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.
No comments:
Post a Comment