Appeals court & blacklight

Our class visited the local appeals court today, and I have to say, it was an interesting experience indeed. This was my first time visiting a court room at all, so everything was new to me. It wasn't much different than what I had imagined except that it was smaller. I noticed that the only image in the whole room was the logo of, what I assume, the municipality or government.

The system was also a bit different than what I had imagined. First of all, it was really small scale and the structure was pretty simple. Everything that seemed logical to be there, was there. There are three levels to the court system.

1) First Instance Courts
2) Appeals Courts (there are 6 total, if I remember correctly)
3) Supreme Court (there is only one)

All the courts basically deal with all the issues because there is not a "specialized" court. These courts consider to main issues: criminal and civil disputes. There are judges: president judge, and x-number of lay judges. There are also 10 members of the jury. I was surprised to hear that the lay judges do not have to dress formally for the occasion. Nor does the defendent and a few other exceptions of people. I had the impression that since this was a formal issue, everyone would dress formally, but no. Some are allowed to dress informally so that they are comfortable.

The point that really shocked me was that the defendent can lie. They have the right to keep silent, refuse to answer, and lie. However, if the witnesses lie, then that is breaking the law. I was shocked to hear this.

Here is the layout of the courtroom that I visited. Sorry that my drawing isn't very easy to comprehend. I was trying to map it out while listening to the lecture at the same time. Click on the picture for a bigger view.

I sat at the prosecuting lawyer's seat.

So that's the brief impression from the visit to the local court room.

On another note, I discovered why some public restrooms have blacklight rather than normal light. I first noticed this at a shopping mall in Kristiansund. I thought, "Wow! These people like psychadelic lights!" I also thought that it was a bit irrational since it alters colors and perception completely. It was weird; my lips looked black like in a horror movie! But today, while at the city hall, the bathrooms were also lit with blacklight. So Emily went to ask why, and the explanation is that the blacklight makes seeing the veins difficult, thus discouraging drug use. I found that very interesting! And of course, that makes perfect sense to do that, now that I understand.

PS. Sunday morning is the begining of Emily's and my adventure in Venice! I'm so excited! I can't believe that it is already here in a few days. Time flies by so quickly. It seems like I had just arrived, and now it's almost half way over. I've made so many wonderful memories, and met such inspiring people here that the thought of ever leaving now is painful.

Tree Sketch

So here is the long await tree sketch that I had mentioned way earlier. It is still not finished (surprise), but it will eventually be finished. I have looked into the technique for mass leaves techniques. Here is what it is for now.

COLD!

This morning is the coldest morning that I have experienced here in Norway so far. The fog is so thick that when I took out the trash, I felt like I was walking into a cold steam room rather than outside. When I breathed out, it wasn't just a gush of smoke that came out. This gush of smoke was thick and wet, almost as if I had spit out and not simply exhaled.

I am now in the school library. I came to school early today because I needed to scan some of my notes so that they all could be in one place on my laptop. I've experienced the magic of Microsoft Office OneNote and I LOVE IT! So now, I'm taking all of my notes on my laptop on OneNote and it's so perfectly convenient. I can flip my laptop screen around and down to write as if it were a notebook or I can just type like a normal laptop. This is the reason why I'm scanning all of my notes in. Before I discovered the magic of OneNote, I had written my notes. Now to keep it all in one place, I just have to scan and put them in OneNote. It's amazing.

Well I've got 10 minutes until my class starts, so I better get going or I'll be late!

P.S. Since I've discovered the scanner and figured out how to use it (easy since it was in English), I can scan my drawing (that is still not finished... sad).

Busy week

I can't believe how fast this week passed! Last I remembered I was coming back from the week-long excursion with my class. Now, its the end of the week again and I just turned in another essay!

Let me see if I can recount some of what happened this week. Monday night we had Emily's belated birthday party. That was fun. She bought alcohol for the first time (full drinking age is 20, and she just turned 20). The party was all the Americans, plus Afrika and Gerson (these two have become our best friends). There were lots of snacks (I shared the Asian snacks that Olesya sent), and margaritas. The party was in our apartment; there were 9 people total in our small apartment, so it was definitely fun!

The rest of the week was just any other week with assignments and class. There wasn't really anything out of the ordinary. So this week was pretty boring aside from the group presenation for the excursion and Emily's birthday party.

