So it’s been a while since my last blog update. Mostly cause I haven’t done much, but oddly enough, its because I’ve been so busy! Once I returned from Finland, I had to get down to doing some real homework. First on my list was an awful Corporate Responsibility paper that took us forever to finish! Also had to write two other papers at the same time, one for Global Politics and one for International Business. And when I wasn’t busy writing my papers, I found plenty of things to keep me busy! From drinks with Jon, Anita and Nils (complete with 3 a.m. kebabs) to an educational Norwegian Parliament tour (the U.S. has the oldest “still-in-use” constitution of any other nation!), to bowling and drinks with my friends (beer and sprite together??), to US Election Night drinks with the Global Politics class (pointless, considering Norway is 6 hours ahead of any US time zone), to a birthday surprise for Uli (who knew advent calendars are that popular?), to an evening of "Christmas Beer" and Potato Balls (and cardiac arrest sauce) with Jon and Anita, to a trip south to Drøback (Norway’s Christmas/Jul town) and Fredrikstad, and to a long overdue visit to the Munch Museet and National Gallery (only saw one copy of Madonna and/or the Scream, but did see the “heightened security”); it has been a very busy month! Throw in some James Bond, dessert at the Hard Rock Café, and a midnight stroll through Vigeland, it has been a very fun month as well!
Not to mention my pseudo-Thanksgiving celebration- which was in of itself an interesting dinner! Along with the 3 other American (there is a total of 4 of us, but one guy travels more than I do and he was out of town) BI students, I dined on Turkey (albeit more of a turkey breast) and a variety of other Thanksgiving staples, which were all good, but just a little “off”. I was tasked with making green bean casserole… Sounds easy, but after 2 days of grocery shopping, I gave up on finding fried onions, and my recipe (found via the internet) had cups and Fahrenheit, so with a little converting, I think I did pretty well! And there is absolutely NO cranberry sauce in all of Oslo we concluded, but we resisted the urge of having Lingonberries…somehow though, Diane managed to find pumpkin pie filling!
And as my time is winding down here in Oslo, had my last class this past week (and I realized it was my VERY last class- EVER since I’ll be graduating soon!), I have to focus all my attention on finals now. And as much as I’m dreading my finals, as soon as I’m done I’ll be hitting the road (or actually air) hard; I already have many trips planned for my remaining weeks in Europe! On Wednesday, I’ll be flying to England to spend a few days in London, then flying to Scotland, and even Ireland before returning to Oslo in time for the Nobel Day (December 10th) festivities.
Not sure if I’ll have time to update my blog between now and then, but I’ll do my best! In the meantime, I have to go study!
1.11.06
One Night in Fosnes
In one of my more “daring” Scandinavian adventures, I agreed to join Christoffer on a journey to his hometown (Vasa, Finland), to pick up a car for him to have in Oslo. The plan was to fly to Helsinki early Friday, October 27th, have all day to sight-see in Helsinki before taking the last train of the evening to Vasa. That was the plan. But thanks to Blue 1 and their un-posted “45-minute” rule, our trip started off a little “off.” So yeah, we um, missed our flight. While we were there “in time” for our flight, we checked in 40 minutes before the departure time, and by being 5 minutes late, they gave away our seats and bumped us to the next flight to Helsinki. Fortunately, the next flight was at noon, giving us about 4 hours to kill in the Oslo airport. Theoretically, we could have left the airport and come back, but at 160,- kr for the Flytoget train back to Oslo S, Christoffer and I toughed it out at the airport… (and I had time to catch up on my Lost viewing!).
We made it to Helsinki around 15:30 and we grabbed a bus into the city center. We met up with Christoffer’s friend, Dan, who served as our VERY “unofficial” tour guide for the next few hours. Katja (my friend from Helesinki) had gone through so much trouble to prepare us for our time in Helesinki, but since we were on such a time crunch, we didn’t have time to ride the 3T :( . So Dan took Christoffer and I to the big sites, Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral (a big white church), Uspenski Cathedral, the president’s house, and Steadman’s department store – where I bought my new niece a present! Soon it was time to board our train to Vasa, we were supposed to meet Christian, but since he was running late, he caught the train at the next stop. (On the track next to our train was a night train to Moscow- a Russian train- and it looked SO old and so repressive, with train attendants dressed like KGB guards from the 70’s, it made me glad I was headed to central Finland and not central Russia.)
So once on the train, Christoffer, Christian and I headed to the dinner car and had some dinner- meatballs, potatoes and salad. Not a bad dining experience! For the most part, the whole Finnish train experience was good, until we got to Seinäjoki and we had to switch trains, which meant we had to RUN through the rain and sleet to a smaller, older train. This was JUST the beginning of the “weather”! See the thing with riding on the train at night, you can’t really see out of the windows, until you pass over a road with street lights, and when we did- I saw that it was snowing – and not only snowing, but it had been snowing- so far at least 5 centimeters (2 inches)! By the time we got to Vasa, I was freaked out and dreading getting off the train!
