Oslo Day 2 and 3

Unfortunately I have no photos to post for these two days, I forgot to bring my charger :( **I stole Photos from Kate!**

DAY TWO was an eventful one. We got up and out of the hostel by about 10:30 then stopped for some delicious coffee before heading over to the old castle. The castle is, I think, from medieval times and is very beautiful and has a beautiful view. I unfortunately did not get to see all of the castle though because a little accident happened with Katie's camera so I went with her to find a camera store and to get it checked out.

At the coffee shop

This was a great adventure (and I can say that now since her camera is fine and with a little tape works perfect). We used Katie's blackberry to find a Japan Photo then used my map to get there. The first one didn't exist and the second one was across town. Thus began our walking tour of Oslo. We eventually found a Japan Photo and went in, but before we asked for help we decided to give the camera another look. Its good we did though because all we needed were some new batteries and some tape.

New Mission: find tape and batteries. In the States all you would need to do is walk into any grocery store, or even gas station to find batteries, but Oslo is a different story. We went to two REMAs, a KIWI and then finally into some random mini mall ish type area where we got the second to last pack of batteries at a camera store. We borrowed some scotch tape from the man at the counter and fixed the camera right up.

This whole excursion had taken us about 3 hours maybe a bit more. We found a thrift store or two along the way and stopped in but didn't find anything worth buying. After meeting up with the rest of the girls and grabbing some food to eat Dani left for home and we headed to the National Gallery. Along he way Hailey parted ways to go to the Resistance Museum.

Silly Hat at the Thrift Store

The National Gallery was amazing. I was truly in love. There were a lot of paintings by Norwegians which were fantastic and then also a great collection of other works. The Scream by Munch was there of course since he is Norwegian but there were a couple Picasso's, Manet, Monet two Rodin sculptures that I love and then one of Van Gogh's Self Portraits which is one of my top favorite paintings of all time. Really I like a lot of Van Gogh's work and Munch's work. I love the way they convey the energy of light in their paintings. Along with the layering of colors in such an obvious and emotion filled way.

After the National Gallery Katie and I tried to find a Fretex (which is a Norwegian Salvation Army) however it was closed. We met up with Catherine and Hailey and made our way back to the Hostel.

When we got to the Hostel we were all exhausted but did not want to go up to the room, so instead we hung out in the lobby and had a great time talking and joking around. I think it was a great bonding time for the four of us, though some of the others might not have appreciated how loud we were.

DAY THREE started off at around ten, we got up and cleared out of the Hostel. Hailey had left earlier that morning because she wanted to get back to Hamar. We had a nice little breakfast/coffee at the same coffee shop as the day before and then headed to the Fretex. It was wonderful, though not quite as cheap as in the states. I found a ton of great stuff but when it came down to it I only bought two things. A winter jacket that was $60 US, though new in the States would have cost a lot more, and a dress for the Noble Peace Prize. Katie found a dress for going out in and Catherine got a sweater. Then we took the tram back up to the central station and met up with my new friend Kristina.

Kristina is a friend of my friend David. David introduced us on facebook this summer and we have chatted a couple of times. She is great, one of the sweetest girls I have ever met. We had lunch with her and then got on the train back to Hamar.

It was a great trip and a great experience. I unfortunately spent a lot of money that weekend and in the last few weeks but will be trying to cut back from here on out. Especially since I won't be getting my refund check until the third week of September :(

When we got back into Hamar we relaxed for a bit then went to a housewarming party at some of our Norwegian friends' house. It was a wonderful end to a spectacular weekend.

In addition to the things about last weekend, I will add a few little bits about these past few days. We have been to the thrift store in Hamar where I got a rain jacket, and we went to a fantastic (and free) pizza night that the international student group put together, we saw the court house in Hamar and had a lecture by a judge there, we swam in Lake Mjøsa (which was the coldest I have ever been in my life) and made a great homemade dinner with the help of our wonderful friend and translator Magnus. 


-Noreen


3 Observations of Today
1. In Ohio I would have considered 59 degrees cold, here it is a perfect day to go swimming
2. Lying down pictures make the picture so much better( http://www.lyingdowngame.net/) there are some picture of us doing this on my facebook :)

3. Blogs with out pictures are rather boring, sorry : /

Oslo, the weekend

This was a crazy great weekend full of adventures firsts and lots of walking.

