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!