gnarway

Velkommen! I'm Taylor Sly and I'm currently studying abroad at HiOA in Oslo, Norway. I'm working on a semester long project (5 months) that will fulfill my senior design requirement at my home university, Michigan Tech.

[gnarway]

Reinungavatnet - the lake near Vatnahalsen

[gnarway]

Bergen as seen from Fløyen

[gnarway]

Rent Savings: The result of economics tied to Norway and Keystone XL

I bet you didn’t expect a blog post speculating about world economics.

With Obama’s recent denial of the notorious Keystone XL pipeline I couldn’t help but think about the role of oil in this world and how it might directly affect me. After some thought, I realized that I had saved $34.31 on rent between October and November for the same reason that Keystone XL was denied -oil prices. Let me explain...

Before coming to Norway I learned that it is a country naturally endowed with petroleum resources. Below is a visual representation of Norway’s gross exports in 2013.

To paraphrase Uncle Ben, “With great petroleum resources, comes lots-o-money… oh yeah, and environmental responsibility.” Petroleum abundance helps put Norway on the map as the second wealthiest country behind Luxembourg when looking at GDP per capita. Keep in mind, there are less people in Norway than in the state of Minnesota.

Norway: lots of oil, not a lot of people.

I always knew that Norway was an environmentally conscious country, but finding out their economy was based on oil was somewhat counter-intuitive. Typically, oil and the environment are arch nemeses, but in Norway, oil is the fuel for reducing environmental impact. Their strategy? Sell oil to the world, make money, and invest in an infrastructure not dependent on oil.

Norway produces about 97% of its electricity from hydro-electric. Therefore, it makes sense to promote the widespread use of vehicles based on this renewable resource. Their legislative programs, like Gronn Bil,  has beefed up the Electric Vehicle infrastructure. For EV’s, Norway has created charging stations, allowed them to drive in bus lanes on the highway, given them free parking in cities, and heavily subsidized the purchasing of the vehicles.

But Taylor, what about your rent?

We’re getting to that, but first we have to talk about the USA (a frat boy echo’s in the distance: “USA! USA! USA!”).

Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in the US started driving electric cars? Absolutely not. Well, not right now at least. Unlike Norway, the States produces the majority of its electricity from non-renewable energy sources. Fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, petroleum) comprise about 67% of the total electrical production. Coal is the king, comprising 39% of the total. As far as CO2 emissions go, burning coal is worse than gasoline. Therefore, if the US converts it’s gasoline based vehicles to those that run on dirty electricity, it may be worse off. The bottom line? The USA doesn’t have the renewable infrastructure to do what Norway does.

As you can see, I have a passion for this topic. I want to be one of the people working to solve this dilemma. For my sake, I believe computer engineering will be a necessary skill required for the solution.

RENT! What about the RENNNNT!?

Okay okay, so now that we know Norway’s economy is tied to oil just as the USA’s, we can connect the dots. The magic rent savings occurs when converting from The US Dollar (USD) to the Norwegian Kroner (NOK). I pay the same amount of NOK each month (4,787.00) but the conversion rate between USD and NOK fluctuates and is dependent on economic factors, like oil. Therefore when the price of oil is down, the USA doesn’t need to build transcontinental pipelines and Norway’s economy suffers.

You can see the correlation between the graphs below.

So, from October 2015 to November the NOK got weaker (relative to the USD), saving me $34.31 on rent after conversion. That’s like three Norwegian beers!

[gnarway]

Golden Hour

sunset (and moonset) over Oslo

[gnarway]

Trolltunga Friends (and some goats)

[gnarway]

Trolltunga Nature

[gnarway]

On A Rock

Hey! Yes I'm alive! No, I haven't been living under a rock. In fact, I've been standing on rocks. Many of the tourist destinations in Norway consist of hikes to unique rock formations. These rocks are usually perched on the side of a mountain with a perilous and fatal drop below. As a rock climber and outdoorsman myself, I have experience with environments that require a degree of safety awareness. This is not the case for many tourists who wish to recreate that awesome photo they saw on that nature blog that one time. Despite the displeasure of any parental units reading this, a student fell from Trolltunga a week before I did my own hike there with friends. This story is sad and unfortunate but only iterates the need to respect and be aware of safety in the mountains, even if they're frequented tourist destinations.

