N O R W A S I A N

Oslo, let's go! Notes about my study abroad in Norway.

[osloletsgo]

Eons

Søndag 12 Juni 2016 | 21:31 | Oslo, Norway

My memory is freaking hazey as the days go by, so the first few days probably won’t have as much (interesting) information. I’m trying to piece together the past through the photos I’ve already taken.

Tirsdag

There’s not too much I can really say about Tuesday. We went to the Nationalmuseet to determine what kinds of themes we wanted our specific app to contain and then went back to the research park to hash these ideas out. The real highlight was going to the central station and watching everybody get some breakfast.

Funny story, as I was sitting here writing wondering why Tuesday seemed so fucking dry, I realized that Tuesday was the day we went TO THE BLOODY OPERA HOUSE TO SEE A SWAN LAKE. I’m such an idiot.

Alright, so early in the AM we arrived at the Opera House to purchase tickets at 09:45. There was a whole troupe of little Norwegian kids playing on the sloped glass near the entrance, as well as an older woman who seemed hellbent on maintaining her position in the “line.” The doors opened and she bolt-waddled to get a ticket, but you have to pull like a number like you would at a deli in order to be called forward to buy a ticket. There were six of us, but they only had 5 tickets, so Kiernan opted out since he was last in line (which totally sucked). Fortunately, she realized the error and had an extra one for cheaper. We paid roughly 40 US dollars, but that was half-off due to our student discount. 

FAST FORWARD TO 18:15.

We’re all waiting in swaggy clothes at the Blindern T-Bane stop. The sign is saying something different, so Queen B-Word looks it up and it basically translates to “the fucking trains we need to get on are totally not running right now.” Excellent. We high-tail it to Vinderen, another stop 10 minutes down the road and cheat the system. We arrive at Jernbanetorget at 19:26 and exit at the wrong area. We’re running across traffic in suits and dresses, bloody 007 style. We get there, more than late and some guy asks for our tickets. He reports to his superior and tells us that (obviously) they cannot let us in to our current seats while the show occurs. The solution to this problem is to divide us into two groups of three and go into separate boxes across each other. Kiernan, Kari, and I pile into the right side of the theater while Quen, Erik, and Hannah do the same on the other side. We’re stupid close an high above the stage; I can see the entire pit orchestra, but mostly the tops of their heads. I didn’t really have a clue what the hell was going on in terms of the performance. There were a bunch of people dressed in pink hopping around the stage and entering and exiting doors. Then the flamboyant male lead was somehow coming up with the idea of Swan Lake? And some lady with zooming googles shot down a swan. Then intermission occurred and we squadded up. There was a bizarre performance by the “opera singer” and the hunters. Then we went back in for the second half. I found my seat no problem but I think my peers had some issues. The orchestra started playing as the words “ACT II” appeared on the screen, followed by “129 years later.” The second part doesn’t really make sense to me. Anyways, there was a projection on the curtain of water slowly filling the space for about 8 minutes. The curtain then rose and there were about 20 figures on the stage wearing edited neoprene wetsuits.

Alright guys, this was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. I don’t want to be cheesy, but it occurred to me how powerful the use of light and water can be. It was just a reflection, BUT IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. Some weird combination of power and tranquility, amplified by the perfect execution of the dancers in conjunction with the percussive music...it was bone-chilling. I have so many ideas in my head because of this one performance, and I really want to get into learning about light, properly. The rest of the performance continued and was equally spectacular, but the intro was legendary. 

Onsdag

D-Day for Quen-dad. 

Happy birthday to the babyboi, but it’s go-time. We met briefly at the research park, but left super early to go up to Frognerseteren to eat a traditional Norwegian meal as a class. The train ride was insanely beautiful, providing another angle of the fjord I hadn’t yet seen. As we got off, we hiked down a sizable hill to get there. We arrived, and some chef looking guy gave us the lo-down on the menu: pickled herring, shredded reindeer, and strawberries.

Herring is shite. Pickled or not, I don’t recommend it. I consumed it because I was hungry, but everything on the first plate was bizarre; sorry Andrew Zimmern. The shredded, salted reindeer in the sour cream sauce was badass, don’t listen to my peers. It was basically beef stroganoff. Dessert came, and it was a plate with a cone-like bowl filled with some delicious whipped-cream substance with strawberries in a sauce on the side. Also badass. After this, we travelled six stops back down the mountain? to Holmenkollen which is a big olympic ski jump. To get to the museum, we took the dumb way and climbed all of the steps. Once inside, we toured the fairly small and fairly lackluster museum, but hey, they had a stuffed moose. I also stayed in ball pit for wayyyyy too long considering my age. Whatever. We exited and then tested the ski simulator; also badass. In retrospect, that was probably a bad idea since we recently ate pickled herring. After this we returned to Forskningsparken and went our separate ways.

The goal at this point was to eliminate Quen as a living person via alcohol. Fortunately for him, nothing really happened until 20:00. We all just sat about for hours and I edited a mountain of photographs. Some guys were playing the Norwegian version of cornhole, so I tried that out and won my first game. Afterwards, Erik and I abandoned our pals and rode to Majorstuen for a pizza. It was easy to find, and the Italian guy inside didn’t seem to like me. Oh well. We snagged the pie and headed back and ate in Erik’s room, but some slices were apprehended by Quen and Kiernan (you bastards). Next up: Billa Bar. I drank two rum and cokes and felt fun, Quen still nowhere to be found. So we find him, bring him down, have a party. Queen B-Word is MIA, so The Rat King, Daddy Dramamine, and myself ascend the West Wing to summon her corpse. On the verge of sleep, we dogpile onto her and return to the Billa, where Quen returns in the Spoilt shirt. To describe this, imagine a leopard print long sleeve shirt with the OBEY logo plastered onto the chest, but instead of the word Obey it says “Spoilt.” His birthday is announced, and everybody started singing in Norwegian and he was dancing in the center like a little monkey; it was great. I had a couple mind erasers and a Hansa (this is a beer) and eventually decided to call it a night, went home, and promptly passed the fuck out at roughly 3:45. The sun was up, FYI.

Torsdag

Thursday plain blew. It was a full workday, and again, that blew. My mind could not focus whatsoever. The day ended, so I went back to my room and laid down for literally a couple of hours. Nothing really happened, so I edited pictures and my bois watched some Peaky Blinders yeahhhhh.

