A Day Out in Oslo

Today we’re going to go on a virtual tour of the city! While Oslo isn’t necessarily known for its art and culture, it does have it’s fair share of interesting museums, parks, and buildings that showcase the history of the city. The nice thing about these places is that you can do most of them in a day if you plan your time wisely. This list is comprised of my own personal favorites but there’s many other things that could be added as well. We’ll set the scene at the Nationalteateret T-bane stop in the middle of downtown.

National Gallery

One of my favorite pieces in the museum.

The National Gallery is just a short, five minute walk from the T-bane station. It holds a huge permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings; as well as temporary exhibits. Honestly, you could probably spend an entire day in here but I recommend finding the painting to the left and sticking to the rooms around it. These rooms have a ton of traditional Scandinavian art that I’ve never seen in other museums (I’ll go into any art museum in any city, so that’s saying a lot!) . A lot of the pieces are paintings of nature, which speaks to the fascination the Scandinavian people have always had with natural wonders.

Harry, is that you?

 

 

 

 

Also, you have to find this painting, which I personally believe was J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for the whole character. 

 

 

 

 

 

Astrup Fearnley Museum

Once you’ve had your fill of traditional art, the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern is a ten-minute walk back past the National Theater and down to Aker Brygge (the harbor). From outside you can tell that it’s a modern art museum, with it’s weirdly shaped building and brightly colored sculptures waiting to greet you. Once inside, it’s a gamble to see if the exhibits on display are amazing or confusing (ex. one time I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out if the banana peel on the floor was a piece of art or not. It was!), but it’s always fun.

One of my all-time favorite exhibits by Damien Hirst. Here’s his website.

So far, my favorite exhibit I’ve seen has been a huge collection of works by Damien Hirst. He’s a British artist who specializes in pieces that are often created with the goal of making the audience uncomfortable, such as the preserved, crucified sheep above. Some of his stuff is hard to stomach, but it’s also hard to look away! The Astrup Fearnely Museum actually owns a number of his pieces, so they pop up in various exhibits from time to time.

My friend Nikki demonstrating one of the interactive pieces.

 

Munch Museum

One of the many “Scream”s, done in crayon on cardboard.

If the dead animals and banana peels aren’t your cup of tea, the Munch Museum might be more interesting. It’s located a few stops away on the T-bane from downtown right next to the botanical gardens.

(The botanical gardens are also beautiful, especially in the fall when all the leaves have littered the ground. One of my favorite things to do after going to the Munch Museum is grab a cup of coffee and go sit in the gardens next to the pond)

Edvard Munch is one of the two most famous artists from Norway (the other is Gustav Vigeland). His art is often eerie and deals with a lot of dark subject matter like death, which I believe is due to his battle of (speculated) mental illness throughout his life. His most well-known piece is ‘The Scream’, which you can see to the left. (Little known fact, there are actually four different versions of this painting). I absolutely love his work and the various styles and emotions he manages to convey. I’ve spent a number of days hanging out in this museum!

A sculpture by Vigeland, showcased during a comparative exhibit between him and Munch.

Gustav Vigeland is the second famous artist from Norway and he focused more on sculpture than painting. He had quite a rivalry with Munch and they did a lot of pieces with similar subject matter. In the picture to the left you can see a sculpture by Vigeland and in the background you can see a drawing by Munch of the same thing. (I’m sure they would both argue that they came up with it first!)

 

 

 

Vigeland Park

My friend Lily with the best statue.

If there aren’t any pieces by Vigeland in the Munch Museum, don’t worry! He has an entire park full of his sculptures. It’s located across town in a neighborhood called Majorstuen (which is also full of fabulous shopping and food if statues of men flinging babies aren’t doing it for you). 

This has to be one of the coolest, strangest displays of statues that I have ever seen. I’m not a huge fan of sculptures (sorry David), but these ones are all of people doing various things. There’s a lot of babies being thrown around and a huge tower made of people. Every single statue is different and it’s another one of those places you could spend all day in.

