Eidsvollsbygningen: The Birthplace of the Norwegian Constitution

Our class had a field trip to Eidsvoll today; to the location where the Norwegian Consitution was created and signed! It was a very exciting trip. I can surely say that this is the best fieldtrip I have ever been on!

On the way there, I had a very pleasant conversation with a historian (his name is Morten, he also gives lectures to our class) about languages, globalization, nationalism, and books! It was a great train ride. And during the transfer, I bought a postcard and High School Musical trading cards! So the day already started out really well!!

Eidsvollsbygningen house was amazingly beautiful and old. It has been preserved very well. Our class had a guided tour through the house where representatives met to discuss the Constitution and later on signed it. Of course, I took detailed notes during the whole guide, just to discover that there is a brochure with all the information! I also read some information about the place before hand, so I didn't really need to take notes at all. In any case, I'm glad I took notes, because now I can remember it better.

After the guided tour, we went to the building next to the mansion. This place was a cafe for the museum, as well as a more informational museum (the house serves as a historic monument, to look pretty). There were displays, posters, videos, and many more informational set ups that were very catchy and detailed, as well as meaningful. We had a PDA to listen to the naration of the whole museum as we walked through. I of course, messed up. I tried to lock the touch pad, and ended up poping out the battery and it all shut down. I couldn't open the program again, so I had to improvise and find the audio files in the memory and listened to each individual one. I survived! When I returned the PDA I bought a feather ink pen to add to my pen/pencil/writing utensil collection. I collect pens and pencils when I go places.

After that, I went to the gift shop and bought some choclates; small pieces to distribute.

When we got ready to leave, we took pictures with the statues in the front of the location. It was very fun and it was our first class group picture that was complete.

I will have pictures up when I can. Right now, I just want to finish Breaking Dawing (The end of the Twilight Saga)! I'm only in the first 100 pages but the story is already progressing at lightning speed!! I plan on finishing thing book today so I can start on my book for class tomorrow without being distracted. I hope I can finish the Breaking Dawn today, since it's really thick. But I do have more or less 7 hours, so I could try to read faster! So when things are more settled, I will take some time to post pictures!

Finished reading Eclipse

This book is so AMAZING! I just finished it last night! I couldn't put it down; I had to finish it!! Thanks Olesya for buying me the book! You are the best! I love the book! And the Saga!! It's AMAZING! I started the 4th book and just finished 5 pages, but I'm so into it already!!!! Thanks again so much Olesya! I really appreciate it!

Oslo, class, stress

Emily and I traveled to Oslo today to meet with our Norwegian friend and her boyfriend who studies at PLU. Christina was on the tennis team. The trip is a bit long, but enjoyable, but only the way there. On the way back, it was a less comfortable and more crowded train. We had fun in Oslo and I bought some coffee and chocolate for gifts when I return. I've frozen these items so that they will last 4 months. We had Chinese food, and they don't split checks here (it's very rare). So, Christina paid for us, which was so nice of her! We also went to a big, very well known park in Oslo. The gardens were beautiful as well as the huge water fountain and lake. There were statues all around the fountain, and then some! They were all of naked humans of all ages, performing normal human acts. I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but then I understood (I hope) th meaning and purpose of those statues being naked, yet doing normal activities. These activities are very simple, such as playing with your baby, meeting your loved one, just standing, hugging, running, crouching, everything! It's to get in touch with nature and your true self and your family without the pretenses of the world, symbolized by clothing! I was very proud when I thought of this. I must research the park and write a little "report" on it. I took many pictures and I will put them up later when I have a chance.

When we had class today, it was very exciting, at first. Then everything just came to me almost consecutively; field studies, assignments, papers, group reading discussions, BAM! It just kept coming! And the due dates are so soon, I hadn't realized, because we had just started! So now I have to get on top of things even more than before! It's a good thing I'm very interested in the subject matter!