Fredag

Friday was a short day, danke Gott. We got done with school, ate some dinner, and traveled to Vinderen to the Vinmonopolet. I purchased pinot grigio in an effort to try new things. We came back, chilled, started the night and played some Spaceteam while singing to great things like Led Zeppelin and System of a Down. Again, chill night.

Lørdag

I woke up late and missed breakfast. Typisch. Nobody knew what was going on today, so we all asked around via Snapchat as is the norm. Erik was stuck going to the museum for survey things, Quen was trying to finish storyboarding a short film, the majority of seniors had lifted off to Stockholm, Kiernan, Kari, and Jess headed to the comic expo, so Tea Leaves and I ventured forth to the Viking museum. We got off at Jernbanetorget and promptly hopped on a bus going the wrong way. Shite. As we waited at the next stop for a bus in the correct direction, she bought me an apology breakfast pølser; thanks, Queen B-Word. We took this bus until the right stop directly in front of museum. We walked to the counter and the guys gave us free tickets since the museum was operated by the University of Oslo, curiously the one we’re working with. The museum itself was kinda meh; there were three jet black hulls of viking ships which were badass, but that was about it. There were no extra rooms or anything. We walked back outside, and with nothing else to do we traveled in search of more museums; there were signs leading to them, and the one that caught our eye was “Kon Tiki.”

On the way there was trail down to the water where we found some nice boats. The houses along this path were all so fancy and guarded. We finally reached the museums and entered the Kon Tiki, still having no idea what the hell is going on. TURNS OUT IT WAS A RAFT that some daft Norwegian dude built in 1947 and sailed 4,300 miles across the pacific ocean in an attempt to recreate some sort of ancient path islanders took when they first arrived, no big deal. Weirder and weirder shit apparently kept happening, like the guy had hydrophobia, couldn’t swim, speared a whale shark in the head, a random fish nobody had ever seen before hopped into a guy’s sleeping bag, and then they turned all of it into a documentary that one Norway’s first Oscar. There’s a hell of a lot more, so go there and read it, it was stupid interesting. 

After this we went to the Fram museum which was also a boat, but this one went to Antarctica and broke through ice. You could go inside of it which was badass, but that was about it. I also attempted to test my mettle by moving 300 kg of stuff on a sled, and I failed miserably. I blame my lack of traction. After this we ate sandwiches of salmon and egg salad on a baguette and attempted to get on the right bus; again, failed. We got off and waited for the right one, and turns out it was literally the same one we just got off. It finished its loop and came back around. There were some ticket police on the bus and were enforcing that shit like no tomorrow. If you don’t have a ticket, you either get fined or get kicked off or both. We got back safely, yay. Later in the evening there was Norwegian movie night as hosted by Karl-Martin. We watched Trollhunter and The Wave, both of which were great, but the Wave was something else; I severely recommend watching it.

Søndag

I got a full 8 hours of sleep, you guys. I honestly think that’s the first time this trip. My first experience today was going to the Nasjonalgalleriet and surveying people. I probably did a horrible job considering I only accomplished 11 interviews in three hours. Here’s where my blog gets more thoughtful. An Italian family exited the gallery, and I watched them scribe into the guest book. But the parents encouraged their two sons to do it. They were probably 5 and 8. The older one wrote first, and, in better cursive than myself, put his name: Valerio D’Andrea da Roma. Then his little brother tried writing his name, but needed help from his mother, who egged him on. He wrote “Da Milano.” They left to catch up with the dad and older brother. But a minute later they came back up and showed the dad, and the parents were so happy watching their son show them his minor accomplishment. For some reason, this struck me. That was perhaps the happiest family I had ever seen, and it was something so seemingly mundane. I didn’t really know how to process it, but I felt an emotion akin to pride. It’s quite hard to describe.

As another week comes to a close, I’m noticing less and less people here. It’s all curious, I’m actually feeling a bit sad and nostalgic. I only know a few residents here well, but there’s something about seeing less familiar faces that is unsettling. It already seems empty, and I know that after I return from Copenhagen there will hardly be anybody here. Perhaps this is a testament to how brief things in life occur, or maybe how brief life is in general. 

Just enjoy the time you have.

[osloletsgo]

Rise, Fall, Rise Again

Mandag 06 Juni 2016 | 18:05 | Oslo, Norway

Fredag

In keeping with the park theme, Friday’s plan was to visit Vigeland Sculpture Park, the world’s largest sculpture park featuring work by a single artist, Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures are made of bronze, granite an wrought iron. To find the place, we had to make a few new stops. We took the T-Bane to Majorstuen and then another one back the same direction (with a different turn) to a graveyard. I forget the exact name of it, but it was so awesome. The place was enormous, and it didn’t have generic headstones; most of them varied greatly and it had a very...supernatural feel to it. I definitely want to return when I have more time, preferably in cloudy or rainy weather.

Across the street from it is a very nice-looking school, and a little bit up the road from there was Vigeland Park. Again, this is one of those areas that pictures and descriptions do little justice, but the sculptures are ridiculous; the attention to detail in the human forms is astounding.  The center has an obelisk made out of stacked, naked forms. It was hot as balls, and Tea Leaves found some very melted ice cream, so the crew (Wedembois) ate some hotdogs at the same stand. Rando fact: there are lots of Asians there. They literally travel in fleets of buses.

As we returned, it rained a bit on us, quite hard I might add. But after the rain subsided in roughly 15 minutes, there was a barbecue on the grounds. They served pork, beef, and motherfucking LAMB. 

SO. DAMN. TASTY.

After stuffing my bloody face full of random meats, I proceeded back to the guard shack and started pre-gaming this concert with the Rat King. We arrived and sat beyond the tape, watching the bands come and go. There were mostly cover bands, but there was one badass metal band. Things got hazey, I got a sandwich, died for about 10 minutes, returned to the party concert, got bored, went back to my room, was abducted by Bjorn, left like a ninja, then went back to search for the Rat King who was nowhere to be found. It was this last visit to the Billa Bar that was interesting. Tjore came up to me, put his left arm around me as the other was occupied with drink, and began:

Tjore: Hey man, I’ve been meaning to tell you!

