Where's Jill?

Oh! What's Occurrin'?

2009-02-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Our friends Rob and Sally introduced us to a British TV show called Gavin & Stacey. I'll admit that a good deal of the jokes go straight over my head, but I do get enough of them that I am hooked on this show- HILARIOUS.

Background for anyone who hasn't seen it:
There is a boy (Gavin) and he falls for a girl (Stacey) through work-related phone calls. The problem is, he lives in Essex (an area just north of London), she lives in Barry, Wales. Some background I needed for the show is that there are evidently strong stereotypes associated with being from Essex; additionally, the Welsh have stereotypes of their own with which to contend.

The story goes that Gavin and Stacey fall in love and get married, except they are from two completely different worlds, and must quickly adapt to their new life together. Each have a best mate who plays a vital role in anything either of them do. Stacey's best mate is Nessa, "an incomparable woman with an extraordinary life history", whenever she shares stories of her past experiences, it just makes the audience (or at least me) go, "wait, what?" Gavin's best mate is a simple guy named Smithy, who loves food and beer, is very protective of Gavin and although he can't stand Stacey's friend Nessa, she does wind up pregnant with his baby. Gavin's parents are key players in the story, as are Stacey's mother and Uncle Bryn (which means "hill" in Welsh) and they provide just as much humor as every one else. I highly recommend it! (On BBC America and available on iTunes.)

The point of giving Gavin & Stacey background? Ben and I woke up this Valentine's Day with nothing to do. With plans like that, we went a bit crazy and decided to drive to Barry Island (an old amusement park/seaside town in South Wales where Stacey and Nessa are from.) I'm not going to lie to you, it was a silly thing to do it was, but what the heck, neither of us had ever been to Wales, and why not? It was crackin'!

There is one scene in Gavin & Stacey where Gav's mum calls it Barry's Island (to which his dad responds "It isn't Barry's Island, it doesn't belong to man called Barry.") The scene was comical in itself, but after googling it on the map, it's not even an island! Barry Island is a peninsula! Ben and I spent a good 2 hours wandering around the shoreside, playing the 2 pence arcade games (where fictional Nessa works, there was a sign saying "Nessa has the day off"), and just wandering the promenade looking for sights from the show. It somehow turned into a fabulous adventure of a day that completely shocked the both of us! (We even had lunch at a chippy and had curry sauce with our chips!)

The drive was actually quite nice (aside from some Rugby traffic once we got near Cardiff), our GPS lady took us on a rather unusual route through mid-south east England - but once we got to the M4 everything was fine until we got to the bridge. There is an impressive bridge across the River Severn (that separates South Wales from South England), that charges a toll going westbound - into Wales. There is great discussion about this toll on the show for it is £5.10. Ben and I teased each other all morning about how this trip is costing us gas and five pounds, 10 pence (we even double checked that we had the 10p)! However, when we got there, it was actually £5.40!! I know it's only 30p more, but come on! That is a pricey entrance fee for any country! (Ben's coworker says a friend of his will drive all the way around because he refuses to pay to go to Wales!) We figured the extra 30p is compensation for the toll booth attendants putting up with tourists asking "What's occurin'?"

The Pagan Gods Must Hate Me

2009-02-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

When I visited Ben back in April, he took me to Stonehenge. For some reason still unknown to us, the whole monument was closed, even the parking lot. We parked on the side of the road, with several other tourists, and took the best pictures we could through the fence. Obviously, I only got to see the monument from one side. Enough to be impressed by the size of the stones and awed by their placement; but still disappointed I didn't get the full Stonehenge experience.

Last week, Ben and I bought a car. We figured our first trip should be back to Stonehenge. (Pam and Joe got Ben and I a year-long English Heritage membership for Christmas - which means we get free entry to any English Heritage listed monument, castle, ruin, abbey, etc. in all of England). Because it had snowed the previous week, Ben and I threw all our winter clothes into our new spacious back seat, and headed north/west. While there was absolutely no snow when we left home, there was still a good 6-8" on the ground in Amesbury.

We got there around 10, the parking lot was open (improvement from our last outing) but there were already 3 tour buses in the parking lot. When we saw a 4th one turning in, we hurriedly bundled up and made a dash for the entrance. While Ben and I were excited about the monument and surrounding areas covered in snow, it presented a bit of a safety hazard and we were told only "part" of the site was accessible.

Since only part of the walkway was open (usually you can circle around the stones- albeit with a wide berth), I still haven't seen Stonehenge from all sides. We stayed for a while, listened to the hand-held audio guide you get, but soon the cold (and the 7 tour buses full of, um, tourists) got to us, so we decided we'd just come back another time...perhaps we'll call first to make sure it is actually open. ;)

Our New (to us) Car

2009-02-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

I know I'm severely behind in my postings, but I just couldn't wait to break this exciting news! We bought a car! After months of talking (and arguing) about it, we finally got our immobile butts in gear and spent all last weekend test driving every mid-sized, 5-door hatchback currently being sold in the UK. We went to 10 different dealerships (Renault, Honda, Volvo, Seat, Audi, Peugeot, BMW, Mini, Toyota, Volkswagen), and even went to some 2 and 3 times. As a side note here, I gotta say, I am rather disappointed in this country's capitalistic nature- some dealerships were closed on Sundays, some dealerships simply didn't have any cars to test drive, and at some of the dealerships we visited no one even acknowledged us- even after 15 minutes on the lot!

After taking our long list of possibilities, we narrowed it to a short-list of only 2 cars: a Honda Civic and a Seat Leon. The Civic put up a good fight, but in the end, we are now (or will be in another day) proud owners of a Seat Leon (which I've been told repeatedly is just a VW Golf in Spanish badging).

It's a 2006, 2.0 T FSI Sport 5-Door Hatchback in Black Magic Metallic. For me, it has heated front seats, bluetooth capability, stereo controls on the steering wheel, dual climate control, and back-up sensors. For Ben, it has a manual transmission and a turbo.

Couple more comments on the UK car buying experience:
- We didn't drive off the lot with our car! So, we went in, said that's the car for us, did some negotiating...talked finance, got everything sorted and then were told when we could come get the car. What? Honestly, the sales guy at Toyota told us that it took them 10 days from signing paperwork until car delivery (Seat is doing it in 2 days), so we were prepared, but still, what is it that takes them so long? I just don't get it. Ben drove by the dealer today, the car is still parked out front- same as it was yesterday (and it's still listed on the dealer's website).

- Dealerships are only open until 5 or 6 pm; some not opened on Sundays. When do (employed) people find time to buy cars??

- This is just a UK thing, but since we don't have SSNs here, their credit check was... sketchy? We told them our names and where we lived. From that alone they gave us a financing option. How does that work!?! We could only finance the car in one name (since we're not married), so we opted for Ben (good thing, cause apparently one can't get financing without at least a learner's driving licence (spelled British-ly). The sales guy wasn't sure if we could register the car in both our names (again, since we're not married), but he'd try.

Doesn't matter! At noon tomorrow, we'll have a previously-used, new-to-us Leon. We've already decided where we're going this weekend. ;)

But I'm NOT a morning person!

2008-12-09T00:28:00.000-08:00

For the second day in a row, Ben and I woke up before dawn. Since I'm not a morning person, I'm chalking this trend up to our internal clocks still being a bit off. But since we woke up at 4:30 am, we decided to walk down to the breakwater (Nobbys Head) to watch the sunrise over the Pacific Ocean (which is new for me, I mean the Pacific is usually west, the sun SETS over the Pacific, not rises!). It was a nice brisk walk, and we were certainly not alone - bikers, joggers, people out waking their dogs. It was a beautiful morning to be out walking along the coast line of Newcastle.

After checking out of our hotel, we got back in the car and drove north some more. Decided to make a stop off in the Port Stephens area, in the town of Nelson Bay. Somehow we managed to NOT take any pictures; there wasn't much there to see anyway - well, other than a gorgeous beach with crystal clear blue water - but those seem to be everywhere around here! ;) We were hoping to get some lunch, but it was only 11:00 - and they didn't start lunch until noon (See, this is why I don't get up early, you have to wait SO long for lunch!!).

Back in the car, we continued our journey north to Port Macquarie. I smile each and every time I see the word Macquarie on an Australian map. A few months ago when Ben off-handedly suggested Australia (who knew?), he recommended I read Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country (published as Down Under in the UK). Since I've enjoyed some of his other books, I took to this one instantly, plus it was nice to have something to read on my bus commutes into Seattle. Anyway, Bryson comedically analyses the over-use of "Macquarie" in Australian geography. Evidently Lachlan Macquire was the governor of New South Wales in the early 1800s (and popularized the use of the name "Australia"- at the time, the entire country was collectively being referred to as Botany Bay - imagine, the whole continent being called "Botany Bay") If you have a moment, seriously, check out the list of things named after this guy!

We didn't see much of Port Macquarie, but we liked our hotel - outdoor hammocks on the 6th floor and a heated pool and spa on floor 1, all of which we visited ;) If that wasn't nice enough, there was a pretty decent mexican restaurant next door ;) The place had ceramic place-mats with common Spanish words and their translations - for example, por favor= please. Nothing unusual or unknown to us, but the "Hola" translation was G'Day Mate. It made us both laugh a little bit ;)

Manly: Not just an adjective

2008-12-08T23:53:00.000-08:00

Because we ended up going to sleep at 1 pm on Sunday, neither Ben or I had eaten anything for almost 24 hours. We woke up at 3:30 am, unable to sleep any longer, but doubtful we'd find anything open at such an hour that would serve food. Like any good addicts, Ben and I took the opportunity to watch all our queued TV shows ;)

Finally, it was 6 am, never have I ever so intently watched a clock hoping for 6 am to come! We ventured out, in our summer vacation best, and promptly ran into rain and wind and general coldness! We re-found a french cafe with covered sidewalk seating (which we had eaten a croissant - our only Sunday food- at the previous day). Ben ordered a Big Breakfast and I ordered a crepe. For some reason, my crepe took it's sweet time getting to me, so long in fact, Ben had FINISHED his brekky by the time I got my food. *For the record, there were only 2 of us at the table, NOT 5. ;)

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and drove wildly around Sydney, and out through some super posh suburbs. We stopped off for a bit in Manly, but it was kinda chilly and overcast. We did have some success, we got lunch and bought Ben a cossie (swimsuit). The sales guy was trying his hardest to teach me how to say "Cairns" while Ben was trying on suits...I never did get it...After walking around a bit more, we returned to the car and started heading north again....

Australia

2008-12-07T02:51:00.000-08:00

I'm in the process of updating my blog to reflect the next 33 days I'm spending in the massively gigantic and grossly underpopulated country of Australia. The southern hemisphere, my first crossing of the equator and my third continent.

After just a short (cough) 22-hour flight from London, Ben and I arrived in Sydney, and thanks to the magic of the Earth's rotational axis, currently in the midst of summer. (As miserable as sitting on a plane for 22 hours is, I would gladly sit in any extremely confined, monumentally uncomfortable, restrictive seating arrangement for 22 hours every December if it ushers out 1ºC in favor of 24º temperatures.)

We had initially tried to check into our hotel around 9 am; not-so-fresh-or-rested from our "double sunrise" flight, we were desperately hoping for an early check-in. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but we were able to check our luggage at the hotel and we were off walking the streets of Sydney.

The day went as expected, both of us being completely disorientated (our internal body clocks have NO clue what time it is), in a foreign country (just because they speak English, does not mean its the same language!), and being completely and totally overwhelmed (33 days in a country with a long itinerary of things to do and see ahead of us). We did as best as we could, got a rental car, got a cell phone, found our hotel (actually, found 2 of our hotels), saw the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, bought my first Australian souvenir, and tried to kill as much time as possible while exerting as little energy as possible.

Finally around 1 pm, we returned to the hotel and were able to check in. While neither of us wanted to nap, or at least not nap very long, soon we were both asleep, and remained so until around 3 am the next morning...oops.

