Blogs from Oslo, Eastern Norway, Norway, Europe - page 20

Wow! It started Tuesday morning, Sept 22 and just finished today September 27th at about lunch time. I was into the beer at 9am on Tuesday morning, and it didn't stop until my last sip of wine for breakfast this morning. And this was a sports trip... Every year, students from Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland studying at Life Sciences Universities get together to participate in the Nordic Games. There is track and field, swimming, soccer, hand ball, floor hockey, volleyball, basketball, horse riding, shooting, orienteering, etc. I participating in swimming, soccer, volleyball, and orienteering. Its a pretty packed schedule, with sleep only being scheduled between 5am and 7:30. Sports all day, then pre-parties, parties, and after parties. We slept on concrete floors of a basement in an apartment building on air mattresses. By the end ... read more

Arrived in the rain and fog again, but by 10 a.m. the sun was out and no more rain. We went to the sculpture park (Roger, Roxie and I stayed in the bus - in fact I took a little nap) and ski jump again, but did drive on a few different streets and got a very detailed description of Oslo people and their lifestyle. They are every active and like most Europeans they walk and bike just about everywhere. Cross country walking and skiing are everyday events. Don’t think I saw an overweight Norwegian. We in the U.S. could learn a lot from other countries. We finished up our tour with a trip to the Viking Ship Museum where artifacts from 4 Viking ships were displayed. The earliest from the year 800 something (9th century)! ... read more

When I returned to Oslo from Bergen, I intended to spend a day checking out some of the museums I actually wanted to see. I had read, but seemingly forgotten, that most museums are closed on Monday. So, I wandered around the city for a few hours before hopping on a bus to Honefoss, to spend a few days with MacKenzie´s friend Ingi, her husband Simon, the cutest two month old in the world, Oscar, and a beautiful two year old, Selma, who tried her hardest to teach me Norwegian. I failed, miserably :) More pictures from Honefoss to be added later...... read more

I arrived in Oslo on Tuesday after a nice 4:30 am wake up call to get to the airport. The plane landed around noon (a two hour difference from Iceland.) Jumped the express train from the airport to the city, threw my bag in a locker at the train terminal an wandered around the city. Things I've observed about Oslo. 1.) It's beautiful. 2.) Everyone walking either has a child or a dog. Or both. 3.) The public transportion system is actually efficient... unlike Boston. ... read more

I’ve really, really missed writing this blog. Really. Recap of the last 4-5 months: Back in March, when I had to return to Sweden for a month because my Australian Work Visa ran out, Life asked me to rethink my home country as a possible habitat. Considering how things turned out, that’s quite ironic. Or brutal, depending on how you see it. To convince me moving back home would be fabulous, Life threw the most compelling argument she had at me; Scandinavian sunshine. To an outsider it might be hard (if at all possible) to understand how extraordinary this is, but being something of a rarity to us Swedes, we happily relish in the slightest bit of warmth, and feel strangely privileged when the weather is good. And Swedish spring really is something else. The air ... read more