Me: Yeah, what’s up?

Tjore: Not to be rude, but the first time I met you...

Me: ...

Tjore: I thought you were gay. You come off a little gay.

Me: Oh! Yeah, I’m actually kind of used to it, really. It’s the -

Together: hair!

Me: The metrosexual demeanor doesn’t help, does it?

I found the situation completely hilarious. Honestly, I get it a lot, and I’m totally fine with it. So think twice if you’re going to insult me on that front.

Lørdag

Saturday was the new Lord’s day of rest. The Rat King was dethroned and deceased on his bed, where he lie sweaty all day. Daddy Dram, Queen B-Word and I travelled to the main mall at the central station with the mission of finding some sunglasses; I lost mine on the first night. After much deliberation and price-comparison, DD and I purchased some from the Nille, basically a tiny trinket store. The rest of the day was spent purchasing clothing, so now I’ve finally got some European shorts. The evening was spent chilling with Quen and watching the first three episodes of the first season of Peaky Blinders; he hasn’t seen it and it’s the best show ever. Go watch it. Now. Run. Why are you still reading this?

Søndag

The mission was to revisit Ekebergparken. Sunday was a larger troupe, with the addition of Karl, a graphic design student at Blindern. As we made our way there, we passed the Oslo Hospital and observed a woman squatting down on the sidewalk, fumbling with some cigarettes. I knew something seemed off about her, and as she urinated in broad daylight like an animal my suspicions were confirmed. I was equal parts disgusted and saddened. How do people descend that far, what brings a person to such a level? Anyways, we made it to the park and found the Turrell pieces we came to see. They only took 8 people at a time, there were no pictures allowed, and you were recommended to go through the exhibits barefoot. The first of the two pieces was in my opinion much more exciting, a light piece that induced snow blindness. I sat in a meditative position (thanks, Kenton) and stared and let my mind go blank. Curiously, I thought of an idea for a photoshoot while losing my mind staring into colored nothingness. The second piece was a skylight with a lit dome, but the lights only come on before sunrise and set, so it’s worthless during public hours. They close at 4 and the sun sets at 10. After this we found the Abramovich piece Scream. It’s just a metal frame where the Scream was inspired from.

We travelled to the Blå Market from here. It’s basically a hippy alleyway with a bunch of trinkets; I really need to go back and get some gifts. Along the way we walked along the river, which was nice. The negative was that across the river we saw some fucked-up people shooting up in broad daylight, one in the vein in the leg, another prepping a tourniquet. Sad stuff. After the market, we went to a place called Illegal Burger which was more than excellent. The potatoes came with a peculiar aioli, and the meal filled you the hell up. We ate at 15:30 and didn’t even go to supper.

Mandag

Today we worked in our groups again, hashing out ideas for the museum. The real highlight was eating dinner, which included reindeer meat, so I guess I can cross that off my list now. All I’ve been doing since is writing this post and editing photographs, and I plan to keep it up because I get behind so quickly.

Cheers.

[osloletsgo]

Tour

Torsdag 02 Juni 2016 | 23:40 | Oslo, Norway

Tirsdag

Tuesday was a new day. The presentations for the first half of the project were today, and we were working down to the wire; at least we looked nice. Once at the National Gallery, the presentations began and we went, we conquered, and that was that. THANK GOD. Afterwards a guy from the University was doing some interviews, and I was selected with a handful of others to provide feedback. Two questions into mine and the fire alarm started ringing. The remaining students along with our two teachers had to exit via window after traveling down a backdoor staircase (the window was big so it wasn’t that exciting). My interview resumed across the street, and my answers were probably not useful. Oh well. Dinner was meatballs so that was nice.

For supper, Wedembois celebrated by going to find some sushi at place called Jonathan’s. We walked across the track and into some more suburban-type areas until we found the place, pretty easy really. We walked inside and Daddy Dramamine asked the lady what to do, to which she replied in Norwegian (but she was Asian? It’s pretty common here). So he blatantly asked her if she spoke English and she did so we sat and rummaged through the completely Norwegian menu, pointed at some things and got some really excellent sushi. We snagged some ice cream from the REMA 1000 for the walk back then pretty much just chilled for the night. By that I mean we stuck our legs in the grass-water fountain with some students at Blindern, so it was great for my social interaction quota for the day.

Onsdag

Wednesday was finally the next step in the design process. Of the 5 groups, mine was one of three to be chosen to progress forward (yay). We all did a metaphor exercise with a guy named Rolf and then proceeded to travel as Team USA to Jernbanetorget. Here we entered the place I first arrived at from the airport to snag a lunch from a small store (I forget the name). I got basically a crawfish salad sandwich (Skagen on focaccia) with some guava to drink. The plan was to eat the Akerhus fortress, so we walked up Karl Johan’s Gate until we were there, plopped our asses down, and munched some tasty food in the shade. The fortress is really hard to describe, but it provided some excellent views of the harbor/city. There was a nice yet silent guard that WDB took a selfie with and we had an audio-guided tour which I straight up neglected. Turns out I missed out on some wicked ghost stories so schäme mich. Post-fortress, we traveled to the Opera House (again) but this time we actually went on a tour of the inside where we had never been before. Pictures were not allowed inside the actual hall, but it was wicked. The walls were oak and the chairs were designed so that they absorbed as much sound as if a person were seated in one. We got a behind the scenes look into the construction of the props and stage, and honestly I was overwhelmed. Theater and ballet productions work on a much grander scale than I had originally thought; it’s stupid cool. We were released for the weekend, so we all went to Alex sushi on the waterfront and got even better, more expensive sushi than the night before.

Upon return, we went to supper but I packed a sandwich because I’m smart. The Billa Bar opened and so we descended into darkness and began the night. I ordered a couple Lennard’s and a couple Mind Eraser’s (spaced out well, however) and they were both quite tasty. My pool skills have somehow improved, and I ate that bastard sandwich with some excellent spicy brown mustard from Queen B-word. We played soccer at roughly 01:00 and then I found Erik. Then we ran into Quen and helped him home, but he was funny and fine. Passed out, adios, peace.