We didn't get to see much of Sydney, but neither of us are too bummed, at the tail end of our journey we'll return to Sydney (in time for New Year's Eve) and will have plenty of days to see as much of it as we can. In the meantime, we're off up the coast. The first leg of our journey has us driving up Australia's Holiday Coast to Brisbane - with stops in Newcastle, Port Macquire, Coffs Harbour, Sufers Paradise and finally Brisbane. More about that to come...

The longest 5 to 14 weeks ever!

2008-09-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

After waiting 4 months, 18 weeks, or 129 very long days, I FINALLY got a decision on my HSMP visa. Not that I've been anxiously waiting and counting the days...

I've been expecting a decision all week, and had contemplated calling the Home Office for my decision. I have just been too nervous. Early last week the UK Border Agency posted on their website they were processing applications from May 19th, and people on trackitt.com (a forum website that other UK immigrants share their thoughts, fears, experiences, etc) with higher reference numbers were posting decisions and people with application dates after mine were as well, but I was just too nervous!! That and the HO is open from like 9 to 4 (which is 1 am to 8 am for me); totally not convenient.

So, I just checked my mail, every day, and hoped that I'd get a package with all my documentation and an acceptance letter. And when I got home from the gym Friday night, I had a notice saying that I had a package waiting for me at the post office.

I barely slept any Friday night, just waiting for the post office to open so I could finally just KNOW. I woke up early and got to the post office at 9:01. By 9:03, I had ripped the package open; finally, I had my decision. My application was approved.

I'm still in a state of shock. Technically, I've been waiting for this letter for 4 months, but I started the application preparation well over a year ago. It's so weird that it's finally here, and my move over is imminent! I am very, very excited.

Next step is applying for an entry clearance. It is a much quicker process; I apply from an embassy in Los Angles (and not the Home Office in the UK). I have to submit 3 months worth of bank statements certifying that I've maintained a minimum balance and get some biometric data taken. Sounds easy enough, but I'm sure I'll end up worrying unnecessarily over that part of the process as well. ;)

Overdose or Allergy? Neither, Respiratory Infection.

2008-09-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I developed a cough. Didn't think much of it, didn't come along with any other symptoms, just an annoying cough that kept me awake at night. I was at Target so I decided to just grab a bottle of Vick's cough syrup. After 2 days of accidently (and unknowingly) taking double-dosages, I noticed my hands were swollen, red and itchy. Since I noticed this at 6 am on my way to my personal training session, I took 2 Advil and called it good (cause my legs were still killing me from Monday's session and there was no way I was going to make it through another round of squats, lunges, and stiff leg lifts without pain killers). But by that evening, my hands and feet were so itchy and red and swollen. I rubbed in some hydrocortizone cream, took another dose of cough syrup and went straight to bed. When I woke up Thursday morning, I still had the rash on my feet and hands, but now it was starting to appear on my knees. I decided I was going to head into work for a few hours to pass off my assignment, and then head to the doctor.

Turned out Thursday was not a quick day for me. On Monday, the company I work at, Safeco, was bought by Liberty Mutual (not all that publicized due to all the other business shake ups of late and the collapse of another 'mutual' in the Seattle area...) so when I got to work on Thursday, there was a mad dash project to strip our training down so Liberty Mutual employees could start training on the Safeco products. I was swamped all day, didn't even have time to eat lunch, but didn't even realize it until 6 pm. My hands, feet, and legs were still itchy, so I decided to make an appointment to see a doctor, that night. (But being brand-new to my health insurance plan, I had to find one first!) Found one provider that was still open, in the town I lived in, so I hurried there straight from work. Unfortunately, she was a complete idiot.

Best she could surmise it was an "allergic reaction" but she couldn't figure out why I had it, and prescribed quite an extensive dosing schedule of prescription strength anti-histamines. When I got home, I checked the label of the Vick's cough syrup- big warning: Discontinue use if redness, swelling or rash occur. Oh, and I'd been taking 30 ml doses instead of their recommended 15 ml max in 24 hours. OOPS!

I stopped taking the Vick's and after 4 days on the prescription anti-histamines, I still have my rash, and have developed quite a cold to go with it!! I was TOO sick to make it to my personal training session this morning, and even called in sick to work. Went back to the doctor and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection (by a different doctor). Got another round of drugs (Glad I picked the job with the better health plan!), and am currently waiting for things to improve...

Bought High, Sold Low

2008-09-10T22:17:00.000-07:00

Often times I get asked if I think I made the right decision leaving Florida. Usually, I don't know what to say, on one hand my life is so completely different (in good ways) than what it was, but on the other hand, I miss so much about my former Florida life (i.e. my kickass Florida friends!). So every once in a while, I wonder if I really did make a smart decision.

Well, I think I got some proof of a smart decision today! My very observant bike-riding friend Keri made my day (week, possibly my month, depends on when I hear from the visa people ;) ). She was riding her bike through my old neighborhood a few months ago and saw a For Sale sign in my former front yard. Then a few days ago, she noticed the sign was gone. Prompting her to do a little investigation on the Brevard Property Appraiser website and found something TRULY shocking!!

You can check out specifics here, but the basic idea is that I sold my house in September 2006 for $300,000 (sold for $350,000 with $50,000 cash back on signing). But the shocking part is, the guy who purchased my home recently sold my house for $200,000. So in under 2 years, the value of my (former) house dropped over a hundred grand!

This makes me believe I finally made a smart decision, I bought low and sold high...unlike the most recent seller ;)

I'm a Stinky Magnet!

2008-09-08T22:38:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not stinky, but I do have an uncanny ability to attract very smelly people.

Seriously! Today I was surrounded by stinky people where ever I went! I was standing in line waiting for the bus this morning and this homeless man wandered up and totally violated my personal space circle - and he just reeked of alcohol - REALLY strong! (Technically, I'm not sure if he was in fact homeless, but I couldn't think of any other reason for smelling like that at 8 am on a Monday morning!) Then on my ride home from work this evening, at the last stop downtown, I see this man literally throwing out his cigarette as he was stepping onto the bus, and even though the bus wasn't full, I just KNEW where he was heading, right next to me.

So then I figured, it's just the bus. Stinky people ride the bus...but then, I was at the gym tonight? Yes, I know, people are working out, it's sweaty, there is a certain level of expectancy for stinky, but this "older" guy got on the elliptical RIGHT next to me (Not sure why that one since there were about 20 others empty!), and he just smelled BAD from minute one. It may have had to do with what he was wearing, one of those track suit outfits, with the warm up pants and jackets? (Notice I didn't mention a t-shirt? That's because he wasn't WEARING ONE - and he had his jacket completely unzipped. COME ON!)

I have to say though, the stinky gym guy did motivate me to hustle my buns - I was going to do 5K on the elliptical no matter how long it took me. I averaged just shy of 12 minutes for the first two miles, but I did that third mile in under 10 minutes - breathing through my mouth the WHOLE time.

I'm hopeful that stinkiness is only a Monday thing and the rest of my week will smell just fine ;)

Taking the Plunge

2008-09-06T15:39:00.000-07:00

After going out to dinner for my sister's birthday, and having more bites of her ice cream dessert than I care to admit, I was completely guilt-ridden and decided to head to the gym. Friday nights are the time to be at the gym!! Or, not, as it was almost completely empty! It was great- I felt like I had the whole place to myself (with only two or three other people there). I did my usual 40 minutes on the elliptical, 20 on the stair climber, then moved over to the weight machines.

I was doing this arm/tricep one, guess I was doing it wrong cause this guy stopped me and showed me how to do it right. (Yeah, I wasn't even FACING the right way!) I recognized him as a trainer who works there - even though he wasn't in uniform and was there to obviously just work out. But he helped me on all sorts of machines for the next hour and I decided I was hooked, so I promptly signed up for 6 sessions with him.

My first session with Tyler is next week - I'm actually pretty excited. I've been having a lot of success at the gym on my own, seeing results every week, but I figured I could definitely benefit with some guidance. I've been toying with the idea of getting a trainer, and after realizing just how clueless I am when it comes to weight-lifting, I decided to just go for it.

I must say though, I am a little shocked at how much it costs! Fifty minutes with a trainer is more than I make an hour, which just kinda surprised me. But I realized December is only a few short months away and I need to get movin'!

It HURTS to be American

2008-08-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

For a couple of weeks now, I've been participating in a diet challenge with my Florida friends. And although I no longer have TSE as a goal, the gym is the ONLY place I get to watch TV. For the past 2 weeks (or to practice speaking ~~British~~, sorry, English), for the past fortnight, I've spent many, many, many hours in the gym watching Americans compete in the Olympics. I watched swimming, diving, gymnastics, and more beach volleyball than I thought I'd ever watch in my whole life. The key though, as I watched, I walked and jogged on the treadmill, did whatever you want to call it on the elliptical machine, lifted weights, stretched, and even rode two types of stationary bikes.

And while some of my friends are suffering from post-Olympic blues I have found TV salvation in the form of the Democratic National Convention. Again, since the ONLY place I get to watch TV is in the gym, I found myself working out for long stretches of time while Michelle Obama spoke on Monday, Hillary Clinton spoke on Tuesday, Former President Bill Clinton spoke on Wednesday, and finally while the Democratic Presidential Nominee himself, Barack Obama spoke this evening.

The most painful part of it all was how off I was on my timing of the speeches! I was finishing up a half-hour on the elliptical when Hillary took the stage, and I ended up on a stair climber as she expatiated on about no way, no how, no McCain. By the end my legs were BURNING!! Then again tonight, I was almost done with my half-hour on the elliptical when Obama took the stage. I ended up on that elliptical machine for 87 minutes! I burnt over 800 calories on that machine tonight alone. We'll see how able I am to walk up and down those steep hills of downtown Seattle tomorrow morning!

This week of speeches inspired me. I'm a Democrat through and through (and hate admitting when I do harbor some conservative tendencies), but I'm inspired to watch next week's Republican National Convention. I was moved by some of the things Obama pledged and riveted by some of the shots he took at McCain's offensive attacks. I'm curious to see how those are going to be answered. If nothing else, it's another week of TV to get me back to the gym, and perhaps the RNC can bring something worthwhile to my life, a few extra burnt calories? I highly doubt I'm going to be so interested that I'll stay on a stair climber for 50 floors, but we'll see.

But sadly, when it's all over, it'll be a very long 3 weeks before the Fall season starts up and returns gym motivation to me in the form of The Office, 30 Rock and Dirty Sexy Money. That is when my blues will set in, but really, I'm so TV deprived right now, I'm open to the idea of watching just about anything.

Catching Up

2008-08-27T21:00:00.000-07:00

Now that I seem to be overwhelmed with time (since the Border Agency is working at a snail's pace) I should post about what's been happening in my little corner of the world...

It's been 14 weeks since I've applied for my HSMP visa. The UK Border Agency website says it takes 5 to 14 weeks...but also says they're just now processing applications received 19 weeks ago. Looks like I have ANOTHER five weeks to go, just for a decision. (And according to my online obsession, trackitt.com - a forum website for other like immigrants to share their stories, problems, suggestions, etc- a lot of Americans are getting denied.) I've submitted additional paperwork twice now, and just hoping that everything goes as well as Ben believes it will! ;)

Secondly, since I seem to have quite a bit of time left before my visa comes through, I decided to get a job. While being unemployed had it's benefits, I was mostly just bored and frustrated with waiting on a visa decision. Getting a job wasn't a problem, once I put my heart into it I had two interviews on the same day, and a resulting tough decision on which one I wanted more, but gave me great negotiating leverage! Happy to say that I'm a Senior Instructional Designer for Safeco (a NW-based insurance company, Mariner's fans know who I'm talking about). I've only just started, but so far seems to be going better than that last tribulation! Oddly enough, I'm working with an ex-WY co-worker, who's been working there for a few weeks; it's been nice having someone to show me the ropes so to speak. I'm located in one of those big-city high-rises in downtown Seattle (sadly I'm only on the 2nd floor), and I've been utilizing Issaquah's brand new transit center, and riding the bus in and out of the city every day. This week has been rough, who carries cash and coins anymore? Enough exact change for every morning and afternoon ride?? I had to get creative this evening and wait until after 6 to go home (when bus fares are non-peak, and are 75¢ cheaper. I have a wallet of $5 bills, but I didn't have singles for the $2.25 bus fare!) I'm getting a September PugetPass so hopefully it won't be a problem anymore.

And of course, if you've talked to me at all in the last few months you'll know all about the Cabin project my sister and I are knees deep in. We inherited my grandmother's cabin in 2004, but only recently decided that it was time to put it on the market. Only we didn't realize just how much work it needed to get it ready to sell. Practically every weekend (and weekdays when I didn't have a job) has been spent at the cabin; repairing, priming, painting, cleaning, painting, taping, sanding, painting, replacing everything. Interior painting is done and new flooring has been ordered, so I'm hoping we're nearing the end of a very long summer project.

So that's about it! Add in missing my boyfriend, that's pretty much all I've been up to lately!

Making Lemonade

2008-06-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

I got laid off. I hate that. Not so much that I'm going to miss my job (co-workers, yes; job aids, NO), but now I'm left with the challenge of finding a new one. For one, it's such a weak economy, but secondly, I hope I won't need one in 6 to 8 weeks. The timing sucks, but I'm going to look on the bright side, I can apply for unemployment and I'll definitely NOT miss my 29 mile (each way) daily commute!

The Countdown is On!

2008-05-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

From the USPS.com site:

Your item was delivered in GREAT BRITAIN at 10:27 AM on May 16, 2008.

UPDATE: I checked my credit card this afternoon and the Home Office has already processed my application fee - I'm not sure if this actually means something or not, but I'm excited!

I've only just begun

2008-05-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

For the past, oh I don't know, 10 months I've been obsessed, yeah, that's the proper word, with the Highly Skill Migrant Programme Visa process. For anyone who is not as OCD about the HSMP as I've been, a little background - in order to move to the UK without an employer sponsor-ship nor wanting a "spousal/dependent" visa, I opted to apply for the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme visa. This visa is awarded on a point system, and the applicant receives points based on age, education level, past earnings and UK experience (which has been puzzling me for 10 months now- if I already work in the UK, why would I need to apply for a visa that would allow me to work in the UK?). The goal is to get a minimum score of 75 points. Since I get 10 points for being 29, 35 points for having my master's degree, I was left needing 30 points from my "past earnings" - income earned in any 12 month period of the last 15 months. For this, I would have to earn GBP 29,000, which would vary between $56,000 to $62,000 depending on how the dollar was doing (and over the last 10 months? Not well.)

After working non-stop, including on vacations and working any overtime I was able to, I FINALLY hit my income target! To celebrate, I bought myself a ticket to visit Ben in England for a week. Once I got home, I put my head-down and really worked on preparing my application...I am happy to write that after a bit of a crazy situation dealing with the post office, my application is on it's way to Sheffield!

Let the 5 to 14 week countdown commence! (Again, I should probably provide a bit of background - the HSMP site states that 50% of applications are decided within 5 weeks, and 95% are decided within 14 weeks. Key word is "within" but with such a wide window, I'm hopeful, but I'm still a realist at heart.)

Now is when I really have to get busy planning my move- I've got everything from storage places, international cat transport services, to UK job hunting on my plate. Something tells me the next 5 weeks might just fly by!

Coming Soon

2008-03-03T21:24:00.004-08:00

I've been toying with the idea to start blogging again. Really, I was waiting for something interesting to happen. But today I was looking at the calendar and I realized it's now March, meaning April, and my application date, is getting closer - I just HAD to find myself a countdown 'ticker'.

Yes, I'll blog again when things start to get interesting... ;)

Eastern European Adventures: Part 2 - Prague...12 Years Later!

2006-12-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

In 1994, I was an exchange student in Köln, Germany, and my host family took me to Prague, then a recently-dissolved Czechoslovakia. Last time I was here, the city was still adjusting to Western influences, everything was cheap (combo of the de-Easternizing process and a strong US dollar), and it was HOT (mid-June!). This time, Prague has definitely modernized since then, and while not using the Euro, things have gotten a little more expensive, and it was still fairly warm!

We got to Prague around 6 am, bought open tickets for Berlin, stashed our luggage, and hit the dark streets. We got to Charles Bridge (Karlův most) around dawn, which all those photography hints are right- perfect lighting for picture taking! Unfortunately, my battery was dying and my back-up was already dead- NOT a good combo for a clear, sunny day in Prague! We found a cute little coffee shop for some breakfast, and I saw a plug in the corner of the room so I plugged in my battery pack to charge. An hour later, we were back on the bridge and I was taking pictures like crazy! Then we went in search of the Astronomical Clock (Pražský orlojgot). We got there at 5 minutes to the hour (perfect timing!) watched the saints march on through, and then wandered around the Christmas Market set-up in the exact square I had sat in 12 years ago, sweating my bum off waiting for the clock to chime the hour (it turned out it was broken and I never did see the chiming back then). By this time, the sun had really burned through the clouds and it had turned into a bright and sunny day! I even took off my coat! December in Prague? I was thoroughly impressed.

As we did in Budapest, we took various trams around the city and jumped off when the mood struck. We walked all around (for the second day in a row) and I saw a lot of things I didn’t see my previous visit (of course I saw things then I didn’t see this time too). We ended our day with a visit up to the Prague Castle, with more pictures and more shopping at the little booths lining the Old Castle Stairs (Staré zámecké schody). Truly the most perfect day we could have picked to be in Prague.

Then we returned to the train station to find that the train to Berlin was leaving from a different train station, so we headed back to the metro to go to the other train station. Along the way we stopped off at a convenience station for an authentic Prague souvenir and candy for our train ride to Berlin.

Eastern European Adventures: Part 1 - Budapest

2006-12-13T13:32:00.000-08:00

The last of my “European Adventures” was a fast-paced journey through some of Eastern Europe’s capitals. The first stop was Budapest (Buda and Pest). After cleaning my BSN room all day, packing, and studying for my last final, I checked out of my dorm, walked to BI, took my International Firm final (which fortunately for me, was pretty easy), then I was off! My final ended at 18:00 and our Eskspressbus left Oslo S at 18:40 – plenty of time! When we arrived at Torp, I had made the world’s largest blonde mess-up…I had booked our tickets for the 12th, not the 11th. BIG OOPS! Oh well, after some negotiating and credit card usage, we were back on track. We got to Frankfurt just fine, suffered through our 5-hour overnight lay-over (along with SEVERAL other passengers!) and checked into our flight for Balaton (PLUS I got yet another passport stamp!). Since it was now 6:00 and I hadn’t slept for almost a day, I was out the moment I sat down on the plane. Unfortunately, I slept right though the thick fog and the announcements saying that Balaton was fogged out and we were being diverted to Bratislava, capital of Slovakia. Wasn’t on my list of capitals, but hey- I got a stamp from Slovakia, and technically (only *technically*), I made it to yet another country! We landed 30 minutes late (and a whole other country and currency away) and waited around for about an hour for a bus to come pick everyone up and drive us to Balaton. If we had been thinking, we should have just figured out how to get to Budapest from here, but being tired and SO VERY disorientated, we just followed the masses and boarded the bus to Balaon. Seriously, 4.5 HOURS later, we FINALLY got to Balaton! And talk about your Eastern European cities! The airport? I swear to God was an old bomb shelter or army barracks- it was seriously like we’d gone back in time to WWII. Once we got there, we ran into the airport, hit the cash machine for some HUF, and bought tickets on the first bus headed to Budapest (leaving in 5 minutes) – another 2 hour bus ride later- we FINALLY got to Budapest! So really, I saw a lot of Hungary- more than I thought I would!

Once in Budapest, we found out hotel- which was VERY cool- we had a balcony/terrace with an amazing view of the Buda Castle and the Pest embankment (including the Chain Bridge). We had a wonderful dinner- delicious and the cheapest I’ve had in over 6 months! It was great!

Wednesday morning, we got up bright and early and hit the streets! We went on an inadvertent tour of Budapest’s train stations. We needed to get our tickets for a night train to Praha (for that night) but every train station we went to, we were told to go to another one. Finally, we got to Keleti (West) train station – and after standing in line (and the window shutting in our faces) we FINALLY got out tickets and then we had a little over 7 hours to explore the city. We started with the Parliament building- which was an impressive sight. Then we wandered around, took pictures and accidentally found Vörösmarty tér (and Europe’s Largest Christmas Market???). We drank some Gluhewein, did some craft shopping, and even ate a “Hungarian specialty” – or tried to, it was NOT good, which I thought some kind of corn meal substance, sour cream, and something THEY called bacon (but I would not), kinda heated? Had a couple bites and that was it for me! We then headed across the Chain Bridge (one of the outstanding landmarks of Budapest, the first permanent bridge across the Danube, originally built in 1849. Sadly, that first bridge was destroyed by Nazi dynamite during WWII. The 1949 opening ceremony for the reconstructed bridge was held 100 years to the day after its original inauguration.) from the Pest side to the Buda side, in order to see the Buda Castle, which is on top of Castle Hill. Since neither of us felt much for climbing 100+ steep steps, we opted for the Funicular (sikló) ( the funicular is the easiest way to get to the Royal Palace, taking just a minute or two. Originally built in 1870, it too was destroyed in World War II and was not rebuilt until 1986.). Once at the top, we pretty much had Castle Hill to ourselves (being December and it was literally freezing, technically, below freezing with a temp of -2¬ºC, then with the wind? SO COLD!) Unfortunately, it was foggy and you really couldn’t see too far (at this point we just chalked Hungary up to being foggy in general!). But it was nice, and we saw the Castle and Matthias Church (Mátyás templom) (Officially called the Church of Our Lady, this symbol of the Castle District is universally known as Matthias Church because the Renaissance monarch, Matthias Corvinus, one of Hungary's most revered kings, was the major donor of the church and was married twice inside it.). After wandering around trying to take pictures of the impressive – but foggy view- we headed back down the funicular, and then jumped on the first bus we saw. We then jumped from tram-to-tram, and bus-to-bus and jumped off where we liked and just saw a lot of the city by riding around. Then it was back to the Christmas Market to get rid of our remaining HUF before heading back to the train station and Prague.

Speaking of which though- we’re headed from one Eastern European capital to another, through yet another Eastern European country- we were on a slightly less than luxurious train…flat out a very old, very sketchy, very dirty, very…Eastern European train…Remember that Russian train from Finland? We weren’t too far off here. But we had a very nice train car man to show us where to go – and warned us about all the passport checks at border crossings - last one of the three was at 1:00 am). Luckily we also had the room to ourselves, and the train guy warned us to lock the door to keep out pick-pockets, and I swear to God, I heard that door knob turn more than once in the middle of the night! By the time we got to Prague, I had 2 new passport stamps and a new appreciation for Norwegian night trains. Our first passport check, from Hungary to Slovakia, the official just looked at my passport cover- didn’t even open it! Guess having a US passport means something? I just couldn’t believe the guy didn’t even open it!

Final thoughts on Hungary? Aside from the fog, and the entire day bus rides, it was a lot of fun. Everything was pretty cheap- which was an welcomed change from expensive Oslo, but on the other hand, the country was very old and dirty- exactly what you would expect an Eastern European country to be... even though an EU member, they still have a lot of modernizing to do, but in the meantime, it was great place – would enjoy another visit, as long as it was NOT in the winter!

Sadly, I am that good!

2006-12-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Dublin around 23:00, and all I had the energy for was to find my hotel and call it a night. I got up early on Wednesday and found one of those hop-on/hop-off bus tours like I did in London. The plan was to go all around the city for one lap, and then jump off at places of interest. Except the problem was my first bus driver was a singer (and I started to wonder if he was a little tipsy) so I got off pretty quick- I appreciate the “real Irish experience” but seriously? Danny Boy and Molly Malone sung off-key over a loudspeaker? Just so happened the next stop was the Guinness Storehouse. Which was perfect since I wanted to go there anyway! The museum part was MUCH more interesting and in-depth than Carlsberg was, but I can officially say: I’ve had my FIRST and LAST Guinness! Which I can’t think of anything more appropriate (I’m in Dublin, I’m at the St. James Gate Guinness Plant, it’s a Free- sorry, COMPLIMENTARY, Pint, and I’m 7 floors up overlooking the Dublin skyline!) Perfect! Add a Canadian CPA hitting on me and my experience was complete! After my pint, I actually had about 1.25 (I could NOT even get going on a second pint!), I hit the gift shop. Yikes! It was HUGE, and I was a bit tipsy- I think that’s the way they plan it though! They had everything imaginable there! Pretty funny to see baby accessories with Guinness written all over them…(sorry Evelyn, I refrained).