 

The centerpiece fountain of the park.

Holmenkollen 

My friend Molly having a great time on the smaller jump!

Sometimes, art can get exhausting and you just need to escape to the top of a mountain. When this happens, I head to Holmenkollen which is a stop on the T-Bane near the Winter Park (the downhill ski slopes). Here you’ll find a huge ski jump that’s been used for ski competitions in Oslo since 1892. It was also where the 1952 winter Olympics took place and you can still see people training for the Olympics here year round.

 

There’s also a smaller jump nearby which you can just walk right onto, as my friend is demonstrating. The first time we went, we thought the small jump was the one used for the Olympics because it seemed so big!

View of the city from the top of the jump.

 

There’s a ski museum underneath the jump where you can learn all about the Royal Family and their ski habits. It’s also a good place if you need a cozy Norwegian sweater for the winter. Then you take an elevator up to the top of the jump where there’s an amazing view of the whole city. (The elevator is not very fun if you’re afraid of heights though, as it’s made of glass and you can see everything below.)

 

Night at the Opera

Me and (blurry) friends at Manon.

The last stop for the day is at the famous opera house (the outside was pictured in the last blog post), where you can go see an opera (obviously) or a ballet if opera is too much culture for you. I have only seen a ballet before, and I’m trying to build myself up to go to an opera before I leave. The architecture of the building is beautiful and they offer free tours of it during the day.

Norwegian students definitely do not frequently go to the opera (if at all). In fact, my friend Vanessa pictured about (second to the left) had to be convinced with lots of food to come with us and she’s lived in Oslo all her life. Once inside, it’s obvious that the audience demographic is mainly older Norwegians who will give you the stink-eye for not being dressed up enough but it’s fun anyways. The shows are often done by famous ballet companies from around the world and it’s very beautiful to watch. Also, if you don’t understand what’s going on, the seats are very comfy and it is very dark so no one will notice if you just happen to doze off.

View of the stage.

And thats it! You can now go out into the world and say that today you learned that Oslo is a fan of strange, wonderful art in all forms.

Do any of you have favorite types of art or make art yourself? Or seen any cool art in Portland recently? Let me know!

Bye,

Megan

Photo of the Week

Hello! The photo this week was taken in a coffee shop I happened upon a few days ago that really reminded me of something I would find in portland.

From Viking Ships to BMWs

Norwegian Kroner

If I haven’t made it clear before, Oslo is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. Norway as a whole is incredibly expensive, but it’s important to note why it is so expensive and how the Norwegian system balances out wages and the price of goods to make it affordable for people. The massive amount of wealth in Norway is a relatively new phenomenon and this post will explain where it came from and how it affects those of us who are living abroad. 

History of Norwegian Wealth

A map showing where the North Sea is and what countries border it.

In the 1960s, Norway was lucky enough to claim sovereignty over the Norwegian Continental Shelf which is in the North Sea. This meant that Norway owned any natural resources, like oil, in this area. At this time, there was little belief that there was any oil at all, but in 1969 a Norwegian ship struck gold (or oil, in this case). Basically, this led to huge amounts of oil reserves being found by the Norwegian government which has led to massive amounts of wealth and money for the country and it’s inhabitants. (If you want to read the whole history of Norway’s oil history, you can find it here.)

The Oslo opera house with it’s very modern architecture.

Traditional Norwegian houses built into the mountainside.

Modern Implications

What does this really mean though? It means that in the past 50(ish) years, Norway has gone from a country of farmers living in villages in the mountains to some of the wealthiest people in the world. It’s led to very rapid modernization by Norwegians, and Oslo is a product of that, which you can see in contrast between the architecture of downtown and the houses in the mountains behind the city. On one hand, there’s huge skyscrapers that look like they sprung up in the past five years (which is probably the case) and on the other hand there’s houses in the traditional Norwegian style that look like they’ve been around for hundreds of years.

A very typical outfit for Norwegian women.

