31.8.06

Is it wrong that I'm already skipping class?

Tuesday was a VERY busy day for me. I still only have one class (the other 4 start next week - more about those later!) which started at 8 am, and goes until 11, but I had to leave at 9 for the Intercultural Communication Workshop for Master level international students. It was a brief introduction to Norwegian life and things we should expect in general and how different things work at BI; such as exams, term papers, etc. The best part of the class was that I got to meet a lot of different international students. There were probably 50 of us there (out of the 250) and I was the LONE American...but oddly enough the professor conducting the workshop is a transplanted-Californian... We did different activities where we talked about the culture in our home countries and stuff like that. We also got a free lunch - a typical Norwegian lunch of open-faced shrimp sandwiches - shrimp, mayonnaise, lemon on bread. Not the best for someone who avoids as much seafood as possible, but I went with the flow. Over lunch the head of the exchange program sought me out and sat at our table. FINALLY figured out why she knows me - apparently FIT has NEVER sent a student to BI, and because of this- FIT is no longer accepting BI students (and if you live in Norway- why wouldn't you want to go to Florida?!?!) So I got this feeling she's trying to be SUPER nice to me so I report back to my school so more students will come to Norway. She asked why I thought more students from Florida didn't come here - I don't think she believed me when I said it was REALLY cold here! After lunch we had mini-presentations on what we learned about "culture" and nothing has given me more confidence in making a presentation- after all- this is MY language! (Not only was I the ONLY American, there was no one else there from any native English speaking country). (Side note: Ellen - the head of exchange said the reason why there were no English, Mexican or South American students this year is because they all had gone to Germany because of the World Cup games - thought that was pretty funny!) At the end of the day, I had a lot of new friends, new email addresses, skype contacts and mobile numbers (even though I don't have my cell yet!).

The workshop ended at 4:00, which was ideal since I had to meet for the Oslofjord cruise at 4. After a long walk through some shady parts of town (I'm talking- SHADY), we got to the pier, and then we were off! This was a Graduate Student Society event so many of the people I had met the previous week were on the cruise, as well as some of the girls I met at the workshop. It was fun- cold, but fun! We got free food on the boat, and guess what- it was a "typical summer Norwegian meal" - open-faced shrimp sandwiches with mayonnaise...Twice in one day- what a lucky girl I am! The problem here wasn't that I had just had this for lunch, as much as the shrimp weren't peeled- I'm talking heads, tails, and eggs - the whole bit. After peeling one or two shrimp, I decided to just go with bread and butter with some salad.

After the fjord cruise (and meeting more people) - it was on to a nightclub in Oslo, and all the Norwegians were talking about how excited they were cause of the club's cheap beer - only 39,- kr. Which OK, I've paid between 55-65 kr for beer, but as a ref: 39,- kr- = USD6.19; might be cheap in Norway standards, still really expensive for my standards! (They don't call it the world's most expensive city for nothing!) The last tram back to Storo came around midnight- so I had to leave so I could get home without taking a taxi.

Wednesday morning I woke up to rain. One of my new friends (from Finland) was going to IKEA and asked if I wanted to go along- like I'd ever pass up a trip to IKEA?!?! So with 2 other girls, we headed for city center to take the IKEA bus. We thought it came on the hour, but by 12:25 we gave up and found a cafe to have soda while we waited for the 1 o'clock bus. Just as soon as we sat down did the 12:30 bus show up! So we sat and relaxed and caught the 1:30 bus. There are two IKEAs on the outskirts of Oslo, and this time we went to a different one than what I had been to before - this one was bigger and I found all those remaining items I needed (pots, glasses, pizza cutter, etc). Of course we finished just as the IKEA bus back to town was pulling away so we sat in the little cafe and had hotdogs. Then it was back to Oslo, and we hit major traffic on the highway so it took a while. We got back to our dorm around 6. Yep- it literally took 6 hours to go to IKEA! (Which is "ike-ah" to all the foreign students I've met). We dropped off our goodies and went back out to walk around town. We walked all around and were a little lost when I recognized a park along our tram line (All that walking from my dorm to downtown paid off!). We decided to grab a beer and just sit outside for a bit, and then we headed home.

