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!

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!

... and off we go!

(This is from my journal)
2008-08-14
7pm, US Time

It's so quiet. This terminal isn't the usual that I'm used to, but that's because usually I'm going to Vietnam, not Norway. this trip is very similar, yet different than my usual trips. The security and anticipation is pretty much the same, and the rule with no water too. However, this is much more quiet - for now, and inside at least. It's like there's so much bottled up inside that everything outside is quiet and calm. Also, there isn't a bunch of little Asian children running around and speaking Vietnamese, like all my other trips to Vietnam. But like I said, I'm not going to Vietnam; I'm going to NORWAY!

I'm glad Janie got me this sketch book because now I can both journal and sketch my trip to Norway. This is a once in a lifetime trip and I plan to capture it as best as I can with my limited drawing skills.


2008-08-15
4:10pm, Copenhagen Time

Emily and I are now at Gate B4, waiting for our next flight which is Oslo!

I used their [Copenhagen airport) pay phone at the airport with my debit card. It was confusing at first because we couldn't figure out how to work it, and it wasn't in English and we wern't sure how the keypad worked to put the "@" symbol for e-mail. Then we figured that you needed "00" before the number and voila! It works! We talked to Stian, or at least I think it was him and explained our delay. And then i called home and left a voicemail for my dad. the panic ceased and now, all is well.

I also used the bathroom at the Copenhagen airport. I have to say, it was different. First, the toilet was oval-ish square rather than our round oval in he US. Also, the atmosphere was somewhat claustrophobic, but not too bad. The thing that I found most different was the paper towels. "Well, paper towels are paper towels, what's so strange about that?" you might ask. Well, they are actually towels in a roll and you can't rip them out like noraml paper towels in US. they just get rolled up at the opposite end each time you pull, so once it is washed (I assume) you can just re-use it.

I drew a diagram: