Let me just start off by saying 6:00AM fire drills are not fun. First of all, it's too early. Second of all, it's too late. Let me explain: by the time the fire drill is over it's too late to go back to bed before my 8:15 class. So that was my Thursday morning. Other than that, Thursday was pretty much just a normal day: riding to class on a caffeine induced shuffle. Oh yeah, and it hailed for a little while; Norwegian thunderstorms are the bomb-diggity.
Friday was a bit more exciting. Friday evening was the "End of Week One" welcoming party held at Chateau Neuf, the student socializing center located about ten minutes from campus. I betrayed my Norwegian heritage and actually danced a little. A lot, actually.
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| EuroPride Parade |
If you didn't know, EuroPride has been going on in Oslo for the past week. I was still somewhat tired from the night before but I ventured out from under the covers of my bed in order to attend the Pride parade, held in the streets of downtown Oslo. It was a fabulous parade and the general feelings of acceptance, happiness, and love were taken from the pages of a book the rest of the world should be reading. The weather was a bit chilly but sharing kindness and good feelings with the rest of Europe kept me warm.
After the parade, I came back to the Blindern for dinner and a quick
nap, then it was back to downtown Oslo. A group of friends and I
started out by taking the metro to Grønland and then made our way to
Karl Johans gate, back to Oslofjord, to Aker Brygge, then back to Karl Johans. Just outside the metro station, LG was having a promotion and was handing out free hot dogs. If you've ever been to Norway you'll understand that everything here is not cheap. So when you're offered free food you'd better take it! The hot dogs turned out to be quite good, actually, due to the Norwegian spin on them. I had potato salad on mine but my friend Brady was a bit more adventurous and got shrimp salad on his.
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| Karl Johans gate (Royal Palace in background) |
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| Oslofjord, Akershus Fortress on the left |
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| Oslo City Hall, the Astronomical clock on the front won't tell you so, but this picture was taken at 10:49pm. |
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| National Theatre |
If my legs weren't tired enough already, today (Sunday), many of us took the short metro ride up to Sognsvann for a hike around a lake. It was more of just a strenuous walk, really; the paths were wide and covered in gravel but it was a good workout all the same. The sun and clouds did a temperamental dance all day but it was a beautiful hike. You would never guess it's only a 5 minute train ride from the largest city in Norway. I spent most of my time while walking looking at rocks (a side affect of taking a year of geology classes), but I glanced up now and then to look at the trees, or sky, or water, too. I look forward to going back on a day when the weather is nicer. I still need to make good on my promise and jump into the lake.
From the hike, some of the Americans went straight to a 4th of July celebration in Frogner Park. Why they did it this weekend rather than next weekend is beyond me. Having only been out of the U.S. for just over a week, I didn't find the celebrations very compelling. That, and, as previously mentioned, everything in Norway is very expensive; a Fourth of July celebration is no exception. All the booths had something to sell you, be it American flags, washable tattoos, stars-and-stripes hats, or the spin of a wheel for the chance to win water in a can (yes, that's a real thing). I ended come coming back to the dorm early to get some work done and a quick power-nap before dinner.
I still have some work to get done for tomorrow so I'm going to leave it there for this post. I'll have to get better about posting more frequently so I don't end up with this back-log again. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading today's post. Stay tuned. -NLD
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