Dinner at Inger's house

Inger was so nice to invite us to her house for dinner tonight. It was so fun; there was marshmallows, food, fresh plums from her garden, and of course a Norwegian dinner. There were other professors and lecturers, and students from different points of our program at the dinner and it was nice to meet them all. The dinner was of course wonderful. And Collin, if you are reading this, Emily tried to eat some smoked salmon just for you! Some of the Tanzanians had never had roasted marshmallow before, so it was interesting to see their reactions. Some liked it, others didn't. We also had ice cream with rasberries, and then coffee and tea. Kris, you are right; the coffee is very STRONG! But I enjoyed it anyway. In any case it was a fun event. I have pictures at the end of the writing.

Inger's house was AMAZING! She has a huge house, with a bunch of book shelves that seemed very impressive to me. Her garden was also one of the characteristics that caught my attention. So, of course, I went around her house and took pictures (just for you Olesya!). She basically has her house surrounded by gardens. It was beautiful!

So! Here are the pictures of the night!


The scenery on the way to Inger's house


Having dinner with Emily and Genevieve by the fire


The other Americans and Czechia girl (I think her name is Catherina)


The Hungarian couple; they are so CUTE!


New friends who will join us in the 3rd part of our program


Me roasting a marshmallow


Everyone wants a marshmallow! I started a trend =)


Left side of Inger's garden. There's a cart with yardwaste in it I think.


This is Inger's garage. It had a nice simplistic homie feel to it. To me, it looks like a picture from a post card.


Genevieve likes the roses!


The right side of Inger's garden, leading to the back yard. All those bikes belong to the students and others who rode them to her house. There's of course, the Yellow Bike Brigade.


A pile of wood (Yes, Genevieve, I really just labled it "A pile of wood")


The steps leading up to the balcony where we ate.


More flowers along the balcony railing.


Geneview, Me, Veronica, Emily having our ice cream with rasberries.

Bank & Asian market!

Did I ever mention that Norway is a very expensive country to live in? We've been here for a week, and almost all the money that I exchanged in the beginning is depleted! I didn't spend a lot on really anything, except for groceries and the necessities, but to me, what I've spent has been a bit much to my liking. In any case I needed some more money, so I asked Afrika to take me and Emily to a bank. Along the way, after I got some money (Yay!) we discovered Asian stores! (Double yay!) The first one was more aimed at general Southeast Asian products (and cheaper produce than the place we usually go to), and the second one was specifically Vietnamese/Chinese foodds. So at this point, I am so happy, you don't even know how happy I am! Now I can basically survive on rice and anything else that I'm used to because it's here!! Yay!

Reading at the beach

Today is Sunday; it was very relaxing. I slep in a bit to wake up with a pleasant surprise. Emily made pancakes, so that was so very nice of her! The day couldn't have started any better. After I read a bit from the book Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer from the Twilight Saga, I did some homework reading. While in the middle of reading the article for class, I decided to join some friends at the beach to read out there. It was so relaxing and the reading was even more interesting now that I was in the environment that the article was about. The article discusses the characteristics that make the Norwegian national identity, and why it is constantly changing. In the article, immigration played a big role and of course I was really interested. I was also very excited when I recognized some anthropologists that the article mentioned that I had learned about in ANTH375 last fall. Inger (our professor for this program in Norway) was right, this is a great article to start the program.