There’s other ways you can tell that the wealth is relatively new and that the country is still trying to adjust, such as the way Norwegians dress. Norwegian style is impeccable. They love neutral-colored clothing, clean tailoring, and those Canada Goose coats that run for about $600 at the cheapest. In short, they are always put together and they always look like the embodiment of money. At the same time, they don’t take risks with their style. They pretty much wear the same thing all the time, no matter whether it is day or night, in a park or at a club. To me, it seems like the whole country is still a little uncomfortable with showing off their wealth. They want to look good but never flashy. It probably goes back to the Laws of Jante and the traditional norm of not being better than each other. Being wealthy goes against most of their beliefs.

So, how does a country maintain it’s cultural belief of equality while embracing their newfound wealth? They tax the heck out of their citizens in exchange for social programs and goods. The tax on citizens is on a sliding scale, with 0% of income being the lowest and 50% (almost) being the highest. This is a huge amount of money coming out of their paychecks each month. Do any of you have jobs? Imagine half of that money being gone every time you got a check. Most Norwegians that I have spoken to aren’t particularly happy with the taxes but they also believe they’re necessary for their quality of life. I have never met anyone here who would trade their tax system in exchange for paying out of pocket for things like school or health care. Also, they are still making plenty of money to pay for expenses like food and housing. The average citizen has $33,492 a year in disposable income, which is significantly more than the USA (more here).

How does this affect me?

Based on your responses to past posts, I’m sure lots of you are wondering what all of these numbers mean for a foreign resident like me. First of all, school is technically free for me. From what I remember, I only paid about $100 in fees to the school for the entire year (not including other costs from the program in the USA). I also get to live in student housing which is significantly cheaper than other housing. I pay about $500 a month for my flat in the newest student building, which is also much cheaper than the newer buildings at PSU. Things like public transportation, entrance fees at museums, food on campus, and gym memberships are also cheaper for students. It’s still not cheap for me to live here because of daily expenses like food, but it’s manageable.

Another perk is health care. I personally haven’t gotten sick while I’ve been here or needed to go see a doctor for anything, but I recently learned that one of the exchange students this year found out he had a cancerous tumor and only paid about $400 for the entire treatment and surgery. For cost of cancer treatment in the USA, refer back to the wildly popular TV show Breaking Bad.

Selina’s wedding in August. She married a Norwegian and will be reaping the benefits for the rest of her life! (I’m on the far left)

If I was staying here longer, I could get even better benefits from the social system. I have a cousin, Selina, who lives in Bergen and started off as an exchange student like me. She decided to move there after her Undergraduate degree and is currently doing her Masters degree, which is fully paid for by the government. Not only does she get free schooling, she also gets a monthly check to live off of so she doesn’t have to work while in school. The amount she receives is about 80% of her salary from her previous job. My Norwegian cousin-in-law told me that if you lose your job you can get up to 80% of your salary for up to four years. This means you really don’t have to work if you don’t want to! (Good for individuals, but potentially bad for the country in the long run? Some Norwegians are concerned about future laziness.)

As you can see, there’s a lot to say about the Norwegian economy! I hope this helps with all the questions I’ve been getting about my personal costs and such. It’s very different from the United States and I’m constantly seeing how it affects daily life here. Do you guys take any classes that talk about economics? Is any of this confusing? I can always elaborate more! I’m still figuring it out myself. 

Take some time this week to think about how different the USA would be if things like health care and education were free! Do you think it’s possible for the future? Would you want these things to be free or do you think the current USA system is better?

Bye!

Megan

 

Photo of the Week

Hello all,

My week has been very uneventful as I’ve just been studying and doing assignments, but I have been taking the time to go on walks each day and this was a really nice view I came across. The days are getting much longer here and the sun hasn’t been setting until almost 9.00 pm which I am loving. I’m counting down the days until I can take walks at 10.00 while the sun is fully up! Hope you all are enjoying the beautiful weather I’ve been told Portland is having.

Megan

“Do you ever go to school?”