Torsdag

It’s becoming painfully clear that my sleep schedule has not regulated in this country and probably never will. I woke up at around 11 (missed breakfast). The seniors and my roommate Kiernan had left on separate journeys for the long weekend. I decided to pass the time until dinner editing photographs. This process took longer than usual because I filled half the card in one day; that’s 353 photographs to sift through, choose which ones I want to edit, edit them in RAW, and then bring them into photoshop for the minute adjustments. I ended up with only 71, and even then that could be trimmed down. I take a lot of pictures of my peers, something that I probably won’t decrease, but I’m trying to take more snaps of my surroundings, be a tourist and all that (thanks Pippin).

Post-dinner, Erik, Quen, Hannah, Kari, Jess, and I traveled by T-Bane and Trykk to Ekebergparken, a sculpture park with strong hints of feminism, which is cool as hell. Works include pieces by James Turrell, Marina Abramovic, Damien Hirst, Salvador Dali, Auguste Rodin, etc. Erik, Quen, and I decided to sprint up the first hill to the first thing we saw which was basically a glass room; the others were left behind and that was the last we saw of them, whoops! Running sucked, but the walk was nice. It was all mostly uphill but some spaces were giant, open meadows that were perfect for dogs. The views of the harbor and city were even better than the fortress, and pictures really do it no justice. My favorite sculpture was Hirst’s Anatomy of an Angel, and I’ll post pics of that later to FB. We boys traveled back after walking a measly 5 miles (it seemed like hella more) and ate some grub and have been chilling since. There’s been a party out in the garden next to our guard shack, and people have been using the bathroom and now the seat is askew, but whatever, I’ve always liked shitting diagonally. The sun’s finally set, and I’m enjoying the night breeze listening to my random assortment of tunes. Cheers.

[osloletsgo]

Vier

Mandag 30 Mai 2016 | 23:40 | Oslo, Norway

Where the hell do I begin? I’m so bad at keeping up with this shite.

Friday, just a bunch of working for roughly 6 and a half hours. We finish, we break, we forget about this for the rest of the weekend. My squadron heads to the Vinmonopolet for necessities. Upon return I chill the poo out and begin sipping on a g&t at 18:00. Too early, don’t do it. I eat my standard sandwich, lot of salami, and go back. Drink more. Somehow people are in my room at one point, nobody really knows how it happened; we later learned that a party elsewhere dispersed and heard the commotion at our guard shack so came to join. I left twice and came back, and the second time there were about 20 people in my room just taking up every inch of space. I really kinda wanted to sleep, but I had to chimp through it, I didn’t know how to draw everybody’s attention. I try to sit on my bed where I am blocked by an intoxicated Norwegian girl who constantly tries to get myself and Erik to play Mario Kart and conjures a key from somewhere in her dress; I pass the torch to Erik to deal with and promptly lay on my bed so I can munch on some chips. Those chips didn’t do much to quell the hunger from hell in my belly, so Erik and I squad up and try our best to remember how to get to the 24 hour McDonald’s. 

Our b(e)acon of light appears, sacred golden arches, sweet godsend of grease. We discover Stephanie, Christian, and some girl named Helene there; the restaurant is otherwise empty. We order and get some tight burgers and fries and lordy they were scrumptious. We travel back and discuss great things; it was a really nice get-to-know-you-somewhat-better experience. Random, but he’s almost 24 and I’m still 20. You’d think age gaps like that make a difference in how people perceive things, but I think there’s some sort of cap and maybe I hit it early? But that’s naive, whatever. We’re back at Blindern and somehow everybody has transferred to outside the main building. We go back home with Quen and snag some hilarious Snapchats.

Lørdag

I awake feeling fire, but I missed breakfast. Oh well, the day is nigh. Quen, Erik, Hannah, Kari, and I squad up and travel to Tøyen to hit up the Munchmuseet; there was also an exhibit of work by Robert Mapplethorpe, a photographer I had never heard of. There was a bit of security, and I don’t really know why. You also couldn’t take photographs of the work with a camera larger than a phone and you could take snaps of the work and not the space in which they exist. The museum was laid out smartly with clear descriptions of what was where, but other than that it was almost boring. Mapplethorpe grabbed my attention much more for obvious reasons; this has nothing to do with the homoerotic photographs. Check out his work if you haven’t.

At this point we’re all kind of starving since the majority haven’t eaten. We head to Storo where the Tekniskmuseet is (Science and Technology). It luckily had a café built into it, and I got a wonderful hamburger. Quen got spaghetti with a bolognese sauce which seemed oddly upscale for a museum eatery. My initial view before I walked in was “this museum is going to be childish as hell.” I was right, but it was by far the most enjoyable one so far. Sometimes you forget that museums aren’t just art. I got some great photographs out of the trip. We headed back, and overall it was a nice day exploring. I need to just take the T-Bane to random stops and walk around. My night is almost a repeat of the night before except I’m a recluse.

Søndag

I wake up at nine; I’m ill. Two hours later, still out of it. Finally at three o’ clock I rise from the dead and try to be a human. I chill out until dinner and then scarf down some chicken Filipino-style; this means I just tear the bastard, meaty leg to shreds with my fingers and face. Forget cutlery because it’s impractical in this situation. I return to my room and attempt to edit quite a bit of photos; two weeks in and I’ve already taken over 700. Heather and Anne appear to steal Kiernan away to watch Zootopia but end up staying in our room and watching it there. I stepped away form my work to watch and it turns out to be quite an excellent film. Team Nick Wylde, realest fox in the business.

Mandag

I’ve been working pretty much all day on this bloody brief/presentation. I remember how much I dislike this kind of design, but I also remember that this is a nice skillset to have because it’s placed me in Norway, an opportunity I will never be able to to adequately describe. I’d like to take this moment to apologize to 

Heather, my most excellent group-mate: sorry for getting pissed at dinner, but I had laundry to do and the fact that I wasn’t actually done with presentation like previously imagined put me in a smelly old funk. Understand I’m not mad at you cause that’s lame and immature; thanks for being a champ.

So I do my laundry and perfect the Mountain Dew special squat while donning somebody’s random Oakley glasses, see more for details. My clothes are actually dry, but that probably has something to do with the “extra dry” setting that took and hour and eleven minutes. Oh we also decided the We Dem Bois squad deserved names, and they are as follows:

Erik the Rat King

Hannah is Queen B-Word

Quen is Dr. Smooth

and I and Trashbag. Because when I put my hair up, it looks like a trashbag. And Colin Farell.

