FIS Nordic World Ski Championships

I don't have tickets to any of the events for the world ski championships but we did go to the opening ceremony Wednesday night. The city is also decorated beautifully with ice/snow sculptures of Edvard Munch's artwork for the championships.

Go America!

I didn't physically see this because I was too short to see past the crowd, but I guess this is what the stage looked like.

Death and Love

The Scream

The Kiss

At the opening ceremony we met an American woman living in Oslo who gave me her number and invited the other Maryland boys and me over for dinner sometime. She asked me to call her so I have to be the one to make the first move. Not something I like doing. But after everyone convinced me it will be okay since there are 4 of us, I decided to give her a call last night. No one picked up. I wonder if she'll call back. 

London > Classes

My class skipping last week continued with a trip to London to visit Andrea. 4 days was the perfect amount of time to see all the major attractions without being exhausted at the end of the day. I think I actually saw everything and even got fish and chips for only 3 pounds! The city has a different feel from Oslo - much more sophisticated and populated. One thing though that is similar to Oslo are the high prices for everything. Womp.

I was completely overwhelmed when we went to Harrods. I knew it was an upscale store but I expected it to be more like Saks Fifth. Nope. Saks Fifth is like Walmart compared to Harrods. Harrods was HUGE. A maze of designer clothes, shoes, toys, home decor, kidswear, accessories, and pet things. We picked up a scarf that was 950 pounds! It even had 2 gift shops just for the store. If we even got close to touching something there was always someone a couple feet away from us watching to make sure we didn't ruin it.

Harrods

Designer pillows for your dog? Why not.

Camden was the most interesting part of London. It had tons of quirky shops and delicious smelling food places. We were bombarded with free samples of chicken just walking down the food strip. And other times when they wouldn't openly offer us samples we'd just stick our hands out and ask for them. It worked most of the time.

They had fish pedicures where the fish would swim around (and eat stuff from?) your feet

Places to sit 

Andrea and I managed to get many people to fall in love with us, including a duck inside Regents Park. You may think it was just hungry and begging for food, but really it fell in love with me.

It came right up to me and put its beak against the fountain <3

And here are some touristy pics:

Lions in Trafalgar Square

Had to.

Getting back to my bed in Oslo was problematic and tiring. First the bus back to downtown Oslo was delayed so I arrived after the last metro. Since I didn't want to pay for the cost of a taxi by myself, I opted to sleep in the bus terminal for 4 hours. Doesn't sound too terrible...but the heat wasn't on, they would only let me sleep sitting up instead of lying down, the bathroom cost 10 kroner, and there was a questionably drunk homeless man winking at me and asking "Hvordan har du det?" Google translate that if you don't know Norwegian.

Barcelona

I don't know anything about architects and architecture, but I think Gaudi may be my new favorite architect. I took my first trip to Barcelona two Saturdays ago to visit my dearest C squared, aka Cindy Castro. I arrived in Barca only to discover that my phone doesn't work internationally, which resulted in Cindy and I wandering around lost at the train station looking for each other for over an hour. Mucho stressful and I freaked out a little but luckily we spotted each other.

I did the usual touristy Barca things and tried to do the bar to club and dance all night scene but my body (and feet) could not last all night and I had to call it quits at around 3 or 4am. It really is a whole different world in Spain. Everything is so laid back and relaxed. No one rushes. Everyone walks so slowly without a care about where they have to be. And they party all night long.

Park Guell and Sagrada Familia were my favorite things that I saw. Both are designed by Gaudi. So beautiful and colorful - like it belongs at the beach.

Sagrada Familia. Construction started in 1882 and won't be completed until 2025! 

Park Guell

Mosaic ceiling in Park Guell

I spent my Valentine's Day with Cindy and 2 of her friends. We went to a Chinese restaurant in the Gracia neighborhood. Oddly enough our server started speaking to me in Mandarin Chinese so I had a conversation with her in Chinese. Who would have thought I would need to whip out my Chinese in Spain? Thanks mom for 13 years of Chinese school. She ended up giving us more food in our orders because she felt bad we were students. After our Valentine's Dinner we went to a really cool lounge called Sham's Lounge that had Buddha decorations and couches everywhere. The atmosphere was very cozy and perfect for a relaxing night. The bartender charged me less than what I ordered so all in all it was a very awesome Valentine's Day.

Being in Barcelona was the first time since leaving America that I really experienced a language barrier. I don't know any Spanish and definitely don't know Catalan. I guess I've taken for granted that everyone in Oslo speaks English very well. The experience wasn't too horrendous though...I had Cindy to translate and speak for me. I was like her mute child in public.

I came home to snow and -20 degree Celsius weather in Norway. Typical. By the way, I walked around in jeans and a tshirt my first day in Barcelona. Man do I miss warm weather. 

Northern Lights

See aurora borealis in Norway: Check.

Aussie Day in OZlo and Happy New Year!

First of all - HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! and HAPPY (belated) AUSTRALIA DAY! We are such a cultural bunch.

There is, surprisingly, quite a large contingent of Australians in our exchange program. At one point I found myself in the kitchen surrounded by 9 Aussies and I was the only non-Australian. I haven't yet understood exactly why someone would leave the beautiful summer heat of Australia to come to the opposite side of the world in the middle of winter, only to go back to more winter once our program is over, but at least they are enjoying it. Last Wednesday (January 26th) the entire building celebrated Australia Day with the Aussies. Picture America's 4th of July in -16 degree Celsius weather (3.2 degree F). Completely wrong season and setting but the decorations more than made up for the lack of sun and warm weather.

The day was complete with Australian food, music, and chants. Almost made me wish I were Australian. 

All my classes have started. I am only taking 3 classes here: Norwegian Language, Norwegian Life and Society, and Marine Mammals. I really love my marine mammals class. The professor has some sort of connection to the fishing world and said that if he is able to get one, we may be able to dissect (and eat?!) a dolphin later in the semester. How fucking awesome. We would never be able to do that at Maryland. 

Kevin, Silvia, and I explored the Oslo Opera House this week. It is such a beautiful building. The roof of the opera house angles straight into the harbor and goes into the water. It opened in 2008 and won a world architecture award. Our floor just booked tickets (the cheapest ones possible) to see the ballet Don Quixote in March at the Opera House. Now I just need to find a nice outfit to wear. 

All the people here from different countries have been cooking traditional meals from their home countries. Like today for the Chinese/East Asia New Year, the Koreans cooked tons of  Korean dishes. Saturday night the French kids are cooking a French dinner. I really want to do something American but 1) I don't know what traditional American dishes are and 2) I'm an awful cook. I thought maybe a Thanksgiving Dinner would be representative of America but I can't seem to find any turkeys here. Or a place to buy flip flops for that matter. My flip flops broke this week and I have been a mess without them. Do you know how hard it is to find flip flops in the middle of winter in Norway? It's actually impossible. So impossible that I got desperate and ordered some off Ebay. It may be cold in Norway but I still need my thongs.