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Published: January 15th 2010
Nina finished her exams after we returned from Oslo and we celebrated by making food for her party the next day. We just cooked food all night and had a nice relaxing evening.
We got ready for the party the next day and ended up having a full house. Nina had 10 or so friends over for dinner and then her brother had about 20 friends show up for pre drinking then heading out to the bar. Drinking in Norway is expensive, ~$18 CAD for a pint at the bar, so there was lots of drinking going around prior to going out. I learned some Norwegian words you wouldn't learn in a classroom and waited for the Taxis when they were called. I took the most expensive taxi ride of my life. What may have been a $40 cab ride at home was about $120... a cheap cab ride for them too!!!
We went out for the night back in Drammen where all the good bars are from what I hear and spent the night at a rather small, quite full place. I got left outside in the line with a friend from Australia because it was quite full and the girl’s snook in leaving us outside. When I got in people were giving 'the Canadian' drinks and were more willing to speak English after many pints =).
The day after we just nursed ourselves, had a late day and just watched movies, built a snow viking and went for some sledding on the hill behind Nina's house.
We went skiing! We headed to Norfolk, the 1952 Winter Olympic hill and had a day on the slopes. I started off trying to snowboard but the boots were too small and ended up freezing my toes off. So I switched to skis which I haven't done in about 13 years but I managed to pick it up pretty quick and actually enjoyed it a fair bit. Might have to pick it up again. There was next to no one on the hill because it was -20ºC... Anyone from Alberta knows that it is normal but people in Norway are afraid of the cold so won't go out if it is too harsh. We had to convince some of Nina's friends to come out with us because they weren't too sure if they wanted to brave the cold.
On Christmas Eve it is a big day, bigger than Christmas! We started off the day eating breakfast, then heading to the graves of family members and grandparents to light candles and pay respects then headed to Nina's Grandmothers for some traditional Norwegian food. Murlya? It is soup broth with hard bread soaked in it. Something I really wasn't a big fan of but we ate plenty of rice pudding and I won a treat because I found the nut inside which is a trick they do for kids to make it more fun! We had plenty of Auqvit (sp?) which is a Norwegian alcohol meant to be sipped and it is a good thing Nina told me that because it came in a shot glass and I wasn't excited but I was prepared not to be rude. It was quite good liquor, much like vodka with a clean taste but quite strong.
We stayed at the grandmothers for a few hours then headed back to prepare for xmas dinner at Nina's house. When everyone showed up we had a massive dinner which I had seconds and thirds of =) then we started opening presents. They go around in a circle opening one present at a time and this took ages because there were lots to go around. I think it took about 3 or 4 hours to get through them all and by that time it was time to go to bed!
Christmas day was quite relaxed, no one did anything. We just visited with some friends and spent the day quietly at home.
Boxing day, or the second day of Christmas, is a big drinking day in Norway. We went to Nina's friend Siri's to have some drinks then headed out to the local bar which not only had a line, but a long line. We got in after 1/2 hour luckily and had to pay $40 cover... It was nice and busy but we danced the night away even though there was barely room to move. It is amazing the amount of money that people spend there when they go out. I figure on average it is about $200 CAD.
Nina took me around her town a bit more, drove me to her cabin, to see her lake, some mountains and other great scenery. It was my last day so we had to do everything we hadn't done up until that point. It was a sad night as I had to say farewell to lots of friends and her family.
She took me to the airport the next day which is a nice long train ride but I appreciated her company nonetheless. It was of course a difficult farewell, never a pleasant thing as I will miss her greatly but who knows what the future holds. There will be plenty more chances for me to see her again.
The flights home were quite long and tedious, exhausted from a sad farewell and tired from not being able to sleep on planes made it very long. There were numerous delays because of the Christmas terrorist attack so we had our carry on searched time and time again, I had some cheese with me which seemed to like to cause some difficulty. I was quite happy with Seattle and its airport. I stayed there only four hours but it was quite a delightful experience. The nicest and most friendly airport I have been to in the states. I only had a two hour lay over in Iceland and then a four hour in Seattle so I could enjoy some good Mexican food again! I hoped on the plane to Canada and three hours later landed in that lovely city known as Calgary.
My brother picked me up and I spent the night with him as he was leaving for New Years in Seattle with his wife so we crammed as much time together as possible. I headed home to my house the next day to spend the next couple of days with my family before my departure up to Edmonton. I did have some people over for New Years but it was mostly a nice quiet night of just catching up with some good friends.
I am sorry this final update has taken so long. When I got home it has been a whirlwind of activity since. I have been putting in insurance claims for when I got sick, trying to sort out my classes before the add/drop deadline because I have decided to try to go after a Masters Degree but we shall see if I get accepted. I have also been doing snowboard trips and went to Kimberly last weekend so I have been busy busy busy.
If anyone would like to meet up and catch up I would be more than thrilled to see all your friendly faces again. Thank you for following my adventures! They may not end here but for the next 4 months my life will be pretty static.
Thank you again and I hope you all either had some good adventures while I was gone or became inspired to go on some adventures of your own.
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Øystein
non-member comment
Hi!
Interesting to read about your experiences in Norway, i love Canada after visiting BC and Alberta in may 2008, so i am going back again in may this year, flying to Calgary this time to rent a car there and drive around in the Rockies. Canada is a great country to visit, friendly people and quite cheap for us. Greeting from Lillehammer Norway.