Okay, PSA over. So what is Trolltunga? Why is it such a popular destination? This photo may answer the question better than 1,000 words, but pales in comparison to being there in person.

That photo is the result and destination of a fairly intense hike. It takes about five hours to hike from the trailhead to Troll's Tongue (Trolltunga). You can really only afford about an hour to take photos on the rock as it's another five hours back down. So in total, it's about a 12 hour hike. For me, the actual Trolltunga perch was not the best part, but rather the journey to it.

Driving 350km (217mi) from Oslo in a c̶r̶a̶m̶p̶e̶d̶  cozy rental car with four adventurous European friends is an experience everyone should aspire toward. Any sound roadtrip includes a solid musical playlist. Our tunes consisted primarily of The Black Keys, although, Bertrand (French) is a big Queen fan. In order to please him, and since he had the power of the chauffeur, we jammed out to Queen's greatest hits while rounding many mountain hairpins.

We stopped at a beautiful DNT cabin,Haukeliseter fjellstue, along the way. A good leg stretch, coffee, and a mountain view are good for road-trip morale:

Since we had a late night departure from Oslo, after a few hours, everyone was sleepy. We decided to make use of allemannsrett. a right granted in Norway to roam and camp on uncultivated land and at distance from buildings. While setting up camp under an impressive display of the Milky Way, Tim (Belgian) realized he had forgot his tent poles. And just like that, the trip turned into an adventure. We resolved to have three people sleep in the rental car while the two others shared my tent, bearing in mind that we still had two more nights of camping ahead of us. Rental car campsite below:

The next morning, the crew enjoyed some French press coffee prepared over the camping stove (Bertrand doesn't know why it's called a French press since it's an Italian invention. Possibly similar to the fact that French fries are actually Belgian, condolences to Tim). Coffee happens to be the only substance known to man that is capable of keeping Meike (Germany) tranquil in the mornings. We continued to Odda, the nearest town to the Trolltunga hike, where we toured the city by foot and grocery shopped for the impending hike. Julia (Netherlands) has gluten sensitivity, so our meals were based on rice noodles and gluten-free pasta.

That night we camped at the Trolltunga trailhead. We made a small campfire, cooked, and sang songs. Our friendly Norwegians neighbours even began singing the Pokemon theme song so we chimed in. They then came over and we got to meet them. They were students from Bergen who were leading a Trolltunga trip for the DNT, comparable to scouts in The States. They advised us to start early and to be prepared for mud.

Two slept in the tent and the other two in the car. It was slightly rainy, but I was able to pitch my hammock under this building:

I woke up before sunrise and awakened the others by warning them that buses full of Korean tourists were on their way to beat us to the hike. So with coffee in our bloodstreams and a gleam in our eyes we began the hike.

See next post for more photo’s!

[gnarway]

Nugatti and Frydenlund

I’m not entirely sure what to blog about this time around. I’ve got a small list of topics but I want to record some history of my experiences while the details are sharp. Normally I've been writing in the morning with some coffee when my mind is calm, taking my time before starting the day. I’m writing this post at 10pm with some warm Nugatti milk. Nugatti is the Norwegian version of Nutella and is slightly less expensive than it’s Italian counterpart. I tried it side-by-side with Nutella in a German “pancake” and did not notice in difference in flavor, only that Nutella is a little bit smoother in texture than Nugatti.

At Rema1000, Nutella is 99NOK/Kg and Nugatti is 59NOK/kg:

Oh yeah, the German “pancake” thing. I’ve enjoyed “pancakes” prepared by my Dutch friends and another time by my German friends. Both are much thinner than your typical American flapjack, closer to a French crepe. Although, when I tried to make the point that the German pancakes resembled crepes, I was quickly corrected and told that crepes were thinner. But enough about food, that’s for another post. As mentioned in a previous post, I was in a Fadder group consisting of about 30 international students. My Fadder group took part in two weeks of activities to get to know people and the Oslo area. Actually, my Fadder group has essentially persisted even after the orientation period since we’ve all bonded well -the whole purpose I imagine. Our local Norwegian leaders (also students) even commented that our group was the best group which is more than flattery since they've lead other Fadder groups in the past.