I had school on Thursday, and I attended all three hours. Today's class was an special joy to attend, being American and all- today's topic? Just how "unethical" America is for the war in Iraq. Does this seem like a topic for Corporate Responsibility? Not that I'm a huge war-activist, but it just seemed like a downward spiral attack on America and the general stereotypes associated with it. I was sitting with my Norwegian friends and they were quite funny cause they were constantly checking with me to see how I reacted to things. In the end, I wasn't too offended and I even learned some new words (obsequiousness and anhedonia) - I must admit I like it when sitting in class and someone will ask me what a word means- I do NOT like it when I have the exact blank stare on my face cause I've never seen the word before either!

After class I had some lunch, and then a tour of the library services and then met up with a group of new friends and we discussed a trip for next weekend to the Geirangerfjord - which should be very cool!

One observation I discovered today- so I've heard weird pronunciations for things and I just wrote it off as accents or whatever, but by the time EVERY foreign person called IKEA "ike-ah" and when the IT guy was talking about the BI website - ending in a "e-du", I realized they don't say the letters in an acronym...they are saying the acronym as a word! I'd heard the school referred to as "by" and I didn't get why then never said the "i"! Makes sense, and of course now I'm just laughing at myself cause it took SO long to catch it!

Tomorrow is Friday and its the start of yet another weekend for me! I'm getting used to having Monday and Friday absolutely free! However, Monday (Labor Day!) I will actually have school, I'm taking a Norwegian Language class on Monday and Wednesday evenings...even though everyone speaks English, I want to do whatever I can to avoid that deer-in-headlights-look when someone asks me something in Norwegian...I'll let you all know how the weekend goes!

28.8.06

The FANCIEST of all passport stamps (and the rest of my weekend)

My weekend started bright and early Saturday morning - I had to be downtown at the Foreign Police station by 8:30 am in order to stand in line to apply to be a Norwegian Resident. I showed up around 8:15 and took a number- 117. Unfortunately, they were only on 33. Usually the police stations aren't open on Saturday, but since there are so many non-EU international students attending BI (my school) and University of Oslo, they have a whole day dedicated to helping foreign students get all the permits necessary to live in Norway for the semester. Since I had not applied for my permit from home (closest location to do so is in Texas) I opted to do it when I got here. For the most part, it was a pretty smooth process; I submitted my paperwork around 9:30, they told me to go home and come back in a few hours. Since I had forgotten my camera I ran home to grab it, and decided to take a couple hour nap while I waited. Then it was back to the police station. I had taken another number (which was somewhere in the 460's by noon) and sat down to wait - again. As I was sitting there- the head of exchange at BI saw me and told me I didn't have to wait- I could just go back to the window I had been to earlier. So I did- and 10 minutes later she was pasting the FANCIEST stamp I've ever had! In reality, it's a visa and not a stamp, but either way- I'm excited to have another entry!

It was around 1:00 pm (or as I *should* say: 13:00- I need to transition to the 24 hour clock) and I decided to take the tram down to the waterfront and visit the Nobel Peace Center (Nobels Fredssenter). This museum opened last summer and is very modern with many interactive exhibits- it was a very interesting museum and I learned a great deal. I don't want to sound too "boring-museum-y" but: Every year the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded at the Oslo City Hall (Oslo RÃdhus) on the10th of December (the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death). It was outlined in Nobel's will to present this award in Oslo (all other Nobel awards are given in Stockholm) "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned was not that Nobel was a VERY rich man, and when he died he left his fortune to recognize the most significant efforts in sciences and peace, but rather HOW Nobel amassed his fortune: he invented dynamite and ballistite (smokeless gun powder). Nobel's inventions contributed to millions of deaths, causing Nobel great guilt and a desire to repair some of his damage by promoting peace.

After the museum I spent some more time walking around downtown and decided to head home around 18:00. When I got to the subway station there was a train in the station, and all the monitors said it was Linje (Line) 5: Storo, so I ran and jumped on. A few minutes later when we started off in an opposite direction did it occur to me that perhaps this might not be the train I wanted! Oh well. I rode the Line 2 all the way to the end, where I briefly got out to see the amazing view (I was high in the hills on the outskirts of Oslo) and then right back onto the train back into town so I could catch the right train! When I got home I decided to go on another walk around the neighborhood - I hadn't gone uphill from where I lived yet (cause really- who goes exploring UP-hill?) It was a workout and I didn't really find anything of interest.

