The Daily Grind.

I love Tuesdays at Agder Folkehøgskole! They are very nice for a multitude of reasons. First of all, I usually have pretty fresh laundry on Tuesday if I remembered to wash my clothes the previous weekend;  after I have donned myself in clean clothes, I get to head off to art class where I sort of lose myself in time for a few hours before heading off to lunsj (lunch). Lunsj on Tuesdays is particularly wonderful because they serve us freshly baked, delicious brød (bread) and fruit. For my smørbrød pålegg I have smør (butter), jarlsberg ost (cheese), tomater (translate this yourself), and agurk (cucumbers). After filling my stomach to contented happiness, I skip back to art and assume whatever project I was working on before.

Then 13.00 rolls around and I head over to Salsa to learn some new moves courtesy of Salsa teacher Reino and his Cuban wife Raina. Sometimes Reino and Raina get carried away and show off, which is fine because Reino looks exactly like Santa Claus and it's always hilarious to watch him sway his hips. Then comes Russian, where we sit quietly and practice writing the Cyrillic alphabet and laugh at each other's futile attempts at pronunciation, and occasionally sing songs. I have the Cyrillic alphabet pretty much down now. And I rock at telling people my name in Russian.

After a half an hour break, I shimmy on over to Linedancing with Roy Sheperd. Details can be found in previous posts. After Linedancing is dinner, and then it's the all-school pub crawl, where at least half the people from the school bus on over to Tangvall. Tuesday is the party night, for some odd reason. Maybe it's because we can sleep in on Wednesday. Either way, it's always a good time because the pub never fails to play old Britney Spears. 

Barack Obama= Dreamy?

I have had 2 different dreams about Barack Obama in the past 2 weeks. The first one was that I was a drug dealer (I had just watched a movie about that in real life), and I flew over the Atlantic ocean. And by flew I don't mean on an airplane. I was literally soaring through the sky. I met Barack Obama in a little harbor off the coast of Maine and we were onboard this ship along with his secret service agents. I then proceeded to sell him marijuana along with the promise that "no one would find out about this". Weird dream, right?

Last night I had a dream that my family and I were flown down to Illinois to dine with the Barack Obama and his family in their home. I was really surprised to see that they lived in an average home. When I asked Michelle Obama about it, she told me how expensive campaigning was, and that that was all they could afford. Later that night, after dinner, there was an art opening at the Walker Art Center, so we all flew up to Minneapolis in Barack's private jet. We were exploring around the Walker, and Barack had to keep hiding so that the press wouldn't get all up in his bi'ness. That was that. 

I have a weird dream almost every night here. I don't know why. I like having weird and vivid dreams though, so it's okay.

Random Thoughts and Inconclusions

Considering my vast time spent in Norway, I think I should heretofore be considered the authority on all things Norwegian. I thus have the privilege to point out one irksome quirk about the country of the Norse Gods. Even though people complain about a lot of racism in America, it truly is a melting pot. I mean, think about it. When someone asks you 'what you are', you are likely to reply "Oh, I'm half Irish, 20% German, and some Polish and I think I have a bit of Swedish in me too." We are used to seeing black people and asians, and middle easterners, and all sorts of different people. It is the culture we've grown up with. Norway, on the other hand, a land that has exported a lot of immigrants but never until recently has imported many. This scares a lot of Norwegians who believe that "Norway will have more foreigners than Norwegians by 2015." They think that it will take away their culture. However, this is definitely not all Norwegians, far from it, and most that I have met are very tolerant. It's just a different world here, and they are very unused to immigrants. Much of Europe is going through what the U.S. went through in the 1800's with immigration. 

Anyway, on a different note, I've taken up jogging. It's pretty sweet actually, to be jogging along thinking to myself "Wow, I am jogging in the rocky, forested foothills of Norway, and when I look to my right, I can see a lake, and when I look to my left, I can see the ocean." I also did Windsor Pilates yesterday with Nancy and Siv. 

Class-wise, our electives start this week. Mine are rather exciting: Guitar for beginners, Linedancing (no kidding, this British guy named Roy Sheperd comes in once a week to teach 'modern' linedancing, and shows us dances like the 'Texas Stomp'), Russian, Salsa, Norwegian lessons, Volleyball, and I think I am going to try to take Spanish, and potentially Understanding Film as well.

Olivia's proposed advertisement for studying in Norway:

Decent mocha: $7

Decent burrito: $40

Decent pair of jeans from H&M: $90

Realizing that you speak a language that only 4.5 million other people can speak and all those who speak it also speak English probably better than you do: Priceless.

p.s. While it seems that I am bitter towards Norway, I am actually nothing of the sort. Besides being a little disheartened by the dollar and my lack of purchasing power, I am having a great time. It's really fun at the school here, and there's always something interesting to do and fun people to hang out with.

Mom, you won't believe that my roommate is actually messier than me!

I guess I haven't even posted anything about Norway yet.

I haven't even written about Norway yet, which I suppose is a little ridiculous considering that the title of my blog is Norway Jose, and considering the point was to fill people in on all things Norway. Here goes...

I arrived in Norway approximately one week and one day ago via the famed Danskebåt. I assumed it to be a dinky little ferry boat, but it was really quite luxurious. We didn't want to figure out the bus system by the time we got there because it was about 00.00 and we were tired. So we paid for a taxi and got our first taste of how expensive Norway is. The taxi cost 500 kr. or, about $50 American Dollars. And it only had to drive about 18 kilometers! Anyway, then we set up camp. 

