From Oslo Over the Sun

We had our cabin trip with Filologisk Forening (the humanities college student society that we're members of--they even let Dan the scientist in!). It was a pretty good time, save for a few bumps in the road--the first being the icy cold downpour that drenched us as we left to catch the T-bane (tay-bahnuh, i.e. metro) to Nationaltheatret. It seriously rained HARD for 5-7 minutes, the very same 5-7 minutes that we were outside. Funny how that works. So I spent the bus ride there quite damp. We arrived in Bærum after about an hour on the buses, and my how the scenery changed! Suddenly we were in a hilly, rural area, one that also happens to be the richest and most expensive municipality in Norway. Go figure. (Camilla's family lives here, but she swears they ... read more

We've already celebrated Thanksgiving more than a month before most of you will! Our Canadian friend Kate hosted a very nice Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday at her home because Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving. Her mom is the Canadian ambassador...and they live in the superfancy ambassador's house. That made it all the more exciting. Since Dan and I are the other two North Americans in our buddy group, we helped out by cooking a bunch and bringing the food to Kate's. We made two pumpkin pies, vanilla-nutmeg whipped cream, apple and onion stuffing, sweet rolls, Weber family corn pudding and roasted butternut squash and beets. Other people in our group helped Kate prepare the food at her house. Cooking all that food really made us realize how amazing it is that our moms and grandmothers could possibly ... read more

I know some of you are wondering, "What happened to Dan & Danielle's blog? I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what crazy adventures they got into next!" Or maybe you were just waiting for us to get into one crazy adventure. Well, now that Dan's gonna be gone for the next four days (Booo, field trips! But I hope he has fun.) I have some peace! Or...I have nothing better to do than to curl up on my bed by my window with a cup of instant cappuccino and a bowl of oatmeal. Plenty of time to make a post. I did get to have an adventure, as a matter of fact. But, it wasn't very fun. At least I learned a lesson. Basically, I got lost in Oslo in the ... read more

Upon reviewing our pictures from the last couple of weeks, Danielle and I were kind of dismayed but not at all surprised to discover that most of them were of food we had cooked. Certainly homemade farfalle and magenta curry are more photogenic than your average meals but the fact remains: we've become a bit too cloistered. It seems understandable, mostly a reaction to the price of food and entertainment here; the cheapest activity we can engage is cooking (mostly) from scratch. It really accomplishes a lot: cuts down on food costs, allows us to eat things we otherwise can't find here, challenges to cook with minimal gadgets, space, utensils, etc., kills a good deal of time probably otherwise spent obsessively reading about the election, and on occasion serves as an excuse to interact with people ... read more

Got my computer at last. Pictures to come. We can use our skype phone now, so call us if you like!!! :) WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Though it was definitely a travail getting the computer. Got a mysterious letter in the mail from the post, said a bunch of Norwegian stuff I had to interpret. And then getting to the customs office was a bit tough. But we made it and here I am in my own room and getting to listen to music and call our parents. Such a relief. -danielle P.S. THANKS DAD.... read more