My friend Afrika just informed me of an event at the beach tonight where skating competition, dance performance and dj competitions are invovled. So that's my plan for tonight.

Right now, I am going to take a nap. I just finished my essay for the week, and I have a massive headache. So a nap is much needed.

Excursion Roros-Trondheim-Kristiansund, thinking, cooking

This weeklong excursion with my Society and Culture class was so exhausting, but I had so much fun! And of course, I took many pictures, although not as much as I normally would have. I tried to keep my camera under control, but not quite good enough I suppose. I'm trying a new approach this time in retelling the excurstion. I will break it up into days with a link to an online web album rather than having the pictures here. This way, I don't have to crowd up this blog with a thousand pictures. Doesn't that sound simpler and less painful? I thought so. Make sure you pay attention to the captions to pictures because I will explain as best as I can from what I remembered (if you don't see captions, that's because I haven't gotten there yet, and you should come back later to check for updates on captions).

So, I tried really hard to keep the blog simple but I realized that it's a very hard task. So you will have a lot to read if you love me and are dedicated to know what is happening here. Of course, you can always skim through and then look at all the pictures. That would give a pretty good recount of the trip.

I have one request. Please comment about my trip if you are reading. If you found something to be particularly intersting, let me know. If you have any questions, ask away and I will try hard to explain (well, if you come back for the explantion). In any case, I really want feedback. So without further ado, here is my novel:

Monday, September 8th
Click here to see all pictures from day 1



This was day 1 of the excursion; the beginning. We traveled by train to Roros. Upon arriving, we had a communal lunch consisting of bread, cheese, cream cheese, and orange juice at a park. This was my first time having brown cheese. I found it to be sweet with a carmalized taste; it wasn't bad, but I didn't love it either. Plus, it was too rich for me. Being lactose intolerant and eating such a rich tasting cheese was not too pleasant of an experience, but it was a good experience nonetheless. After lunch, we had a walking tour/lecture of Roros including Roros Church and the Mining Museum. The history of this little mining town was very interesting. It was destroyed so many times with the Swedish invasions, yet it survived. Amazing. After this lecture, we had some free time. Genevieve, Emily and I decided to walk to the largest desert in Scandinavia (our lecturer/tour guide mentioned this). It had desert sand, but it can't really be considered a desert since it gets double the rainfall on desert standards. Anyway, we walked there; it should have been a 15-minute walk. We were unsuccessful, since we never got there; but we did manage to see it paralell to the high way that we were on. We just couldn't figure out which trail to go on off of the highway; turns out, all of them would have brought us to the desert. Sorry Hork, I was going to get you some sand. After this failed adventure, we returned to the town and explored some shops. I got some local tea here to bring back to the US as souvenirs; which of you lucky people are going to get this tea I wonder? At this point, we were all exhausted and it was getting even colder than it already was, so we just arrived early at our designated restaurant for dinner. This dinner was good; paper-think crackers and jam made of berries whose name I fail to remember, meatballs, potatoes, mushed green peas. I was reluctant to eat the meatballs because I wasn't sure if there was pork in them. However, the person serving us assured me that there was no pork in the meatballs. After dinner, we had tea and coffee. Then it was off to our next destination - Trondheim! The train ride was pretty interesting. Emily and Genevieve were still playing the fortune teller game, and then had moved on to MASH afterwards. The Tanzanians were very excited about this game because they had never played it before. I couldn't believe they were still excited about the game even when all the fortunes had been done; they were so animated and rowdy, it was hard for me to concentrate on my book, even though I was determined to finish it on this ride. The fun was so contagious that the other people in our car of the train (except for one guy who was trying to read his psychology book) got involved in the game. This was definitely a memorable moment.


Tuesday, September 9th
Click here to see all pictures from day 2



This was the first morning that I woke up in a hostel, and my fear stemmed from the movie had disappeared already. Everything felt secure; very much like living in a dorm, except there were 4 people to one room and there was a guy in our room. I was taken aback when Inger just said for us to group together and fill up the rooms and there was no mention of girls being separated. She didn't really care if males slept in the same room as girls; she trusted us to behave ourselves, which was nice - putting the responsibility in our own hands. Breakfast was decent.