Jumped back on the bus and a few stops later, I came to the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Since I employed the logic of “when in Scotland” I HAD to do the same with Ireland! (Plus the bus driver said the views from their lounge were even better than those of Guinness) But of course, I had a horribly blond moment, and my camera’s battery had been dying since Scotland, and well, it just died. So while I did go on the Jameson tour, and drank a shot of Irish Whiskey, I didn’t get to take any pictures ☹ But I’m not sure if the views were “better” than the Guinness, it was just a different part of town.

After this, I took the bus back around, completed the tour and stopped in Temple Bar at a Dublin Tourism Office to book a day tour out of Dublin. Since most of them operators weren’t running tours in the winter, I didn’t get to go on the one that took you through the streets of Killiney (where the rich and famous Irish live…I’m not going to give names if you don’t know- cause that means you don’t know me!). But I signed up for another tour to Wicklow (which is where, if you read my Scotland blog- Mel Gibson won his battle as William Wallace…Braveheart was 95% filmed in Wicklow County, Ireland, while only 5% in Scotland). I actually got the best seat on the bus for this tour, one advantage of traveling alone. I got to sit up front next to the driver (like where the tour guide would sit?) – which meant I was able to take pictures from the bus- while we were driving, and I got to see BOTH sides of the road when he pointed out things of interest. It was VERY windy again, and VERY rainy!

We then went to St Kevin’s Monastic Ruins. Still not sure what St. Kevin was known for…something about converting Pagans and keeping people (along with valuables) safe from the Vikings? Not too sure… After I got soaked being out in the rain, since my umbrella had gotten turned inside out for like the 48th time, and I saw a vicious looking mountain goat with the BIGGEST horns I’d ever seen on a goat, I gave up and returned to the bus…which I found several others had done as well, and the bus driver (for the passengers’ benefit only!) had pulled out a few bottles of Jameson. Why the heck not?

Then it was back into Dublin, where I found the HRC for Nicole’s shirt, and then I did the craziest thing ever. Let’s just say I put my stalking skills to use! Since no tour bus was going to drive through Killiney, I found a DART (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) and took myself to Killiney! I had read on the internet- Vico Street, overlooking Killiney Bay. That’s all I had to go on, but I knew Killiney was a very small town, so I just wandered. Believe it or not- I found the gates I was looking for! (but how ironic would it have been if I could write “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”?) I took a few pictures, not my best work, but out of respect (or perhaps fear?) I was quick and headed back to the DART station. Turned out, I’d walked around the town for nothing! Literally like 200 meters down the road was the station, if only had turned right and not left! Oh well, I had officially made a pilgrimage!

Thankfully it was not raining in Killiney, which perhaps one of the factors that makes it so desirable? (That and I saw the view, I get it!) But when I got back to Dublin it was still rainy and windy so I decided to just head back to the hotel and get some sleep before my 8 am flight back to Glasgow, then back to Oslo. It’s strange for me to think about “going home” when really, it’ll only be “home” for another 3 nights. I cannot even express how sad I am that my time in Oslo is winding down and soon I’ll be returning home. Not that I’m sad to go home, in fact I’m very excited, but I’m sad to leave Oslo. Took me so long to get used to it, I finally feel comfortable here, and I’m going to miss all my new friends! But I guess I now have ample excuses to come back to Europe to visit! But before we all depart, we have a ice-skating, Nobel Day festivities and just one last weekend together planned. I will be heading to Budapest on Monday night, and everyone else will be gone before I get back to Oslo (of course I do get to see Katja again in Helsinki!).

And the answer is…NOTHING!

2006-12-06T14:47:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Scotland around 13:30 on Sunday – in the midst of “gale force winds”. I flew into Glasgow- Prestwick airport and caught the 14:00 train into the heart of the city. It was terribly windy (remember, I live(d) in the Hurricane state, I KNOW windy!), rainy and cold, just flat-out crappy! Made it to my Guest House without too much hassle- other than I’d find out later I took the most obscure way walking up more hills than necessary! After dropping my bags and discovering: Channel 4 was televising a “U2 Weekend”, I had free WiFi, and Charmed is on Scottish TV, I pulled myself away from English-language TV and ventured back into the darkening city to see what I could find. I found Scott Street (important for name alone), tons of stores, a used-book bookstore, a mall, and a restaurant for dinner. After wandering around the streets and seeing some monuments and stuff in the dark and rain, I returned to my room, and went online to find myself a tour through the Scottish countryside. I was in luck and there was a tour to Loch Ness leaving from Edinburgh at 8:20 the next morning. Of course I was still in Glasgow, but only being a 40-minute train ride, I figured that wouldn’t be a problem. HA! So I got up EARLY to make it down to the train station, planning on taking the 6:30 train (there is a train running every half hour between the cities). But for some reason the 6:00 train was delayed until 6:15 so they canceled my 6:30, so I had to take the 7:00, which was also delayed. So I missed the tour by the time I got to Edinburgh. Although a bit disappointed, I signed up for the tour on Tuesday, and had the whole day free to explore Edinburgh!

Being there at 8 am, not a whole lot of touristy things were opened. So I found my hostel, asked if I could store my bag there, and even had some breakfast! Then it was time to wander the main streets in the New Town (not that it is “new”, but it is not as old-as-Old Town). Then I headed over to Old Town, specifically High Street, also known as the Royal Mile. With the Edinburgh Castle on one end and the Holyroodhouse Palace at the other end, with hundreds of pubs and little shops in between. I even found the Historical Scottish Whiskey Tour – while there is no distillery on the Royal Mile, there is a museum (complete with tours and samples) dedicated to the hundreds of Scotch distilleries across the 4 Scotch-producing areas of Scotland. I figured “when in Scotland…” and drank my dram (2 oz.) of Scotch provided, I must say, I was proud of myself for doing it (when else is alcohol drinking considered an honor?) but I think 2 oz. of Scotch was all I needed to tide me over!

Perhaps I should have had more, cause after my Scotch tour, I wandered up and down the street for hours until the wind got to be too much for me (maybe a few more drams of Scotch could have kept me warmer longer?) In fact, there was so much wind that the Edinburgh Castle was even closed due to sheer force winds! (The following day our tour bus driver said someone literally blew off the castle once- but I don’t know if he was serious or joking – or if it was since the 19th century – but I did believe him that the castle is always closed on very windy days.)

Then I headed back down to the New Town to a Christmas Carnival/German Christmas market (getting warmed up for next week!). After all the stores started to close I headed back to the hostel to get some sleep since my Scottish Countryside tour was supposed to leave at 8 am. At my hostel, I was in a 4 person room but only 2 other people were there- a young girl from Australia (who was really sweet), and a crazy old Scottish/Australian woman who wanted to talk and talk and talk (6 years of karma coming back to haunt me?).

Next morning, I checked out early and headed back up to the castle for my tour. Unfortunately, the tour doesn’t “go” unless 6 people sign up, and I was the 5th :( so for the second day in a row, I didn’t get to go on my Loch Ness tour. Instead, they gave me a discount and sent me on the Loch Lomond, The Trossachs & Stirling Castle tour. It was nice, the weather went from nice, to rainy, to windy, to downright crappy, and any other combination of the four. The majority of this tour was all about William Wallace (Braveheart anyone?) and Red Roy McGregor. Also heard a great deal about Mary, Queen of Scots, and saw where she was born and raised (Stirling Castle) which I felt was fitting since I had already saw her tomb at West Minster Abbey a few days before. Stirling Castle, or rather the land it overlooks, is where William Wallace (NOT Mel Gibson) won his most successful battle (you know before getting his “arse handed to him, captured then tortured to death” – guess it has been awhile since I’ve seen the movie?).

And of course our tour guide let us in on the most elusive secret of Scotland. What do they wear – if anything? A true Scots man, wearing a true Scottish kilt (which is made of about 5 meters of fabric – very unlike today’s kilts) wore nothing at all, and the kilt is the length it is, because the Scots men were constantly walking through fields with grass up to their knees, and the “skirt” was an alternative to having wet pants. Of course my Scottish tour guide would probably have a fit if he knew I just referred to a kilt as a “skirt.”

After the castle tour, it was back to Edinburgh, which I went straight from the tour right to the Edinburgh airport to continue on my journey…Next stop: Dublin!

London, Baby!

2006-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

That’s right, while my friend quotes Robert Frost, all I can seem to emulate is Joey Tribiani. Sad really, and even sadder when you realize I can quote all six of them… But its true, I spent the last few days in jolly ole’ Britian – London specifically. The trip got off to a bit of a chaotic start before it even started when BI rescheduled my Corporate Responsibility final, forcing me to reschedule my Ryan Air flight. I went to change my pre-existing ticket, just from the morning flight to the evening one, and while an entirely new ticket would run me 340 NOK or 55 USD, to rebook the one I had would have cost me an additional 500 NOK or 82 USD (for a flight I originally paid 130 NOK or 21 USD- in case I haven’t said it enough- Thanks BI). So instead of getting to London at 14:00, I got there at 23:30 – just in time to find a hotel near the airport and go to sleep. But Thursday morning- very bright and very early, I got up and after finding the Stansted Express, I was on my way to town! The train had some delays (which Sally would tell me later is VERY common), so I got to town around 10 am. Following Sally’s detailed and precise directions, I found my way to the Underground (the “Tube”) and on the Circle Line, to the Tower Hill stop.

Ask anyone who has been to London, calling the city’s subway (pardon my “Yankee” phrasing) system complicated is an understatement. There are 12 (TWELVE) subway lines in London- as opposed (“a posed”) to the 5.5/6 in Oslo). First off, the stations have horrible to no ventilation- so each step you went down, it was like 1 degree warmer- so it would be freezing on the street, but by the time you got to the station’s platform (well below ground), it was really warm and sometimes you’d be forced to take off your coat! Other stops only had “lift” access – meaning no escalators, you had to wait for the elevators to go down to/and up from the tracks – I did NOT enjoy these stations! PLUS, part of London’s underground is 100 years old! Amazing to think that something built 100 years ago is still in use today! Of course, that’s the oldest of the lines (Bakerloo – connecting Baker Street and Waterloo), which is one I used quite often as Picadilly Circus and Oxford Circus stops (where all the shops are!) are both on that line.

To describe my trip to London in one word, it would have to be: educational. I know so many (useless?) trivial facts about London (I know why its called "Green Park” and that Hyde Park Corner is the busiest traffic circle in the whole world- just ask Guinness), had many pre-conceived notions corrected (Tower of London is NOT a tower, and Fergie, it should be “everytime you come around my TOWER Bridge", not “my London Bridge” as shown in your video, oh and not only do the British use pounds, but miles too!), and even picked up a few Latin words (Regina and Circus). And even though I know the importance of 10 Downing Street, it took me two days to figure out who that guy with the cell phone in the picture is! (See- so don’t deserve a good grade in GP!)!! But if I use a second world, it would have to be “ace”!

Thursday I just spent on the bus riding around the city listening to the tour guides point out everything. Then, in the evening, I went down to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Unfortunately, for me (and 300 million other Americans) the dollar is economically “un-strong”, nicely put, the Pound has never been worth as much as it is right now ($1=£2) ☹ Which is too easy of a conversion- everything is just double the price. So unfortunately, I know exactly how much I’m spending. And while Oslo IS the world’s most expensive city, London is either 2nd or 3rd. (At least by the time I visit Sean in D.C., I’ll think it’s cheap!) My shopping didn’t last long; I was exhausted. It was only 20:00 (but 21:00 in Oslo-time), but by the time I walked to the hotel, checked in, and realized I was too tired for “British-humor” television, it was 21:00 and I went straight to sleep!

