Polse and Lomper: New Staples in my Oslo Diet.

This week was the official start to my stint as an international exchange student at the Universitet i Oslo. As such, the academic year would not have been complete without an Orientation! It came to an end this weekend but not without some crazy adventures!

Monday was a breezy day. The only thing we were scheduled to do was pick up information packets on campus. After I picked mine up amidst the craziness of the international student reception area, I proceeded outside and walked around campus. UiO is a beautiful campus with many areas outdoors to sit and relax, something that I did with much enjoyment. It was a pleasant first meeting with the locale that I would forge a special relationship with for the next 5 months. 

Tuesday was the Welcome Ceremony at the UiO Law School in Downtown Oslo at Karl Johans Gate. Both international and new students packed into the school square; so many anxious and excited faces that it was hard to listen to the rhythmic Norwegian speeches. UiO's very own acclaimed orchestra played various pieces including a Navras-esque piece that riveted me into a slight orgasm. After the ceremony we met our Buddy Groups; similar to SU's OA friends, these small groups functioned as a social mixer complete with two current UiO students who served as Buddies (they even wore red shirts!). My group's Buddies were Sigrid and Endre who are both really cool :) In my group,

there are several Americans, a Brit, an Aussie, an Italian, a Pole, a Canadian, and lots of Norwegians. A delish mix! After the ceremony, we went back to campus for a free meal (Orientation and free food go hand in hand, of course!) and a tour of campus. Later on that evening, we all met up again at the Faculty 

of Humanities' pub called Uglebo, had a few beers and got to know each other a little more. This was my first time consuming alcohol in Europe as well as purchasing legally outside of the U.S. (well, not counting Guam). It was in a word: fun. 

Wednesday was the Nuts and Bolts section of Orientation. It was a full day of being bombarded with information about visas, permits, semester fees, registration, faculty advisors, and IT. After my brain could not soak up anymore, we were set free. I took another trip to Ikea to get a lightbulb that I stupidly forgot to pick up when I bought a lamp on another trip. That was a feat of intellectual achievement, let me tell you...

Thursday was pretty much the same as Wednesday; we had meetings but this time it was in our respective faculties. Mine being in the humanities, we poured into the Sophus Bugges hus auditorium where we met the dean and other important figures. After, I took another Ikea trip, but this time it was to show three buddies, Devin, Erik and Agnes to the bus station as they had never been yet. Rushing so we could catch the bus from Slependen, we headed back to downtown and called it a day. 

Friday was cool; my buddy group got together on campus and played some lawn games. Well, it was mostly the guys playing futbol and frisbee and the girls playing croquet while the other slightly athletically challenged buddies like myself (by this I mean, professional audience members) sat, watched, and chatted. After some free fruit, lemon-flavored water and sunbathing, we split and a bunch of us went to Chateau Neuf for the International Coffee Hour. Arriving into a packed, humid, and unaccommodating space, our group left and had coffee down the street in pretty Majorstuen. We went to this cute place called United Bakeries, which reminded me a lot of Cafe Victrola on the Hill. It became my new favorite place after I paid for a delicious cup of black coffee (27 kroner; about $5.20) and discovered that it was unlimited refills. For reals: my new favorite place. After, we headed home and then met up again at Uglebo for some more post-week fun. 

Saturday and Sunday are one complete entity as the day's events are inextricably wound together. We started off with an Orientation event on Hoverdoya, the main island in the waters off the Oslo piers. It is a major park area with trails, beaches, huge tracts of lawn for

 buddy group hangout seshs and the like. It was once a prison island that also housed 

a medieval convent; the ruins to provide evidence for this were spectacular. And there we were, drinking beer, grilling polse (hotdogs) to eat with lomper (tortilla-like flatcakes made from potatoes), and merry-making amongst the ruins. I left early so I could meet my flatmates on the island's beach; I got lost and couldn't find them. So I decided to go home and take a nap. I got to the pier and got on the only ferry present thinking it would take me directly to the pier we had set out from. But no, I took a little ride. Apparently the ferry that I got on was the one going in the other direction toward the other end of the island. So there I was, ferrying in the Norwegian waters on a nice detour. It

was oddly riveting feeling lost on the water, no doubt adventurous like the Vikings who navigated the same waterways earlier. But I did get back safely. I had planned to join Agnes at a party in the evening so I went to meet her around 20:00 in Majorstuen. We went to her friend Frederikke's place, a beautiful apartment in Majorstuen, for the forsk (directly translated means foreplay) which is the Norwegian equivalent to our American pre-funks. The apt. was like a posh, Euro entertainment space. We entered the room (where we saw them watching MTV) and were introduced to everyone. After some arguing about the music, we put a playlist on and started a game of Tipsy cups. This of course, led to riotous laughter and comraderie which prompted a trip downtown to a bar. We went to this place called Biblos and had a few more pitchers. Dancing was fun. They actually have really good music to dance to here in Oslo. It was to a techno backbeat but very rhythmic, with reggae, Spanish, and lots of Hip-Hop/Pop. Dancing to Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" was priceless. Having no sense of direction, awareness, or volition, we walked for about 30 minutes tipsily thru downtown Oslo where we adopted two other guys, both of whom I don't remember their names :) Getting back to Frederikke's at around 5 am, peopled crashed, others drank more, and I sat on the sofa to inhale my water. Seeing as the sun was up and the party was entering its "post" stage, I went to the T-Bane to wait for the first subway of the day. '

To reflect, my time in Oslo thus far has been breathtaking. If this past week's events are any indication of the time that I'm going to have here, I'm in for an adventure of a lifetime :) As my escapades continue, I will continue to update. 

Until the keyboard calls again,

Your friend, Jon