Next day was Sunday and this was a lazy day for me. I took my school book to Frogner Park to do some reading. I think I did much more people watching than reading though. I must say one oddity I was not expecting was for my books to be written in "British" English; as are all my class presentations and handouts and stuff. I was prepared for all the extra "u"'s (harbour, favourite, etc) but I wasn't prepared for all the "organised programmes." Just another thing for me to adjust to! On my way home I did some grocery shopping and then I went for another long walk around my new favorite park. Not a bad way to spend a lazy Sunday. Figure I better enjoy the weather while I can - I hear winter comes quick in Norway! :)

Then on Monday, since I didn't have class, I decided to be a tourist yet again - I headed up to Holmenkollen. I made my way to the train station and found Line 1: Frognerseteren, and 30 minutes later- I was REALLY in the hills on the outskirts of Oslo!! Holmenkollen is a "world-famous" ski jump. Ski is actually a Norwegian word because Norway is the home of skiing, and Holmenkollen is the home of ski-jumping where as early as 1892 ski jumping competitions were held on this hill. The walk, sorry I mean HIKE, from the subway station was entirely uphill, and rather steep at times. By the time I made it to the site, I was already exhausted! And I still had several flights of stairs to climb. The tower only had one elevator, and it was NOT a long ride- it was all climbing! It is difficult to describe the jump- I'm pasting one picture here, but I encourage you all to check out my kodak gallery because it was a pretty cool structure. Unfortunately, it will be torn down in the next two years so they can rebuild a bigger and better one - I believe in an attempt to bid another winter Olympics (Lillehammer Norway hosted in 1994). I'm glad they hadn't started tearing it down yet and I hope they'll have some competitions here this winter - I think this would be an amazing event to witness!

By the time I got home Monday night I was sore and tired! Good news is - I'm losing weight. Bad new is- I've been sore since I've gotten here! But its been a lot of fun so far, as overwhelming as it can be sometimes! So Tuesday is back to school for me, and the start to my second week as a Norwegian Student. I'll be sure to post all about it!

25.8.06

My First Week as a Norwegian Student

My week started off bright and early Monday morning: International Student Orientation. After wandering aimlessly around the building for a good 15 minutes, I finally found C1-060, one of the classroom/auditoriums. The school is made up of different levels and different sections and the rooms are named accordingly. Sounds easy, except that if you go up one of two steps, you're suddenly on a different "level". Very confusing. But I showed up ready to be thrust into the life of a Norwegian college student. Right off the bat, they didn't have my orientation packet, and the head lady rushed up to me and told me to go home and change!

Before anyone starts thinking anything odd, I'd like to point out two things: 1. the head of the international exchange program knows exactly who I am, and 2. I was selected to be THE international student to participate in the school's yearly matriculation ceremony. Before anyone goes off to dictionary.com (like I did), here you go: Matriculate: to enroll in a college or university as a candidate for a degree. It's this ceremony that the school does where they officially "welcome" 4 new students; a bachelor student, a MBA student, a MSc student, and an international student. They have this whole setup and the president of the school is there and all the students are there watching. I was selected to be the "international student" to be matriculated. It was kinda cool- I got to hear exactly how my last name is pronounced in Norwegian (yeah, I SO don't say it like them!) and I got to shake the president's hand, and I got a little "matriculation diploma". Not sure how I was selected, but it was cool - only downside was, I had to wear a skirt!

After the ceremony, I got a tour of the campus. (They make it look easy!) And then I had a Master student informational meeting. It was for all new Master students, and it was pretty much along the lines of, school is hard and you need to give it your all for the next two years. Kinda freaked me out a bit until I realized I've already been going to MBA school for 2 years now.... we'll see.

After that meeting, it was BBQ time! Since it had been rainy off and on all day, they canceled the BBQ at Frogner Park (which is a very cool park in Oslo, featuring hundreds of sculptures by Gustav Vigeland). Instead we had a BBQ at a park next to campus. The international student committee provided about 30 little personalized BBQs and packs of hotdogs. This was seriously very strange, it was this grill in a box, you light the box on fire, and in the box are baquettes of charcoal in a wire frame. Since it was a group activity, I was forced to be social and I met some other exchange students. I met a girl from the UK, three boys from Germany, a girl from Toronto, a girl from Texas, and a girl from Mill Creek, Washington! She was a trip! She is 18, just graduated from high school. It was pretty funny.