Fortunately, this got me up and out of the hotel around 8:45, making me like the third person at the Tower of London on Friday. I spent 2.5 hours there, with very few other people, ONE benefit of off-season and rainy weather. I went through every building, saw the Crown Jewels to my heart’s content (did a few “moving sidewalk” laps), ducked some low-flying Ravens, and watched all the films on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot (how did I NOT hear about him before this year? Thanks Natalie Portman.)

After which I found the sight-seeing bus again (another benefit of off-season- 2 days for the price of 1), and went to Buckingham Palace (not much to see there), then to Westminster Abbey (only tombs there), and then to St Paul’s (to see where Lady Diana got married), and Trafagar Square (which I probably saw at least a dozen times- ask me anything about Nelson- I know it!) Oh and 2 James Bonds (Connery and Dalton) live on Eaton Street (even though I think that’s wrong considering there’s an actual Bond Street.)

After another pass down Oxford Street, I jumped back on the tube and headed for Euston to meet Sally’s train from Manchester. Met up with Sally with no problems and headed back to Trafagar Square for some Pizza Express. After some catching up, it was time for sleep!

Saturday morning we got up and walked down the Thames to see the non-original (and mistakenly placed) Globe Theatre (the most famous of Shakespeare’s four theatres). On our way to the Globe, we passed the coolest farmer’s market, and even though I’m from the Seattle area, I have to say this market put Pike Place to shame! So many booths selling all sorts of goodies, Sally and I got fresh squeezed OJ for breakfast and sampled enough baked products to fill our breakfast void, and even picked up some delicious brownies for dessert. We continued on our riverside walk and came to the quickly-growing queue for the London Eye. Sally whipped out her mobile and called to “pre-order” tickets, which we just walked in, picked up and went on the Eye. The whole experience was “brilliant”! Plus, the morning clouds had burned off and it was a clear day- perfect for a ride on the world’s largest “Ferris wheel”. After that, we went to Mongolian BarbeQue for lunch, which is a stir-fry restaurant – very good and fun, an excellent choice indeed! After lunch, it was starting to get dark, so we headed towards Hyde Park to see the Princess Diana Memorial.

Our journey to the Diana Memorial was a long, tiring, and frustrating walk to say the least. We walked across Hyde Park (as I learned from my bus tour- it is the largest of the Royal Parks), trying to follow the sporadic signs. When we got to what we thought was the end of the park (Nope! Just a road cutting across the park!), we gave up and put my American Accent to use- couldn’t very well have Sally (with her knowing British accent!) ask! So I played it up- even tried to work in an “y’all”, and got directions- we were almost there- but since it was getting darker by the minute (swear it was daylight when we started out!), we decided to check another sign. Again, NOT on the map! But we found it, and it was closed or turned off, but I took pictures regardless- we’d walked almost 3 tube stops, our feet were killing us, I was going to take a picture! After the memorial, we FINALLY found maps displaying the park’s location (Another example of the British-humor I’m too tired for?)

After this, we decided to head back towards Oxford and Picadilly Circus to do some shopping. I had a “London Shopping List” – something like this- I REALLY wanted a pair of those adorable ballerina flats, a cute hat, a British-band CD, and an English-language book to read on my Budapest trip (English books in Norway, like everything else in Norway, are expensive!). Somehow we managed to kill a few hours, even went into Europe’s Largest Toy store, and I decided I should go to the First Hard Rock Café, since I’ve been going to all the other HRC’s. After which we walked back to the tube and back “home” to arrange some packing- sent some stuff home (I mean Florida-home, not home-home) with Sally since she was going on Tuesday. Yeah, I know I’ll be in Edinburgh on Tuesday, but I’m still so jealous Sally gets to go play with Keri, Ben, Nikki, Keith, Jason, Nicole… EVERYONE! this week in Florida ☹.

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Liverpool Street station so I could catch the Stansted Express back to the airport for my flight to Glasgow. The only glitch there was that the train wasn’t running. Instead, they were running coach buses, but I only had an hour to get to the station (despite London traffic!) Made it there just in time- had to run from the bus to the desk, checked in at 11:13, and the ticket counter supposedly closed at 11:15, but I think it stayed open longer due to that whole Stansted Express train situation.

So, now I’m on my way to Glasgow…largest city in Scotland, the country’s industrial heart. I’ll be staying there for one night, and sometime Monday I’ll be making the 40-minute train journey to Edinburgh – Scotland’s capital. Just hoping I can understand the accents!

For not going anywhere, I sure have done a lot!

2006-11-26T13:15:00.000-08:00

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!

One Night in Fosnes

2006-11-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

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!

Welcome Baby Girl Scott!

2006-10-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

Evelyn Grace Scott joined proud parents Becky and Kevin at 8:32 am PDT on October 24, 2006, weighing 7 lb 12.5 oz, measuring 20.5 inches! She has a full head of red hair and a cute button nose!

While I don't want to say I'm "officially" an aunt since I'm already Auntie Fancy to two VERY cute baby girls (Annabelle and Halle), I will say that I am now "biologically" - an aunt!

Ha det bra!

Ciao e Ciao Ciao!

2006-10-24T04:05:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 days I've been busy vacationing, relaxing, hanging out, and drinking cheap wine in Northern Italy with four of my friends from Florida - Keith, Keri, Annabelle, and Ben (alright- we weren't ALL drinking wine...Annabelle!). The week+ long vacation was full of fun and adventure - which started the minute I got to Italy!

I flew into Milan Bergamo on Saturday, October 14th. Keith, Keri, Annabelle, and Ben had flown in earlier that day to Milan's main airport, picked up the rental car and then came and found me (of course AFTER stopping off for gelato first!). I found Keri with ease - after all she had a "Fancy" sign! :) Our first problem was when we attempted to add my luggage to an already PACKED car. Between the four of us and the baby with all her necessities- our little A-class Mercedes-Benz was stuffed full! This was soon overlooked by our next adventure- finding our Villa. Luckily, the boys were smart and opted to pay extra for a NeverLost (our beloved Direction Machine) - which was GREAT- although the directions were in English- the voice was in Italian! Needless to say, we got lost right from the get-go, and somehow we ended up on the wrong side of the Lake (Como)! Unfortunately we didn't realize this- we had directions from the lady who rented us the Villa providing us clear and distinctive landmarks to follow...which we found. I mean how may Hotel Belvedere’s, Via Panoramicas and Ferry Landings can there be on ONE lake? I now know that the answer is AT LEAST 2! Oh well- after a few "jump-out-and-ask-directions" attempts, we found someone who spoke a few words of English and we found a ferry and finally Argegno!

Our efforts paid off and we were very pleasantly surprised with a wonderful Villa overlooking the town and lake- perfect small town feel (even though I'm sure we were ALL willing to give up some of that small-town charm for a big grocery store Saturday night!) Thankfully, Keri had packed a family-sized box of Velveeta Shells & Cheese for me - so we had SOMETHING for dinner. (So yeah, let the teasing begin- we're in ITALY and we're eating Velveeta Shells & Cheese? That seemed SO wrong!) After catching up for a bit (and catching up on watching Nip/Tuck together- SOOO miss watching Nip/Tuck with Keri!!!) it was time to call it a night.

Then on Sunday, since we were all still tired and not all that motivated to stray far from the Villa (and we were in search of a grocery store), we headed south down the lake to Lenno. This was the nicest day of our trip, and luckily we took full advantage, we stopped at a cafe on the lake for some lunch, and then walked around for a bit. Unfortunately, when we found the grocery store, it was closed - we were disappointed but we headed back to Argegno for gelato and pizzas for dinner (which we ate while sitting on our balcony overlooking the lake- VERY nice!)

Monday morning Keith walked down (and hiked back!) into town to get the basic necessities (milk, coco puffs, bread) which held us over for a bit. Ben and I got adventurous and headed back down to Lenno to do some real grocery shopping. Wow- it was a little overwhelming! Just when I thought I had the hang of shopping in Norway- I had to learn it all again! Funny how two places so close together are SO different in common daily activities! At least most of the food in the Italian grocery wasn't seafood, but there was NO English anywhere! But €3.90 for a bottle for red wine? ALL my cares were lifted!

After we got back, the five of us headed down into Argegno and tried some "authentic Italitan" hot chocolate- which really, was warm chocolate pudding in a cup! Yum! Afterwards, we wandered over towards the lake to feel just how un-cold the water was, take some pictures, and even skip some rocks! It was a fun and nice vacation-y kind of day!

By Tuesday, we were feeling pretty confident in our Italian navigation and decided to go ALL the way into Como (which was only about 10 minutes from Argegno) to see Il Duomo di Como (which is just flat out fun to say!). We found it right off the bat and got great parking at the train station. We saw the Duomo- (yep- it’s in Como!) and then we found McDonalds (how shameful it is to write that!) And then right after McDonalds? We found Gelato! (By the way- Bellee LOVES gelato! Loves eating it as much as she loves to get it all over herself- and strawberry gelato, an 8-month old, and a VERY white outfit??? LOL!). We walked and ate gelato and found Como's Funicalar up to Brunato...a small, small, small village-type town overlooking Como. We spent about an hour or so walking around and taking pictures. Then it was back to Como to do some grocery shopping before heading back to the Villa for the evening.

Wednesday we got really ambitious and headed towards Verona (the home of the Shakespeare’s fictional stars of Romeo and Juliet). Once we finally found a parking spot, we window-shopped and walked down the marble streets of the town. There was a huge coliseum (just like Rome's), which was in great shape despite its years. We beat the Pope to Verona by one day (THANK GOD!- traffic was bad enough - can't even imagine what Thursday would have been like!) After lunch in a vendor-filled square (t-shirts for Keith and me!), we found the Dante statute, and then Juliet Capulet's "home" - alright, it could have been her home if she was actually real...regardless, we still engaged in touristy activities, such as rubbing her right breast for “good luck in love” (I rubbed it a lot!) and posing on the balcony. On our way back to the car, we stopped and got our daily dosage of gelato, then it was back to Argegno.

Thursday morning, Ben and I set off on our own, leaving Keith and Keri to have some "alone time". Ben's main draw for staying in Northern Italy for a week was visiting Maranello - the "home" of Ferrari. Another 2 hour drive later, we reached Maranello not having too much of an idea on where to go, luckily we could hear the "sweet siren sounds" of an F1 car test-driving on Pista di Fiorano . Ben and I followed our ears and were treated to a rare sight- an F1 practicing on THE Ferrari test track. After watching for about 15 minutes from a gated-alleyway (with about a group of 20 other fanatics), we wandered over to the Galleria. About 400 pictures by Ben later, we continued on our tour of Maranello over towards the official Ferrari shop directly across the street from the Ferrari factory- of course we could only see it from across the street- Ferrari has a VERY strict regulation on who gets to visit their factory…but we did catch a “mule” driving around, but neither of us were quick enough with our cameras. Regardless, it was a really fun day and I think Ben had a BLAST! Although I'd never been a Ferrari enthusiast before, I'm glad I took the opportunity to visit such an impressive Italian landmark.

After spending all day in the car Thursday, the last thing I wanted to go far from Argegno. Lucky for me, the Donalds and Ben had the same mind-set. :) We drove down to Cadenabbia, and took the ferry back to Bellagio (where we got lost on our way to the Villa our first night). We found a small little restaurant for lunch, then walked up and down the steep stairs and hills of Bellagio. I was a little disappointed in Bellagio, but I think it was a great way to pass the day with friends. :)

Saturday we woke up to a cloudy sky and rain, regardless, we ventured down into Milan for the day. We attempted to see Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” but weren’t really expecting to, I do think we should get some credit for finding the church though (alright- Donna the Direction Machine found it). After that we headed (in the wrong direction first – where’s Donna now?) to Milan’s Duomo. We turned a corner and then there it was, seriously took you a moment to comprehend the enormity of it. It is currently being restored- and in typical Milan Duomo fashion, the cleaning is behind schedule, so we saw a mostly clean Duomo with decorative scaffolding on the outside. We walked around the interior for a bit, decided against climbing it, and settled for a walk though “A Vittorio Emanuele II. I Milanesi…in other words- the inspiration of current-day shopping malls. I went into the (teaser) Prada store (when in Milan!). After the mall, we accidentally found Milan’s Opera House – I’m voting it the world’s most famous non-descript building. Seriously- our guidebook said this building was world-famous but it was rather unimpressive to say the least. Then we walked a few blocks north to Via Montenapoleone - THE FASHION STREET of the world! I’m talking Louis Vuitton, Prada, Dior, Armani, Gucci, Versace - the works! (Ralph Lauren somehow managed to get a store on this block…) Needless to say, we were a little out of fashion to be walking down this street- Keri was even breastfeeding! But I didn’t let my inaptitude of dressing myself stop me from going to Prada!! I mean, this is THE PRADA! I swore if there was a pair of shoes that I liked- I’d buy them (I was in Milan!) but sadly, nothing interested me. After walking down the most “fashionista” street of all, we turned a corner and hit H&M – a little more our “style”. Then we stopped and had some dinner – complete with red wine. After which, we headed to the nearest gelateria, then back to the car and Argegno.