As for the Twilight Saga, I absolutely love it! My co-worker Erin introduced me to the saga and I was curious. Who wouldn't be when it comes to vampires, werewolves and a human girl? So I started read it and I just fell in love with the story. I am now on the third book and it's getting even better. I also spent some time looking at information about the movie production of the first book Twilight. It seems really cool, but I'm wondering if it's anything like the book. Your senses are utilized differently when reading a book than when watching a movie, so I'm a bit curious as to how the production will come out. I saw some behind the scenes and preview trailers, and I think I would like it. However, some characters I thought the casting could be a bit better. The character of Alice, one of the Cullen family (good "vegetarian" vampire) could have been younger. I expected Alice to be about 16 looking, but the actress for the part of Alice looked older to me. I also imagined Emmett to be bigger and more muscular from what I read. Dr. Cullen and Esme seemed about right. Rosalie and Jasper seemed about right, however I wasn't sure what to expect for what Jasper looked like. The nomadic vampires and Charlie seemed to fit what I had imagined also, but I didn't expect for Laurent to be black. I thought that Victoria was PERFECT! I didn't see Jacob, which was disapointing since I was really excited to see who was casted for Jacob. Now, for the two most important characters: Edward and Bella. I thought of Edward as a bit more built or taller. I can see how he could fit as Edward, but I expected him to be a bit different. As for Bella, I expected her to be more fragile looking and voice to be softer. I am a bit disappointed with the actress for Bella, just because I had a different image of her, but I think that for what the author described, that actress would suffice. So, that was my moment of obsession over the Twilight Saga. It is now time for bed. I have my first class for Society and Culture tomorrow! I am so excited to hear what everyone else thought about the article!

P.S. If you are reading this, I would appreciate it if you left a comment, just so I know that people are reading my blog.

Hiking is amazing! (& Laundry)

Two big things happened today; my first hiking trip and finally being able to wash my clothes (which is such good timing because I wore my last pair of jeans to go hiking today and they got really dirty).

I went hiking first and then did laundry, but I will talk about launndry first, because it will be shorter than when I talk about hiking.

So laundry was interesting because their machine is all in Norwegian, so I had a hard time figuring out how to work it. Luckily, I met a new friend today at the hiking trip; her name is Anita. She explained how to work it, and what each setting meant. She also pointed out that I had baught fabric softener, not detergent. I was sad that I couldn't even figure out laundry detergent, but she was nice enough to let have have some of her detergent. That should last me until I am able to buy some detergent of my own.

Now, on with the hiking!

I woke up early to get ready for the hiking trip becaus I was so excited! I packed a sandwich, drinks and my heavy jacket, just in case. Initially, I was worried about getting my feet wet, so I wanted to take my rain boots. However, Genevieve assured me that my tennis shoes were ok, and that rain boots would make the hiking a lot harder because they will not be sturdy enough on the ground.

I arrived at the meeting location a bit late, but that was ok because they were will waiting for a few people. Not many of my new friends made it on the trip, but I still had a blast with new people that I met. On this trip, I became friends with mainly Anita, although I had met a few others (I can't remember their names, sorry). The hike was AMAZING! I'm not sure how to describe it or where to start, but I just want to put it out there: hiking is an amazing experience and if anyone has the oportunity, go hiking! Even though it is wet, and you're in the woods, but it's totally worth it when you reach a cool destination, and you are able to see all sorts of plants and beautiful scenery. Along the way, there were so many blueberry bushes! I couldn't believe it! You could basically have a blueberry snack as you go for the most part. And the bushes covered a vast amount of the ground. After walking for a while, our first stop was at a cabin-like place with a balcony and some pic nic tables for public use. We rested there and replenished our bodies. From this location, I was pretty high up and I could see around the area, with blue skies and pure white clouds. It was breathtaking! I took pictures, of course. So here are pictures of the trip up until this point:


The adventure begins!


Cow dung!


Crazy (cool) walking surface


Picking blueberries. So fresh, so good!


Recooperating from Hiking Part A


Beautiful scenery from above


Yup, I was there.


Genevieve and I having a blast!


Sara and I

I saw mushrooms, flowers, and trees scenery that I thought were cool so, of course, I was very picture happy. I pretty much snapped a picture every chance I got between the uneven paths. The trail that we were on is marked by blue pieces of rectangular wood, and there were also plastic sheets of white with a logo on there to mark so a competition/race that was going on. It was pretty cool. We were sure to never get lost because we always knew that we were on the same path we started with. There were also little creeks/water paths with mini waterfalls along the way, and yes, you guessed it, I took pictures.


Cute mushroom


Pretty


Single file hiking


Cool trees


More hiking


Follow the blue on the trail!


More markings along the trail so everyone knows where they are.