I think it comes down to how much everyone is putting into the events. It does take a lot of energy to be social, especially when your in a new place and trying to communicate across cultural and lingual boundaries. Despite the challenge, it really feels like the group has put in a lot of effort to be positive and cohesive, which has definitely been rewarding for everyone. But as I discovered, it's important to take a break else risk becoming burnt out and even ill (it seems everyone had cold symptoms to some degree).

On Monday August 10th of week 1, we had an introduction meeting on the HiOA campus with all of the international students. The meeting outlined details that everyone had been hungry for as there was little information available beforehand. I'm still figuring out if this is a Norwegian cultural thing, that is, being given information only when it is prudent meanwhile going off of faith that info will be provided in due time. If it is indeed a Norwegian norm, then they have more faith and patience than typical Americans.

After the meeting, we were divided into our Fadder groups where introductions began and questions started rolling. “What country are you from?” and “What are you studying?” were most common. Lighthearted jokes were told about the American who was taking part in the European Project Semester: “Don't you know America's not part of Europe?”. I took on a small novel roll as the non-European and native English speaker, someone who could be inquired for English vocabulary.

Later that evening, we reconvened at the HiOA campus and walked to the Oslo waterfront. Once there, we boarded a boat with many tables and began an evening cruise around the Oslo fjord. While weaving in and out of the local islands I got to know some more people within my Fadder group as well as other international students not in the EPS program. Beer was sold on the boat, but was expensive, even by Norwegian standards. Luckily we were informed about Samfunnet Bislet, the student bar on the HiOA campus that sells pints of beer for 40NOK. 

I’m on a boat!

So after the boat ride, we continued the night at the student bar located in the basement of HiOA. There I learned that the campus was not always a university, but rather an old brewery of the Frydenlund beer company. Nowadays, Frydenlund beer is brewed elsewhere, but brick buildings that compose the campus still have that brewery feel, especially while enjoying a cold one under the vaulted ceiling of the student bar. Oh yeah, the 40NOK beer on tap at Samfunnet Bislet is Frydenlund, appropriate to say the least.

An old sign in the student bar advertising “That good ole Frydenlunds”

[gnarway]

I filmed some of the recent activities including a boat ride in Oslo Fjord, IU-Games at the park, and a weekend wakeboard trip to Norsjø Ferieland.

[gnarway]

Fadder Group

I haven’t posted in a while because I’ve been soooo busy with the orientation weeks and doing fun stuff. Here's the wrap up.

I was looking forward to the international student introduction meeting on the Monday after my arrival (Aug 10th). There was very limited information about what activities were planned upon arrival and everyone was running purely on faith. Fortunately, faith panned out and we were divided into “Fadder groups” after receiving more concrete logistical information and a free lunch (a big deal in Norway where everything is expensive). I was anxious to meet new people because, for two days, I didn't know anybody in all of Scandinavia!

Fadder means “buddy” in Norwegian, although the literal translation is “godfather” or “mentor”. Similar to universities in The States, my Norwegian university, HiOA (hee-ohh-wahh) has a two week orientation for it’s international students. Since there are so many international students from all over the world attending (~200?), they split us into “Fadder groups” based on our faculty. A faculty consists of the type of studies one pursues, similar to departments/colleges in most universities in The States. HiOA has four faculties: health sciences, education and international studies, social sciences, and the Faculty of Technology, Art and Design. As an engineer doing EPS, I'm in that last one, which in Norwegian is “Fakultet for teknologi, kunst og design (TKD)”.

Here’s a photo of all the HiOA International Students after the boat ride around the islands of the Oslo Fjord. I’m in there somewhere :

I'm a visual learner so here's a pretty diagram I whipped up to help understand the organization of the program I’m in.

As you can see, all 27 of the EPS students are in the same Fadder group. Our Fadders, local HiOA students from the TKD faculty, lead the group during the orientation. Our fearless Norwegian Fadders are Torstein, Andreas, Claes, Magne, and Håvard. First impressions were that they really cool guys with lots of activities planned to really bond the Fadder group and show us the ropes of Norway in the coming weeks. I quickly found out most of them love longboarding/surfing/snowboarding which is usually an instant bonding point, for me at least.