Sunday was a pretty low-key day- we ventured into Como Sud and stopped by a Bennett (hypermarket). WOW- it was like an Italian Wal-Mart! It was so much fun and in addition to the large Wal-Mart type supermarket, there were also many little shops. After that we just headed home, then a quick jaunt to Cadenabbia for some last minute souvenir shopping! Then we spent the last of our vacation hanging out, drinking wine, eating all our leftovers, watching TV, and packing.

EARLY (before it was even bright) Monday morning, we all got up, loaded the car and headed to the airports. We all had flights out at the same time, but again I was flying through Bergamo and everyone else though Malpensa, they dropped me off early (too early to even check in!) while they rushed off to make (or not) their flights back to America.

One of the things I was most happy about after our Italian vacation, is that I got to stay in Europe. :) So while they were all stuck on 8+ hour trans-Atlantic flights, I was back in Norway in 2 hours, but had to wait a few hours to catch my train back to Oslo. Thankfully, free WiFi made the time fly by!

Since it was Christoffer’s birthday on Tuesday, we planed a surprise party for him. Since he had a friend visiting from Finland (Christian) we decided to plan it for Monday night so his friend could come too. As my excuse to make sure they didn’t make any plans for Monday night, I told Christoffer to keep Monday night open to answer any and all questions regarding Finland (which I’ll be visiting next week). The plan went seamlessly and we got to Uli’s apartment right on-time and Christoffer was VERY surprised! Yay! A lot of people came, think we were up to around 15? It was a lot of fun, plus I got to see all my Oslo friends- which made my happy. :)

So yeah, I’m off to Finland in 4 SHORT days! Didn’t realize it was this weekend already! But it should be fun, and hopefully a little relaxing- I’m a little nervous since I’ll be visiting Christoffer’s home, meeting his friends and family, and really experiencing “Finnish living” first hand. As apprehensive as I am (his family doesn’t speak English!) I’m VERY much looking forward to it!

Ich habe einen großen Fehler gemacht!!

2006-10-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

For some reason, which still escapes me today, I agreed to join my German friends on a tour of Oslo's City Hall this past Thursday. Sounds like fun, why wouldn't I join? Oh cause it's all in GERMAN! Guess the German teacher at BI also works as a tour guide at the Radhaus, so he offered the German community of BI students an exclusive, after-hours tour of the historic landmark. I understood: Guten Abend, ich bin...and then I was lost. I could pick up years and bits and pieces but for the most part- it is way to apparent to me that it's been over 8 years since my last German lesson...but it was fun cause I got to hang out with my friends :)

After the city hall tour, we went out to a club - Stravinsky - for a GSS sponsored mid-semester party. Can't even believe I'm half way through my European stay! It has FLOWN right by! The bar itself was kinda lame, but again, much fun was had by drinking and hanging out with friends. Of course I stayed way too late and by the time I got home and finished packing (for Milan) it was well after 2 am. And I only had 5 hours until I had a train to catch!

The train ride was quiet, I picked a semi-empty car in Oslo, and it just kept getting more and more empty. By the time I got to Sandefjord (the discount airlines fly out of Oslo's secondary airport) it was me and a guy from France, who was also in search for Torp. Found our way to the bus station and since we didn't know what we were doing- we got on the 172 bus (which is the right one - but it was just going in the wrong direction!) Luckily for us though- it just made a big loop of the town - which by the way was LESS than exciting...it could rival Kristiansund on an off-season Sunday afternoon! Made it to the airport and was way overwhelmed...swarms of grumpy people standing around yelling in Norwegian. (THIS is why you go to Norwegian class!)

Luckily I didn't have to stand in THAT line- and I checked in and sat down and was pleasantly surprised with FREE internet! Of course, this being Europe and all, NO power outlets anywhere- so I only had about an hour or so of entertainment- which I thought would be fine, my flight was to take off in 45 minutes...but then I realized the reason for the angry people- FOG. Lots of it, resulting in lots of cancelled flights...A brief moment of panic entered my head since my friends were scheduled to pick me up in Milan in only 2.5 hours- and of course- none of us have phones! Luckily for me, my flight was the first one of the day to leave as scheduled, but unluckily for me- all the other flights to Italy they cancelled this morning, they put on my flight- so I'm looking forward to a BOOKED flight- but it's only 2 hours and I have visions of Italy to keep me in good spirits!

I'll write again soon- probably after I return from my 12 day Italian Vacation!

Officially Homeless!!

2006-10-06T10:31:00.000-07:00

I am happy to report that I am officially HOMELESS! That's right- my house FINALLY sold! I was scheduled to close on September 15th, but due to paperwork delays, I didn't close until October 5th. Unfortunately, no one bothered to TELL me that I had closed! Regardless, it is sold and I'll be in the market for a small condo in a few months!

"Awesome" København

2006-10-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

Thursday, September 28th, came fast. The week after Bergen was a busy one for me (like all recent weeks), but this was due to more personal reasons- the slowest real estate deal in history...originally I was supposed to close on September 15th)...anyway I had a LOT of running around, signing documents, copying, scanning, mailing, etc - it was just crazy!

But Thursday was here before I knew it and I still had so much left to do! And after our International Business class, Karin and I stumbled onto BI's tenth annual Karrieredagen (Career Day). This was an unbelievable turn out of companies, global as well as local Norwegian companies. The best part was that every booth had some kind of freebie...from hair products at L’Oreal and Proctor & Gamble, to food at Deli de Luca, to kitchen utensils at IKEA. :-)

I couldn't stay long, I had to get home and finish getting ready for Copenhagen. The plan was to meet at 14:30 at the door of BI, and we'd walk to the docks as a group. The GSS/InSA class trip included 125 students, 60 of which were international students...and one of which was an American from Michigan who does not attend BI, but UiO, and had heard about the trip from a friend of a friend of a friend. I walked with Eric to the docks talking about his impressions of Norway; see if they were similar to mine, and they were...it was strange talking to someone with an "American accent"! Soon we boarded the boat, which was TOO simple of a process. I've only been on cruises departing from America, and usually they have metal detectors or at least someone to check ID or something- but for this boat - nothing- just walk right on! So we found our sardine-can sized room, which I shared with Nina, Katja and Marie. And after wandering around the ship, taking a *quiz* and visiting the on-board duty-free shop, we returned to our room to hang out and wait for our buffet seating time. The oddest part of this cruise was that food was extra- what kind of cruise was I on?!?! Americans GO on cruises to eat- and here you had to pay extra? We did, and we went to a buffet...apparently a seafood buffet! Oh my lord- how much seafood can one buffet contain? A LOT apparently - fish of every kind, crawfish, octopus, and various other seafood delicacies...too much for me and I stuck primarily to the salad bar and kids' section of the buffet.

After our buffet, we went back to our room and Peter (or as I was told, Howard), Hannes, Matias, Christoffer, and Renate joined our cabin and we drank and hung out. All the BI students were stuck in a little hall, which was smart thinking on the part of DFDS, I mean 125 drunk college students? Needless to say- it was loud - ALL NIGHT! (There was one family in our corridor and I felt so bad for them!) But soon enough it was morning and we were docked - ready to hit the streets of Copenhagen!

Our first order of business was to find the "Little Mermaid" statue - Hans Christen Andersen the author of children’s fairy tales, most specifically, the Little Mermaid (inspiration for the Disney film) is from Denmark, and Copenhagen has a statue along the harbor commemorating the mermaid. We walked along the water for a few kilometers and found her, indeed, she was a *little*, but she also had legs? After the mermaid, we went searching for our hostel. We dropped off our bags and headed toward Strøget - a pedestrian street of stores, stores and stores! Since the girls wanted to go into the stores, we split up. After walking through a few shops, we headed towards Nyhavn , then towards the Amalienborg Palace and Square. Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her family live in one of the palace's mansions, while her son (and heir to the Danish throne), Crown Prince Frederik (with his Australian businesswoman wife, Mary Donaldson) recently moved into the mansion across the square. We decided to go on a tour of the palace, and I paid 20 dkr in order to take pictures in the museum. Not much to take pictures of, but since I'd paid to take pictures, I TOOK pictures! Its funny cause all my friends know all about the Royal families (from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and England). Shoot! I know England has a queen, but that's about it!

After the palace, we headed back to Nyhavn to catch a DFDS Canal Tour, which was part of our InSA Copenhagen package. The tour wasn't all that exciting, we saw all the sights we had seen that morning, and the boat was soo crowded to take many pictures. Mostly, it was a challenge to even keep my eyes open!

After the canal tour, we wandered towards Rosenborg Castle, but it was closed so we kept walking. (Side note here- apparently this is something Europeans, or at least Northern Europeans, do...instead of the type Bachelor party that - as an American - I'm familiar to, they groom's friends make him dress up in some silly costume and ask for money from strangers. So when we got to the King's Garden, such an individual approached us. We all got a kick out of it and gave him Norwegien kroners - which are worth more than Danish kroners- and he was very excited and told us that he could buy his new wife something nice. I thought this was hilarious! I guess this is what they do- to raise a little money before the wedding - we also saw a group such as this when we were in Gøteborg, but I didn't really believe Christoffer and Katja - just a little too strange for me!)

Anyway, we walked back through Strøget to our hostel, stopping at virtually every store on the way. After QUICK showers, we were off to our (trip-included) Turkish buffet. I think the 125 students arriving at once was little overwhelming for the restaurant people! I don't believe I've ever had Turkish food before, and while it was alright, its not something I'll go out of my way for. After the restaurant, we went to a (trip-included) nightclub, Rust. We had to get there by 11 o'clock in order to use our free tickets. We had some difficulty catching a cab - and once we did- it was a terrifying few miles to the club! The nightclub wasn't really happening until around 12-1 am - and then it was PACKED. Beer was cheap, but mixed drinks were OUTRAGEOUSLY priced! It was fun and we stayed until like 2:30...the bar was open until 5, but we wanted to be able to sightsee on Saturday.

We had to check out of the youth hostel at 9 am, which was good cause it gave us reason to get up and get going. We split up first thing - Katja went off to go shopping while Nina, Renate, Hannes, Christoffer, Peter, Matias and I headed towards Christiansborg Palace (a complex of government buildings standing on the ruins of Copenhagen's original 12th-century fortress; the Parliament, Supreme Court, prime minister's office, royal reception rooms, royal library, several museums, and the royal stables.) This building is the 6th one to stand in that very spot in 800 years...they kept burning down and they're rebuild in the same spot over and over.

After the Palace, we continued on towards the Vor Frelsers Kirke, in Christianshavn. The cool thing about this church is the golden spiral staircase winding its way up the outside of the spire. It was a tough climb, but the views were absolutely breath-taking (or maybe it was the climb that left us breath-less?). Of course, being an American, I had to say it was awesome. Definitely something to check out (especially on a nice day) if in Copenhagen. Check out my gallery for pictures, it was truly amazing!