On Thursday we left Hamar a little after 8 AM on the train for Oslo. Oslo is the capital of Norway and we were headed to visit their supreme court building along with their parliament building.

On the way to the supreme court building Inger showed us a bit around the city and we got to see this beautiful old church. Here are a few pictures. The church is "the church" of Norway. Norway is a secular state, however, Lutheran is the national religion. I know that that sounds sort of strange, but it means that the government by no means forces anyone to be Lutheran, in fact it is in their constitution to have religious freedom. It is also in their constitution that if you are Lutheran and have kids you should teach them to be Lutheran too, not that you have to but you should.

We also went to the new opera theater in Oslo. The building is really cool. The architect is the one who is designing the memorial on Ground Zero. You can walk on nearly all of the roof of the building, its slanty and marble. The view of the fjord is beautiful, even in the rain. The inside of the building is very cool as well. The walls are all sort of crazy shaped and have this interesting wooden design on them. We were told that when they were building the Opera House there were some (sort of a lot) Norwegians that thought it was a waste of money to build it and that no one like opera anyway. Though apparently if you were to look at the number of opera theaters  in the country there are quite a few and there are a lot of people who are involved with these theaters in some sort of capacity. So they continued to build it anyway. Magnus said that the location was part of the planning as well because before it was a sort of ugly industrial area and now it is a beautiful tourist spot.

The Opera House from the second sort of
section of the roof

The inside of the Opera house

An incredible sculpture that is outside of the opera house in the
water, from this side it is a boat from the others it is
just an abstract sculpture

After seeing the church and going on an intense Inger walk we got to the Supreme Court building. The building is rather a lot like the old government buildings that I have seen in the States, big impressive and full of intimidating statues. We were given a tour and a small lecture by one of the clerks. The building has an extensive history and they have worked hard to keep it as original as possible. This includes the tea room were the justices have their half hour lunch break everyday and they are served tea, no coffee. The supreme court system has some similarities to the US system, however a lot of things are different it was interesting to hear about how their system works.

Lion Statue in the Supreme Court Building

The Tea Room

We also went to the Parliament building. The building was under renovation however Inger convinced the guards to let us in to have a look around. It was beautiful as well, though in a more modern way. 2% of all money spent on a government funded buildings has to go into art which means everything is beautiful. 

Inger chatting with the guards 

Then we took the tram to Vigeland Park which is this a super cool and huge sculpture garden. I would love to post some pictures from the park because it was beautiful and the sculptures were great. However, my camera died :( 

Then we jog/walked to the University of Oslo, it was crazy Inger is a FASSSSST walker. and one point I was running to keep up. We were going to go to a lecture at the University, however, it was packed and we just decided to leave and head to dinner. 

We went and found dinner at a 7/11 and ate it on the steps of the palace, which was really cool . The view of the city was sweet and the palace was really awesome looking. We saw the guards marching around while we were sitting there. Then we found a pub to go sit and relax in and Danny's friend met us there. It was nice and relaxing. 

Then Katie, Hailey, Catherine and I headed to the hostel which was a lot nearer to the pub than we thought it was. The people working the desk were great and the hostel was super full, so we stayed in an 8 bed dorm with four guys from around the world. The bathroom was rather gross so we all just didn't shower the whole time we were there. 

Well that is it for the first day and night we were there

TO BE CONTINUED.....

3 Observations from Today

1. Oslo is smaller than Columbus

2. Apparently batteries are not a common item in Norwegian stores 

3. Sing-Song talking is always better

A Trip

Today we are off to Oslo.

Inger will be showing us around all day and the Catherine Katie Hailey and I are going to spend the weekend there at a hostel exploring the city. It should be exciting! We will also be meeting up with my friend Kristina who I have not yet met in person but was introduced to by a mutual friend over facebook :) I can't wait

I will not be able to post, have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

What a wonderful day it has been.

We had class this morning until about one o'clock and from one until around 5 I read for class and then napped for an hour. At six Catherine came over and we started to make my birthday cake, which was an adventure.

Everyone at dinner

My flowers from Gabriele

The instructions on the cake mix were in Norwegian so we were guessing. Normally in cake mix you add water eggs and vegetable oil. We had no oil so we biked over to the store and stared at the shelves. There was sunflower oil and olive oil and a few others that I had never heard of but no plain vegetable. So we asked on of the clerks and he stared at the shelf for a while until he said he had never heard of vegetable oil.