Blueberries as far as you can see


Miniature lake


Miniature waterfall

After a while longer, we reached a second place to rest. Two interesting things happened at this stop: using toilete and drinking natural water. First, the people who led us showed us a little water path that had safe drinking water, so each of us tried it. It was a bit brownish-pale, like tea, but it tasted nothing like tea. However, it didn't taste bad either; it tasted fresher and better than the tap water, but I still couldn't get over the fact that I drank water right on a path and it was clean and really good. After that I asked to use the toilet, just to see what it was like. And surprisingly (but not really), the toilets were really clean and did not smell. There was a little shak/shed-sized cabin with two toilet stalls. The seat and cover was made of strong styrofoam. It was very clean and I was very impressed. You guessed it, I have pictures:


Anita and I


Getting clean drinkable water from that little stream


The toilet shak


Norwegian Port-a-Potty (a toilet stall in the little toilet shak)


The rest of the trip was really cool. I saw really cool looking and huge mushrooms. Also, at this point, I stopped caring that I shoes and feet were wet and soggy and became very comfortable with walking on uneven surface. And just when I thought that I had survived the day of hiking without falling, I fell. I thought I had avoided, for once, some random moment of clumsiness, but no, I fell. It wasn't a bad fall; in fact, I fell on a very soft area of thick and soft grass and bushes. It didn't hurt at all, but it was kind of wet. I have to say, that was a pretty funny moment. I wasn't even embarassed. Then eventually, we reached the main dirt road that led to the cars and we went home. The hike came to a conclusion and I had an amazing day. It was so exciting and I felt so... I'm not sure, but it was such a natural and fresh feeling.


Huge mushroom. It reminded me of the story when all the little critters took shelter under one small mushroom during a big rain.


More blueberry bushes as far as the eye can see.

Throughout the hike, I talked with a few people and had some really interesting conversations. Sara (one of the liasons) and I were talking about berries (blueberries to be exact) and ended up talking about pancakes, and she said that Norwegians eat that as a real meal. They would only eat it with jam, however, and not with syrup; that is an American thing, as well as eating it for breakfast. She also said that Norwegians don't eat waffles for breakfast, but as a desert/pastry to compliment coffee. I had many more interesting conversations with other people as well. One interesting thing I learned from Anita was that here in Norway, students can enroll in what is called a Folke Skole (or something like that; it translates to People School). It's basically a school where people don't learn the typical way with class and exams. Instead, they go on trips, go camping & hiking and do other life skill stuff while meeting lots of people. She says that some people think that this is a waste of money, but others find it very valuable. I found this very interesting. Also, Anita isn't from Hamar originally, so we decided that she will also be my exploring buddy and we will explore Hamar and the places around Hamar together.

All in all, today was very fulfilling day. I can't wait for the next hiking trip!

Friends for dinner

Earlier today, Afrika took me to Elkjop. It's kind of like a Best Buy. So now I know where to go for my electronic and cheaper school supply needs.

Emily and I invited two of our new friends over for dinner today; we invited two guys from Namibia named Afrika (the one that really impressed me from the begninning) and Gerson (he also impressed very much with his approachable and easy going personality).

There were some complications at first with the times because there were a few things going on this afternoon and evening, but it worked out fine. They came to our apartment, we made spaghetti. So, our meal was salad and spaghetti with coke, and brownies for desert. It was pretty good, I have to say, considering we didn't have enough forks, and two of us were eating off of plates while other two ate off of bowls due to the lack of utensils and dishware. All in all, it was a good dinner and a very good time to get to know our friends better. Before, we talked about our backgrounds and where we came from and such. However, today was more about getting to know these peoples' personalities and characteristics that you can only learn from spening time. It was a great afternoon and evening. They are great people, and I'm so glad to have met them.

Emily isn't feeling so well. She started to get kind of sick when we were playing cards, so I'm hoping she feels better soon. Especially since I live with her, I don't always want to get sick; then it would just be bad because I don't ever recover recover quite fast enough and I don't want to get others sick as well. Plus, we have our hiking trip of some sort tomorrow with the other students as part of the opening week. If she had to miss out on that, it would be a shame. Also, I would not feel so easy going on the trip if I knew that she was at home not feeling well. I'd be constantly worried. So, I just really hope that she gets better, and soon.

