The third week of my Norwegian adventure has officially begun.
I really enjoy studying abroad, except for the actual “studying” part. Although, much like at home, being in class keeps me from spending money. Especially the money I don’t have. I’m trying to be as frugal as possible. I hear Norway is really expensive… (Over the top eye roll)
Classes basically involves speaking from our perspective about Norway and the rest of the world. No sweat. There’s a lot of reading that we’re supposed to reference in class, but that’s easier said than done. We’re a very opinionated group, so it’s kind of like being on The View: Norwegian Edition. A real dream come true.
The best part of the educational portion of this trip is our “field seminars” which includes fascinating excursions into Oslo. We checked out the Nobel Peace Center for class Wednesday. After checking out a photography exhibit, we got a guided tour of the center. I thought 2007 recipient Al Gore might give the tour, but we had to settle for the Norwegian Diane von Fürstenberg. It was a very interesting tour and the highlight was the exhibit of Alfred Nobel, which featured a book that made windows frost/defrost and dynamite sounds. Sheer magic!
This weekend included a concert that many, many French kids said would be a real hoot. Note to self: French people reeeeeeeally like techno. Birdy Nam Nam is a group of four broskis who DJ their hearts out on their MacBook Pros. They also make me feel incredibly unhip, or un-French, as I kept wondering why their “phat beatz” had to be so loud.
Sunday was much more quiet and relaxing. Kirby and I met up with some Germans and checked out a festival which had a little flea market and cheap Chinese food. Definitely a highlight of the entire trip. We were super cool and had coffee outside of a cafe, walked outside in a beautiful garden, and almost went to the circus that was in town. They charged a lot for admission, so we had to pull ourselves away.
Punctuality is Norway’s middle name…. Or maybe its last name. Either way, it’s been difficult to not just saunter to the T-Bane stop at my leisure. Instead, I have to make sure I’m there to at the exact time the train pulls into the station. FYI: Oslo’s transportation system does not mess around. Being on time has been a chronic problem of mine, so hopefully this will cure my problem.
I start Norwegian class tomorrow, so I will hopefully be able to carry quasi-conversations with the various store clerks I come in contact with. The other day I replied “nei, takk” to an H&M worker who I thought was asking if I wanted a bag or not. Turns out she was telling me the total of my transaction. She quickly informed me that saying “no, thank you” to “you’re total is 100kr” is not acceptable.
