Well I didn't put much (ahem...ANY) time into this blog after it was created, but I am here in Oslo now which means for the first time in 12 years I don't have a job(s) and have so much time on my hands, I don't know what to do with myself.
Where do I even begin....
First off, journey over here was kind of madness! The flight itself was fine, but once I landed here in Oslo I had NO method of communication.....NONE!!! That was a first for me and was an interesting experience! Apparently Verizon cell phones have some sort of completely different technology that doesn’t even register on the European signal so cell was useless...Computer had died hours earlier and Ipod and iphone were not picking up a signal.....so I am roaming aimlessly in an airport with 5 suitcases trying to find someway to call Knut to tell him to meet me at the central station....Cant charge computer because I don’t have the right converter for the plug (Knut brought them all with him), cant find a pay phone to save my life (yes apparently they do still exist)
Finally, I get someone to help me (the first 100 people I asked looked at me like I had 5 heads). I get an internet card and am finally able to get the internet on my ipod and email Knut (I think it was in all caps and had the word "fuck" in it about 1000 times as well as the phrase "I am going back to the fucking US where my fucking cell phone and fucking plugs work and people look at me like I have only ONE fucking head!"......so that was a pleasant way to be greeted by your girlfriend you haven’t seen in 2 months....haha)
Long story short, he ended up taking a train to the airport to save me in the middle of my mini meltdown. Moral of the story: Don't travel with this many bags if you can avoid it!
We got to the apartment and just hung out and I slept for the first day and a half. Unpacked everything and in doing so had to completely rearrange the "organization system" that Knut had.....typical man living like a bachelor....one shirt in this drawer with a random phone charger....a belt in another drawer with a pillowcase and a cologne...and a closet completely full because he hung EVERY undershirt and tank and pajama that he owned....haha men!
So now the apartment is completely organized
and gorgeous! (pics coming soon) We get our boat shipment of belongings tomorrow though...and I have no idea where all of that crap will go....we sent it almost 3 months ago and have no idea whats even in there anymore....(boat was supposed to be 6 weeks....ended up being 11!) In that shipment I do know that we have our bedding, and the reason that I know this is because in the meantime we are sharing ONE pillow and a TWIN sized comforter that he borrowed from his uncle....that has been a silly experience! Try sharing a twin sized mattress with a 6'2" Norwegian!
Over the weekend we spent Sat just roaming around and shopping. We went out just in our little neighborhood Grunerløkka which is like the ethnic immigrant area of Oslo....used to be nothing buts drugs and trannies and is now the young and trendy place to be! Very meatpacking district in NYC....so on the weekends they have a ton of little festivals and flea markets and live music. It made a great first impression! The first place we stopped (maybe one block from our house) was this little church on the river that has a big courtyard. There were all sorts of things for sale....art, clothing, house stuff, food, etc and then had this random folk band playing in the middle of it.
Then next door was this HUGE antique shop filled with the most amazing things! 50+ bins of records, 100's of bins of old postcards (with writing on them) from the 1970's all the way back to the 1800's! There were so many all organized by the dates. Not cheap though... they were 400 NOK each!!....like 80-90 USD!! The records weren't so bad though only 5 USD each so we bought an old jazz compilation. I can't wait for our shipment to come so that I can actually listen to it.
Then we went to Norway’s version of Bed, Bath and Beyond and got a coffee maker and Hair dryer and hangers and a dustpan....among other random stuff. All together only came out to like 75ish...so that stuff wasn’t too expensive either. I was expecting it to be so much worse...and the cool thing is that tax is already included in the prices marked on things....so there are no surprises.
The big surprise came when buying alcohol. Beer is the only kind of alcohol that you can buy in the stores....(wine, hard liquor, and even high alcohol content beers have to be bought in gov't stores...which I haven’t seen yet, but apparently there are a few around town)....but the price marked on beer is per can/ bottle. so you buy a six pack and think that 30NOK is a good price for it...but it is per beer.....so close to 200 NOK for a 6 pack of budlight type beer.....yikes!
There are H&M's on EVERY corner! There is one 5 way intersection in the center of the city and i swear there is an H&M on 3 of the 5 corners! The store is different here too....they have a whole make-up section like a target would. isles of american makeup brands...Maybeline, Cover girl, you name it and its prob there...not the typical yoj type of store that we are used to back home.
That night Knut's friends had us over for dinner. They live just outside of the city in the woods....literally! We took a train and then once we exited the train, we walked into a dark street in the woods with long driveways (also unlit) that lead to big houses. Knut couldn’t remember which house it was exactly, so we walked up a few random dark driveways in the woods until we got the right one....yes it was as creepy as it sounds and yes I felt like I was in the middle of a horror film! but it is apparently very normal here! After having been there now, I can see why one would want to live out there though. Their house was a big beautiful old home and I hear during the day you can even see the fjords from the living room window.
The next night we walked to his uncle's apartment a couple miles away on the other side of the city for Knut's cousin's Birthday (5th bday!....Princess themed!!) So we got to spent the night prior in the barbie and disney princess section of a few toy stores looking for gifts...that was fun! Met a bit of Knut's fam. They are all very sweet and all spoke English all night just for me! SOOO sweet and welcoming and the little girls (2 sisters...3 and 5 I think) were maybe the cutest little things I have ever seen!! They are blonder than blonde and big blue eyes and both wearing disney princess dresses and crowns and speaking Norwegian! Too adorable for words!
The weather has been really nice! Mostly in the 40's...perfectly clear blue skies and no wind. There are these huge trees EVERYWHERE and all the leaves are every shade of Fall that you can imagine. It looks like a movie set here! People kept telling me how amazingly beautiful this city was but I couldn’t even imagine this in my wildest dreams! There is this long river that winds all through the city and these old bridges to walk over and I swear that when you are standing on them you forget for a sec that you aren't in Disneyland or something similar....that is just what it looks like! I will take more pics when I get my phone situated.....have to get it unlocked somehow.....hopefully will get that done soon!
TV is interesting here. I guess there are no commercials on Norwegian TV due to some gov't tax twice a year (per TV)....but the cable channels do fill the 15 min gaps between the shows (since the length of the american shows are intended for commercials) with the most sexual ads! I tried to record one yesterday that was a piece of bred doing what can only be described as "touching itself" in private parts....haha! There are some really old TV shows and some super current...I am currently watching MTV music videos and the video for that song "I wish" by Too Short is on....I think this song was big when I was in 6th grade???
Well, I think that is about it....I will stop rambling now. I have to go do laundry and dishes...(haha the story of me trying to figure those two machines out on my own will be saved for another day.....I am pretty sure I may fill the apartments up with soap and bubbles one of these days like in the movies just trying to run the dishwasher or something!