Next, we split up again, Hannes, Peter and Matias were running off 2 hours of sleep and had NO desire to go to a brewery (guess they'd gotten their fill of beer at Rust!), so Renate, Marie, Christoffer and I headed to the Carlsberg Brewery Visitors’ Center or Besøgscenter. Since we're students, it was only 25 dkr (or 28 nkr = $4.22 USD). While we didn't have ALL that much interest in the actual brewery, we were VERY interested in getting to the "Beer Sampling" part of the tour. After one pass through the Gift Shop, we headed upstairs for our 2 free beer products, PLUS our additional 2 since I'd accidentally stolen someone's tickets. (Seriously- I was trying to hurry Marie along so I was carrying all her stuff and at one point she stopped and pointed to a set of beer tickets on the floor, I thought she was telling me she'd dropped her tickets, so I picked them up- later I found out she didn't drop her tickets, instead I picked up somebody else's! I felt bad, but nothing that 2 free beers couldn't fix!)

After another trip to the gift shop, we had to HURRY back to the city center - so I could power shop. I had seen a purse the day before that I really liked and I wanted to buy it. We had 7 minutes before we were supposed to be at the train station (to catch a taxi to the docks) and I had about 4 blocks to go - thank God I've been working out and jogging! I managed to get to the store and I bought myself a Friis Company purse :-) (Which I found out later is a Danish company- so I'm glad I got it in Denmark - I have seen it here in Oslo, but for 40 USD more than I bought it for!)

Then it was time for our cruise back to Oslo. Since none of us were overly impressed with the buffet going to Copenhagen, we skipped it. We wandered around the cruise ship, watched the impromptu beer drinking game in our hallway (led by my very own BSN roommate!), and did some duty free shopping (ie we bought cheap alcohol for Oslo). Nina, Marie and I were beat so we went to sleep while Katja and Christoffer went out to Karaoke. Bright and early Sunday morning, we arrived in Oslo, and instead of waiting around for the bus, I walked to the Radhaus to catch a tram but had JUST missed it so I continued on to Nationaltheater to take the t-bahne home.

Yet another action-packed weekend, leaving me utterly exhausted! Luckily I'll be in Oslo this coming weekend (something about a party and a Parliament tour), so I can recuperate, catch up on my homework, and prepare for my week-long vacation in Milan with my friends from home!

It's Always Sunny in Bergen!

2006-09-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, maybe not, but at least it was the weekend I was there!

On September 22nd, Christoffer, Katja, Kersten (German) and I took a 12-hour trip to Bergen; we boarded our train in Oslo at 8 am, along with a few other BI students, and didn't get to Bergen until after 20:30 (8:30 pm). However, we weren't stuck on a train ALL day, around 13:00, we got off the train in Myrdal, and boarded the Flåmsbana (the Flåm Railway). This is a 20 km ride that takes an hour and goes through 20 tunnels, taking visitors from Mydral (866 m.o.h) to Flåm (2 m.o.h). Flåm is a tiny, little town of 450 inhabitants nestled in the innermost corner of the Auslandsfjord. In Flåm, we had about 45 minutes to grab something to eat before we boarded the boat for our cruise down the fjords. On board, they had fresh, warm pancakes and they smelled SO good that all four of us had one. They had strawberry syrup and sour cream as toppings. Future note: I will NOT have pancakes with sour cream again!

After a few stops along the Aurlandsfjord, we turned down the Nærøyfjord, the fjord I went down last year with my friends from home. This year the weather was GORGEOUS and not cold at all! In fact, the weather was SO nice, the boat actually pulled over to the side of the fjord and filled buckets with waterfall water and gave everyone a sample! It was so crazy! Here I was on a fjord cruise drinking waterfall water in the middle of September! It was great! Then on to Gudvagen, and my friends were able to see how much I was NOT exaggerating when I said all that’s in Gudvagen is a restaurant and a Viking statue! Then we boarded buses up the Stalhiemsklevia road to Voss. Last year we stopped at the Stalhiemsklevia Hotel and we took fantastic pictures, but this year we didn't stop. In Voss, we caught our last train of the day to Bergen. An hour later, we were walking the streets of Bergen, looking for our hostel.

We found the hostel fairly quickly and we walked towards the waterfront to find some dinner. Since I had been to Bergen one year and one week earlier, I was able to find the waterfront pretty easily and we picked Peppe's Pizza (at my encouragement) for dinner. Last year Keri insisted on eating at this *particular* pizza place, only later did we realize it was a chain all over Norway... in fact, there were 3 in Bergen alone! After yummy pizza dinner (California Dreamin'!), we wandered around for a bit then back to the hotel for bed.

Next day we wandered around Bergen and shopped. When we woke up in the morning it was foggy and we weren't sure about the weather, but it cleared up and turned out to be a pretty decent day. Then we had a late lunch and then went to the grocery store to buy some beer and cider for that evening...

This doesn't sound like it should be a story- but well, we had an incident... Turns out, six-packs of bottles of beer stacked on top of one another, about 8 or 9 high, are NOT as sturdy as you might think...and as Kersten, Christoffer and I were trying to figure out what the hours of alcohol sales were (turns out they stopped at 6 and not 8)...we suddenly hear this...shifting...and then a BIG, LOUD, messy, broken-beer bottle, crash...at least 100 bottles of beer came crashing down and shattered on the floor right next to where we were standing... We all just stood there completely shocked and couldn't move. I wanted to take a picture, but by that time the store's clerks had shown up with dirty looks so we thought the faster we got out of there the better! What a waste!

After the beer bottle fiasco, we went back to our rooms for some rest, but as soon as Katja and I got to our room, one quick look out the window killed that idea- there were two perfectly-toned guys standing in their underwear in the window of the apartment across the street from us...so we were captivated for a few minutes... Then the four of us all got ready and headed out for the evening. After walking around for over 30 minutes, we found a nightclub. It was about midnight and the place was dead - too early. Really? I am TOO old for Norway apparently! Soon the club got full and it was a lot of fun. Talked to a few Norwegian guys (afterall, my Norwegian class teacher told us to talk to a Norwegian for homework!) Plus, drinks were only 35,- kr...cheap compared to Oslo! We headed home around 2 am -ish...clubs are open until 5 am!!

Sunday morning we got up, headed to the train station to dump our bags in a locker and then caught a bus up to Ulriksbanen - which is a cable car ride up Ulriks Mountain. You can see ALL of Bergen up there and luckily Sunday was a gorgeous day and we could see for miles. We decided to take the round-trip cable car ride, instead of walking down...and on the way down I realized something disturbing... At the bottom of the mountain, right next to the cable car place is the hospital, and next to the hospital is a cemetery... and of course there are SO many jokes here- if you fall out of the cable car, you'll roll down the mountain to the hospital, then right on over to the cemetery...kinda funny...

Our train left Bergen at 3 pm, and seven short hours later, we were back in Oslo. Of course I made Christoffer and Kersten jump out of the train with me in Finse so I could get my "Finse 1222" picture! Thankfully, it was NOT snowing this year! Once back in Oslo, made it home and I worked on my website a bit...I had to start catching up cause I only had 4 short days before I was to leave for Copenhagen!

Celebrating Norwegian Equality!

2006-09-21T12:17:00.000-07:00

This week was a TOUGH week...I had 2 presentations on Thursday morning... Which doesn't sound that hard, but since I have no idea what FDI (foreign direct investments) are, their importance on China, or anything about the textile feud between China and the EU; I knew it was going to be a long week- and that was just for one class: International Business: Context and Development.

In my other class- Global Politics, I had to give a presentation on the "persistence of American post-war order". Overwhelming to say the least! I need to say one thing about this - I know LESS about American politics than anyone else in this class! Seriously! Of course most of them are political science majors, but it’s depressing to think that I know SO little about the government in my own country! And the thing that is even sadder, compared to my American friends, I actually thought I knew something! Oh well...

It was a week of meetings; Monday I met with both my teams, Tuesday I met with both my teams, and Wednesday (after 6 hours of class), I met with both my teams. Each presentation consisted of reading a 50-page article and developing a 20-minute power point presentation. Again, being the only native English speaker in the bunch, I had A LOT of writing, formatting, and grammar checking to do!

But soon enough I was done and it was time for the weekend! All week I had been looking forward to going to bed early on Thursday night (since we were off to Bergen early Friday morning). But when one of my Norwegian friends, Stine, told me about the Autumnal Equinox celebration- I had to go! I had NEVER heard of *celebrating* this type of event!

But first, my friend Nina really wanted to go to a Norwegian cafe and order something - Norwegian class homework. Since Karin, Christoffer, Nina and I all were done with school by 14:00, we headed down to the Nobel Peace Center (Nina had read that they have very good cakes and desserts). We ordered our cakes and sat outside, although windy, it was very enjoyable. Then Karin had to go home, so Nina, Christoffer and I wandered around the city center. I REALLY wanted to have a scarf for our Bergen trip since I remembered it was so COLD last year when I went... After a few H&M stores, I found one I liked and we came home to get ready for our evening walk.

We made plans to meet at Christoffer's beforehand to do some pre-partying :-) The Norwegians call pre-partying "vor-spiel", which to my German friends means, and directly translates to English as, "fore-play"! We're all quite amused by this! So after some *light* cider and wine drinking, we bundled up and were off! At 20:00 (or 8:00 pm) the path along Akerselva (the river just below BI- the school), all the streetlights were turned off and several thousand *torches* (candles) were lit to light the way. Additionally there was several *cultural happenings along the way*- including music, dance, flame blowers, acrobats and much more... all to celebrate the date when the day is just as long as the night.

Although tiring, It was a fun walk... it was pretty far and there were many displays - choirs, accordion players, arrangements of candles along the river banks, a "ghost-man" something-or-another, picture slideshows on the side of a building, free hot chocolate, and all sorts of stuff to see along the walk. We got to the end right around the time the festivities were coming to an end (23:00) so we found a street-tram and called it a night...after all, I still had to pack for Bergen!

The Norwegian Gym

2006-09-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I've been SO bad at keeping up with my blogging! The week after Geiranger turned out to be a BUSY week. I had a group paper due on Tuesday morning and being the only native English speaker in the bunch (and a writer to boot), somehow it was decided that I should write the paper! For the most part this was OK, and I spent Monday and all day Tuesday writing the paper that was due on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday night, I had to spend my free time printing all the readings I had due on Thursday. I was SO exhausted by Friday, and so looking forward to spending the weekend in Oslo.

I didn't do much of anything during the weekend. Worked on homework, tried to catch up on my sleep, and went to the gym as much as possible. Which, by the way, is a whole experience in and of itself! The school has a brand new gym on the second floor, which is visible for anyone in the main hall of the campus...which is kinda annoying to be jogging on a treadmill and look up and there's someone in an elevator- staring at you. Oh well..

So the gym - I LOVE IT - it is so much fun, I can't seem to get enough.

Yeah, I said it- I love the gym and I actually have fun going to it. So much fun within the first week of joining, I went 5 times; including an aerobics class, a step class and a spinning class. Let me tell ya, attending an exercise class in Norwegian is VERY challenging. Not only had it been YEARS since my last aerobics class, I had to spend most of the class watching what everyone else was doing, and by the time I figured out what I should have been doing, I was 2 steps behind everyone else. But I'm so preoccupied by trying to figure out what the Norwegian instructor is saying, the hour flies by! If nothing else, these classes are helping me learn my numbers!

If the classes aren't tricky enough, I've also been utilizing the main sections of the gym as well...which, as an American, is a bit overwhelming. First off, I REALLY NEED TO FIGURE OUT HOW FAR A KILOMETER IS! I don't know how fast I'm walking/jogging, nor do I know how far I've gone. Additionally, the first day I started working out, the machine asked me how much I weighed...not a problem - oh wait, in kilograms ? I had no idea and I thought 100 sounded like a nice, easy, round number... a completely nice, easy, INCORRECT, round number, but I didn't realize that until I came home and typed it into my conversion widget...(I am NO way NEAR 100 kg!) Then the machine kept telling me how many kcals I was burning...what the heck is a kcal?? And of course there are stickers and labels and signs on the machines and walls in the gym, but they are all in Norwegian! Oh and the weight machines! Somehow it didn't occur to me the weights were in kgs, so when I sat down to do some hip abductions, I was thinking lbs, and couldn't figure out why I couldn't do very much weight... turns out I was doing 2.2 times what I thought I was doing!

