A VISIT TO MANY COUNTRIES...

Many of us are preparing to move to Finland at the beginning of next year, as well as travel home for the holidays. However, some of our classmates will stay in Oslo, as they are not in the traveling Masters programme, which will be sad to leave them. As a way to gather everyone together outside of the classroom, we coordinated an international potluck and rented out the party room. There was an amazing spread of food from Africa, Asia, India, Pakistan, Brazil, Norway, Maldova, U.S., Australia and Russia. The international games from Maldova and Russia were entertaining as some of us acted like snow (this made the snow gods happy), a candle and a drunk pirate and his parrot. We had a loas-thai pepper eating contest, whoa...that was HOT! The party didn't end there...the crazy Aussie hosted an after-party complete with singing and margaritas!

It's been a social week!

As my friends, classmates and flatmates start to prepare for the end of the semester there is a need to gather together and celebrate friendship.
Flatmate DINNER party! My week started with a potluck dinner with my flatmates, me and the asians. I made chicken enchiladas (which they said were very "exotic") and was quite an interesting cooking experience...I never knew it would be hard to find cheddar cheese in this world, we have such an abundance of it in the U.S. In addition to the enchiladas, we had salmon miso soup (the real deal) and some exotic chinese veggie dishes, wood ear mushrooms & silver ear mushrooms, with names like that...it's got to be delicious. And it was...these unique mushrooms exploded in your mouth, with the tantalizing taste of ginger & garlic. We joked that we could have fed an army...but we all agreed not to feed N. Korea's army. Whenever we gather in the kitchen, the conversation quickly moves to politics and this evening was no exception. At the end of dinner, we laughed as we all discovered none of us were happy with our home country's government.

GIRLS' Night!

Wednesday night we pulled off one of the first famous girls' night. There were about 8 of us and we were hosted by our token Norwegian classmate who opened her lovely home to us. We fixed a large salad and Jo made the traditional Norwegian drink served during the holidays, Glogg, a spiced mulled wine with raisins and almonds. Of course there was a lot of dirt shared too...that is the purpose of girls' night! The boys in our program just couldn't understand why they weren't invited. I tried to explain that in the U.S. the girls gather in true sisterhood spirit and cook, laugh and talk while the men gather (in true brotherhood fashion) and drink, smoke and play poker.

GOOD NEWS FROM HOME...

The American People FINALLY find some sense. Let's hear it for the American people who sent Mr. Bush an explicit, "no confidence" message by voting for the democrats and the women! Georgy baby brought this on himself; by making this election a referendum for the war on Iraq, the American people responded with an overwhelming vote against him and the war. I truly enjoyed watching Bush buckle under the pressure during the press conference....

The GOOD:
Rumy baby (Rumsfeld) is out!

Bush will become a lame duck...or maybe a dead duck.
Finally a WOMAN...Nancy is taking the reins in the House.

The Dems take control of the House & the Senate, first time in 12 years.

Colorado republican Governor is replaced by a DEMOCRAT (even though he is pro-life.)

The BAD:

The people in Colorado are still conservative & discriminatory when it comes to social issues...

They voted to ban same-sex marriages.

They voted NOT to allow same sex partnerships to have benefits.

The UGLY:

There is still a disturbingly LOW number of women in senate & congress. Out of 100 senators, only 16 are women. Out of 435 congresswo/men only 70 are women.

Cartoon: Karl Wimer is a talented, local cartoonist who resides in Denver. You can check out his cartoons in the Denver Business Journal. Click on his name to see more of his work. Futhermore, he has a cool last name...but not as cool as mine! Thanks Karl, for letting me use your cartoons...

Age Discrimination rightatcha!!!

Ok, I am going to treat this as a true blog...let me step up on my soap box for a moment. I'm am 33 years old, triple platinum baby, and there is no getting around that wonderful fact of life. I can color my hair and say, "dude" 50 times but I cannot escape the best day in my parents life...5-26-73. So, here in Norway I am no longer "eligible" for student discounts after the fine age of 29. What the hell? You may be asking...what does that mean? Well, let me tell you...

Public transportation, I must pay 300 kroner ($48US)MORE/month to use trains, buses & trams. Nordea Bank, I must pay all fees that "students" don't pay. Therefore, I get to throw away 2 kroner (33cents US) per debit transaction and 30 kroner (5US) on every ATM withdrawal (non-Nordea) in addition to a .5% charge. In order to get the airport, forget the sweet student discount, I get to pay an additional 100 kroner ($16US)/per train ride.