Our Fadder group is composed of students from seven countries which are primarily European (the “E” in EPS). Holland, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Ethiopia, and USA are all represented in this eclectic group, the majority from Holland (9) and Germany (7). While applying for EPS, everybody had to prioritize their top three projects they wished to work on from a list of eight projects. The EPS organizer had the final say in who was on what project, but It wasn't until the second week of orientation that we were informed what semester long project we would be working on. This added a mystery dynamic during the first week of orientation as people could only speculate about who they'd be working with based on their priorities and field of studies.

Here’s the flags of the countries represented in the EPS program (including Norway, the host country). Can you identify them all?

See next post to read about Fadder group week one activities!

[gnarway]

Pirate Party [Wed August 19th]

One of the many activity/parties hosted for the new students at HiOA. I was too sick to attend the actual party where all of the dressed up students take a choo-choo train to the harbor and then board an old boat for a pirate cruise on the sea. I did feel well enough attend the pre-party at one of my “Fadder’s” (buddy group leader) appartment. We sang pirate songs and got everyone dressed up.

[gnarway]

Why Norway?

Why not?

But really, there’s a lot to offer here, even under the pretext of a study abroad program. I’m studying at Oslo and Akershus University College, but that’s the English name. The Norwegian name is Høgskolen i Oslo og Akershus, HiOA for short. The Oslo locals and students most commonly refer to it as HiOA, pronounced “hee-ohh-wahh”.

Back at my home university of Michigan Tech (MTU), all engineers are required to fulfill a senior design project requirement in order to graduate. There are a few ways to complete this, most commonly is the Enterprise program which consists of enterprises based out of various departments. It takes four semesters (2 years) of enterprise work, taken concurrently with normal lectures, to fulfill the senior design requirement. I have completed four semesters of enterprise, although one was an intro course that didn't count toward fulfilling senior design requirement. In that time, I've helped build a hexacopter drone with wireless video transmission system, sensor snowboard that measures strain while riding down the slopes, and helped friends make their own downhill ski's. While working through the enterprise program, I've learned how to apply my course based knowledge to exciting practical problems while gaining project management skills. Even though I was only one semester away from fulfilling my senior design requirement through enterprise, I felt my education was lacking one key component- time abroad!

Enter European Project Semester (EPS)! This semester long program is offered at 16 universities and in 12 different countries throughout Europe. A student at Michigan Tech is able to use EPS credit to fulfill their senior design requirement, all you have to do is go abroad to Europe for one semester! I think I first heard about EPS late in my freshman year and the idea of sneaking in a study abroad experience into my education had been sitting in the back of my mind ever since. It's generally more difficult for American engineering students to study abroad as any technical coursework must be offered in English. Fortunately EPS is offered in English and is not lecture based but rather project based work.

What happens is that you pick your desired destination university and when accepted get assigned a project that you will work on with other students around the world (mostly Europe though). The program is more competitive within Europe than in The States. Since there is only one other university in the US besides MTU that offers the EPS program, so they generally accept Americans who are willing to make the voyage.

That is the academic motivation behind my study abroad, but this surely is the minority for the numerous reason why I chose Oslo. Actually, that's completely inaccurate from my initial thinking. In the beginning, I wanted to go to francophone Switzerland (maybe Geneva) since I already speak a little french and the idea of studying within the Swiss mountain landscape was inviting. Unfortunately EPS is not offered in Switzerland so I had to find another option. I thought to myself, “what's similar to Swiss alps?” and after an hour of Google image searching I determined that fjords were pretty close. So, under the enchantment of fjordic dreams I applied for the Oslo, Norway EPS program at HiOA.

I had done very little research about the location and honestly didn't care to so as to leave surprise and the opportunity for discovery upon my arrive. I didn't want to build up preconceptions that would hinder my experiences as I believe you can learn much from being spontaneous and learning from things you don't expect. What was most important was my mentality, the resolution to remain open minded and put passion into life in Norway – carpe diem per say.

Even so, I learned a few things before purchasing the plane ticket that were interesting. Firstly, vikings helmets didn't have horns. I'd always known that Minnesota had strong Norwegian heritage, but after reading a bit about Norway, that became more apparent and carried more weight. I sense the Norwegian roots of strange cultural mannerisms that us Minnesotan's have. This will merit a future blog post in and of itself.