Then on Tuesday, I started classes. Alright- I started "class". I had my very first class: Corporate Responsibility. It was strange, cause the very first class was a guest lecturer from a Norwegian company. He did NOT have nice things to say about American companies, and I got a new perspective, although brief, on business outside of America. There were about 250 people or so in the class. Largest class I've EVER had in my life! After class I did the most exciting thing thus far- I got my student ID card! Woo Hoo! Discounts on the subway, train tickets, tickets to museums, everything! So after a impromptu nap after class, I hit the streets with my new ID and promptly purchased myself a monthly transportation card, and a movie ticket.

I'd always wanted to see a movie in another country. My choices were limited, since I'd already ruled out anything with a Norwegian title (small steps!). So I chose Miami Vice. The movie was in English, and it had Norwegian subtitles, and the parts that were in Spanish, instead of English subtitles, they just had Norwegian ones. It was kinda tricky at first, but then I just ignored the subtitles. Oh and the seating! You have to pay extra to sit in the back of the theater, and you have assigned seating! I was in row 10, seat 11. See- I was able to read 2 Norwegian words! Rad and Sete. And there were people on either side of me, in the seats right next to me! I've noticed that the Europeans (or at least the Norwegians) don't have the same space requirements that Americans do!

On Wednesday, I slept in, wandered around downtown (now I have my transportation card) and did some major grocery shopping. Doesn't sound like it should take up a full day, but it did!

Thursday was the second half of my first week of school classes. My other classes don't start until September, so I only had this one class, but twice. Again, we had a guest lecturer. This guy was very difficult to understand...someone told me later that he was "speaking in Norwegian, using English words" - which pretty much means his voice inflections and emphasizing was on all the wrong parts of the words and sentences. That, and I don't think his mic was properly plugged in.

After class, I decided to go on the Graduate Student Society "Treasure Hunt". This has been the most fun event yet! First of all, we met in the school's bar (that's right- the school has a BAR- like an actual bar, in the school!) and were teamed up into different teams and given maps with destinations on where we were to go. There were 7 people in my team; 6 girls, and a boy - all Norwegian. It was so much fun! Our first stop was the Oslo Hard Rock Cafe, where we had to drink a beer and play Charades, in 7 minutes! Next stop was another bar, again, drink a beer and play Pictionary, in 7 minutes. Then another bar, 7 minutes, a beer and this time we had to drink this concoction and attempt to guess what was in it. It was quite amusing to play this one with Norwegians, because I would guess things too, and since spices and such aren't common words, I would have to figure out ways to explain the spice I'm guessing (such as, Nutmeg- the spice on egg nog?) Plus, we're trying to use our tastebuds after downing 3 beers in the past 30 minutes? Next stop was our final bar, our task here was to build a tower and "kiss up" to representatives of the company who was paying for all this, while downing our beers. After our last bar, we met up in Frogner Park for the postponed BBQ. It was raining, but we made the most of it. I met quite a few people at the BBQ as well, and then after the rain REALLY started to come down, we decided to move the party back to one of the bars, and I met even more people. In fact, I met a Norwegian girl who spent a semester in Coupeville, Washington, a Norwegian girl who went to Pacific Lutheran University, and a Norwegian boy who actually spent a semester studying at FIT! In Melbourne! How small is the world? All in all, it was an awesome night, and I'm looking forward to my next GSS event, which is Tuesday, it's going to be a cruise down the Oslofjord.

Then on Friday, luckily I did NOT have to get up early, I slept in and wandered over to campus to make sure all my documents were in order for my registration with the Foreign Police on Saturday; I had to file for a residency permit. Since it was pouring, and I'd forgotten my umbrella, I was forced to sit in the Oasis (student cafeteria) and wait out the rain. Other people had the same plan, and I saw a few people I'd met Thursday night. By the time I got home, it was GORGEOUS outside - so I decided to go on a walk. I found this cute park a few blocks over, and proceeded to do 5 laps around the park and then I sat and watched a league soccer game and then walked home. Only when I got home (2.5 hours later) did I realize how far I walked! Not only was I sore, but gmap-pedometer.com said I walked over 7 miles!

That's about it for my first week as an official Norwegian Student! Sorry it was so long! It was a busy week! Tomorrow I have to file for my Residency Permit - I think its kinda funny that my g.grandparents LEFT Norway, and here I am applying in order to be here! Other than that- I have no plans this weekend- guess I'll just see where the city takes me! :-)

19.8.06

Would Francis by any other name still be my roommate?