That day, we were scheduled to have a walking lecture through Trondheim before lunch. However, the politician from the next day had called to reschedule, so we had this talk on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. I was very much interested in this talk, about the politics and what not, but for some reason I was so tired and I kept zoning out!! I as so angry with myself, but I couldn't help it. Towards the end, I had some food and perked right up - weird! Either way, one good talk had gone to waste on me, and I was so disappointed in myself. After the talk, we had lunch; another communal lunch that consisted of bread and cheese once more. This time, we had bread and cheese as the main course once again. Our location this time was at a dock. It was very nice; I fed the pigeons. Inger also bought us some fish balls that were DELICIOUS! The fish were caught and made fresh in the area. The restaurant that also sells fresh fish was right on the water where we had lunch.

After lunch, we went to Nidaros Cathedral for another walking tour/lecture. This one was really boring and the tour guide lady was a bit obnoxious for me. She presented herself with a snobby attitude and the way she spoke the whole time made me uncomfortable. Others, including my professor agreed with us on this one. The information was very interesting, although I felt like it was presented in a very lavish and glamourous manner; that made it a bit disinteresting for me. In addition, the presentatino of the place, although breathtakingly beautiful, was a bit exagerated. Inger's parents got married here and all the corronations are also held here. The end of this tour was continued immediately by another tour at the Arch Bishop's Palace next door. This one wasn't quite as interesting, but it was toned down a bit. The thing that I remembered most from this time was the bathroom; it was HORRIBLE! It was a small space, with the smell of a poopie diaper that was so potent that it could be stored in a jar. The worst part was that even though we notified them to take out the trash, it was still like that the next day (it was actually worse the next day because it had intensified). Upon leaving the Arch Bishop's Palace, Emily, Genevieve and I went to see the Royal Jewels Gallery. They were also "glamourized" and very beautiful. Although, I can't imagine anyone wearing such items, but it was there. They don't wear that anymore. On the opposite side of the building there was an art exibition; of course I had to see that! They seemed to be interpretations of the bible, but with an impressionistic approach that seemed almost violent, to me. The pieces that caught my attention the most were pieces of the clay collection. The artist used cracked effects in clay to make bevels on canvas and frames. There was one with a ripple, like water ripple circle, with the silhoulet of a person emerging from the center of the ripple. There was also a life-sized sculpture of a man made of clay using the same cracked clay effect. There were many other pieces using the bevels, but the two that I mentioned were the two that caught my attention the most. I had attempted to analyze the method and tehcniques in creating this effect, but I failed miserably. I wish I had the opportunnity to speak with the artist about this. I really wanted to know how s/he achieved that effect. I had to let this go when it was time to leave the place. We had free time for the rest of the afternoon, so Genevieve, Emily and I (from now on I shall refer to us 3 as "us 3") walked around town, looking for a place to have dinner. However we were discouraged to eat out by all the prices. Even the sandwiches were pretty darn expensive. We ended up getting salads from the grocery store. Along the way, I saw a really pretty scarf, so I had to buy it. I had intended to buy a scarf, and it was so nice to see this one because it was perfect, just what I was looking for.

That evening, when we had finished dinner and showered, we had nothing to do. Us 3 didn't want to go back into town because our hostel was too far of a walk into town, and there is a giant hill we have to climb on the way back, and I am not exagerating about this hill; it is HUGE. We wanted to go to town to see the night life because the majority of Trondheim's population is students. We had a recomendation to a place where it was THE place, but of course we didn't go. So we just lounged around the hostel. When Peter came back he joined us in the lounge area. At this point we were talking about homosexuality, so we told him our topic of conversation. He immediately expressed his views and BAM! We have a debate. It was Peter (con) vs. Us 3 (pro). This was very intense, so intense that it dragged on until 11pm when the hostel turned off all the public area's lights. Then we contintued the debate in the stairway, which went on to a little past 1am. Our professor ran into us in the stairway and joined our debate; she was pro. I enjoyed this debate, however, it was very frustrating because some of the facts he used to support his arguements were irrelevant, untrue, and unnecessary. He brouht reproduction into the debate; how women were meant to to give birth. So by not exercising these birthing muscles, they would not be able to give birth, which is not true. If this were the case, no one would be able to have first borns. Secondly, when he explained the process of giving birth, it was way off. The diaphram is not used to push the baby out. In fact, it's the muscles of the uterus. In addition, the diaphram does not by any means help push; it's not even connected; it's separated by the stomach! Another point that frustrated me was that he brought in animals and children. I do not see a connection between beastiality and homosexuality. In addition, I do not see the connection between children sex and homosexuality. I was just shocked. Anyway, we agreed to disagree and that was the end of that night. However, that was not the end of this topic. It lingered throughout the trip, until now. There are misunderstandings now, and I just want them to let that go and open up their minds to what is happening.