The next day we woke up late and went into Kristiansand to explore a bit. The day after that we hung out with Hannah and Stian. I know Hannah from Skogfjorden, and Stian is her boyfriend. They both love metal. So does Josh. I hate metal. Anyway, Josh and Stian had a conversation about bands and proceeded to fall in love. 

Monday morning was the day Joshua had to leave, so we woke up at about 5:00 to get him to the city so he could take the airport bus. Needless to say, it was very sad and I cried a lot. I was really homesick that whole day afterwards. 

Tuesday went a lot better and Nancy and I learned how to play Risk in Norwegian, and learned crazy words like "erobre" which means "conquer". We made some Risk friends that we've been hanging out with av og til. On Wednesday, Nancy, Elliot and I went into town and hung out with Hannah, Stian and Lee. Elliot goes to folkehøgskole and he is from Madison, Wisconsin. Lee is actually from Minneapolis and I know his sister and his sister's ex-boyfriend from before. 

Last night as Nancy and I were walking to Kiwi with some Norskies, we decided that they all needed to try s'mores. No one in Norway knows what s'mores are! So we bought the ingredients that we need, and now we just need to set a time to make a fire and then make s'mores. Vi gleder oss veldig. 

Vienna in Pictures.

I guess McDonald's is even fancy here.

Cute Salzburg street.

Unsettling artwork in Mozart's haus. Unfortunately the only picture I snagged before I got told "Keine Bild, bitte."

Mozart's haus.

Weirdest (and potentially only) half-gnome half-elf I've ever seen.

I finally had the chance to ride a unicorn at the Mirabell Palace Rose Gardens

Lost in Austria Pt. 2

The opulent Viennese parliament building.

Museum Quartier of Wien

There is a house on top of the Enlightenment-era parliament building.

We definitely did get lost a few times!

This strong guy is holding up the whole building! By himself!

One of the living rooms at Freud's house.

Wuerzburg Spontaneity

So we had a long schedule of what train stations we had to be at in order to arrive in Kristiansand. We first rode from Vienna to Nuernburg, and from there we were supposed to go from Berlin to take the night train to Malmoe and so on and so forth. Anyway, we got off the train to Nuernburg, and then I realized I had forgotten my camera on the train! So I ran back to the train, grabbed my camera (and toiletries bag and a plum which I thus realized I had also forgotten), and then I tried to run off the train. But then, the worst movie moment ever happened. Right as I was running around the corner to the door, I saw it close. I pounded on the door and tried to pry it open as I moved faster and faster away from the platform and watched Josh and our luggage turn into a tiny speckle in the distance.
I promptly began to bawl and sobbed out my story in broken German to some of the train workers. I told them that my passport, eurail ticket, and money was all in Nuernberg along with my boyfriend. So then they told their boss, and after a series of phone calls that I could half-understand, I found out that Josh was on the next train behind us to Wuerzburg. After the most adrenaline-filled train ride of my life, I was reunited with Josh an hour later in Wuerzburg. We then had to change our whole travel plan, and today we figured out that some of our arrival times are the same time that our next train is supposed to depart. So there may be some more confusion today, but if we can handle Wuerzburg, we can handle anything.

Sincerely,
Olivia

P.S. Wuerzburg apparently has 3 of the best 4 wineries in all of Germany and is the beginning of the Romantische Strasse, or, Romantic Road. I would actually recommend it. But I´d also recommend being more prepared!

Pictures from Budapest.

Szechenyi Thermal Baths (Taken by Alan Enman)

Vajdahunyad Castle, or, the Hungarian Agricultural Museum. (Taken by Norbert Banhidi)

Matyas Templom

Forbidden Doorways

Matyas Templom (Matthias Church)

Folk art at the Hungarian Folk Arts Festival

Cute little boy playing a flute obnoxiously.

These pants where EVERYWHERE! What gives?

Overlooking the scenery from St. Gellert Hill.

There's almost nothing more sensual that Hungarian male cheerleaders.

Even better than Cirque Du Soleil

Cool back alleyway.

Maybe it's like anger management?

Beautiful old church.

Downtown Buda as seen from Pest.

Joshua in front of Hotel Lucky. 

Buda + Pest= Opulent Splendor

     Our journey to these foreign and exciting lands started with a mysteriously canceled hotel booking. Looking good, right? Well, no, but I guess we got lucky, because after a deservedly free cab ride, we found our way to Hotel Lucky and our 2 bedroom suite for about $45, or 30.43 Euros, or 7,153.43 Hungarian Forints. Not bad, eh? Budapest mostly consisted of wandering around marveling at the beautiful architecture and scenery, but we also managed to make our way to the Hungarian Folk Arts Festival, which was exactly like the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, only set up along a hill known as castle hill, and the events took place inside of a medieval castle. 

     We also made our way to the famed Szechenyi Thermal Baths, after we passed by the gorgeous Vajdahunyad castle. At first in the baths, all we saw was old people in small swimsuits, but then we found the outside pool. I'd try to describe it, but I'd fail. Just look at the picture. (I couldn't get the pictures in the format I wanted in this post, so they will be in the next post.)