Christoffer’s parents, Lena and Sören, were at the train station waiting for us, and though the snow- we made it back to his house where I met his two brothers (Christian and Charsten) and his sister (Victoria). After an awkward dinner (stupid language barrier!) and a small birthday party for Christoffer, it was off to sleep!
I woke up Saturday morning and looked out the window – first reaction: “Oh my God!” and apparently I said it a little too loudly cause I heard Christoffer (in the next room) laughing at me. Seriously- I’ve been a Floridian for the past 10 years- I was NOT expecting to see 10+ centimeters (4+ inches) of snow- in OCTOBER! Yeah, I know- I’m in central Finland, but it’s only October!
Since Vasa isn’t all that big, and there was so much snow on the ground, and we had a “shopping list” from Katja, Christoffer and I spent the day shopping. First stop was H&M, and then to City Market which I would equate to a Super Target (a regular Target store with a grocery section). We spent about 2 hours shopping (I bought myself a winter coat!) before heading back to Solf (the village he actually lives in). While Christoffer was out loading the ski box on top of the car, I spent time with his mother (whom does NOT speak a whole lot of English – but tried for my benefit :) ) watching a Swedish film about a meteor hitting the town we were in about 500 million years ago. I really, really liked Christoffer’s family- despite the massive language barrier, they all were so considerate and welcoming.
Later, Christoffer and I went out to meet his friends (Christian, Anders, Jens, and Marcus). We hung out, drank and played cards. Since we had to (or at least hoped to!) catch a boat to Sweden at 8 am on Sunday, we called it an early night around midnight.
Bright and early Sunday morning, we had to leave to get down to the harbor. We had planned on taking a boat to Umeå, Sweden, but the boat company wasn’t sure if there would be room for our car. Luckily for us, there was and we were tightly squeezed in the VERY last place on the bottom floor of the boat! THANK GOD- if we had missed this boat, we would have had to drive an extra 600 km to northern Finland (which would have put me in the Artic Circle, but since we had so much other driving to do, it was nice to be able to skip the unneeded 600 km).
Interesting (borderline disturbing) story regarding the boat - while we were standing outside waiting to see if we were going to make the boat, this truck driver was walking to his tractor trailer and slipped on the ice. Just looking at him, I hoped his leg was fake because it was turned around in the WRONG direction. Turned out, it was a prosthetic leg, and he broke it when he slipped, and he couldn’t drive his semi without it. Our boat was schedule to leave in 20 minutes but the place where the prosthetics come from (?) was an hour away, somehow the leg was RUSHED to the dock and we were only 5 minutes late departing, and the driver had a brand-new leg.
The boat ride, all 4 hours of it, was cold and boring (imagine watching Herbie Fully Loaded in Swedish with Finnish subtitles!). We got to Umeå around noon, and we met another one of Christoffer’s friends, Nicklas, for lunch – at an “American” Sports Bar. Lunch was good, and soon we were on the road again.
We drove across most of Sweden Sunday night, but due to my inability to read maps, we ended up on some of the most obscure roads in Northern Sweden – I’m just glad they were plowed – at this point we were dealing with at least half a foot of snow! Unfortunately, no Northern Lights, but we did find a warm (and CHEAP- gotta love Sweden!) hotel so we stopped for the night.
Monday morning we had to start out early, if we were to make it to Fosnes by sunset (at 15:30ish!). The whole morning was spent driving and driving and driving…but we made it! First we saw a sign for “Fosnes Kommune” (!!) and after jumping out in the FREEZING snow- we got many pictures, then continued on to Fosnes (the smallest villiage in the world!). After taking lots of pictures (and sending postcards) it was back to Namsos for dinner, then off to Tronheim for the night.
Tuesday morning we spent in Trondheim - we visited St. Olav’s Kirche, Tronheim Torg, and just walked around…until it started to REALLY snow- so we piled back into the car and started the long, slow, snowy drive back to Oslo.
At some points during our drive, the snow was so thick, and the wind was so strong, we couldn’t even see the car in front of us, or the road. Luckily, Norway has poles on the edges of all their roads, indicating where the edge of the road is if there’s too much snow to see it! After about 200 kms of snowy roads, we hit clear roads at around 17:30, and then it was a quick drive to Lillehammer for dinner (haha!) before reaching Oslo around 23:00.
Although I had a “fantastiskt” time, I’m so happy to be “home” – and even more happy that I have no plans this coming weekend! I need to do some catching up on my sleep and homework!
We made it to Helsinki around 15:30 and we grabbed a bus into the city center. We met up with Christoffer’s friend, Dan, who served as our VERY “unofficial” tour guide for the next few hours. Katja (my friend from Helesinki) had gone through so much trouble to prepare us for our time in Helesinki, but since we were on such a time crunch, we didn’t have time to ride the 3T :( . So Dan took Christoffer and I to the big sites, Senate Square and Lutheran Cathedral (a big white church), Uspenski Cathedral, the president’s house, and Steadman’s department store – where I bought my new niece a present! Soon it was time to board our train to Vasa, we were supposed to meet Christian, but since he was running late, he caught the train at the next stop. (On the track next to our train was a night train to Moscow- a Russian train- and it looked SO old and so repressive, with train attendants dressed like KGB guards from the 70’s, it made me glad I was headed to central Finland and not central Russia.)