 So now I’m sitting in my room, with a needle in my hand, just waiting for the tomb of some old dying maaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnn but Stephanie is here, and we had a nice chat about things while I trimmed my toenails out on a picnic table in Evan Allen’s Hunting Ground. She referred to our space as the “Bromance Cottage,” and I’m alright with that.

[osloletsgo]

We Dem Bois

Torsdag 26 Mai 2016 | 20:40 | Oslo, Norway

I’ve been thinking about it, and I’ve been only writing basic kinds of things, like what’s going on at face value. I suppose it is important to acknowledge that sometimes I have mental moments to myself where I reflect on where I am and what I find peculiar; I’ll be trying to note these as the blog continues. Cheers.

+++++++++++++

Wednesday’s objective was to interview a staff member of the Nasjonalmuseet. However, that wasn’t until 14:00 for my group, so some Blindern Americans gathered their numbers and made their way to the waterfront to check out the Astrup Fearnley Museet. There were quite a bit of restaurants along this strip; my personal favorite was the TGI Friday’s, and I will be eating at one sometime during the journey. As our slow pack finally made it to said museum, we discovered that it would not be open until 12:00; it was 10:30 currently. Fock! We head back the other direction and opt for the Nobel Peace museum. Due to a new exhibit being constructed, tickets were half off, so that was kind of nice. The museum was not exactly my cup of tea in terms of information, but some of their interactive technologies were interesting e.g. an infrared sensor that projected contents of a book onto a blank page that one could interact with.

I bought an excellent gift from the shop, but that’s secret. Hunger was afflicting the group now, so we went outside and found a burger place in an Airstream on the waterfront because people wanted burgers. Doy. Now, this place was called Burger Joint and the dude operating this bus was the friendliest guy ever, and we became homies immediately.

Dude: Hi!

Me: Heeeeyyyyyy!

Dude: What’ll you have?

Me: Eheeeem, I’ll go for two hotdogs. (This was still cheaper than a burger).

Dude: Hell yeah!

Me: Hell yeahhhh!

And that’s how we became boys. I liked this guy for some reason and asked him if I could climb inside and snap some pictures. He was all for it, so I hopped in and did my thing; he tried to not be in the frame but I wasn’t having it, dude-man was essential. I exited and waited for my food, which was ready first, and he gave me some off-menu toppings (jalapeños and fried onions). In Norway, their freaking hot dogs extend half an inch of the bun in each direction, so it was well worth the price. After I inhaled the wieners, Capitan Airstream summoned me and asked to snap a shot of his tattoo; pics to come later because writing it down won’t make much sense. It was about noon, so Astrup Fearnley was opening, but Heather and I were meeting our group at 13:30 so we opted to visit another day so as to not be rushed. 

So the two of us branched off and traveled to Jernbanetorget which is basically the central hub of Oslo; the main station is here. Round a corner was the Opera House, which is stupidly beautiful and located directly on the water. Again, check out the images. I took several images of the building, but sometimes I feel like architectural photographs can get old. Especially when it’s a location as popular to visit as the Opera House; no matter who takes the picture, it’s going to be the same building in the same place. Maybe this comes into some sort of subconscious philosophy about how I approach photography? I dunno, I just hate the idea of taking an image that anybody can recreate. I constantly am looking for things that people may overlook.

Our time expired and we met up with our group in a little garden next to the Nasjonalmuseet. Then we interviewed the curator of the gallery. Brief and helpful. We came back to Blindern and then I didn’t jack scheiße for hours until supper came and then the downstairs bar opened and I snagged a drink then passed out. 

+++++++++++++

Thursday was today, and I met up with my group again at 08:30 in the morning. Again. We worked until 14:00, and I’ll be honest I’m getting burned out on the project currently. It’s like talking in circles and I need to make something, not scribe vague ideas for hours at a time. 

Dinner was some bizarre form of salad/noodle thing with tofu and aioli; the bread was tight (insert 100 emoji). Came back the guard house and sat for a sec before deciding to go back to the Opera House with Erik. Took more pics and I have a photo idea I want to pursue but I need extra hands for this.

[osloletsgo]

Sonne

24 May 2016 | 20:30 | Oslo, Norway

Today was a pretty standard day. We worked from 09:30 until about 13:42. I’ve been exhausted all day, probably because I haven’t been sleeping well but more than likely because I neglected coffee with my morning meal. Dinner was some form of spaghetti, but the sauce was peculiar. Super meat based but tasted off in an alright way, you know? 

After that, I’ve pretty much just been chilling with Quen and Erik the entire day. We went out and bought some detergent for laundry (I’m out of usable underwear) and suffered through checkout as always. Then we came back and chilled some more. Stupid lazy day. Supper came and went, as did hunger. Then I attempted to wash my clothes, which was thankfully helped by the fact that the machines have an English option. The downside is that the dryers don’t do their job well; they mostly just heat up your wet clothes. We sat outside and chatted with some people, finally enjoying a little bit of sunlight. 

Tomorrow will definitely be a much more intriguing day seeing as we’re visiting some museums and taking an oath to never be that bloody lethargic again. We’ve a city to discover.

[osloletsgo]

Week 2

23 May 2016 | 22:19 | Oslo, Norway

Rain, fucking rain. It’s been like 5 days now. I forget what the sun even looks like. Yellow? Washes out my photographs? Beside the point, I woke up early to catch the 07:15 breakfast, another excellent sandwich. My reasons for an early rise stem from the fact that my research partners had planned to meet at Forskningsparken at 08:30. Yikes. We arrive and basically work until about 14:30 just hashing out ideas for this design brief which somehow becomes more complicated than it seems. The hot lunch waiting back at Blindern was basically leftovers except the potatoes were cut up and seasoned and they added some sort of tomato-based cream sauce on top of the Norwegian catfish. I ate way too many potatoes, but who doesn’t?