Right after I submitted my housing request I remembered thinking, there wasn't anywhere on that form for my gender. (Lucky for me, my parents named me with a genderly appropriate name.) Fast forward a few weeks to last week. The idea of knowing nothing about my future roommate, I asked the BSN (dorm) people about her. "She'll be here soon" is the only response I got, and so I verified, "It is a girl, right?" Well, cause you never know, I'm in Europe! "Definitely a girl." Well they were wrong, cause HE is definitely not the SHE they promised me. That's right- I'm living with a boy. I guess somewhere in the communications between the school and dorm, the gender classification of my roommate, Francis, got misplaced. I didn't want to be a complete social outcast on the topic, but really, who wants to spend 5 months trying to convince a 20 year old boy to put the seat down? So I waited until the next morning and I went to discuss the issue with the dorm people. Seems there are no other rooms currently available. So in the mean time, I'm living with a Canadian boy from Quebec. For the most part it is an acceptable situation. We each have our own room to ourselves, and we only have to share the common area (which is a bathroom and a kitchen). Should prove to be an interesting couple months indeed.

18.8.06

Officially Oslo!

So I've made it! In fact, I made it a few days ago, but have been so busy trying to settle in I've slacked on my blogging duties. Anyway, I got here early on Tuesday and my first mission was to find IKEA. I knew my room would not have linens or other household goodies, so I figured a trip to IKEA would be the answer to my problems. In Oslo, they have IKEA buses that pick you up downtown and take you to IKEA and back. See I picked the right country to study business in! Nothing like a captive clientele! Oh and you would *think* that if someone was planning on taking a bus back to the city from IKEA, they would limit their purchases to, oh I don't know, something easily carried? Oh no! There was a lady on there with a shelving unit! Oh well- I was content with my kitchen accessories and blankets. Oh and of course I managed to get lost on my way back to my dorm! After wandering around for an hour or so I finally got headed in the right direction. After that I was SO exhausted that I called it a night and went straight to sleep.

I slept late on Wednesday, and wandered over to school. I rode all the elevators I could find, and climbed all the staircases there was to climb (and trust me- there are A LOT of them!) Then I tried to go grocery shopping. Never have I seen so many "fish products" in one store! This is going to be an interesting few months I can tell you that right now! I found some safe basics (bread, cereal, milk, and what I'm hoping is yogurt) and I hope that I have a few Norwegian language classes under my belt before I try grocery shopping for a real meal!

Thursday I headed back to campus, took my photo for my student ID card (which will be ready Tuesday? I'm not even going to ask why it takes 4 business days for an ID badge) And the guy taking my picture told me my name was very Norwegian. Match that to my blonde hair and blue eyes you would think I should know the language or something!?! I wandered down to the bookstore and found two of my books. And they were two of the cheapest books I've had to buy for school! Then I decided to do something crazy, since it was such a nice day out. I decided to go for a walk. I walked all the way from my dorm to downtown Oslo. I have NO idea how far it is, but it took me about 45 minutes, and 15 minutes on the metro to get home. Once downtown I walked up Karl Johans Gate, by the university of Oslo, passed the Ibsen playhouse, and even up to the King's Palace. It was quite a walk and I was exhausted by the time I got home.

Since I had such a successful walk on Thursday, I decided to try it again on Friday- this time I was going to walk to Frogner Park. It was borderline hot here today! But it was absolutely gorgeous and the park was very crowded. On my tram ride back I passes by the water front (Aker brygge) and since the Oslo Jazz Festival is going on right now, there is a carnival of sorts down there. I jumped off the tram and checked out all the festivies and booths. I didn't do any shopping today, but I'm going to head back down there tomorrow morning! I then walked up Karl Johans Gate and grabbed the metro from National-theatret home to Storo.

So far a very busy, fun and relaxing week in Oslo. Next week is the official start of school. I still haven't decided what I'm doing this weekend yet..I'll keep you posted though! I'm also posting the pictures I took this week of Oslo and the school area. Be sure to check those out!

9.8.06

My First Blog EVER!

Welcome to my blog. This is my first attempt into the blogging world...I'm trying it out as a way to keep in touch with all my friends and family while I'm off in Oslo going to school. Soon I'll be departing from the comfort of the United States and traveling north to Norway. I am very excited to see what the next few months have in store for me. Anxious and more than a little nervous! But since I haven't left Melbourne yet, I really don't have any stories about school or my adventure in Norway. Stay tuned for frequent updates about where I'm going, what I'm doing and why!