Wednesday, September 10th
Click here to see all pictures from day 3



The tour from Tuesday was rescheduled to Wednesday. So we walked around the town and saw beautiful scenery. Elena and Anna were only able to join us for this day of the whole week-long trip because they couldn't affort the cost of the whole trip; transportation, lodging, and food. They are part of this program, which means they need to be able to experience the whole program the same way as the others and be allowed the same access. I thought that was unfair that the program didn't cover them. This excludes them from the group and totally takes away from the experience from a native's point of view. I think that the program should have paid for their expenses since they were part of the program, or at least help in some part. Anyway, we walked around and went to an old military base. We visited prison cells during the war and where they executed people. The scenery was beautiful, although the history of the place was a bit scary. Then we went to the university where we saw models of underwater tunnel bridge that will be way longer than the current existing one in Norway. We went through this underwater tunnel on our way back to Hamar. It was an interesting experience. At the university, we also got the free student care package and got lots of little goodies. I was very excited about that. Inger was happy too. "If it's free, I think we should go get it." (Inger, 2008). That cracked me up because that's something I would say. I also got to sit on one of the glider planes. there are pictures if you go to the album. It was amazing! After that, we walked nearby the Nidaros Cathedral and Arch Bishop's Palace that we visited the day before. I had to use the restroom, and the Arch Bishop's Palace was the closest. I was disappointed to smell the poopy diaper once again.

We visited a music museum. It was great because our tour guide played on various instruments for us along the tour. I'm thinking she's a music student or professional or something of the sort. She was good. Then we had lunch in the garden place there, it was cool. As I explored the garden area, there was an echo spot, and I had lots of fun with that. Luckily I was by myself, or else the others would think I was crazy to be so giddy about that. Anyway, I had loads of fun making echoes.

That afternoon, we were on our way to Kristiansund by boat. It was my first time on a boat, so I was very excited. However, i was also afraid that I would get sick because I get motion sickness easily. If I can get myself carsick while driving, then I do not doubt a boat. So, during the boat ride, I did get kind of sick, but I decided to go up for some fresh air; surprisingly that helped. I wasn't sick anymore and the sight was gorgeous! I'm glad I just went up.

When we arrive in Kristiansund, it was dinner time. There were plans for a communal dinner where everyone cooked a part of the meal. There was a lot of confusion about this meal, but it all turned out ok. We had spaghetti with spaghetti sauce, ground beef, chicken (I cooked it), salad, stirfry and rice. It was a good meal.

On another note, I noticed that the Tanzanians, especially Peter were keeping a bit of a distance from us 3. I'm pretty sure it was from the debate. It was kind of sad, but there's not much I can do if that's how they receive it.

Thursday, September 11th
Click here to see all pictures from day 4



The events of Thursday include the following, in chronological order:

(1)walk throught he old ship harbor with a talk about the history of the fishing in Kristiansund;

(2)walking along the water front to reach the Petro Center. Along the way, Inger bought us dried fish to try out because that is part of Kristiansund's hisory. The dried fish is exactly like the dried fish that I eat from Vietnam/Cambodia, except the one that I had in Kristiansund was not salted;

(3)A talk about the history of the oil industry and demonstrations using models on how it all works. The first thing we saw was a dinosaur display. There was also a really cool room with a green theme. It's in the pictures;

(4)Lecture at Vest Base about their company and the physical constructions of machinery involved in the oil platforms and what it takes to provide for all of this. We also got a driving tour through the site, which was HUGE. We walked through a few giant buildings and got explanation about the machinery involved in oil extraction. It was all very interesting; I wish I understood all the technical aspects of it to completely understand. I guess I'm going to have to spend some time research on that.

