First weekend in Oslo
Trip Start
Jun 16, 2006
1
4
17
Trip End
Aug 15, 2006
Oslo, Norway
Sunday, June 25, 2006
This weekend I had a couple school related events. Saturday was checkin and registration. Hans and I headed to Blindern, and stood in line at the ISS office. Exciting to me since it's the start of school, but nothing unusual to report.
We tried a couple of the cafes near my apartment. There's a "Bagel O Juice" and a "Kaffebrenneriet" (Oslo's Starbucks). Bagels aren't bad, but not like back home ;-). My mocha is a little odd - they don't use sweetened chocolate here, so it just doesn't taste the same, even if you add your own. It's not long before I switch over to lattes.
We wander around town a bit and relax. Hans is showing signs of football addiction - I haven't seen this side of him before. He's helping me learn the rules, but I'm not sure I'll ever be the biggest fan. On the other hand, that part at the end where they trade shirts - I kinda like that. If soccer was played "shirts vs skins" style, I'd be glued to the tube.
On Sunday, I leave Hans behind and head down for the orientation meeting and then the sightseeing tour. We find out at the meeting that the ISS student body is over 500 students from over 80 countries. And we cram all of those bodies into a bunch of busses for the tour.
First stop is Vigelands park, which is a very cool sculture park. Unfortunately, it's *very* crowded - we aren't the only busses here. And there's no way everyone from our bus can hear our tour guide. One side-effect of all these different cultures together - there's quite a difference in what people do in a crowded situation. Some push up to the front, and some are very comfortable with a cheek-to-cheek crowd. I figure I'll come back and see this at my own speed another time, and hang to the back.
We meet back at the bus, and somehow, we are missing some people. A few stragglers show up, but we are still short one person. We wait another 10 minutes, and then assume they must have gotten on another bus. We head out.
The next stop was the viking ship museum. Again, very cool... and very crowded. I make note of when we should meet at the bus, and wander off on my own. Back at the bus, we get our missing person back! But now we are running late....
The final stop is Akershus fortress, which I hadn't seen before. The tour guide seems determined to ensure the bus is back at the barn on time, since we breeze through the fortress at a brisk pace. I tell the tour guide I'm closer to home here than back at Blindern, and wander off on my own. Ah, nice to breath and stretch out again. I buzz Master Ravnaas, and it turns out he's at Aker Brygge. Perfect! I'm a short walk away!
We meet up and find a place for dinner. I try Bacalao (dried cod in a tomato stew). Um, well, it's ok, but I'm not sure what the fuss is about. Perhaps it tastes better when you are sitting in the Spanish sun. Finally, we wander back home and hit the sack. I've got my first school day tomorrow. Hooray!