This seemed absurd, we told him we were baking a cake and needed something... and in Norway they only use margarine. Which in my opinion is hardened vegetable oil. He also translated the rest of the instructions for us and showed us where the frosting mix was. If I am ever in dire need of help while I am here I will head straight for a grocery, they are the nicest and most helpful people I have encountered in Norway (other than people at school).

At seven people were suppose to arrive to start cooking but of course in Latin time that means eight ;) Catherine and I attempted to make a cake, luckily there was enough for two cakes because the first one didn't turn out too well. It tasted great because we put Nutella and peaches on it, it just didn't look good.

Birthday Cake!!

Gabrielle (from Italy) made us all pasta which was wonderful, he is a master chief. Catherine made some tomato soup, Katie and Hailey made scalloped potatoes, Daniel brought Coke, Dani brought more soup, Kirk and Ted contributed a pizza. Guillermo, Sara, Gonzalo and Elena brought homemade sangria which was very good.

Sangria!

After about an hour of crazy cooking we sat down to eat. The eight Americans Sara Elena Gonzalo Guillermo Gabrielle Gerson (form Namibia) Mangus (from Norway) and Martin (from the UK). The food was great and everyone was having a great time. Everyone sang me happy birthday in there native languages at the same time, such a beautiful sound. Then we ate all of both of the cakes and drank the whole bucket of sangria. We spent the next hour of so in conversation and then cleaned up the kitchen area in one big group effort.

The whole night was a blast. I seem to have some of the greatest birthdays ever. This one was wonderful, so many new friends coming together to have a good meal. We have all only known each other a week at best an yet we are close enough to spent this sort of time together. I was hoping to make some international friends on this trip but this is far more than anything I could have asked for.

Magnus took a bunch of us internationals on a little trip to see the Cathedral Ruins and to see the paddle boat

Oldest paddle boat in the world

At the ruins

House with grass growing on it

-Noreen

3 Observations of Today

1. When making friends time is not a factor in closeness

2. Sharing a meal is one of the greatest pleasures you can have with friends

3. If you take a break from biking everyday you will be far more sore 

Week One

I have been reflecting in conversation that last week here in Hamar.

It feels like it has been at least a month if not more. Though we have done a great number of things this first week, I feel as though I can not yet answer the question "How do you like Hamar/Norway?" Its fun or its pretty do not seem to be real enough answers for something as big as your new home. I hope after four months I will be able to have a real answer to that question rather than a superficial one. I have been told that things are going to quiet down now that Fadder Week is over, this will probably be a good thing, I'm not sure if I could take that much activity every week, and I know my bank account couldn't. 

This weekend we went on a walk with our new friend Magnus who is an actual Norwegian. He took us to see the medieval ruins and then to see the famous paddle boat which is the oldest in the world. I have some nice photos of the ruins that I will try to put up tomorrow. Then we cooked ourselves a very nice dinner and watched sense and sensibility on Swedish TV

Today we had our first real class. Inger lectured on the history of Norway which was very interesting because in America we aren't told really anything about Norway in our history classes. I took about 6 pages of written notes, which shows how very little I knew going into this. I hope that class continues to be this interesting. 

This evening we had dinner at Inger's house. I have been excited for this since the first day here. Mostly we have been eating cheese sandwiches for lunch and pasta or rice for dinner so a home cooked meal with meat sounded wonderful. 

The whole experience was sort of an adventure though. First off we were supposed to take the bus, which was very expensive considering how short the ride was. We could have biked except not everyone had a bike we thought so we decided to walk since we missed the bus waiting for people anyway. I was the only one who had ever been to her house before and when I went it was in a car so my memory of the trip was not very good. 

It was an hour walk to her house, which created a nice appetite. When we got there we helped to finish the cooking and preparing while Inger helped her elderly neighbor who had gotten lost on the street while walking. Inger's house is wonderful. It is some what small by American standards but not by Norwegian ones. It embodies Inger so well because it is full of memories, like paintings, photos and old furniture and is full of knowledge, bookcases and bookcases of old books. It is seemingly frazzled and unorganized but when you really look you see that everything has its place. Unfortunately we could not all sit together because we were so many, but it was fun none the less. The food was fantastic and plentiful. I had a wonderful philosophical/theological discussion with Katie Daniel and Taylor (Ted) after we ate on the back porch. Then we had coffee and ice cream with home made raspberry and someotherberry warm preserves to put on top. It was heaven. 