Then the hunt begins for a large Fretex, the Norwegian version of the Salvation Army.  Turns out it was a Frelsearmeen, which is literally the Salvation Army, but not the branch that sells stuff: that’s Fretex. No worries, we were in a new area in the rain so let’s explore (I blame you, Erik). 4 of us branched off and tried to make our way back into the center of town but just could not whatsoever. The city scape faded in color and the areas seemed more and more grim with random large churches here and there. I’m assuming we were skirting an edge of the city. Eventually we made our way back to the Oslo City mall where an H&M existed. I tried to find the cloak thing but to no avail; Tea Leaves returned and exchanged a bra. Erik and Kari were along for the ride. We make our way towards Karl Johan’s Gate (gate = gah-tuh = street) where I purchase that damn cloak thing from H&M despite it being a size large because they’re discontinuing the item (high fashion). Kari then guides us to a bookstore called Tanum. Random note: along the way we saw more police officers on horses and I will get a picture one of these days. Anyway, this bookstore was vibrant and had some nice colored pencils, some vulgar pencils (which I loved), Norwegian Captain Underpants books, stupidly nice pens, a quirky anchovy box, French stamps, and signs for book sales that I cannot say without chuckling: BOK SALG.

We return to Blindern, where I proceed to neglect all of the things I should be doing, like design work. Supper is standard. My water had been shut off in my building from 9 to 6 for unknown reasons but I’m thankful I can take a dump and use the shower tonight; it would be annoying to travel the short distance to find a surrogate. The true highlight of today was receiving a FaceTime from my Lakeside dad, Matt. In typical fashion, he insulted me but was genuinely concerned about how much tennis I’ve played (I haven’t but I blame the rain). He also told me about how much better his like 8 month old son is as a person compared to me; I can’t disagree, that guy’s a stud. 

[osloletsgo]

Wochenende

23 May 2016 | 20:06 | Oslo, Norway

I’m horrible at keeping up with this things, sorry folks.

My story continues on Saturday. I woke up pleasantly later than normal and had my usual breakfast consisting of a salami, herb cheese, lettuce, and pickle sandwich, 6 wedges of tomato (salted), a cup of the darkest coffee on Earth, and two glasses of water. 

The rest of my day consisted of shopping, basically. I started at Zara with Tea Leaves; it was stupid crowded and they didn’t have man-skirts. Next was H&M which was sweet cause there was this coat/cloak thing, but it was kinda large so I didn’t get that either. Then we searched for lunch, passing up Burger King because what a cop out that would be. Neo Tokyo sounded like a great place until we discovered it was like a Japanese game store (WHY). We were starving at this point, basically stranded on a desert island, and then we found it, past a pizza place:

Another pizza place. Mamma Pizza, a name I can never get right.

Ordering things is such a pain because the experience is different every time. This particular time my card just straight up didn’t work, but thankfully I had 800 Kroner on my person. 149k for a pizza wasn’t shabby, and it was a capricciosa. Look it up if you don’t know what it is. One minor criticism is that Norwegian (rather Italian) pizzas are always thin crust. I could eat the whole pie and then some, but I respect my wallet.

After this we sought a Norwegian goodwill called UFF. TL got a dress and probably a scarf, I can’t remember, and I got an old lady coat that somehow works well on my body. It’s purple and paisley and has a fur collar and was reasonably priced.

-----------------

Fast forward to post-supper. I’ve donned my coat, and Erik, Hannah, Quen, and I are attempting to eat Wasa bread off the floor; we call it duck food because it’s rock hard bread and barely sweet. We are then invited to hang with the seniors, so we do. Then Bjørn bursts in and summons us upstairs into a small room with about 10 other people because it’s some dude’s birthday at midnight. They were all watching Strangeulation Cypher by Tech N9ne which is a level of awesome I can barely describe. The party transfers to the living room. There’s loud music, and TL and I play pool, and Quen is really good at dancing and plays a broken piano in the downstairs bathroom. Our exit was to Paint It Black, and we proceeded to a McDonald’s which had debatably the best Big Mac I’ve ever eaten.

-----------------

And now it’s Sunday. I sleep wayyyyy in. I eat my standard breakfast. Go back to sleep. Now it’s 1 in the afternoon. Today is obviously going to be a lazy day, which I am more than fine with. Considering most places aren’t even open on Sundays, this works in my favor. Sometime in the afternoon, Kiernan, Quen, and I pack up and explore the area surrounding Blindern and Forskningsparken. There is a quaint little neighborhood, and I am incredibly tired of rain, but it makes for decent photographs (lighting and all that). I had my third hot meal at Blindern, which was fish and potatoes and some sort of tomato salad which was quite excellent. I have eaten so many tomatoes. Not much else happened after that really. I went to bed late because I had screwed myself earlier by sleeping in so much. Oh well.

[osloletsgo]

Whoops!

20 May 2016 | 22:19 | Oslo, Norway

The basic gist of today was going over a detailed schedule of our work with the University and learning about all of the places we can go. There are quite a bit, and I’m sure I’ll never see them all; certain highlights include a graveyard and a viking museum. The next objective was to explore the gallery spaces that we were assigned to work with. Team USA traveled as a wolf pack to the contemporary museum and wander that. We’re also really bad at knowing how to put our bags in lockers. It was a swell little place and granted a few nice photo opportunities. Then the two teams working back at the Nasjonalgalleriet went back there and found their respective works. My group has to observe the collection highlights, but I was more focused on how people walked around and observed. They were mostly couples, and that sucks because the project is about families (bring your kids to Oslo and walk around, geez). Anyway, the final room is their coup de grace since it housed all of Munch’s super-awesome work and of course, the Scream. It’s curious because I much more enjoyed the only other piece behind glass, the Madonna. I later discovered the glass exists because both were stolen at some point in time. People were hesitant to reenact the Scream but once a couple groups demonstrated a line quickly developed. Food for thought.