Surferosa! Bikes!

We got bikes yesterday!! I rode it around the beach area when some of us met up at the beach to hang out. It was so fun! There was about 15 people there; people we already know, so it was really comfortable. Some were, of course, drinking and others weren't. I got bored with just sitting, so I played on the playground bars with Emily.



Then I didn't really want to sit around and just hear people talk and stuff, because I have been doing a lot of that. So I rode my bike around the beach; it was very refreshing. I stopped at some benches and just laid down for a bit and watched the clouds and just relaxed. It was very nice, especially with the comfortable temperature and cool breeze. I haven't felt that kind of calmness in a while. I hadn't realized how much peace I was deprived of unitl that moment. The sun rays through the clouds were amazingly breathtaking. So of course, I had to take a picture:



After finally getting our bikes, Emily discovered that she wasn't really comfortable riding the bikes around town with so many hills and traffic; I can see why she doesn't like that so much. The hills can be very steep, but I kind of like that challenge and make myself stronger. I am going to continue to ride around when I can while the weather is still good. Something really funny about these bikes is that they are all the same and are yellow. So Inger calls us the Yellow Bike Brigade. I think's it's funny.

Here is our Yellow Bike Brigade:



I also went shopping at the mall for some kitchen stuff (this was before the beach and playground). I was at -nille, a store, and the basket can be used as a basket and a cart. It's pretty cool. Of course, I had to take a picture.



Last night, I went to my first rock concert, ever! It wasn't a huge concert at a stadium or anything, but it was loud enough. The band is a popular Norwegian band called SURFEROSA, which is translated to Surf Pink. I'm not sure what the significance of the name is, but they do have an 80s feel to their style. I was just in the crowd, jumping up and down with everyone, having a good time. I got so sweaty, I think it was more of a work out than a concert. I left early, of course, because it got too loud and tiring for me. I don't think that scene is really for me, but it was fun for the time I enjoyed it. What I thought was really interesting was the lead singer's outfit. It was basically a full body suit in the fabric of stockings or nylons with fabrics sewn on to cover the necesary parts. It was very interesting; it definitely caught the audiences attention and worked with the rock. Here is a picture; it's not very good because it's from my phone, but you can kind of get the idea:



I also met Stian's wife at the concert also. She's from Taiwan, and we had a short converstation in Chinese. I was pretty proud of myself, but it was a short conversation. I think that she wouldn't be as impressed if it was a longer conversation and we hit the limit of my Chinese speaking skills. hehe. But it was cool; I was very excited! Like always when it comes to Chinese.

A Different Way to Socialize

I notice that here, people socialize very differently from what I am use to for my age group. Every night since I've arrived, there have been parties and music. They don't even wait for the weekends or anything. Night time is night time and it's a time to drink and socialize. So I assume almost everyone have hang overs every morning or something. These Norwegian students my age, some a bit older, are pretty much drinking when they have a chance, and almost everyone has beer bellies, in American terms. I have no problem with this, but it's just new to me. In the states, especially PLU, drinking alcohol is not something to be so freely discussed, but they talked about it in their opening ceremony (like Convocation) as if it was nothing, which it is nothing of bad significance here. It's as if there is a whole culture of socializing that revolves around drinking. It's fascinating! I'd sit there, not drinking myself, observing the people and the conversations around me. The ones who are not drinking are less likely to introduce themselves to me and start a conversation. However, someone with some alcohol in their system would introduce themself to me and start a conversation as if we have been friends for a while. I feel kind of awkward that I don't drink, just because that's the way everyone is, but also I do not feel pressured to drink. It's very chill and I like it.

This is just something I noticed and it seems very important in their culture. I looked at the case as if it was a case study for anthropology. I'm so glad that I took those anthropology courses, because I feel so proud that I am using them to assess the situation now, constantly. I recognize the cultural differences here compared to the one I am familiar with, yet I can fit in because I understand what is going on. Thank you Prof. Thomson! This has made my experience a lot more enjoyable.