(5)The dinner for this day was also another communal dinner. After what happened the day before with dinner, I didn't want to be a part of it anymore, but I wanted to make sure that I cooked the chicken again because chicken is the hardest meat to cook correctly, and I wanted to be sure that it was. So I cooked it in my professor's cabin to avoid all the crazyness. It was peaceful; I had my music and cooking. I'm getting pretty good with cooking - I am so proud of myself!

(6)After dinner, us 3 and the other Americans decided to go to the water front by our motel. We were just in time to see the sunset, the end half, but it was still beautiful! I was frustrated that my camera was not capturing what I saw in real life, but it was ok. The pictures still looks nice.

Friday, September 12th
Click here to see all pictures from day 5



So here is the long awaited section: the last day of the excursion! The day started with a talk with a lady from the municipality of Kristiansund followed by a long hike around town and up mountainous areas to reach the water onces again after passing through a tower to show ships the location of the island from back in the day and a huge cemetary. This was a long hike, and I mean HIKE! Everyone got a really good workout that day. I liked it; I knew I was fit since I wasn't too tired out from it all. When we reached the water, the hike was so worthwhile! The sight was so serene, I just wanted to sit there until we left, which I kind of did. After that we hiked back into town, and had ice cream. By that time, everyone had to use the bathroom so bad, it was epidemic. Not really, but I just wanted to illustrate our need to use the water closet. After that, we had some time before dinner, so we just walked around the mall. I wanted to find a side sling purse, but couldn't find one that I liked, which was good since everything was extra expensive. While I was walking around, I bought other presents for people, so basically all my shopping for the holidays is finished! Yay! My parents also called while I was wandering around the mall. It was so nice to hear from them because the whole trip had worn me out so much I just needed some familiar comfort and a phone call from home was just perfect!

The end of the trip

So to sum it all up, it was am amazing and epic trip. I thouroughly enjoyed myself and learned a lot! More about things that were not on the objectives. What I noticed was that everywhere I went, everything pretty much stayed the same, creating a familiar environment that was continuous throughout the country. I liked that. It's like where ever you go within the country, you know that you are in Norway and close to home regardless of how far you are. All the shops had the same names and sold the same items. So Norway is a very uniformed country. I also noticed that the are very laid back. Things are taken as they come without much rush. And when change comes, they don't immediately object. Instead, they incorporate it into what is currently there as a means for an easier transition. For example, this can be seen through language, and culture along with what is categorized as controversial issues such as homosexuality, prostitution and homelessness. Everyone is pretty much in agreement with all matters and that is such a nice pace to keep peace. I like it. I can see a bright future. I think that I would enjoy living here. However, I would eventually get restless with the fact that government is such a big part of everything, eventhough there is a balanced harmony in the relationship between the people's businesses and the involvement of the government. Not much is privatized, and sometimes, I think that isn't a bad thing.

This trip had made me thing a lot and question some of my beliefs, which is the point. I'm glad that I took a chance and followed through with the program.

Saturday
When I arrived home (in Hamar) at 5am, I basically passed out after unpacking. When I woke up, half the day had already passed. I tried to get it together but I still felt really disoriented.

That night, I went to a joint birthday party for Daria (an international student) and Jamal (a Norwegian-Somalian student). It was fun and very laid back. People brought their own alcohol if they wanted to drink. I brought grapes and some other friends brought juice, so that was nice. The music wasn't amazing, but ok for dancing if you felt like it.

Peter wanted to show me his room. When I went, Joseph, Veronica and Godfrey were there. They were very curious about something and they had to ask me. They asked if I was married, and I said no. So they asked if I was to be married soon, and I said not soon but in the future. So they wanted to know why I was married on facebook. I explained that it was an inside joke between my best friend and I, and I don't think thy quite get it. So now, the misunderstanding got way deeper. I hope it doesn't continue like this. But it's up to them. They can think what they will, as long as I know who I am.

After this birthday party, we all went over to the student pub. The theme for the night was Heaven and Hell. It was fun. So now I can say I've been to hell and back and mean it quite literally. (There is a city named Hell that we wanted to visit during the weeklong trip, but we didn't have the time.) I played pool and I won against a stranger. I was lucky and I was surprised! The two guys that joined us at pool are from Afghanistan, so we talked a bit about the war; a basic and friendly conversation. I've usually heard that the war was either good or bad, supported or not, but these people didn't say either one. The one that I was talkin to said simply that it was too aggressive. That leaves some room for interpretation and made me think a bit. It seems like no matter where I am at, I am always actively thinking about major issues now. It's amazing. Even earlier in the evening I was having a very nice conversation about different languages that shifted slowly to be more of a poitical talk. I guess that was the point of studying abroad and growing up. I'm noticing things that I've never noticed before.