We then had some more great conversation and a pleasant hour walk home.  

-noreen

3 Observations of Today

1. A month ago an hour walk would have been torture, now it is pleasant

2. By December I will be in better shape than I have probably ever 

3. Have I mentioned before that the concept of time is taken very differently in different cultures?

Disco Inferno

Well so much for a quiet night in.

The students who help with the international students (I don't remember what the organization is called) invited the internationals and some of their friends over to hangout before we went to see the disco band at the University Pub. The pre-party was fun we got to talk to a lot of people and we met a Norwegian named Magnus who was very nice. Having some Norwegian friends will be good so I can learn more about Norway. Not that I'm not appreciative of my international friends, I have learned more Italian and Spanish this week I think then Norsk.

The disco thing was crazy. I figured that by disco they meant the European meaning of disco aka a club. Oh no it was real disco with big collars and sequins. It was so funny and fun, all of the songs were old American disco songs.

Today was the actual quiet day, we all slept in and relaxed. My roommate arrived and we showed her around Hamar a bit. Later we all watched Dumb and Dumber. Nothing exciting, hopefully tomorrow will be a bit more eventful.

-Noreen

3 Observations of Today
1. Each country/region has its own interpretation of time
2. America's is fast paced and impatient
3. Spain and the surrounding areas are not

Crazy Norwegian Orientation

So this week is Fadder week which as far as I can tell means its orientation week. There are activities for us to do almost every night. Our group has gone to a couple of them including Wednesday night's big barn party and last night's pub crawl. Yeah you read that right pub crawl... with the first years.

Wednesday's barn party was tons of fun. The Americans didn't drink really but the Norwegians certainly did. I was talking to another exchange student from Slovenia and he said that in the Norwegian culture it is a very accepted thing to do.

Regardless we had a great time doing a lot of dancing... here are some pictures.

Ted and Daniel

Just hanging out

Daniel is an intense dancer

Kirk saying come hither

Daniel photo bombs all pictures

More dancing

Daniel taking a rest after the dance off

Here we are at the barn hanging out

We had a great time and made some good friends. Then yesterday we went with the University on a Pub Crawl. This seems like a strange thing for the University to be promoting, but I guess they just want the students to know what the safe places in town are. We traveled around with some students from Namibia, Spain, Italy and Portugal. It was great we all got along really well. Then afterwards we had dinner and hung out together in my room for a while.  Over all it was a night I will never forget because we met so many people from so many different places. We are making all sort of plans to travel together while we are here. Tonight we are going to a disco concert and then having a quieter night in. 

So the surprise that I left for today was that we made Digital Stories this week in class. A Digital Story is basically a movie of pictures with background music and you narrate over it. Generally it is some sort of story that tells about you. Here is mine. 

-Noreen

3 Observations of Today

1. There is such thing as cross country roller skiing

2. Wild raspberries are delicious

3. Karma exists 

Pictures today!

I am a bit behind on photos so there will be a lot here.

He are some of things from us just hanging out. Also of our bikes!

This would be Kirk, who is a Champion
and fixed my beds

Again Kirk again

Everyone but Daniel hanging out in my room

Our bikes!!!

Guess who's that is in the middle being great

Then we went on a bike ride.

Catherine Katie and Hailey (the other American girls)

Thats Taylor aka Ted in the back

This counts the bikes for the day
and the bikes for the year. 208 so far that
day

a shot of down town

the bridge to the lake

Beautiful lake Myosa

Sign about Hamar

Catherine modeling 

BIKES!

some graffiti 

I will write about tonights adventure tomorrow because I am much to tired right now

-Noreen

3 Observations of Today
1. I am not a born cyclist
2. I do not enjoy drinking enough to pay kr 40 for a beer
3. Norwegians like to party

Oh what a day

Today was a day of adventure... adventures in problem solving.