So that was it, we were done for the day. And it was Friday. So my group of peers (that I will make a name for soon) traveled down to a grocery store for spicy brown mustard and a liquor store that translates to Wine Monopoly. Here I made my first legal alcoholic purchase: Tanqueray. At 18:00 we accompany our teacher to some sort of design showcase, like a senior show. It was in a beautiful complex, and their dorms are in one building that shits on UT’s living spaces. The work therein was intriguing, and that’s all I can really say about it. We walked further down to a place where there was a bunch of food places, and we were taring to get hungry. But by the time my friends and I decided to eat, everywhere was closing. EVERYWHERE. Oh well. We left the pack and headed to find pizza. But then the line was sooooo large. So we went to an Asian place. BUT THEN ERIK DIDN’T WANT IT. So we found another pizza place down the way and it was bloody great. The pie was called an Aloha! and it was just pepperoni and pineapple; can’t go wrong. At this point we were in a place called Grünerløkka and didn’t really know how to get back, so we clambered onto a Trykk and headed roughly into the center of town. At one of the stops we met a guy who lived at Blindern (his name escapes me) and followed him back to the T-Bane and magically found the rest of the group (we’re great with directions). Nothing much happened past that, kinda just sat in a room enjoying the days spoils and slept comfortably.

[osloletsgo]

Acclimation Pt.2

19 May 2016 | 23:03 | Oslo, Norway

I’m still talking about the past, specifically Monday, 16 May, when I landed. I met a guy named Bjorn. He showed me some ropes (not literal), and proceeded to invite everybody to a party that functioned doubly as a welcome to the Americans. It was very welcoming and served as a nice icebreaker between the two groups of students.

The next day was the Norwegian Independence Day, 17. Mai. Henceforth, I’ll either refer to my design group as the Americans or Team USA, because it’s easy and more intriguing than “our group.” Team USA took the T-Bane (metro) into the city at the Nationaltheatre. As we got off, I got ill, which was the entry into an interesting downhill. I followed the Americans through a sea of people. SO MANY PEOPLE. There is a huge parade where every school in the country marches their students up to the palace to wave at the Royal Family. Our destination was on the other side of said parade, so we basically played Red Rover until everybody was across. Myself, feeling awful, ended up zombie-walking through the sights, smells, and sounds with a cup of water and a small bag of sweeter-than-average McDonald’s french fries to keep me company (thanks Jess). Team USA entered the garden of the University of Oslo’s Law Library (don’t quote me) and went inside and ate fancy hors dourves while I proceeded to nap on a desk. What an excellent desk. After, we traveled to see the King and Queen, and boy were they tiny little specks in the distance, no matter how close you got. Our teacher left us to our own devices, so myself and a few others managed back to Blindern where I assume we all proceeded to nap.

Annnnnd I live again. I never let my body rest well post landing, so jet lag was slowly killing me, don’t play around with that shite, folks. I ate a nice dinner, probably consisting of bread, meats, and of course their bloody awesome potato salad (oh baby). Their cafeteria food should make America rethink their health standards at public schools. That night there was another shindig in the main building, but I attended strictly to observe. Norwegian students listen to peculiar, upbeat techno-pop songs while they sing acoustic guitar tunes mostly about girls and have one great cover of Here Comes The Sun. 

I arise on the 18th of May ready for the intro into what exactly we came to do: helping the National Museums create interactive spaces for families. The research park for the University of Oslo (UiO) is located in an area called Forskningsparken. Good luck pronouncing it. It’s easier to walk but there is a stop you can take either via T-Bane or the Trikk which is like the above-ground trolleys that run on the wires. Anyways, this place is beautiful.

Everything in Norway is beautiful.

I’ll probably include a picture of that at the end. Anyways, we got more I.D. cards for this place, and by now I’ve at least 5 additional plastic cards I have to carry in my wallet if I want to survive in this city, each with an equally horrible photograph of my face. We discuss some readings and break for the day. Team USA ventures into the city to get routers, because the Internet we have to use requires everybody to walk to a different building; I suppose this says something about our culture, or maybe just us as designers. Their version of Best Buy is called El Kjøp (pronounced El Shep), and prices look weird because there is no division with commas. We get routers in groups and fail miserably checking out because even the card readers are in Norwegian. Mi amigos hook it up, but I somehow fudge it up. Another guy named Tom came and fixed my error. Our wifi is called Trump’s Hairpiece. We basically spend the rest of the day enjoying our renewed Internet capabilities and this is when I wrote my last post, last night. I feel like I haven’t explored much anywhere, but I remember that I am here for six weeks and the weekend is close.

I arise on the 19th of May. I did not get much sleep, due to snoring, not my own (I love you, Kiernan, but damn I am not used to it). I eat my normal-ish breakfast of bread, salami, pickles, and tomatoes. I love the tomatoes. Eat the tomatoes. I then go back to sleep because I have that kind of time and I can. Team USA regroups and heads back to the center of town, this time to the Nasjonalmuseet. We have been broken into 5 groups, and my team consists of Heather (American), Sofie, Mette, and Suzanna. They’re masters students, so it’s kind of intimidating. Here we watched two presentations and actually were visited by the director of the National Museums (now that is intimidating). We were planning to go visit the site of the new museum, but it so happened that we also were allowed into a space next to it that we weren’t supposed to see until Saturday; nice! It basically served as information on the site and what it would contain. We broke off after this, and my small group of friends searched for lunch. We found a food truck called 4 Gringos.

YES, FOOD. Everybody else was debating what to eat, but I hate decisions, so I went with a classic: ask the guy running the operation his favorite item.

Me: Alright, what’s your favorite thing to eat?

Guy: How hungry are you?

Me: Er, starving.

Guy: Fatboy.

Me: Fatboy?

Guy: It’s a burrito, but big. Weighs over half a kilo.

Me: Fatboy.

Guy: Get it with pork. You want a drink?

Me: Piña Jarritos, please.

Guy: Alright...um, you have to confirm the amount before you swipe the card.

You get the idea. I got a fat-ass burrito and still don’t know how to use my debit card. And it was the best burrito on planet earth, go eat there if you ever get the chance. I paid 20 US dollars for this burrito, but it was such a succulent, warm, crunchy yet soft, almost horseradishy burrito, it was so worth it.

Post-gringo, we went to an upscale Goodwill where I discovered suit coats cost less than my burrito. Then we hunted for a tattoo parlor down some random streets; it was an excellent way to see new parts of the city. Give yourself a new destination and you can retain mental goals for things you want to come back for. We took the trikk back and just chilled in my room until supper/second breakfast. SO, that pretty much catches you and myself up. It’s 23:52, I’m about to take a shower and sleep, so stay tuned for more adventures.