Cooking
My cooking is getting better. I can now make some dishes that taste just like my mom's dishes. Every time I achieve the same taste, I get a bit emotional; I miss home. I'm so happy that I can create a taste that my mom creates in her cooking and feel the warmth and comfort of home even when I am not home.

So I have reached the final conclusion of this post. Please post a comment on your thoughts on anything at all. I would really appreciate that.

Emily's birthday dinner

Before we left for the excursion, Emily and I went out for her birthday dinner at Pizzanini's. It was pretty good. We got half kebab and half hawaiian pizza. Then a brownie for desert. See the massive numer 20 on the brownie? That's how old she is now!

Music festival & drawing

Right now, there is a music festival going on. In the park by the beach, there's a HUGE tent set up. It looks like a circus tent. I had planned on going, but I realized it was too expensive. It's not like I'm missing out on much though. Since we live close by, we can hear EVERYTHING. It took me a while to fall asleep last night because it was so loud. But that's cool. It's like an ongoing festival that lasts all weekend. At least it's not during the week when I have class and such. Today, there is free public entertainment along the main shopping strip, right down a block from my place. I walked past it and there was Salsa music and dancing. It was pretty exciting.

The most amazing thing happened last night; I sketched! That's the first real drawing since IB Art ended. I was reading while waiting for my dinner to cook and I just had the sudden urge to draw; so I did. It turned out great! It's a scenery from when we were walking to Eidsvoll Manor for our field trip. My drawing is not finished, but it's looking good. I will definitely take a picture of it and post my sketch side by side with the picture when I am finished.

Once I started to draw, it all jus came to me! Inspiration just came and my strokes felt so natural, unlike the previous attempts! I was so excited. I woke up this morning with the urge to do watercolor, and to follow my artistic inspiration, I went out and got some good (expensive) quality watercolor and I will do a watercolor version of the same sketch once I am finished with the sketch. It feels so calming to be able to draw so naturally again.

Finished Essay & Excursion

Alright! I just finished my first essay for this class! I'm so excited! I hope it's good. I haven't written one since the end of the spring semester. It's a good thing that this essay will not be "graded" with a letter grade or anything like that. The message I got about this was that it was for a feedback and and getting a feel for it. I hope that's true, because if it's not too good, I'm ok! But I'm sure I'll do ok. I've written many essays before and have not had trouble with any of them. Never below a B grade in an essay; that's pretty deccent. Anyway, I sent my finished draft to Inger. Hopefully she has some time tomorrow morning to look it over and give me some feedback, so that I can revise and edit in time to turn it in on time. Speaking of which, I'm not sure which time is the correct due time tomorrow. The hand out says 1400 (2pm) but on the Fronter (online classroom database) it says 1615 (4:15pm). In any case, I am aiming for the earlier time; it's better to be early than risking the chance of being late, especially for turning in a paper!

I've also have a few chapters in the Work, Oil and Welfare book. I think I will finish up that book tomorrow! Since I have some time after turning in my essay! That makes me so happy just thinking about finishing up important "to do's".

Inger gave us the itinerary for next week's week-long excursion. I'm so excited for it!!! Although, I am not too excited about the train, boat and bus rides since I get motion sickness easily. But I have medicine and Emily has motion sickness patches, so I should be ok. If not, I can just sleep or something. Below is a brief schedule of what is planned for next week!

On Monday we are going to have a 3.5 hour train ride from Hamar to Roros, followed by 2.5 hours of a walking lecture tour of Roros including the Roros Church and Mining Museum, followed by another train ride to Trondheim lasting 2.5 hours. We are staying at Trondheim Vandrehjem (Hostel)

On Tuesday we will wake up bright and early at 7am, have breakfast, have a walking lecture throught he city of Trondheim at 9am, and then lunch. At 12 noon, we are going to Nidaros Cathedral Arch Bishop Palace - The Crown Regalia Exhibition. After that, we have the afternoon and evening free!! This is my chance to buy some souvenirs and learn more about other cool places!