Since Norway has such beautiful landscapes it is culturally ingrained to have a great respect for nature, something I value myself which may stem from a similar culture in Minnesota. This is another reason why I picked Norway. What's ironic is that Norway is endowed with petroleum. They are the 9th largest exporter of oil, more of than Canada who is ranked 10th in the world. But, they use the money from their oil industry and re-invest it in clean energy and infrastructure for the country. My favorite analogy is the one in which Norway is a drug dealer that uses the profits of it's trade for rehabilitating itself. Because of all this, Norway is one of the wealthiest countries, with Oslo as it's booming capital. Oslo itself is a relatively new hotbed for entrepreneurship and design which appealed to my engineering instincts.

So there you have it. I'm in Oslo Norway because of the landscape and all the activities that has to offer: snowboarding, hiking, camping, climbing, and sailing. Acedemically I must be here in order to fulfill my design requirement. I share the Norwegian culture cultural values which respect the environment and Oslo is a thriving city, perfect for a young engineer.

Here’s P35, the building that I’ll be doing most of my project work in:

[gnarway]

So I’ve been to a few parties and listened to some European party music as well as Norway specific party music.

This is a Norwegian song... well sort of. It is at least sung by a Norwegian but the lyrics are all random Spanish words. In fact, Anders Nilson can’t speak conversational Spanish. It seems it was one of the defining songs for Summer 2014 but can still be heard now at Norwegian party scenes in 2015. Chorus: “Salsa, tequila, corazón cerveza, muy bueno.”

[gnarway]

Oslo Norway [2]

[gnarway]

Oslo Norway [1]

[gnarway]

JetLag [8-8-15]

My internal clock is confused. Normally I'm able to query my brain for an approximate time of day and be fairly close, within an hour, sometimes a minute. Not now. Between the long daylight and seven hour time difference I have little perception of time. Hopefully I can get on the Norwegian track soon, but unfortunately I'm still set on Minnesota time.

My last post talked about waking up at 5am on Thursday morning and feeling wide awake. I left off at going grocery shopping at around 7am, but the day consisted of much more activity, which may have been a mistake.

I got home and enjoyed what I believe to be a Norwegian staple food, open faced sandwich with cheese and meat. I've been eating this almost every meal (going back to Rema today for some green veggies to balance out my diet). You can even take it on the road by using this cracker-like bread called knekkebrød (flatbread).  It is reminiscent of Lembas bread from Lord of the Rings. At first I thought the bread was called Frukost, because that's the largest text on the package, but I just translated Frukost and it means "breakfast". Apparently blindly purchased the breakfast version of knekkebrød. I'll have to try the other varieties.

I packed some knekkebrød with cheese, ham, and tomato (ost, skinke, tomat) for an exploratory adventure of Oslo. I meandered through the roads, aiming for the waterfront. It's fairly easy to navigate because of the topography of Oslo fjord. Downhill is toward the waterfront and uphill is toward the forest. Oslo S (central station) is near the waterfront and if you make it there, you can navigate home easy enough.

I walked through Oslo S again and could appreciate it more now that I wasn't a total greenhorn. I purchased some postcards that I intend to send back to The States. I walked down to the waterfront which is still under construction as part of a huge renovation in Oslo. The Oslo Opera House is a big tourist attraction as it's unique architecture allows you to roam the roof and look out over the water. I went back to Oslo S and took the T-Bane and Bus back to my apartment for a while.

After relaxing and reading for a bit, Agit got home from work and we decided to go walk around downtown again. We walked and talked about America. It's funny how foreigners' understanding of America comes primarily from movies and television which are hardly an accurate representation of reality. We talked about the difference in gun laws, Norway doesn't allow them.

We walked along Karl Johans gate, a very popular street with a lot going on. It terminates at the front of the Norwegian Royal Palace. Norway still has a king, but as Agit explained to me, it's a figurehead position that doesn't hold any political power. Continuing back to the waterfront, we could see Akker Brigge (brigge means "bridge" in Norske), an apartment complex right on the waterfront which is very nice but expensive to say the least. We returned back to St. Hanshaugen and rested our weary feet.