My study space.

The title of this post is the most common question I get asked by friends and family back home. By now you might be wondering the same thing, so I thought it was time to address the main thing I’m supposed to be doing this year. I promise that I actually have been going to school and keeping my grades up, but the Norwegian university system is very different from the American system and it allows me a lot of flexibility with my studies. It’s been an adjustment to get used to it and I consider it to be one of the biggest differences  between the two countries.

As a refresher, I am studying Political Science and I am currently taking three classes at University of Oslo (UiO). 

(Side note: Do any of you have an interest in hearing about politics in Norway? They have a fascinating royal family, a ton of different political parties, some of the highest taxes in the world, and a huge amount of oil that I would love to talk about!)

Reading is always easier with coffee!

The basics of the education system at University of Oslo (from my experience):

• On average, classes meet once a week for two hours and have a fifteen minute break half way through the class.
• These classes normally consist of a lecturer talking the entire time and students taking notes. It’s rare if students ask questions or talk in class.
• It isn’t mandatory to go to lectures and the professors often put their lecture notes or podcasts of the lectures online.
• Most classes meet for about three months and then there is a study period of two weeks- a month before exams.
• The grades are based entirely off of final exams. This can consist of one 3-4 sitting exam or a shorter sitting exam and a final paper.
• It is very hard to fail and it is very hard to get an A.

How many classes do you have to take at your school? Do they meet every day?

From this list, you can tell that most of the work is up to the student. We have a lot of reading to do and a lot of lectures to learn, but none of it is monitored by the professors. The Political Science department has recently tried to make the classes more engaging by adding a mandatory seminar every couple of weeks, which is more like university classes in the United States with discussions, presentations, and papers to write. Still, this is the first year that UiO has attempted discussion-based seminars and the Norwegian students/professors are still getting used to them. The learning style is very different from what I’m used to at PSU. Luckily the classes are taught in English though! Are any of you taking language classes? 

Because of this relaxed approach towards education, I have a lot of free time to travel and explore Oslo. I never worry about missing classes because I can go over them online and I can take my textbooks with me wherever I go. I have friends in my classes who are also exchange students, so we often swap notes and go over readings together to stay on top of things. Last semester I struggled with the huge amount of required reading but luckily I’ve been able to adjust my study habits this semester to accommodate the new learning style. And if all else fails, UiO lets you drop classes all the way up until the day of the exam (crossing my fingers I won’t ever have to do this)!

The main library on the Blindern campus.

Okay, enough of the boring, technical stuff. I just wanted to give you all a good background in what my daily school life is like.

There are some other really cool, different things that I’ve learned about the Norwegian schooling system from Norwegians I’ve spoken to that I also want to share with you. These things are more specific to the public education system and affect Norwegian students that are your age.

• Students start learning English in their first year of school (about age six). By the time they are your age, most of them can speak almost perfect English. They also pick up American accents from American TV shows and it’s often hard to tell they are Norwegian at all. (For example, in my high school we had two Norwegian exchange students come for a year and I thought they were American until I sat down and had a real conversation with them!)
• School is a year longer than in the U.S., so people are normally 19 when they leave high school.
• There are boarding high schools that Norwegians can attend to study special interests, such as dramatic arts or architecture. From what I understand, students go around age 16 and live in dorms on the school campus. Would any of you be comfortable leaving home at 16 to go study somewhere else?
• There is very little focus on writing in the schooling system and many students reach University without having ever written an essay. I spoke to a Norwegian friend who said that often the Bachelor thesis is the first essay a student has to write. She is very comfortable with the 900 pages of reading we have to do for our Politics class, but she’s terrified of the 8 page paper we have to turn in. I feel the opposite!
• Right before graduation (and exams), high school students throw huge parties around the city to celebrate and the whole city gets involved. Apparently, they even rent buses to party on and sometimes you can get invited onto the bus to join them. These parties and celebrations will start next month and I am very excited to see what they’re like! Are there any graduation traditions at your high school?