Aside from this, our first Norwegian language lesson was today! I was so excited, because, of course, I am learning a new language. I am always excited to understand another language. Spending some time listening to those audio Norwegian lessons definitely paid off. Today in class, I got excited on many occasions because I undertood things and rememebered words from my audio lesson.

We also got bikes today. They are very nice bikes; like brand new! I'm so anxious to ride around town and explore, especially along the water front!

Success! (kind of)

Today has been quite an adventure, mainly with getting paper work done and other small things that just kind of get in the way. First, I got a pay as you go sim card for my phone. I am really frustrated that the phones the Wang Center gave us don't work. None of them! With no phone, we're kind of disconnected, especially disconnected from the Norwegians, which means for any events, we just kind of hope that we are at the right place at the right time or we miss it. The lack of communication was very frustrating. So I decided to buy my own number, which now works! For emergencies I can call someone, or if I have a quick question about something I can call someone or if my family wants to call me, they can! This makes me happy indeed.

In addition, we also issues with the Visa and school registration is also solved, more or less. We discovered that the residence permit copy that we have suffices provided that we have an extra passport picture. Why did it not occur to me to bring extra passport pictures? So I had to pay NOK 70 for a set of 4. So with that, we have an appointment to go in early tomorrow, even before the station is open, to get our Visas. This is because we have class when their office opens and by the time we can make it to the station, we would not be able to squeeze in before closing. The lady at the counter was very understandinng and nice about this. I am so glad! If we wait past this coming Friday, then we are in trouble because we needed to get the Visa and all that taken care of by the 7th day from arrival. And the office is closed on Friday. YAY! We also finished registering at the school so I have my school ID to access buildings and computer networks.

Furthermore, rent, semester fee, and laundry is also figured out! Yay! I can now relax a little bit. Today was really confusing, but it finally settled down and came together. Tomorrow is the Norwegian class (it got rescheduled from today) and I am so excited!!!

Police Station, New Friends, Being Responsible

Today, we had to get our visas, but of course, I encounter obstacles yet again. I wonder why, but usually all the incidents happen to me. First, I have trouble getting my Norwegian money, even before the plane. Then, my ticket didn't show up in the system in Copenhagen for our connecting flight, and then my suit case broke when trying to go down the stairs to get to the other side of the train tracks (elevator was not working) in Hamar. Even after that, I manage to blow out the circuit when using my hair dryer, with a converter! And you guessed it, another incident! My rice cooker malfunctioned. It melted a hole on the bottom, so I can't use it now. I used it again today, just in case that was a one time accident. But no, the hole just continued to expand, leaving more melted plastic on the counter. I've decided to buy another rice cooker here. It's NOK 200, which is about $40. That's pretty expensive, to me, but I can't survive without rice, so I'm going to have to sacrifice some money. And yet again, my luck gets worse. I put the cutting board on the skillet, for a moment to clear up some space since our kitchen is extra tiny and I needed space. And guess what? the cutting board, being made of plastic, even though it was a bit thicker than 1cm, melted on the skillet. I hadn't noticed that the skillet hadn't cooled completely, but even then, it wasn't even that hot. Finally today, the cherry on top, but I'm sure there will be more cherries. I waited the whole day for my turn at the Police Station for my Visa, but at closing time, they got to 704; my number was 708. That's just so frustrating because I've been waiting around the station all day! I also found out that you need an extra passport picture! I sent 2 extra with my application, but they sent that, along with my original residence permit to another station. It's going to take a week to request that. I need the visa NOW, so I need to take passport pictures at the booth conveniently located at the station for NOK 70, which is $12. That's so expensive! I think my best option is to just get the pictures at the booth and get my visa tomorrow rather than waiting a whole week to complete my paperwork. I have to get my visa before I can complete paperwork for the Hedmark University College. I hope things work out. They usually do, regardless of how much trouble and incidents I encounter. I'm just a magnet for these complications.