[osloletsgo]

Acclimation

18 May 2016 | 17:56 | Oslo, Norway

I use language, I’m telling you now so you’re not as offended later. Thank you.

Where do I begin?

Three days ago I wrote a blog post. Six hours after that I woke up and hurried my ass to make it to a Waffle House near the airport to meet my parents for breakfast at 07:30. I arrived late as normal, but was incredibly early for my flight (this is a good thing). The goodbyes to my parents and girlfriend were quick and I probably should have hugged each of them a little but harder because I haven’t dealt with airports in years, but this day was going to become overkill. Allow me to explain:

I boarded a tiny airplane in Knoxville, Tennessee. This went smoothly. I landed in Charlotte, bought some trail mix, and waited for the next flight. I boarded that one and arrived slightly later than intended at JFK in New York because the President was in town or something. Thanks, Obama. My gate at JFK changed and that was easy enough to find, literally about 50 meters. Then they told me my flight was delayed, the aircraft downsized, and 80 people had lost their seats. They offered compensation of an $800 voucher if one chose to wait for a later flight. This really wasn’t an option for me, and luckily my seat was secure. I boarded the cramped plane, waited an hour to take off, and finally began the six hour journey to Heathrow. It sucked. I fought using the toilet but caved. I tried to watch Deadpool and the Godfather but just didn’t care. I fell asleep for about 30 minutes and listened to music for the remaining two hours. I had lost track of time and had landed in London at roughly 07:00 their time. My flight departed at 07:50. After fighting my way to the front of a trolley line, I found myself at the correct terminal and handed my boarding pass to the nice man at stand 10 at the International Connections area. 

Denied. Absolutely just “fuck.”

So I get my reassigned ticket for 10:25. And sit. And wait. And die. I never once sleep, I don’t trust myself. I’m in a foreign land and everything is weird. And they don’t tell you the gate number until 50 minutes before your flight. Thankfully, I didn’t have to trek anywhere really, and boarded my plane with ease. On this flight I sat next to a nice Norwegian couple and slept for about 40 minutes. AND THEN I WAS IN OSLO. FINALLY. 

I had a very particular set of instructions from my teacher which were super clear. I went to passport control; they commented on my blonde hair. I went to the luggage station. Mine never came. Damnit all. I was beyond upset at this point, everybody was kind of staring because I was muttering sweet nothings under my breath, looking like a crazy person. My teacher finally reaches me via call, and I explain the situation, head over to the Menzies people who deal with luggage. They alert me to the fact that my luggage is still in London. HOW? I give them the address of the professor we’re working with and continue. 

I buy a subway pass. It costs me 90 Kroner and its one way to the central station. This is by far the fanciest/fastest train I have ever been on. I’ll take a picture should I board it again. Anyways, I exit and find my teacher. I cannot explain in words how nice it felt to see somebody I knew after 4 flights and dealing with weird lands. I helped her shop for some groceries since she was living separate form the dorms. seeing 192.00 on the price bar was alarming, but I remember this is not in dollars. We grab the food, board another train, and stop at Blindern, which is where I’ll be staying with my peers for the next 5 weeks. The University is a little ways up from the stop, and it’s quite nice. I see some friends and meet a guy named Bjorn; this man is wild and his name translates appropriately to “Bear.”

I live in a guard shack with my amigos Kiernan, Quen, and Erik. There’s a guy downstairs but we haven’t interacted. The bathroom is small but efficient. The weather fluctuates depending on if a cloud crosses over the sun.

[osloletsgo]

Eve

15 May 2016 | 00:46

Technically it’s been a whole day since the last post, but Saturday is finally winding down for me. Typical of myself and a graphic designer, I’ve allowed myself to do everything last minute, even worry. I tried basically all day to pack, overthink, pack, and try to check-in to my flights online; that last one has been a chore. I definitely recommend the customer service for British Airways; that guy was super-friendly and used military lingo to confirm my identification code or whatever. Everyone has been telling me that checking in online is trivial, but it seemed like a good thing to do anyways, so hopefully that guy didn’t lie and got me those good window seats. This is where I shout out to my wonderful aunt, without whom this entire trip wouldn’t be possible (and smooth) - thank you.

In other news, I watched the Jungle Book with my parents and girlfriend today; excellent film/interpretation, go watch it if you haven’t. I’m semi-biased since my coworkers call me Mowgli (ask me privately for details as to how this happened). Afterwards we got ice cream at a local parlor which was equally pleasant, despite my worried mind about my seats - thanks to my parents for dragging me along and reminding me that worry is needless sometimes.

All in all, I’m going to miss some people (Pippin) and things while I’m gone, but there’s not really a need to. Five weeks can go both ways in seeming long and short. I think more than anything I feel like some things have been left unfinished at my apartment, but that’s really out of my control now. I have planned to be up in five hours, so sleep seems like a smart move. I don’t have much to say; my body is in a weird state of disbelief and shock and doesn’t know how to react. I’ve been trying for years to escape the country and in a few short hours American Airlines will grant that wish.

[osloletsgo]

Pregame

13 May 2016 | 10:08

Today is Friday the 13th, and considering I’ve already dropped half a banana on my chest, we’re off to great start. This is the first post in a blog that I hope will shed light onto my head and how it will deal with an excursion to Oslo, Norway for the next five weeks. It’s a study abroad with the graphic design program at UTK; I’ll give more info on this in the coming days. The blog isn’t mandatory, I just like taking photographs and thinking a lot, and I want to share that. If I ever decide to pursue some type of photojournalism, consider this the foundation.

Now, I haven’t been on a plane since I was roughly 13 years old, and I don’t remember that somehow. Shame on my memory. I would say flying across the ocean was a fear because of its sheer size, but that has quelled over a few days. My real worries are surviving the airport terminals, who the hell am I stuck sitting next to on the flights, and culture shock. I think most people traveling abroad for the first time, especially my age, dismiss culture shock as irrelevant or nonexistent, but I have to remember that I am placing myself in a foreign country. I am the foreigner, I am the tourist, I am the one without any clue of what is going on, so I have to be mindful of that. 

I’ve yet to pack and fully get my finances in order (rent doesn’t pay itself) before I depart, so this is my objective for the next two days. I’m going to try to write/post something at least once a day and also post updates on other social media when one appears, so keep a weather eye.