 

Getting an education in a sami tent instead of a classroom!

I can imagine that my experience at Norwegian university would be very different if I had been in the public school system my whole life. My strengths would be more language and reading based, and my writing skills would be less refined. There’s pros and cons to both of the systems and I don’t have a preference between the two. Is there anything else you would like to know about school? I feel like this topic is a little boring but I think that’s just because it’s part of my daily life! I was fascinated with Norwegian schools before I came here.

Starting next week, I’ll be in full study-mode as my classes are ending and my exams are coming up next month. I’m looking forward to having another blog post to write that I can use as a distraction, so expect a good one!

Ha det,

Megan

Photo of the Week

Hei hei! I hope your week is going well. I am so excited that you guys have finally seen the blog and I’m currently going through all your comments and responding to them. I am amazed at how many there are! I love all your questions and I’m doing my best to respond to all of them to the best of my ability. It might take a few more days but I promise I’ll get to all of them!

The photo of the week is a picture I took of a really cool piece of street art in a little town about fifteen minutes outside of Oslo. Most of the graffiti in (and around) Oslo is fairly ugly and rude, but occasionally I stumble upon incredible pieces. This was just the most recent that I’ve seen but if any of you are interested in street art (or Norwegian art in general) please let me know and I’ll include more pictures in future posts!

Enjoy your weekend!

Megan

Learning How to Drive Like a Cretan

The road leading up to our hostel. 

When the plane touched down at the Chania Airport in Crete, the first thing I noticed was the way the air hits you in the face and envelopes you. It’s thick and warm, smelling like sea salt, and a welcome change to the thinner, colder air of Oslo that I’ve grown accustomed to. As the excitement of four days on an island in the sun was increased by the sight of my cousin, Alice,standing next to a man holding a sign with our last name written on it, there was a small jolt of nervousness. The man was from a car company and it was my first time renting a car in a foreign country. He led us through the sticky Mediterranean air to a tiny car and handed over the keys after all the necessary signatures had been signed and road maps had been given.

In the United States, 25 is the average age at which you’re permitted to rent a car. In Europe, it’s normally 21 and I had finally hit that number back in December. I had been waiting for the freedom to explore new cities without the restriction of transportation for a very, very long time and I backed out of the airport parking lot as soon as the mirrors had been adjusted. There’s a certain sense of terror that comes along with driving in a country where the language has a different alphabet and you’re suddenly responsible for a vehicle that isn’t your own. But the sight of olive trees lining the narrow highway and the sudden appearance of the city center quieted these thoughts and soon we were hunting for parking in the Old Town. Too tired to consider any implications of parking at the end of a very narrow, dead-end road, we pulled into a spot and forgot about the car until morning.

Along one of the narrow streets of Old Town.

Crete is a hidden gem in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea with influences of Greek culture and Turkish culture strewn around the island. The combination of these cultures, along with the weather and the location, creates a perfect mix of relaxation and interesting things to see. We wanted to fill up our short trip with as many beaches and seaside towns as possible before we left. So, when the sun came up, our first mission was to find a beach.

Relaxing at a hidden beach on my last day. 

 

This was also my first introduction to how difficult driving in Crete can be. To get out of the parking space, I had to back down a tiny road into a drive way so I could turn around get to the bottom of the street without hitting all the other cars on the way down. It involved Alice moving trashcans and directing me from outside the car. This was accompanied by a woman (who owned the trashcans) coming outside, yelling at me in Greek, and then furiously watching as I struggled to turn around in a road the width of half a car. I was hoping this would be my only run in with a local who had strong views on parking, but I was wrong.

The first beach we visited.

Later that day, we returned to the city with lighter hair and redder skin. I parked in front of the hostel, where our wonderful host, Sophia, had told me to because ‘her home was our home’. We promptly fell asleep, exhausted from the sun, and woke bright and early to go on an even longer day trip. We were greeted by a large, red van blocking the car in. We were also greeted by the next door neighbor reprimanding us for parking too close to his door. I apologized profusely and told him I would park differently in the future. In turn, he told me that the van blocking our exit was justice for us parking too close to his door. I finally found the construction worker who owned the van, he kindly moved it, and we went on our way to visit ruins and cities that made the parking nightmare worth it.