On Wednesday We will wake up at 7am, again, have breakfast and lock up our luggage. At 10am, we have a potential meeting with politicians of Trondheim, talking about challenges ahead. We have lunch at noon and at 1630 (4:30pm) we will be on our way to Kristiansund Harbor on a 3 hour boat journey. This is going to be interesting because I have to be conscious to take in the oil platforms and continue to learn, while dealing with motion sickness. Well, at least I will be in the sea; I can just stick my head to the side and throw up if I need to. After we reach the harbor, we go to our hostel. This is supposed to be a cool place because we booked the rooms around a communal area (shared living space with stove and stuff I think).

On Thursday we wake up early at 7am, yet again, for breakfast. At 8:30am we will walk through town as a class through the old ship building. By 10:30 through 12 noon, we are supposed to pass the Petro Center, and Town Center. Then we'll have lunch, and go to West base at 1300 (1pm). At 1430 (2:30pm) we will be at OSNOR, a local oil based company where they recycle oil drilling equipment. This part of the trip, (well, started from when we were at sea) is kind of one of the main points of the trip; learn about oil and their economy and such. Then we have no more planned activity for that evening. I'm thinking that with all the planned walking, SLEEP is the best activity for this free evening!

On Friday we will have breakfast at 7am, bring our gear into town at 8:30am so that our luggage and such will be ready for departure at the end. At 10am we have planned Interacting with Politics or Production 2008 (Oil developments). Then we have lunch at 12 noon, and then another walk through town to the church and the Outlook Tower Water collectors. At 1530 (3:30pm) we will have individual time for 2.5 hours before a group dinner with the class in town at 1800 (6pm). At 2014 (8:14pm) we will depart Kristiansund for return to Hamar by BUS for 9 HOURS!!! For this trip back home to Hamar, I'm really going to need to knock myself out so I don't get too sick. Oh yea, I'm planning on it! Unless my group decides that this is a great time to discuss our group presentations for the trip.

We have a group presentation about an aspect of Norway that we observed on the trip. We are going to a lot of churches, so religion might be a big and popular issue to address. Or the issue of oil and the economy, and such. There are, of course, other topics since it's up to the group to decide. I guess I kind of want to observe how the minority population (immigrants) is interacting with the Norwegian throughout all the places we are going. I'm pretty sure that my group would not wholeheartedly agree to this, so I won't be forecefull about it. I think we, as a group, are aiming towards religion as our topic for discussion. However, I will still continue to do this observation on my own and come up with my own conclusions, or no conclusions, depending on my findings. This can be my own little project leading up to my research paper at the end.

I am so excited!!! However, I am a bit worried about money. Lodging and dinning are covered by the program, so I'm sure I won't starve. But, knowing my appetite for cool new foods with the combination of being in a foreign with new foods that I might never have a chance to eat again... I might be very tempted to eat to my hearts content... which means MONEY! How ironic that we are talking about Norwegian economy and their wealth while I am here having my own problems with money. Also, I'm worried for my camera; it might have a heart attack with my addiction to taking surplus amounts of pictures... I also have to buy another 1G memory card for my camera so that I don't have to take my laptop with me on the trip since I wont be needing it. Again, more money. I hate spending so much money, espcially in such an expensive country! And not to mention the souvenirs! I think I'm going to buy postcards. I've been sending postcards from Hamar, so I want to send some from my trip as well. And some cool Norwegian souvenirs that is totally Norwegian with no globalizaiton influence... it'll be like magic when I find the perfect souvenir. Then I'll not need so much. I don't want too much. Just enough for the people I promised (which is abut 5 people, not bad).

Ok! So that's pretty long. I wonder who's going to read it, but that's what's up!

Reading books

I'm half way finished reading the first assigned book of this module for the Society and Culture program. This one is called Work, Oil and Welfare by Knut Halvorsen and Steinar Stjerno. I didn't enjoy reading this at first because there are so much facts in there. I, as some may already know, am not a big fan of memorizing facts. But after the first chapter, I got pretty involved with the book; mainly I was amazed at how sucessful the Norwegian welfare system has been. We have a group discussion meeting today. I am leading the discussion for chapter 5, which is "Security in old age: Protecting the frail and elderly". Up to this point, I have taken notice that the Norwegian as a whole put significant value in family and the wellbeing of the family. I was very impressed of this and even more at how developed their programs are for old age pension and other family benefits (especially children!). Having a family in Norway seems to be such a comfortable thing. I have also noticed that there are a lot of baby strollers around, so the people here are definitely enjoying the system when it comes to family wellbeing.