I began researching hikes in the forest area for the next day not realizing that jet lag and the extended activities of the day were going to hit me like a truck. I felt fine as I went to sleep around 9:30pm... only to wake up at 2:30pm the next day, 16 hours sleep. That was a wake-up call (no pun intended)! I spent the day taking it easy and decided I should at least do something. So after reading and some coffee I planned a trip to Ikea to outfit my bed properly. I'd been sleeping with my travel pillow and sleeping bag and although I don't really mind using them, I thought a duvet would be more homely .

I took the bus to Ikea, but it took longer than expected because a truck had flipped on the highway. Luckily, I'd been to an Ikea once before so I kind of knew the layout, otherwise it would've been much more difficult as all the signs were in Norwegian. I found the bed display section, but didn't see any duvets or sheets. I was able to use some Norwegian and explain to an Ikea employee, "Jeg snakker ikke Norske." He seemed amused and told me in perfect English that "you'll find sheets and duvets downstairs." Well, I found everything I needed downstairs and picked up a few more Norwegian words while learning all about bedding. It seems as though Norwegians only use duvet's and don't really layer their beds like we tend to do in America. This is great because I'm a practical person when it comes to beds and I think I've been keeping a Norwegian bed my whole life.

I took the bus back to my apartment, but  got confused and accidentally got on the bus back to Ikea at one point but which only cost me 20 minutes. I laid out my new bed and enjoyed it while reading some more. Oh yeah, I'm reading George Orwell's 1984 and it's proving to be a goody. I tried going to sleep at around 10:00pm, but was fairly restless all night and didn't manage to sleep until around 5:00am. I slept in until 1:30pm today (Saturday August 8th) which is a one hour improvement from yesterday. I'm going to attempt to tire myself out enough so that when 10:00pm comes around I can actually fall asleep and hopefully wake up during the Norwegian morning.

I'm off to Rema for some more groceries (dagligvarer). I'll roam around Oslo again and take some more pictures. Orientation on Monday the 10th should be fun as I'll get to meet some more peers.

Farvel for nå!

[gnarway]

Transit [8-6-15]

So much can happen in such a small amount of time. It's Wednesday August 6th and I'm in my apartment in Oslo Norway. This is the first time I've sat still in what seems like a long time, but in reality, it's only been a week.

Last Wednesday, July 30th, I was in Madison Wisconsin where I had been working the last two months at Extreme Engineering Solutions. The goal was to save as much money from that job in order to fund this trip to Oslo, as well as gain some more computer engineering experience in the process. I'd say it was a success. Anyway, I had a last night with friends: Madi, Alaina, and Kelsey, in Madison on Wednesday. We started by going to Concert On the Square and ended in the wee hours of the morning at Ian's Pizza -classic. I went to work on Thursday, a little tired from the night before, but excited to finish up my project I had been working on for about a month. I packed everything from my tiny apartment and into my car that evening. This was the eighth move in about a year so I'm getting really good at it. They say "three moves are as good as a house fire" as far as cutting down on worldly possessions; I am a believer. On Friday I worked my last day then met my subleasee to hand over the keys. I bid a matter-of-fact farewell to my zero star apartment and was on the road to Minnesota, home.

I arrived to have a lovely diner with my parents, although I had forgotten my ID and thus couldn't enjoy a beer even with their presence, contrary to Wisconsin law. My mother and I planned to make use of the next day, Saturday, to run errands to outfit myself for the trip to Oslo. The idea was to buy all the basics in the US instead of paying more for it in Norway -shopping spree. Saturday morning, before starting the errands, I had a lazy morning with my parents as we drank coffee and ate breakfast on the patio. Working and being in college, I don't get to have time like this with them very often so it was much appreciative. I'm thankful that they've always got good advice and wisdom when I bounce ideas off of them, they're very supportive. We decided to go for a bike ride on the new Brown's Creek trail in Stillwater. On the way, my mother and I stopped at Wells Fargo to pick up the Norwegian Kroner I ordered and to open a travel bank account. After the bike ride, despite having a multitude of things yet to do, we stopped at the Maple Island Brewery and leisured. At the bottom of a beer and after appreciating the river front and antique Stillwater bridge one last time, the day began.