View from a fortress in Rethymno.

From then on, every time we parked on the street outside the hostel, someone had a complaint and the car was moved all over the street in an effort to please everyone. My cousin thinks the neighbors lead boring lives and needed a young, American tourist to argue with. I think they just don’t want irritating foreigners disrupting their routines. Either way, I started parking farther away from the city center after being yelled at in Greek more times than I can count.

On top of the mess of parking, I also had to learn how to drive like the locals. This includes completely ignoring speed limits, treating the shoulder as a lane on the highway, passing other cars without passing lanes, expecting Vespas to show up out of the blue, and hoping for the best going down winding roads with no visibility as high speeds. As much as I would like to be a carefree Cretan, my upbringing in a country with strict driving laws made it hard for me to embrace the casual ignorance of road laws that the locals have. I am also still a fan of roads that fit more than one car.

A personal favorite Vespa.

All the yelling Greeks, honking drivers, and twisting roads along the edges of cliffs were worth the risk for the sights we saw and the sun we absorbed. Without a car we would have missed out on the little villages tucked away in the mountains, the stands along the side of the road with wrinkly, old women selling bags of oranges, and the white sand of the beaches on the South coast. We also would have missed out on many interactions with local people who weren’t trying to sell us things. Having arguments with people who speak a different language creates the need for a certain level of patience on both sides and teaches you to read emotional cues over verbal ones. It’s also a situation that was completely out of my personal comfort zone and now, if it happens in the future, I will be better equipped to handle it.

Cliff-side road on the way to Elafonisi beach. 

When I had to drop off my keys to the same man, in the same airport parking lot yesterday, I felt a little sad that I didn’t know how long it would be before I was driving through vineyards in Crete again. My driving skills (especially in reverse) had improved during the stress-fueled experience, and I was much more comfortable with the unspoken rules of the road by the time I left. Have any of you ever had an experience that scared you but made you a better person in some way when it was over? Also, how many of you are learning to drive or have recently gotten your licenses? Have any of you driven in a foreign country? I felt like I was sixteen again, relearning how to be a considerate, safe driver.

I’ll leave you with a couple more pictures from the trip and hopefully a desire to get out of your own comfort zone. It’s always scary and always rewarding!

Bye,

Megan

Overgrown gardens and crumbling buildings are all over Chania.

Elafonisi Beach.

Palm trees in the center of Chania.

 

 

Photo(s) of the Week

Hello from Chania, Crete! I’ve been having a great time roaming the island for the past couple days with my cousin, Alice. We’ve been spending most of our days wandering down cobble stone streets in search of new sandals, hanging out with the local cats, admiring old ruins, and eating all the olives and feta we possibly can. I have a few days left and my only plan is to attempt to get a tan before heading back to rainy Oslo. Are any of you (like me) blessed with ridiculously pale skin  and the tendency to turn into a tomato whenever the clouds burn off? I hope you’re all having a sunny week and I look forward to hearing from you.

αντίο,

Megan

The port in Chania.

There are cats all over the island and this one reminded me of my cat at my parent’s house.

I’ve eaten Greek salad every day since I’ve been here, but this one was by far the best.

How to be a Norwegian

 

Finding my inner viking.

To truly understand Norway and it’s people, we have to go back to the roots of Scandinavian tradition. In my first week of school last August, we were all encouraged to go to a lecture called “How to be a Norwegian”, which explained some of the do’s and don’ts of fitting into this culture. In this post, I’m going to give you my own personal list of what I’ve learned so far about “being Norwegian”. Some things come from what I’ve been taught and some things come from what I’ve observed. Enjoy!

 

If you want to read more about Janteloven, here’s the Wikipedia page.

