My FAVORITES!

There just some food items that I have come to love in Norway. As I begin my journey to pack up my life in Oslo and move onto darker & colder places, like Finland, I am enjoying the little Oslonian (is that a word) luxuries. Here are a few of my favorite food items:
The best flatbread around!! Left side...
The best mayonnaise/mustard combo...do I even like mayonnaise? No...

Ohhh...turkey meat!

The Norwegians are clever...they make these containers with two compartments; one for the yogurt and one for the muesli. Then, you simply flip the muesli compartment and it oh so nicely pours into the yogurt. No mess. No clean-up. Oh, and they glue a mini spoon to the container too...so, it's b-fast on the go.

Jarlsberg Norwegian cheese...makes the best grilled cheese sandwich!

Oh NUTS! Packaged nuts, doesn't get much better than that and California walnuts...that cracks me up.

Oatmeal, malt-o-meal, and rice pudding varieties. Good for stick-to-the-tummy breakfast. Took me awhile to figure out that the orange package was oatmeal...

PBJ, need I say more?!

The best bread in this world!

Oh, a tasty herb cheese. Great with the flatbread and feta-stuffed olives.

Thanksgiving in NORWAY?

...Ever since the American's invaded they do. (Oh, that's not so funny.) But, it is funny how many of you...my dear family & friends in the good 'ol USA asked, "So, what do they do in Norway for Thanksgiving?" Well, they work, eat brown cheese and call it a normal day. But when the American's are cooking a 12 pound turkey they celebrate Thanksgiving! My dear friend, Jessica, a fulbright from the U.S. hosted Thanksgiving dinner for 25. It was the most cultural Thanksgiving I have ever experienced; the Columbians, Norwegians, Germans and Swedish were licking their chops after eating some bird, stuffing, mashed yam, potatoes and pumpkin pie. They were all very curious about our holiday tradition and the origin (good thing I studied up on the origins of Thanksgiving...good ol' google!) The wine was flowing, the food was delicious and the company was genuine. It is strange to live in a country where they don't celebrate the special days you cherish so deeply. However, on this evening I found perspective, it is refreshing to share traditions with people who are genuinly interested. Even though I missed my family with intensity yesterday, I still got up and ran the annual 5K Thanksgiving Turkey Trot (without my sister, in the pouring rain, with no-one else on the race course.) I ended the day reflecting on how thankful I was to have this cultural exchange with individuals from around the world.

Day Trip to Malmö, Sweden

During our trip to Copenhagen, we decided to take a quick 20 minute bus ride over the ocean on the 5-mile Oresund bridge to visit Sweden.

Malmö is a sweet little town on the water with 270,00 residents. When we arrived it was rainy but the quaintness still shined brightly through the waterdrops. We made our way to the main square and discovered the ornate city hall. Everywhere we went the Christmas decor was lit up or at least being worked on (see photo). The Scandanavians take their Christmas decor serious, afterall...this is home to Santa Claus! And Sweden is also home to some amazing tennis stars, including our friend Björn Borg...who owns an undie store that is really expensive (see photo and be sure to click on his name to be directed to his HOT website). We had spicy hot thai food, visited the chocoloate museum and were entertained by the musical characters all along the pedestrian mall. Before we new it, it was 3:45 p.m. and we were boarding the bus back to Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is a beautiful Scandanavian city!

After a nap, we were off to discover and explore the charming city that is famous for bacon (yes, that is right, Bacon). Luckily, the Danish have decided to preserve the ageless beauty of the city and there are endless spires, copper topped architecture and statues. We found ourselves a cute little danish cafe with brilliant pepper cookies, gingerbread and danish pastries (we visited this cafe everyday.) The Nyhavn harbor is the most beautiful Scandinavian harbor I have seen, even under the grey skies, the color of the boxy 17th century buildings were popping (see top photo). The Danish are bike-friendly, in fact they have bike lanes all over the city and during rush hour you are more likely to be run over by a cyclist rather than a motor-vehicle. Copenhagen is cheaper than Oslo, so we splurged and had ourselves a nice dinner at a Mediterranean buffet for 69Kroner = $12US.

