We're very excited, and hope everything works out as planned. We both think we'll really enjoy staying in Italy, in all aspects.

It's going to be good.

Oh, and Daniel and I just handed in the complete application for his EEA residence card, and the lady that helped us seemed positive! Huge load off our shoulders for now, and fingers crossed!



Loads of love,
Malin