I stopped at Valley Books in Stillwater to pick up 1984 by George Orwell (I have been meaning to read it for a while now). I also found an informational book about Norway as well as a Nordic language book which will come in handy. My mother and I then went to The House Boardshop in order to get a winter jacket and snowpants. I'll be here in Oslo until December, mind you, and I'm still using snowpants from the 7th grade. We also stopped at National Camera Exchange for a polarizing filter for my camera, which should be good for cutting down glare with the water in the fjords. A stop at the dangerous REI yielded stuff sacks and a coffee press. My current 3-person tent is too large to take abroad so I thought I would get a bivy, but the REI salesman convinced me otherwise. There was a lightweight/compact 2-person tent, the REI Dash 2, on discount because it was a floor model. More spacious for a few trips out in the fjords! I got the Dash 2, but we had to stop at REI Roseville to get the footprint and some European outlet converters. We stopped at Kawalski's on the way home for groceries.

I planned to have a shindig Sunday night and invited all my Minnesotan friends over to hang out one last time, for now at least. I purchased skillet pizza ingredients because that's what I'd been preparing on my hotplate in Madison and they're delicious. I love making good food with good friends, for those two together make for a good time. I started the dough rising for the next nights revelries.

Sunday I slept in, exhausted from the activities thus far. I had ordered a replacement lens module for my old point and shoot camera and wanted to give a try at fixing it. The old lens was very scratch from many adventures in the UP. It took three hours of tedious dismantling and reassembly of the camera and to my surprise it worked! Although, the flash, which I never used anyway, doesn't work, and I definitely got a startling shock from the capacitor as I was putting it all back together. I also prepared my new laptop for the trip as well, installing the new SSD and dual booting with Windows 7 and Ubuntu - gotta stay nerdy. Walker stopped by as he wasn't able to make the party later. It was good to hear he's doing well and enjoying outdoor education. He gets to go to the Boundary Waters on Monday.

That night, I started whipping up pizza's just as my friends started to arrive. Pizza making took up the night as we all enjoyed homebrewed beer my father had made. Adam was the hilarious and helpful sous-chef who eventually became chef and soon dictator-chef, but one garlic related mistake demoted him back to sous-chef. Emily made the gluten free option and DJ'd. Others attending were Tony and his girlfriend Amanda, Devan and her boyfriend Justin and Kristi the Sophomore. I'm so glad to have shared a final evening in the states with these great friends.

Sleeping in on Monday led to a late start to packing. I laid everything out and hoped that I wasn't forgetting anything. Sox decided to join the clothing and seemed to not want me to go, or at least, take him with me. Afterall, I can't forget my Sox. I checked into my flight and paid to check a second bag. Overall I'd be bringing four bags. My school backpack and "adventure" pack would be my carry on and personal item. My 60L Osprey backpack and a large duffel bag would be the other two. Everything came together around Midnight when I attempted, with success, to carry everything across the driveway. I then cashed out for the night in order to wake up in a few hours for a 6:30am departure.

At 4:30am on Tuesday August 4th my mom walks into my room and says "If you don't get up now, you'll miss your flight." That does the trick, and I wearily get out of bed and into the shower. I meet my father upstairs who is looking equally as tired, yet also prepared to send me off. We drive to the airport while I fall asleep in the back; I'm not a morning person. I get my boarding pass with my mothers help. As much as I want deny her help in order to maintain some sort of independent dignity, it's too early to fight her loving aid. I enter security and wave goodbye to my loving parents. The voyage has begun!

I hardly remember the flight from MSP to EWR, I must've slept the entire way. I had a nine hour layover in Newark, 10 hours after the departure to Oslo was delayed, where I enjoyed the NYC skyline and an overpriced smoothie. Luckily I had internet via a USB tethering App and was able to further prepare myself for what I had to do once getting to Oslo. I downloaded screenshots of maps and public transit information to my phone since I wouldn't have access to the internet once I was there.

The flight from EWR to OSL was nice. Takeoff included a night-time aerial view of NYC, a city which I've never explored. It turns out that the entertainment on Boeing 757's run Linux, something the computer engineering side of me couldn't help but notice. I slept most of the flight but woke up for dinner and to view a vibrant moon in a clear sky with thunderstorms and lightning below, quite a sight!

