Norway: Can You Turn Off the Lights?

WOW! What a crazy week it has been...wait..I have been in Norway for already a week? Are you serious? I can't believe it! It seems like I have been here forever.  I mean, I feel like I have known all my friends for months and my dorm has been my home for even longer.  Crazy...

This weird time idea is probably because Norway is one of the brightest f*king countries in the world.  I was walking back from a down town area around 1 AM last week and the sky looked like it was around 5:00 PM.  According to my friend Jared the sun never really "sets" during the summer months, it just simply becomes a small glowing dot that moves across the horizon.  And then on the flip side, the sun sets around 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM during the winter months. I guess Norway must become a vampire haven during Christmas time.

The National Theatre (a.k.a Where you can find me in about 10 years)

School is crazy hard but interesting.  My Norwegian language class (Trinn 3) is very difficult but at the same time it is really beneficial.  My teacher Tor Einar - can you get any more Norwegian than that? -speaks Norwegian the entire time.  The only difficulty that comes with that is he is from Trondheim (or Tronhjem if you are from there) so he has a very distinctive accent (a lot of nasal sounds) and speaks super fast.  Also, the class is full of older students (such as graduate students) who have lived in Norway for studying or something and are only taking the class because of the government required language skill for people to work or continue in various other education programs; so really their speaking skills and vocabulary surpass my own by one hundred fold.  That said I feel like I know the grammar, or the "why" to the language a lot better than them but I could just be saying that to feel less demoralized and lingustically emasculated...

One super fun thing I did that isn't school related is I went to the mall with some chums.  We went to the Oslo City (which is the name of the mall) just outside of the Oslo S (the big train station in Oslo).  First off, Norway loves their summer sales.  Secondly, Norway is expensive even with their summer sales.  I have however created a list of things I need to purchase in order to blend in with this culture.  One such item is red pants.  Every one (man or women, gay or straight) wears red pants.  I am not sure why but it seems to be a must when walking down Karl Johans Gate.


I am super excited for this weekend.  It is our first excursion and I signed up for the Telemark trip.  On Saturday, we take either a bus or train (not sure) to Telemark, which is a county just west of Oslo.  The capital is Skien and it is the location of the Henrik Ibsen Museeum (Ibsen Museet).  Skien is where he was born and spent his first few years of life.  We also are seeing some sights, small towns and a cobalt mine. Oh, and it is all IN NORWEGIAN! Yep, på norsk!  More on that to come next week.


And then right away next week I am going on the optional (and a cost of a few hundred kroner) excursion to Bergen.  Bergen is the second biggest city in Norway.  We are staying there for 4ish days.  I am super excited! More on that to come in a week or so.


Over all Norway has been great to me for the past week. I am meeting a lot of very interesting people and learning a lot about me, the world and of course Norway.


---


"It’s been a really really messed up week
Seven days of torture, seven days of bitter
And my girlfriend went and cheated on me
She’s a California dime but it’s time for me to quit her
We’re going at it tonight tonight
There’s a party on the rooftop top of the world
Tonight tonight and were dancing on the edge of the Hollywood sign
I don’t know if I’ll make it but watch how good I’ll fake it
Its all right, all right, tonight, tonight"
~ Tonightˆ, Hot Chelle Rae

One Short Day!

Sunday is the "day of rest" in Norway.  Many stores and places are closed (expect a few grocery stores and movie theatres) which creates an almost Ghost Town effect over Norway.


So this was a perfect opportunity for ISS to send us on a bus tour.


During the early afternoon, we left on a bus tour around Oslo.  During this time, we saw Vigeland Sculpture Garden at Frogner Park, Holemkollbakken, the Viking Ship Museum and the award winning new Opera House.  I took over 300 pictures.  It was a good day.

The bus! We chose the English language tour

The first place was the infamous Vigeland Sculpture Garden at Frogner Park.  The Garden comprises numerous statues that represent various figures in abstract ways, such as a man warding off a horde of babies.  There is also a fountain and monolith.

Frogner Park in the Vigeland Sculpture Garden...What a lovely day it was.