Therefore, I am entitled to pay approximately an additional $500US/per semester.

This is a bitter reminder of just how old I am. I personally think this is age discrimination! Basically, they are sending 2 messages: Don't go back to school after the ripe age of 29. BULLSHIT! You must be loaded after the age of 29. BULLSHIT! What about those non-traditional, single mothers of 5 who are trying to put themselves through school? NOT IN NORWAY or FINLAND!!!

And what about the fact that these are socialist countries....putting people's needs and interests, before profit? And where does the push for lifelong learning fall within this issue? A student is a student, no matter how old! Ok, stepping down now...smiles!

W-I-N-T-E-R!

You know WINTER is coming to OSLO, when:

1.) You walk by the Olympic training center (5 minutes from my door) and they are turning an asphalt field into an ice-field. See pictures. There was a dude riding in the back of this golf cart spraying an ice solution all over the asphalt. Quite a sight!

2.) You look for a Halloween pumpkin and all you find is Christmas marsipan. Norwegians take Christmas serious, they start preparing in October!!
3.) You turn your clock back one hour and it snows the next.
4.) You dress in layers...tank top, long sleeve shirt, sweater, fleece, scarf, down coat, gloves...or else you FREEZE!

5.) There is a blizzard as well as the first snow on HALLOWEEN!

6.) They invented crampons for people that live in Oslo...they don't believe in throwing rocks or salt on the icy walkways.

Halloween-American STYLE!

Here are a few photos from my friends back home that really take Halloween quite serious or not-so-serious after a couple of drinks!!

HALLOWEEN- Norwegian Style!
In true Leasa style, I decided to host the pre-party for the Halloween Costume Contest party we would eventually stagger to like the Michael Jackson "thriller" video. The Norwegians don't celebrate Halloween and so when looking for a costume & Halloween snacks, it becomes very difficult. In one day, I walked the city and pieced together a witch costume that would scare the trolls deep in the woods and a few ingredients to make some blood-curdling grub. The pre-party consisted of a pumpkin (yes, I found a true pumpkin), candles, monster munchies, beer, a big bottle of "Vikingfjord" vodka, a gang of pirates (Preet from India, Francois-the French, Jason from Ohio & Greg-the Aussie), an ambrosial devil (Elena from Russia), a walking pumpkin head (Emnet from Ethiopia), and our token Norwegian from Gothic City (Jo). The vodka was drained at the pre-party which resulted in the loss of one of the pirates but the rest of our international coterie danced the night away and closed down the bar at 3 a.m. Woohoo!

Yes, I DO STUDY...joys of the ORAL EXAM!

The Europeans like to be distinct, including the assessment of student learning outcomes. Therefore, I got to experience the joys of oral exams. Imagine this...you write 2 papers, receive limited feedback on the paper (no grade, just tips on how to reference material) and then you must prepare to be grilled for 30 minutes...all material from the last 2 months is fair game and you must prepare to defend your papers. Take into consideration that you have read over 40 articles and 2 books that total about 1500 pages of higher education goodness, not to mention all of the lecture material.

WOOOOHOO...that's when you split town with your family and head to Italia!

On exam day, your head is foggy, yet the sun is shining...you walk into the exam room and there are 2 professors (experts in quality assessment & management) you have never met before but they exude intimidation. You sit down and they ask, "In one of your papers, you use the words 'internationalization' & 'globalization' interchangeably, what is the difference between these two concepts?" It becomes a game of how many names & theories you can drop in 30 minutes. It was challenging and capricious, yet it fulfilled my expectation of just how difficult a masters degree program should be.

So between all the fun in Italia & my family being in town, I was studying intently. I have to say, I enjoy this material so much it didn't feel like "studying" per say. My dad kept saying, "Pumpkin, you need to study. No hiking for you today." I would laugh and head out to the trails. My former boss kept e-mailing me, "So when do you actually do any school work?"

Sister Julie & Papa BOB--

BACK TO AMERICA!!

Oslo & Italy were too much fun, we're tired!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa! After a delightful stay in Cinque Terre, we journeyed to Pisa for a quick overnight and then an early morning walk to the airport (4:45 a.m.). As you approach the leaning tower you see all of these people striking tai chi poses. Then, you realize they aren't working out, they are posing for an action photo: pushing the tower or holding up the tower. It is quite the spectacle and of course, we joined in the madness!! Woohoo, action photos!!!

Cinque Terre...Five Lands

Riomaggiore

Manarola

Corniglia



Vernazza


Monterossa