Although I am upset about the visa issue, it gave me time to make friends with some people, specifically Godfrey and Peter. Emily and I walked around the beach with them while we all waited for our number. I wonder how old Peter is because he is a teacher in Tanzania, and he gives me such a calm feeling about things. I feel like he's a wise man and it prompts me to treat him with a higher level of respect that just a friend, like a teacher or respected person. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I just get the feeling that he is wise and can see things others can't. As or Godfrey, he became pretty absorbed into my music when we shared music on our phones. He heard some Chinese music and I just had him hold on to my phone and browse the music list how he wished. I was glad that he liked my music. These two are from Tanzania and they are very hospitable and kind. I want to describe them as friendly, but I think that kind is a better fit. They have a gentle and generous air about them.

In the afternoon, Emily and I made plans for our dinner meals for the next week, as well as split the shopping list between the two of us. This was effective and we have decided to eat enough, and only what we need so that we could conserve on spending. So we are cooking all our dinners. We decided that we'd go out to eat rarely to conserve money as well. After that we went grocery shopping and our planning paid off since we didn't end up wandering around aimlessly like usual, not sure of what to buy. Studying abroad in an expensive country is training us to be responsible adults. I like this. The act is a bit tedious, but I can't really complain at all. I'm actually enjoying the cooking and planning, even though they are just simple meals. We both feel accomplished and we are so proud of ourselves. However, I predict that as school gets busy, we won't have time to do this in as much detail, but at least we would be more experienced with the task to do things well enough.

Grocery Shopping

First, I just want to say that I'm sorry to the people who actually read my blog. I know, I ramble on and on and the end never seems to be near. That's becaue I want to make sure all the details are there and all that, but I realize that if I continue to do this, each post will end up being a chapter of a novel, which is cool, but too much to read. So I'm going to make life easier for all of us, and post on one or two topics each post, just to keep it short. I will write all my excessive rambles in my journal and once in a week (at least), I will write a short summary. With that out of the way, here is the first shocking topic (to me) to discuss:

The Horror of Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping is definitely a new life skill that I need to learn. I was always aware of this "grocery shopping" fact of life, but it never hit me quite hard enough, until now. Suddenly, I have to think about how much money I can spend on chicken and rice while still having enough for all the other stuff that I need. Plus, the high prices here does not make that task any easier. I get sad when I see that butter is about 21kr ($5), or two small pieces of chicken breast is about 24kr (~$6). Many other items, especially with a brand that is from the US or other country, are extremely expensive. I don't even want to eat when I see the prices, which is saying a lot because if you know me well enough, you know that eating is one of my special hobbies.

In any case, grocery shopping is expensive, but not as expensive as eating out. I've seen some prices on some common dishes at a restaurant, and it's pretty pricy. At a Chinese restaurant, one dish at an average price was about 150kr ($30). That's like eating out at the Cheesecake Factory or Red Lobster. It's a good thing that I am not dependent on eating out and that I can somewhat competently cook. Luckily, my roommate and I are on the same page; we plan on getting groceries and cooking our own meals. Like I said, even though grocery is expensive, it's significantly cheaper than going out the eat.

P.S. My worked it out with my dryer and converter; everything is fine and it decided to cooperate and work. This makes me (and my hair) very happy!

Pictures from today

Lunch at a pizza place. These are the people who I sat with. There are way more people than that.



My frizzy hair since my hair dryer broke, so I didn't try my straightener. So here is my frizzy hair, the natural way.



Water scenery



Catholic Church ruines encased in a glass building to be preserved. They hold many cultural celebrations and events here; concerts too - aparently the acoustics are really goold.



A replica of one of the first viking ships.



Old farm I think. They used tar to preserve their buildings. It's very effective.



Bell tower in the water. They can play music with this.



They use this rock to measure the level of flooding.



The legend goes a nun and monk fell in love and of course that was impossible so they became these tree trunks. Not sure what the full story is, but you get the idea.



The Romantic Tree. The bench is chained to it so that the romantics don't steal it.



The street that my apartment is on.