1. You must understand Janteloven (the most important rule)

1. You’re not to think you are anything special.
2. You’re not to think you are as good as we are.
3. You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.
4. You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.
5. You’re not to think you know more than we do.
6. You’re not to think you are more important than we are.
7. You’re not to think you are good at anything.
8. You’re not to laugh at us.
9. You’re not to think anyone cares about you.
10. You’re not to think you can teach us anything.
    

Janteloven (or the Law of Jante) was formally written down by a Danish-Norwegian author in the early 1930’s but has been inscribed in the mindset of Scandinavian people for as long as anyone can remember. These concepts define how Norwegians live their lives, govern their country, and interact with each other. They are the core reason everyone here is so equal.

I’ve asked a few Norwegians if they think these concepts should continue to be taught to future generations and I’ve gotten many mixed answers. One doctor mentioned that the Norwegian medical students he works with have amazing bedside manner skills, but they don’t do quite as well with the scientific questions as the German exchange students working alongside them. He believes this difference is because of internalized need to be equal. Other Norwegians say that they will always be at the heart of Norwegian culture and without them Norwegian identity would fall apart. Do you think these concepts are outdated?

Lost in the woods of Flam.

2. You must not try to shop on Sunday!

As a foreigner, I have made this mistake more times than I can count. I wake up most Sunday mornings with a rumbling in my stomach, an empty fridge, and a burning desire for hash browns. It’s not until I’m halfway out the door that I remember all the good grocery stores (and all the other types of stores) are closed on Sundays.

3. You must view hiking and nature as a necessary past time

This doesn’t need much explanation but it does need to be reiterated! Norway would seem like the most boring place in the world if you visited and never took advantage of the trails criss-crossed all over the mountains. This is where you’ll find all the Norwegians on Sundays instead of doing their weekly shopping.

My favorite vafflehuset, an hour’s hike from my building.

4. You must like waffles

There is no point in doing a Sunday hike if it doesn’t end in heart shaped waffles smothered in jam (or brunost if you’re brave). If there isn’t a cafe selling waffles at the top of the hike, there will be one somewhere within a five-minute walking radius of the trail head.

5. You must embrace koselig during the cold winter days

‘Koselig’ basically translates to ‘cozy’ in English but it’s more of a feeling than a descriptive word. To be honest, I haven’t fully grasped how to make a situation koselig, but I’m working on it! I imagine a long day of skiing that ends with a cabin in the woods, hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, and lots of fleecy blankets from Ikea.

Cafe in Bergen fully embracing koselig.

To me, those are the five things I have tried hardest to embody on my journey to becoming an honorary Norwegian. Here are a few more I’m still working on:

Watching the fog evaporate along with any negative thoughts.

6.  You must join clubs or events where people share your interests if you want to befriend Norwegians

Don’t expect to strike up a conversation in a restaurant or on the T-bane!

7. You must have a secluded cabin in the woods (preferably in Sweden) or you must get close enough to a Norwegian to be invited to theirs

8. You must be willing to drink coffee at any hour of the day or night

9.  You must not complain about the cost of food or alcohol

10. You must be born in a pair of cross country skis

(Bonus) 11. You are not allowed to be stressed. Go for a hike, pick some blueberries, and email your teacher for a guaranteed extension on the paper you’ve been putting off. 

The one thing I’ll never accept is the huge amount of fish they eat!

There’s many other things but these are the ones that have really stood out to me. Do you think there are specific things a person needs to do to be an American? Do you think Americans would be comfortable doing all of the things on this list? I want to hear your thoughts on the differences between the two cultures.

Tomorrow I am off to Crete and I’m sure my Photo of the Week will be taken on a sandy, white beach. If you want me to study anything about Cretan culture and report back, please don’t hesitate to ask!

 

Ha det,

Megan

Photo(s) of the Week

These two photos show a cross country track I stumbled upon in a field yesterday. All the snow in this area has melted but it’s not stopping the Norwegians from making their own and extending the ski season as long as possible!