It was VERY tricky to get used to at first, but soon I caught the hang of the gym and now I'm a fan! I found a scale and I'm happy to report that I have lost 5,4 kgs! For all my American friends, that's 12 lbs! Woo hoo! Every time I'm in Europe, I lose weight, but this is a LOT for me! It could be all the walking, the uncertainty of eating, or my typical pattern of semi-newly single-ness. Whatever the cause, I'm happy and motivated to continue frequenting the gym. Another aspect that I love? As much as I LOVE Europe, Norway and Oslo, every once in a while I like to escape the language barrier, and with my iPod, I can turn up the tunes and escape in a world of American music...a little piece of home :)

Have you ever been on a road trip with 5 Europeans?

2006-09-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

...trust me - its quite an interesting experience....

The weekend started early Friday morning when Katja and I met up with Christoffer, Ulrike at BI and were soon met by Karin and Nina who had gone and picked up our rental car. We loaded up the car and set off for Western Norway. The loading itself was an interesting operation - 6 people in a 7 passengar car - apparenlty 7 very short and skinny passengers, but luckily we had a ski compartment on the luggage rack and we were able to put all our bags and stuff up there. Nina was first to drive and Christoffer navigated...and 45 minutes later, we had successfully left Oslo, and had returned again...but we were able to figure out where we went wrong and then we set off again. Once we got out of the Oslo area, we really got to see "true" Norwegian countryside - mountains, wild animals, snow, and just wide-open space.

We pulled off the road for lunch, which we had packed and brought from Oslo. THIS was the first ADVENTURE of the trip! First off, there are 6 of us, 2 loaves of bread, a block of cheese, orange juice, and COLD hot dogs (I don't care if they Europeans call them sausages- they were HOT DOGs!)

After lunch we drove and drove and drove until we got to Geiranger, which is in a valley accessible only by very steep and windy roads, and found our cabin *pretty* easily (just right down the hill!). While we were getting settled, Christoffer and I roamed around the cabin (hytter) area and took some pictures but it started raining so we went back in and helped with dinner. After dinner (spaghetti- nothing too out of the ordinary for me!) we sat around talking, drinking boxed wine and eating ice cream.

Early Saturday morning we decided a *hike* would be a good idea. Let me just say something about this- Europeans and I have a DIFFERENT idea on what a *hike* is! First off, I REALLY need to figure out exactly how far a kilometer is! "Oh, it's just a few kilometers..." And it was cold, and it was rainy, it was steep, and we were using spray painted rocks as our guide posts! Many times during the hike the only thought that crossed my mind was that I'd better see a damn cool waterfall at the end of this! And, well, I didn't! And when we got to the end, I was SO convinced that I should be at the foot of a beautiful waterfall that I left the group and walked into the woods to find something! I did find a small little, peaceful waterfall, and thought this would be a good spot for Dad :) Then it was time to walk back to the cabin, this time the hike felt shorter and less dangerous- no one tripped and fell that I know of going back.

After checking out of the cabin we went down into the center of the town - to the 4 touristy shops. Katja and Christoffer found a coffee shop and we all migrated towards it. After everyone enjoyed their hot beverages (Nina and Karin found hot - actually semi-warm- chocolate), we piled into the car and drove up the twisty road to an overlook of the fjord for some pictures. But this apparently wasn't the focal point Karin had read about so we decided to go even further up the road, but being with Europeans, we walked! (Forcing me to rename the "Oslo Diet" to the "Norway Diet"!) The view was worth the uphill climb and I took MANY pictures!

Next we drove back into Geiranger and caught our ferry/fjord cruise. We saw many beautiful waterfalls (including the one we DIDN'T see that morning!), cliffs and old farms. Then it got too cold and too windy to sit out of top (when the chairs started flying we took it as a hint to move inside). We sat inside next to the heaters only to warm up a little then it was time to pile back into the car and drive again. Soon we found ourselves waiting for yet another ferry, this time only a 15 minute ride, and then we came to then driving again, and waiting for TWO more ferries!

In between the driving and the waiting for ferries, we did come across Trollstigen; one of the most visited attractions in Norway - also known as a "very steep and windy road". The mountains which encircle the Trollstigen road are enormous. The Stigfossen waterfall gushes down the mountainside towards the luscious Isterdalen valley. In the middle of all this, Trollstigen road winds it's way up the mountainside... We hopped out of the car to take pictures and to switch drivers...a 10% grade road with hairpin turns? Sounds like a job for our resident Swiss driver!

Several hours later, we finally made it to Krisitansund. Found our hotel *fairly* easily, had some dinner and then it was bed time for us all. After our complimentary breakfast, we wandered around the city for a bit, but on a Sunday, during the off season, it was boring and dead. So we piled back into the car and started yet another long day of driving...

We drove along the scenic roads on our way to Geiranger and decided to take the *highway* back to Oslo. Problem is- even the highway had a speed limit of 90 km (56 mph)- so it was VERY slow! Felt bad for Nina and Uli due to them being Germans and accustomed to autobahn driving!

We stopped for a few minutes in Lillehammer just to stretch our legs and see the site of the 1994 Winter Olympics. Then it was back in the car for the remainder of the journey to Oslo. We arrived back at the Europcar place around 10ish and after orientating ourselves we found the subway and went home.

It was a LONG, fun, exciting, enjoyable, funny, adventurous, tiring, educational journey across Norway. Made all the better by the wonderful group of friends I had with me!

Be sure to check out my photo gallery for pictures from the trip!

Exactly HOW MANY classes did I sign up for?

2006-09-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

I barely made it back from Gøteborg in time for my Norwegian class. Since I'll be living in Oslo for the next few months and I would like to avoid situations where I'm not sure what I'm eating or where I'm going, I thought it would be helpful to take a Norwegian Language course. After my first class on Monday, I did not think it was "helpful". First off, in a class of 40 people, 38 are from Germanic speaking countries, one guy from the UK, and me. Its going to be a challenge for me - luckily I have some experience with German, but nothing in comparison...

Bright and early Tuesday morning I had Corporate Responsibility. I like Tuesdays, I'm done with school by 11 am so I have the whole rest of the day free to do whatever I want. Since Tuesday was a beautiful day I decided on a walk and Christoffer needed to train for his running so we decided to exercise together. Since he runs and I just walk, I told him to go ahead and we'd meet at the "lake". His definition of a lake and mine are completely different...and we had some differences in how far away the lake was - he was thinking km, I was thinking miles. So needless to say when I got to the "lake" I didn't think I had gone far enough so I kept walking, and got lost, so I had to keep walking. About an hour later I finally found Christoffer - looking for me! Oh well- it was nice outside and the walk was good :) After the walk, I met with my friends to finalize our weekend plans for Geiranger.

Wednesday, I woke up SORE - too much walking on Tuesday! I didn't have to get up too early, class stated at 11 am; The International Firm. The teacher was pretty funny- she actually quoted Friends! This is my kind of class! Then I went shopping with Katja downtown so she could buy a jacket for our trip, then back to school for my second Norwegian class. This one was much better- I wouldn't say "good" but better.

On Thursday I had classes ALL day! Started off early at 8 am: International Business Context and Development. Our teacher was a little off, and again I'm the lone American, but I met a girl from Vancouver :). Immediately following, I had Global Politics at 11 am. This is NOT the class to have and be the lone American! It was actually a pretty decent class- the teacher is British and has so much passion and energy about global political history. I think it'll be a lot of work, but I definitely will learn something! I was supposed to go to Corporate Responsibility in the evening, but I skipped and headed downtown with Karin to see Joseph Nye - an American professor at Harvard, founder of Neoliberalism, who happened to be giving a free speech in Oslo that evening. I guess it was kinda interesting (although I DID fall asleep), but for being a Kerry supporter in 2004, I didn't get that he was a Democrat at all! Karin seemed to enjoy it and even asked a question. I felt he was just too complimentary to current government stances on several hot-button topics. Anyway :) I had to get home to pack for our weekend trip!

I'm looking forward to the weekend, but a little nervous about going on an 8-hour drive with 5 Europeans...Should be a fun and crazy weekend!

FINALLY bought myself a Swedish magnet!

2006-09-04T13:07:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I collect magnets - from which every country, state, and even sometimes, city I visit. For some reason, which still escapes me today, I forgot to buy one last year when I was in Stockholm, Sweden. I've been on a mission to return to Sweden since, to buy myself a magnet if for nothing else, and this weekend, I FINALLY got back and promptly purchased several magnets (for myself as well as other magnet collecting friends)! Had a FABULOUS time for such an impromptu trip!

The weekend didn't start off so great, by Thursday night I still didn't know what to do with myself for the weekend. I was thinking about taking the train to Trondheim, but I wouldn't have had enough time to trek out to Fosnes, so I started brainstorming again. I went to bed Thursday night frustrated because I couldn't figure out where to go. On Friday, a friend (Katja- from Finland) called to see if I wanted to go for a picnic in Frogner Park; of course! So we took the t-bane to Majorstuen to meet two other friends (Christoffer - Finland, Karin- Switzerland). On our walk to the park, Katja asked me if I'd figured out what I wanted to do yet, and randomly I blurted out- Gøteburg (Gothenberg), Sweden. Asking if anyone wanted to join me- Christoffer said yes and after our quick picnic lunch, we headed to the train station to check out ticket prices. Because we're students (thank you student id card!) we got a great deal and Christoffer and I were set to go to Sweden when Katja and Karin showed up at the train station, and we were able to convince Katja to come along too.

The three of us left early Saturday morning, and the train took 4 hours. Not a bad ride- Scandinavia is VERY scenic and picturesque. Best part of the train ride? I learned that Finland has a 50+% Swedish speaking population- and both my travel companions are FLUENT - Katja's second language, Christoffer's native language. HORRAY! Unfortunately when we got there, it was raining, but with two Swedish speakers by my side, we found our hostel and the System Bolaget (liquor store) (which was strange cause it was in the MALL!). We purchased some wine and cider and then went for a walk down Kungsportsavenyn (the main avenue), and found the Hard Rock Cafe (for a t-shirt for Nicole) and while I was off buying the shirt, Katja and Christoffer decided this was someplace they wanted to eat. After lunch (which was a really early dinner) we wandered around town and did some shopping. Soon it was dark so we went back to the hostel to get ready to go out for the night. We made it back downtown and as soon as we stepped off the tram, the rain REALLY started to come down. We ran to an overhang (where about 10 other people were) and attempted to figure out where to go next - being the "bold-American" I asked the group of guys under the overhang with us where to go. The bar we ended up at was straight out the 80', but I don't think it was a theme, it just happened by accident. Oh well- we had a blast- hung out with some native Gotheburg-ers(?) and had a great time! Sunday morning Katja and I left a hung-over Christoffer at the hostel, and we went shopping. One of the points I used to convince Katja to come with us was how cheap Sweden is in comparison to Oslo- she'd save money by shopping in Sweden! After a long day in the malls, we returned back to the hostel and met up with Christoffer and went out for dinner and then to a coffee shop and spent the whole evening talking and I learned all sorts of interesting facts about Finland (Finland has a woman president, something about Easter witches, and the true home of Santa Claus; Lapland Finland).

Monday morning we started out early since I had a train to catch at noon - Christoffer and Katja were taking a train at 17, but I had to be back in Oslo by 18 for my first Norwegian Language course. One last stop at a "cheaper" H&M and then back to System Bolaget to grab some supplies for next weekend's fjord trip. :-) It was a fabulous trip with wonderful travel companions - we didn't really see much in Gothenburg- for being Sweden's second largest city, there wasn't much there touristy to see.

Tomorrow its back to school for me. This week I have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. LONG week for me, but we're planning on leaving early Friday. Hopefully the week passes quickly and I can get back to traveling! I'll post pictures (link from my website: wheresjill.com) from our trip this last weekend- I'll see if I can get Katja and Christoffer's pictures too!

Is it wrong that I'm already skipping class?

2006-08-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

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!

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

2006-08-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

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!

My First Week as a Norwegian Student

2006-08-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

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! :-)

Would Francis by any other name still be my roommate?

2006-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Officially Oslo!

2006-08-18T10:14:00.000-07:00

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!

My First Blog EVER!

2006-08-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

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!