Denmark is also known for it's socially liberal views and one of the "tourist" attractions is the self-governing, free city of Christiana. This shanty-town began back in the 70's as a "social experiment" for hippies, artists and musicians, now it has become a city of 1,000 who peddle drugs and drink heavily. Walking through the free city, we saw numerous people with blurry eyes at different stages of nirvana. As we walked down "Pusher Street", the main drag (no pun-intended), a gang of policeman sauntered past us, packin' big guns. Just recently, the police enforcement of Copenhagen have decided to crack down on the hash market in Christiana, you might have seen this on CNN.

Copenhagen by Ferry!

COPENHAGEN OR BUST...

3 of my classmates & I went to Copenhagen, Denmark by overnight ferry (a.k.a. the overnight party cruise). After boarding the ferry at 5 p.m., we discovered hot-tubs, 4 bars/clubs, a duty-free shop (with cheaply priced wine), eateries and 9 decks. This boat was the epitome of a "love boat", minus Julie McCoy & Issac. Our night got started with some wine/cheese/flat bread/olives in our small little cabin. After 3 bottles of wine, we made our way the bars where we danced the night away to the sounds of a cheesy live band and a DJ ripping booty songs. My head hit the pillow at 5 a.m., just in time for the wake-up call at 9 a.m. Yes, there was much more to that night...but I would need a novel to tell you about it. Let's just say, it was memorable! We arrived in Copenhagen, found our hostel and met up with 3 more of our classmates who decided to forgo the party cruise for an overnight bus excursion.

Off to Copenhagen...

Today I woke up and discovered the trains on the track by my student village were out of commission. Therefore, I had to take a bus to another train station and jump on a different train. Sweet, a nice way to spend a snowy morning. Luckily, I had woken up earlier than usual. Just wanted to share with you the trials and tribulations of living the european lifestyle...you never know about public transportation! Here is a photo of a snowy day at my student village. Yeah baby!!

I have a busy next few weeks, therefore my blog posts may be far and few between...but I'll try my hardest to be faithful.

November 15-19 Trip to Copenhagen
November 23-30 Write paper
November 30-Move out & move into Ali's
December 5-7-Travel to Stockholm & Uppsala, Sweden (maybe)
December 8-10-Ski Lillehammer, Norway
December 11-To Denver, Colorado
January 1-To Helsinki, Finland

A November walk in the WOODS...

Today, after realizing I was suffering from cabin fever, I ventured out into the woods for a big hike. My intention was to get some fresh air, listen to good tunes (I-POD rocks!), and get my body moving...but I also got to experience many Norwegian cultural nuances that I want to share with you. On my way to the lake, I passed by the ice rink at the olympic training center and watched little kids play hockey (see photo). The sun was shining and Louis Armstrong was singing to me, "What a Wonderful World." Around the lake, the wind was cutting through the layers of fleece, gloves, scarves but as I started climbing I quickly warmed up. The Beastie Boys sang to me, "Body-movin'!" It was a Sunday, therefore many Norwegians were in the woods (everything in Oslo is closed on Sundays) as Arrested Development sang, "Everyday People." But Norwegians aren't everyday people, they are crazy...the trails were completely iced over and the amazing thing...no on was wearing crampons. But, they were wearing their knickers and wool socks (see photos), "Yes, Yes, Ya'all" by Sergio Mendez. As I made my way to my favorite cabin (Skjennungstua) 8.5 km up the in the woods, OAR sang to me, "Patiently"...over the icy trails. It was quite the adventure! Another amazing thing...when I arrived at the hut...there was the longest long I have experienced to purchase a homemade blueberry muffin (see photo). But, it allowed me time to check out the stroller parking area...where parents leave not only their stroller but also their baby. The thought is that babies sleep better in the cold. Lenny Kravitz sang to me, "I Belong to You." As I ate my muffin in the sunshine, John Denver proudly sang, "Sunshine on My Shoulder." I headed out on the icy trails again with Red Hot Chilipeppers playing in my ear, "Can't Stop"...5km to the train and the top of the mountain. I felt as if I was in a movie, the music was perfectly timed with my experiences...

Oh what a day, 15km (9.32 miles) of icy hiking! This will remain a fond memory for years to come. My soul is refreshed and the mind is clear...now time to read and pack for Copenhagen.

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!