There are also a few other books for this module as well as articles. I'm reluctant to buy these books because I've roughly calculated the costs, and they come up to about $300 for this module. If I assume that that is the average, then I'd have to multiply that by 3, which comes to about $900. That's $900 for one semester. For now, I'm just going to borrow the books from the library as I need them, and make copies for the books where were aren't reading the complete book (although it would be nice to read the complete books). I'd select a few books that I reall like after reading and just buy those few. That's my compromise for that expense. And I've taken greater care at my other expenses as well.

For the general part, things are going well. Classes are GREAT! I really enjoy our discussions. Although I'm happy and content about this aspect of the stay, homesickness keeps growing and now it's pretty bloated. If only I could cook as well as my mom or dad and have the familiar foods here.

Pictures from Oslo and Eidsvoll

So I've been kind of busy lately with school starting move at lightning speed. However, I'm all caught up and now have some time to put up the long await pictures (well, if anyone was waiting that is).

Oslo on Tuesday August 26, 2008
First, I shall start with pictures from my Oslo trip last Tuesday to see Christina.


The early train was pretty empty, and really comfortable! And it wasy WAY expensive too. The tickets were 225kr for each way, so 450kr total for the day, plus 48kr for the subway in Oslo, which comes to a total of 498kr total for transportation for the day. That is almost $100. That makes me sad.


There were many flourist shops at the train station at Oslo Central Station. This one's just for you, Olesya!


Globalization is pretty amazing. Burger King and McDonalds were both at the train station. I didn't have any, however, because they were massively expensive.


Christina is figuring out the subway routes, because us Americans were pretty much incompetent at that point. We were so glad she was there and knew what to do.


This is the subway in Oslo. It's not as crowded as a scene you'd expect in New York or something. It was pretty tame.


I don't remember the name of the park we went to, but it was HUGE! This is a snapshot of one angle of the lake.



We walked around for a while, looking for a restaurant to eat in. This is the lake from earlier from another angle. We never found the restaurant, and ended up going to a Chinese place outside of the park to eat. It was ok Chinese food.


More flowers! They were everywhere, really. This is the rose garden in front of the pathway that leads to the center with all the nude statues and sculptures.


A little garden that we passed by in the journey to find the non-existent restaurant in the park.


There were NUMEROUS nude sculptures; I felt pretty uncomfortable at first, but like I mentioned in my earlier post about the visit, I saw the meaning behind it. I thought this couple was sweet. They are just savoring a moment together.


On the way up to the new giant sculpture (which was unfinished), I passed by small gardens with fountains.


The family is important in Norwegian culture. This is a sculpture of grandpa and his grandchildren, I assume.


Emily, me and Christina in front of one of the mini fountains.


I couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture with the most famous sculture there: the angry child. He has a golden fist made of copper (I think it's copper). This kind of reminds me of my baby sister, Theara. I miss you babie!


Eidsvoll on Thursday August 28, 2008
Finally, here are the pictures from my trip to Eidsvoll where we visited the house where the Norwegian Constition was drafted and signed.


Our journey consisted of train, train transfer and walking. This is a scene from when I was walking.


Also, another scene from when I was walking.


This is in front of the house we visited. Isn't it pretty?


This was right in front of the actual house.


We had to wear plastic blue covers over our shoes to keep the house clean. It's been preserved as a national monument, in beautiful condition; so we wouldn't want to dirty it now would we?


One of the displays in the museum in the next door building. This is a carriage from te time/era that the Norwegian Constitution was signed.


Oh, yes, I am such a trouble maker... just kidding! The graffitti was part of a display.


This is a sculpture of the owner of the house. He allowed the representatives of that time gather in his little mansion to discuss the Constitution and sign it.


A picture from the front yard.


A group picture of my Society and Culture class in front of national poet Henrik Wergeland.


Me and the national poet.


On the way back, we had to wait for our train, so some people played fisbie!

So those are all the pictures that I promised from Oslo and Eidsvoll! I hope you enjoyed looking at them. Feel free to comment about any of them!