The place was super clean and very chill--we planned on coming back doing homework with the numerous sunbathers.  Mr. Gustav Vigeland, although crazy, did an amazing job with his artwork.

The infamous crying baby statue

Meg på en statue!

After that we went to ski heaven at the Holemkollbakken which is a massive ski jump in Oslo that has hosted many ski competitions.  Although not a skier, the architecture was beyond belief and I think we should mattress slide down it.

After that our tour guide lead us to the famous Viking Ship Museum near Bygdøy.  Now, by this point we were so tired, hungry and thirsty that we didn't really pay attention and just wandered and took pictures...however, it was still a lot of fun and it was nice to get some of the touristy stuff out of the way so we can slowly start the Norwegian metamorphosis and blend in with the Oslo natives....


It was awesome to finally see all of these infamous viking ships, especially since my friends and I learned about so many of them last fall in our Viking class at UND.  We finally put a ship to the name!

We ended the 4 hour long tour at the new opera house that was built in 2008.  The building won numerous awards for the design--which I guess is suppose to be like a glacier coming down into the water.

Det Nye Operhuset

It was a perfect end to a perfect tour...expect for all of the awkward ledges that seem to pop out of nowhere on the building...so many rolling tourists that day.

"One short day
In the Emerald City

One short day:
In the Emerald City
One short day
Full of so much to do
Ev'ry way
That you look in the city
There's something exquisite
You'll want to visit
Before the day's through

There are buildings tall as Quoxwood trees!

Dress salons!
Libraries!
Palaces!
Museums!

A hundred strong
There are wonders like I've never seen


It's all grand
It is all green!

And I think we've found the place where we belong!
I wanna be
In this hoi polloi!

So I'll be back for good someday

To make my life and make my way

But for today, we'll wander and enjoy:

One short day
In the Emerald City
One short day
To have a lifetime of fun
One short day

And we're warning the city
Now that we're in here
You'll know we've been here

Before we are done!"
~One Short Day, Wicked, Stepen Schwartz

Flyin' Solo

I can now officially say that I have flown across the Atlantic Ocean and what a trip it was!

My flight left Minneapolis (or as aviation people would say, MSP) at 3:15.

At 3:15 everything change.

The flight was about 7.5 hours and it ended up at the Amsterdam Aiport called Schiphol.  Schiphol is one of the biggest airports I have ever seen.  It is like Mall of America! WITH shops! That's right, at Schiphol, one can buy Ralph Lauren clothes, designer perfume and high end electronics in stores bigger than stores at MoA.  o.O  


It was also crazy to realize that although everyone in the airport (such as the worker) speaks English, it took second priority over Dutch (which may I add, is a pretty funny language).  I took KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) from Amsterdam to Oslo Dutch always came first (in announcements, worker-customer relations) and what not.  I also gotta give KLM 'props 'cause on their flights, you get sandwiches (not one lightly salted peanut in sight). 

So my flight was a classic over oceanic traveling experience.  There were babies crying (even though the little boy behind me was well behaved--it was just annoying to hear him scream "THAT'S SO COOL" at every aviation related thing on board...future UND student anyone?)


I watched It's Kind of a Funny Story with Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts, The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader and about 20 minutes of Harry Potter 7.  I started to watch Inception after Narnia but it had Hebrew subtitles...so that ended quickly.


I had the window seat in a row of two and the young fellow sittin' next to me got wasted off of chardonnay-at one point he whipped out a flask of whiskey and chased it with water.  He passed out and even after we landed and people started to get their luggage, I had to "accidently" bump him for him to wake up and waddle off of the plane.  What a flight it was.

he flight attendants also helped in making the flight less painful.  They were primarily white, Midwestern middle aged women that would sprinkle their sentences with "ya'all", "hun" or "hunny" and "oh for (insert adjective)".  In essence they were pretty B.A and kept order with a very brightly painted and manicured iron fist.