So once on the train, Christoffer, Christian and I headed to the dinner car and had some dinner- meatballs, potatoes and salad. Not a bad dining experience! For the most part, the whole Finnish train experience was good, until we got to Seinäjoki and we had to switch trains, which meant we had to RUN through the rain and sleet to a smaller, older train. This was JUST the beginning of the “weather”! See the thing with riding on the train at night, you can’t really see out of the windows, until you pass over a road with street lights, and when we did- I saw that it was snowing – and not only snowing, but it had been snowing- so far at least 5 centimeters (2 inches)! By the time we got to Vasa, I was freaked out and dreading getting off the train!
Christoffer’s parents, Lena and Sören, were at the train station waiting for us, and though the snow- we made it back to his house where I met his two brothers (Christian and Charsten) and his sister (Victoria). After an awkward dinner (stupid language barrier!) and a small birthday party for Christoffer, it was off to sleep!
I woke up Saturday morning and looked out the window – first reaction: “Oh my God!” and apparently I said it a little too loudly cause I heard Christoffer (in the next room) laughing at me. Seriously- I’ve been a Floridian for the past 10 years- I was NOT expecting to see 10+ centimeters (4+ inches) of snow- in OCTOBER! Yeah, I know- I’m in central Finland, but it’s only October!
Since Vasa isn’t all that big, and there was so much snow on the ground, and we had a “shopping list” from Katja, Christoffer and I spent the day shopping. First stop was H&M, and then to City Market which I would equate to a Super Target (a regular Target store with a grocery section). We spent about 2 hours shopping (I bought myself a winter coat!) before heading back to Solf (the village he actually lives in). While Christoffer was out loading the ski box on top of the car, I spent time with his mother (whom does NOT speak a whole lot of English – but tried for my benefit :) ) watching a Swedish film about a meteor hitting the town we were in about 500 million years ago. I really, really liked Christoffer’s family- despite the massive language barrier, they all were so considerate and welcoming.
Later, Christoffer and I went out to meet his friends (Christian, Anders, Jens, and Marcus). We hung out, drank and played cards. Since we had to (or at least hoped to!) catch a boat to Sweden at 8 am on Sunday, we called it an early night around midnight.
Bright and early Sunday morning, we had to leave to get down to the harbor. We had planned on taking a boat to Umeå, Sweden, but the boat company wasn’t sure if there would be room for our car. Luckily for us, there was and we were tightly squeezed in the VERY last place on the bottom floor of the boat! THANK GOD- if we had missed this boat, we would have had to drive an extra 600 km to northern Finland (which would have put me in the Artic Circle, but since we had so much other driving to do, it was nice to be able to skip the unneeded 600 km).
Interesting (borderline disturbing) story regarding the boat - while we were standing outside waiting to see if we were going to make the boat, this truck driver was walking to his tractor trailer and slipped on the ice. Just looking at him, I hoped his leg was fake because it was turned around in the WRONG direction. Turned out, it was a prosthetic leg, and he broke it when he slipped, and he couldn’t drive his semi without it. Our boat was schedule to leave in 20 minutes but the place where the prosthetics come from (?) was an hour away, somehow the leg was RUSHED to the dock and we were only 5 minutes late departing, and the driver had a brand-new leg.
The boat ride, all 4 hours of it, was cold and boring (imagine watching Herbie Fully Loaded in Swedish with Finnish subtitles!). We got to Umeå around noon, and we met another one of Christoffer’s friends, Nicklas, for lunch – at an “American” Sports Bar. Lunch was good, and soon we were on the road again.
We drove across most of Sweden Sunday night, but due to my inability to read maps, we ended up on some of the most obscure roads in Northern Sweden – I’m just glad they were plowed – at this point we were dealing with at least half a foot of snow! Unfortunately, no Northern Lights, but we did find a warm (and CHEAP- gotta love Sweden!) hotel so we stopped for the night.
Monday morning we had to start out early, if we were to make it to Fosnes by sunset (at 15:30ish!). The whole morning was spent driving and driving and driving…but we made it! First we saw a sign for “Fosnes Kommune” (!!) and after jumping out in the FREEZING snow- we got many pictures, then continued on to Fosnes (the smallest villiage in the world!). After taking lots of pictures (and sending postcards) it was back to Namsos for dinner, then off to Tronheim for the night.Tuesday morning we spent in Trondheim - we visited St. Olav’s Kirche, Tronheim Torg, and just walked around…until it started to REALLY snow- so we piled back into the car and started the long, slow, snowy drive back to Oslo.
At some points during our drive, the snow was so thick, and the wind was so strong, we couldn’t even see the car in front of us, or the road. Luckily, Norway has poles on the edges of all their roads, indicating where the edge of the road is if there’s too much snow to see it! After about 200 kms of snowy roads, we hit clear roads at around 17:30, and then it was a quick drive to Lillehammer for dinner (haha!) before reaching Oslo around 23:00.
Although I had a “fantastiskt” time, I’m so happy to be “home” – and even more happy that I have no plans this coming weekend! I need to do some catching up on my sleep and homework!
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