Upon arrival to OSL I  got my passport stamped and made my way to the baggage claim. By the way, the Oslo airport is beautifully designed and makes a good first impression, much as I expect the rest of Oslo's architecture to be. I picked up my baggage and purchased two bottles of wine from duty free. I know it will be cheaper here and it seemed like everyone was frantically taking advantage of the opportunity, so why not do as the locals do. I got to use my first Norwegian at the checkout, "takk", meaning thank you. Sticking to my plan I'd formulated during my layover, I purchased a Flytoget express train ticket from OSL airport to Oslo S (central station) for 90 NOK, the student rate. I used a machine to do the transaction but it only accepted cards. Only after turning the corner did I see the kiosk that took cash and hoped that the transaction fee's weren't too much. The express train runs every 20 minutes and is very clean and futuristic, remeniscent of the TGV in France.   Arriving at Oslo S, I purchased a 30-day student transport pass for Zone 1, which covers the majority of Oslo area. I learned from my previous experience and instead of using a machine, found a convenience store that sold them for cash, 410 NOK, student rate. With the pass, I took the T-Bane (subway) to the SiO office to pick up my apartment key.

Finding the SiO office was the first challenging experience I've had on the journey. My luggage was heavier than I remember and my duffel bag was sagging so that it was dragging instead of riding on the wheels. I kept checking to make sure that I wasn't boring a hole, which would've been a really bad time. I still wasn't sure exactly where to go as I checked my screenshot map on my phone. I figured the office was up the decent size hill that had me sweating by the time I got to the top. I realized that I was on the campus of the University of Oslo, one of the other Universities in Oslo besides HiOA (where I'll study). I saw the big red SiO symbol and a sign reading "Hei student!", what a relieving phrase! The office was busy and I took a ticket similar to a DMV in the States. Unlike a DMV though, the wait was pleasant as the interior was of good design, an apparent theme I think with the Norwegians. There was a bowl of apples which I assumed were fake, since bowls of fruit are usually plastic in the US, but then I saw people around me eating them! What relief, I was getting hungry after fighting my luggage. It's funny how a free apple at the right occasion can make a country so appealing, Norway is awesome! I got my key and directions to my apartment. I wandered around around and eventually found the tram stop that would take me to the bus stop that would take me to my apartment. I think I've used every type of public transport Oslo has to offer.

I arrived at my apartment building, St. Hanshaugen Studen Village and found my room on the third floor. I didn't get much information ahead of time about the place and I was greeted by Agit, a Norwegian originally from Turkey, who'll be my roommate for the semester. We each have our own rooms and share a kitchen/dining room and bathroom. The nicest apartment arrangement I've ever stayed in to say the least. There is a big window in my room, tall ceilings, sleek furniture and the bathroom has heated floors! I talk a little with Agit as I unpack my stuff and learn that he's studying mechanical engineering, a fellow engineer! I also find out that the apartment building is one that is more difficult to get into, which makes sense because it is pretty nice.

I got unpacked and intended to take an infamous power nap, but quickly fell into a jet lag induced coma, skipping dinner, although I didn't have any food at the moment anyway. I woke up at 1am and decided it would be best to try and sleep until morning when I'd go grocery shopping and explore the area. I woke up at dawn, which is about 5:30am this time of year in Oslo and showered. Agit was on his way to work and informed me how to hook up the internet and told me where the super market was. I got to the super market before they opened so I took a walk around and came across Akerselva, the river that flows through Oslo. There's a nice park that runs along the river and I found another student village, Sofienberg studenthus. I returned to the supermarket, Rema 1000 and purchased breakfast and lunch food. The seafood section looked great and I might have to go back to prepare for diner.

Oh yeah! I know what project I'll be working on while I'm here studying. I'll be doing software development for the Justervesenet , the Norwegian Metrology service. They measure and control volume and flow of high capacity applications, mostly petroleum, in order to verify transactions. It should be an insetting project and I'm looking forward to the great experience. That's it for now! Man, that was a lot in the last week. Hopefully I can pack that much into the next one. Now I'm going to wander down to the waterfront and take some photos. Tomorrow I'll probably take a bus up into the forest for a hike.