On the chunk of seats next to me were a group of close to middle aged Norwegians; they were mostly men but there was one kind blue eyed women that smiled at me.  Now, these Norwegians were made me feel very insecure due to one of them read a book almost 4 inches think or played Sudoku the entire time.  The women just played on her iPad but the games were far more than the new classic Angry Birds but intellectual games and puzzles.  Luckily, I will soon discover that now all of Norway is filled with these time of perfect MENSA candidates.  And I also did discover that when I become a high class jet setter, I will have to acquire an iPad because everyone flies with one.

My layover in Schiphol was so incredibly (4 hours) boring but as I reflect upon it, it was pretty fun.


I found my gate (which was on the opposite side of the airport).  I had to go through customs and get my passport stamped.  The young guy working the stamp asked me why I was going to Oslo, to which I responded I am studying there.  He then said, "Good job, get your degree" and waved me through.  I find the Dutch TSA far more enjoyable then their American counterparts.


After spending hours at this airport I came to two conclusions.  The first is that the Amsterdam airport would be an awesome place for a music video.  The second, although on more of a philosophical note, is that airports are the same no matter where you go.  You still find people rushing around lost and people screaming at their families.  At Starbucks was the exact same, the only different is that instead of American high schoolers trying to make a buck they were Dutch high schoolers.  The world ain't that big after all.

My flight to Oslo was simple and short--which was nice.  I was sitting again on the window seat but in a row of three.  My two fellow travelers were young and good looking.  It made me feel inferior xD  One was an anglophonic girl and on the end was a young Dutch man (early 20s, same with the girl).  He read this Dutch magazine whilst the girl read Summer and the City (a book from the author of Sex and the City but the four girls are still in high school.)  It was nice and quiet.


I arrived in Olso with my friend Chris and we made our way via train to Oslo S (the main train station in Oslo).  Our friend Jared meet us there and showed us the way to which we unexpectedly meet up with the rest of us UNDers and a few people along the way.  With Jared's much appreciated help, he helped us get our American booties to Blindern dorms.


What a first day in Norway it was!


After the initial panic, unpacking and intense sweating session we all had from hauling our luggage from wrong place to wrong place and through gravel (which looks nice around our dorms but lacked practically with moving in), we went to our friend's Jared's apartment for a "WE ARE FINALLY HERE" party.

The view from Jared's apartment!

I have a feeling the next six weeks will surely be interesting and never dull. :)

I'm Ready To Go!

As I lay in my room listening to the rain fall, I feel like kaleidoscope of emotions in churning in my body; it's like I'm pregnant.


It is finally here--the trip I have been waiting, wishing and dreaming about since I high school.


I am going to Norway....NORGE...Europe. The place where my family came from.


I have waited for so long for this moment and it is finally here.


Now for those who are reading this and don't fully understand my situation, I will be spending the next six weeks in Norway studying at the University of Olso's International Summer School (which we call Oslo ISS or just ISS).  It is my first time ever across the pond that is the great Atlantic ocean.  Nervous? Scared? Happy? Excited? Worried? Yes.


Some of my fellow Scandinavian Majors (yes, that is a real major) are all doing this program so it is one massive Midwest invasion.  I hope Norway is ready for us!


I am all packed!  It was quite a process but I got all of my clothes and whatnot lying happily in two small suite cases and my brothers overtly large backpack.


It is so weird to thing that I am about to go on a amazing new adventure...an adventure that people say will change your life.  But what if it doesn't?  As my friend Sam (jokingly) said at my going away party, what if Norway is not what you think it is?  What if you end up hating it? I do have a tendency to over romanticize things (i.e. college) so what if I come up and am still the same person I was when I left?


.....Well, let's just hope that for once I can be normal, follow the herd and come back a better man!


I have decided to end these posts with song lyrics that relate to the blog's post.  Why? I don't really know...I was just listening to the song posted below and I realized it was oddly relatable to my current situation.  I guess it gives my blog production value or something.

So tell me right now
You think you’re ready for it
I wanna know
Why you got me going
So let’s go
We’ll take it out of here
I think I’m ready to leave
I’m ready to live

~ Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Head), Panic! At the Disco

Thanks for reading!  I hope to update this blog pretty regularly so check back in a few days.

Takk,

Lukas