At 10AM we started class for the first time. Class here is going to be much different then class at Cap. To begin with we only have one class at a time. So for the next 3 or so weeks we will be in just this one class, I'm not sure what it is called but we are learning about Norway. And the class schedule is subject to change at any time. Take today for example, the schedule said 10:00 to 12:00 we would have class, however at about 1:00 we were still in there and they were writing the rest of the days schedule on the board. In the end we were there until around three in the afternoon. Tomorrow's schedule has also been changed so that instead of having a day off we have to be to class at 9AM. Its a little hectic not knowing what you are supposed to be doing day by day. Hopefully though things will settle down soon. You will find out at the end of this week though what we have been doing in class, it's a surprise :)

Also today we got bikes, which was an experience. There were 14 bikes available for us to borrow while we are here. Unfortunately two of them were very broken and the rest needed to have the tires pumped and the gears oiled which wasn't bad. The boys tried changing the tires around and things of that sort on the broken ones however it was no good. The bike store said it would take them at least a week to fix the tire. Seeing as I am selfless (and terrible bike rider) I am traded my bike to Daniel for Inger's mystery bike.

After a fun hike and car ride with Inger I was rewarded with the greatest bike ever! It has butterfly handle bars, a basket and a thing to carry packages on the back. Its a little rusty and the gears are having some troubles, but its fantastic. I will post pictures tomorrow.

Also two of our classmates learned to ride bikes right then and there when we were fixing them. It was amazing!

This evening we made baked spaghetti and we all hung out in my room together minus Daniel. Then Happy (who is from Namibia) Catherine and I went up to a "party" that was on the third floor of my building. It was just some of the Norwegian students "pre gaming" before going out for the night. So we just chatted with a few of them for a while. They taught us some Norsk that I do not remember at all and were in general just super super friendly.

But now it is homework time. Tomorrow is a picture day so get pumped :)

-Noreen

3 Observations of the Day
1. Anyone who complains about walking across campus at Capital is crazy.
2. Bikes are sweet, even sweeter still is a town that supports bikes so much that the bike path is as big as the road
3. Being able to change gears is key

He Stowed it in His Tucker-Bag

Today was jam packed thats for sure.

To begin with all of the international students met to have breakfast. This meant I got to meet all of the fabulous people I will be spending the next four months with. It was great. Any apprehensions I had about what things would be like here are gone. The three PLU girls that are here and I hung out all day, off and on with some others students from varying countries.

The day started off with a convocation of sorts after the breakfast. This was almost entirely in Norsk so I'm not totally sure what all went on but I'm sure it was the same as what happens at every other University. Though we did all have to sing a couple songs together, which was different. One of which being Waltzing Matilda, I have no idea why we sang that one but it was a good time.

This is one of the music teachers,
he played us a cool drum solo

This is.. I think the Dean of
students

This is Anja, she is a famous
handball player she spoke
about facing adversity and working
hard for want you want

Here we are parading around

After Convocation there was a little parade of all the students through the town back to campus. We had a meeting for our Society and Culture program. Inger is in charge and she is a wonderful woman. Very energetic and excited to teach and to learn. I am certain that things are going to be very fun and that we are all going to learn a lot. After the meeting was a very long tour that left us starving for lunch by the end. So the girls and I cooked up some spaghetti in my room and hung out for a while before going grocery shopping.

This is a crazy map that Inger drew showing all the places
around the world people from our group are from

Grocery shopping was an adventure. Not only are we super poor college kids but things in Norway are expensive. Also, I'm not sure if you are aware, they are in a foreign language. So we spent a lot of time looking at pictures, trying to use our dictionaries and doing mental math. Basically, we looked very silly the whole time. I am sure of that. In the end Catherine and I have decided to split our food for the time being. On our first trip around the store we ended up with a lot of odds and ends but no protein of any kind. After doing a quick inventory of our things we realized we had no main dishes only lots of sides. So we went scouting again. We managed to identify some salmon and some turkey lunch meat, though lunch meet comes in very very small packages. Overall I would say that shopping is one of the funniest things that we will be doing while we are here. Each new item is a mystery we have to solve.

Also we are trying very hard to learn key phrases in Norsk like "Thank you" is "takk" and sorry is "unnsklyd" Some day we'll be good at this but until then..... Unnsklyd unnsklyd

-Noreen

3 Observations of Today
1. Having the sun rise at 4:30 AM does not help with ones sleeping patterns
2. Americans are attracted to Wifi like flies to honey. We can sense it.
3. I will be walking alot