Falling Everywhere

So I rented cross country skis for 3 months. I feel like a fool when I'm skiing but it is quite the workout. We've been going out on the trails behind our apartment building and met this little 9 year old boy Andreas who helps us and races against us. It's not really a race because he can ski two laps to every one of ours but hes adorable anyways. There is also a gym in our student village that isn't university affiliated and we found out this week that it is the Olympic training gym for the national ski team...or something like that. No wonder there are all these super fit, super fast Norwegians skiing laps around (and laughing at) us.

We haven't ventured outside of the city yet, although I hope to leave the country soon to buy alcohol and other necessities since everything here is so ridiculously overpriced. Norway is an extremely green, ft nation so anything that is detrimental to your health is purposely outrageously priced. Smoking, drinking, and driving your own car are expensive habits to have in Norway. Last week we did a lot of city touring. The Nobel Peace Center, where they hold the meetings to discuss the prize, is located in the heart of Oslo. There is this eerie sign attached to the building that lights up "SLAUGHTER" but the S flickers so it reads "LAUGHTER". It seems almost satanic in front of the Nobel Peace Center, like it should be the setting of a clown horror film.

Seriously?

Oh and by the way, this is the scenery around the Nobel Peace Center:

Stunning

I still don't have a roommate. Everyday I come back to my apartment, I wonder if someone new will be there. The University housing messed up and tried to put a boy from the Czech Republic into my room but our rooms are not cogender. Nor would I be comfortable sharing my bedroom with a boy. No worries though because my flatmate kicked him out and sent him somewhere else immediately. 

My sheets were the cheapest ones at IKEA. They feel like dryer sheets. 

With all the skiing, icy roads, late nights, and bad traction, I find myself falling a lot. I have a terrible bruise on my knee and my entire body hurts, but it is so fun!

Snowy Paradise

I made it to Norway! The first couple days were the most relaxing days I've had in a while. I've lost track of time and day with this strange sunlight pattern and semi-jet lag. So far all the international students in our building have just hung out with each other. We literally have students from ALL over the world. We haven't met any actual Norwegians yet since it's just us in the village right now. My flat mates are from Austria and Italy and they speak beautiful English. They make me feel lame because I don't have a romantic accent. 

There is a lake that is about 5 minutes from our village. I've gone for a few runs there but it's really hard in the snow. I've heard that students can rent skis through the university so I am going to look into that once classes start. 

Frozen and snowed over right now

The woods surrounding the lake. Everyone skis. Even little babies

Downtown Oslo is beautiful at night. Our first night here we wandered around the city and walked along the harbor and through the streets. We were also scouting out potential places to eat and drink for later in the semester. Soon it will feel like a second home.  

I finally bought a cell phone. It's a Nokia brick that looks very similar to my very first cell phone in sixth grade. It has a flashlight feature at the top of the phone so when the sun sets at 4pm I have some light to guide me back to my apartment. As soon as I turned it on I realized that it was all in Norwegian (of which I only know 2 words and both are metro related) and had to sit at my computer translating every word into freetranslation.com to change the language into English. 

Last night a got a little taste of home thanks to Jake. Apparently college basketball games don't stream to Europe so I watched the Maryland Duke game through Skype at 2am. I love my friends.

I'm still not entirely sure when my classes start and maybe I'll like them, but right now I am loving this freedom.

Here's my contact info if you'd like to send some love:

Dydy Peng
Olav M. Troviks vei nr. 24
H311
N-0864 Oslo

Mobile #, but prefer skype (+47) 46 34 73 11

Last Night in America

Words of advice from my father, "Pack warm clothes".

Thanks, dad, because I didn't already know it was going to be freezing over there. This is also coming from the man who, when I was in elementary school, thought it would be a brilliant idea to put my gloves in the toaster to warm them up. And just like two pieces of toast, my magenta gloves were crisp and burnt. I learned at a young age that the toaster is only used for food. 

My last two American dinners were classic: cheeseburger from Cheeburger Cheeburger and chicken quesadilla from Qdoba. I've pretty much been gorging myself with as much stereotypical American food as possible these past couple days and even packed a jar of peanut butter in my suitcase. Speaking of food and drink, I read in my travel book that the Norwegian term for "pregame" (i.e pregaming the bars) is "foreplay". Made me laugh out loud while I was sitting in the bank. 

I actually finished most of my packing a couple days ago. I just have some last minute toiletries and plane essentials left. I feel like I'm packing for sleepaway camp again. Except that this time around I'm 20 years old and don't have a counselor to feed me and tell me what to do. I'm excited to finally be on my own in a foreign country and am surprisingly not that nervous. I still have no idea who my roommates are or if they'll even speak English, but I've been to camp enough times to be comfortable around complete strangers and acclimate to new environments. Things might change though once I step off the plane and realize I'm not in America anymore and can't just call my mom whenever I want and expect her to come to me.  

I'm sad I won't be in College Park and Maryland, especially with all my friends who are graduating this spring, but at least I got to say goodbye to everyone that I care about these past few days. Saying goodbye to all my friends has definitely been the hardest part thus far but I'm ready to meet new people and try new things. Plus I'm not really going to be gone. I still exist...on the internet. 

Anyways, I guess I should go to sleep now. My flight tomorrow is a red-eye. Stay tuned for more updates. I promise pictures will be coming soon. 

PS - I'm not writing this post at some obscure hour in the morning. I just switched the time zone to Norwegian time which is 6 hours ahead.