The beginning of the week started out great! I was early to all my classes. I was able to be enrolled into the Molecular Biology Laboratory that I wanted to get into, this lab is a difficult class for international students to get into, and I was able to just settle into the class flow for this semester.

An annoying factor that I did not know of until recently, but on Fridays, my MBV2010 class and my PSY2600 class overlap. It is going to be fun alternating going to lectures for these two classes.

So, far (speaking from week 5 of school) classes are great! Lab is a challenge but it is something that I must endure because the MBV2020 lab transfers directly over to the BCH406 lab for my degree back home. I need this lab!

It has not been difficult at all to adjust to living in the Sogn Student Village, nor has it been difficult to do my own grocery shopping, timely laundry, cleaning of the flat, or attending class. The only problem that I can foresee arising in the future, is the possible lack of interest in attending lecture, due to the fact that all lectures are recorded and uploaded to Fronter, UiO version of WebCampus. I can literally never set foot on campus, except for lab and exams, but that would take the fun out of studying abroad, where the sole purpose of this program is to attend University in another country.

Besides this, I am adjusting well and even exploring the city more and more.

On the First Friday of the semester I explored: the National Opera House and Ballet, situated at the pinnacle of the Oslo Fjord; Oslo Domkirke, which is the main Cathedral in Oslo; walked along Karl Johans Gate, central street of Oslo with many shops; visited the National Theater; saw the University of Oslo Faculty of Law; walked up to the Royal Palace and took a picture with a guard at the entrance!; explored the Royal Palace Park a bit; and upon arriving back to my flat, witnessed the Inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America, my prayers with family and friends.

Woke up on time, but as usual my time seems to run away from me and I’m not a runner, so I couldn’t catch up with it (sigh). So, I arrive at the Police Station, pretty looking building located in the Northeast edges of Oslo.

Of course, when I arrived at the station, I realized that I had forgotten my passport at home! Ay Caray! I had to go all the way back home to get it and headed back to the station. Here they verified my student visa permission and issued a residence card for my duration in Norway.

The thing that I was astounded about on this day . . . I saw a Tesla Taxi. What kind of cruel and unusual punishment is that?!?! A Tesla deserves to be taken care of and treated like a princess! Not work as a taxi! Sorry, but my appreciation for beautiful vehicles knows no bounds.

While I do not generally prefer to hangout with friends at a pub, entrance to Chateau Neuf was free! SO, of course I went. It was fun with live music and meeting new people.

Whooo! This was a very good day! Oslo City Bus Tour! For Free!

We started out the day at Knutepunketet, pronounced “ka-noo-ta-poonk-ta”, the International Student Reception House (Lucy Smiths Hus).

Our first stop of the say was to Holmenkollen! This is in the Northwest and is where the Olympic ski jump and ski jump simulator are located at. This place was simply enormous and the ski jump itself was steep and incredible to look at with a fresh layer of snow on it.

Next stop, Vigelandsparken, also known as the Vigeland Sculpture Park. This was a large park located in the Majorstuen area, we were dropped off at the back of the park and made our way through to the front.

This park is the world’d largest sculpture park made by Gustav Vigeland with more than 200 scultpures in bronze, granite, and wrought iron. This park was completed between 1939 and 1949.

This is a beautiful park filled with statues of naked people in various stages of life and in various forms of emotion: anger, betrayal, happiness, excitement, etc.

The most famous sculpture being the “angry baby”. I have more park pictures on my camera which I will upload in the gallery section.

Our third and final stop was at Akershus Fortress, which is still used as a military base/outpost today, but is a waterside fortress and former prison. This is located at the edge of the water at the apex of the Oslo Fjord.

Day three was a a slow-ish day.

The day started out with the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences meeting for bachelor’s students. This one hour briefing was just a welcome to the specific department in the school and some registering information for classes. There was of course: bread, coffee and tea afterwards.

Right after this, I went to see the Norwegian Police, who were on campus that day, to help us set up an appointment to confirm and create our residence card.

Following this I believe I went to explore a shopping center in the city center.

Sorry for just posting! It has been a rad first two weeks here in Oslo so far, I have much to tell you 😉

So, that Tuesday two weeks ago was Orientation Day! Whoo!

Orientation was at 9:30 in the Georg Sverdrups Hus, which is basically the main library on campus, even though each of the 8 faculties have their own library in their buildings. The equivalent of the MIKC on the UNR campus.

We had a welcome lecture from the top dog of the school, I think he was he dean or the president, can’t really remember, but he did have some good dad jokes!

Also, forgot to mention in my last post that I was able to try some Norwegian food. The first thing that I tried was called “brunost”, which is the most beloved cheese of Norge. This is a brown cheese that has a slightly caramel flavor to it. Very good! It is made from goat milk whey.

I also tried their mackerel on bread with what I am assuming was mayonnaise. This was also very good! Incuded with this food, was a ham product, which I did not try for obvious reasons, and there was additionally fruit platters and an orange drink similar to Fanta.

After this orientation day there was an ice skating social at a “rink” close to downtown. Now, when I say “rink” I don’t mean what you would traditionally assume an ice rink to look like. This rink was basically a sheet of natural ice in what is like a playground setting, it would seem someone had just hosed down a large flat area at the park and let it freeze over night. There were no side walls for any newbies to hold on to to prevent falling. I did not skate because organized physical group activities are really not my thing. Also, the weather was pretty crappy for being out and about, let alone ice skating.

P.S. Norwegians really like bread and “samiak” which is a salted black licorice, delicious! And don’t forget regular old yummy chocolate.

That night was also the first night that I actually made real people food! I made stuffed bell peppers; the stuffing had rice, chicken, more bell peppers, and spices. Good stuff! I almost burnt it though because I forgot that Americans are weird and use Fahrenheit, when the rest of the world uses Celsius. OMG. I had set the oven to 275 degrees celsius, yikes. That’s 400-something degrees fahrenheit.

I think there was another outing at a pub somewhere, but honestly, I’m not much of a pub goer. Seems like a lot of forced social awkwardness since you don’t know your buddy group that well and can’t really be completely comfortable with them yet. Ugh. I have 6 months to get comfortable though, so who cares about one or two missed nights of elbow to elbow, shouting into ears, and interesting people watching pub crawls.

Woke up in the morning feeling like Pdiddy…

Just kidding. My morning started out great! Went to Elkjop to remedy my wifi situation only to find out that they were sold out of the Router that I wanted, it was 199NOK, so cheap! So, I had to go all the way to Skøyen to get the router, which was across town.

From there, I decided that since I was already out and about, that I would just go buy some groceries for myself, since I was craving something nutritius and was something that was actually a meal. I headed over to Grønland, which has a heavy immigrant population, that sells cheap, but worth, vegetables. Once there, I realized that a) there are a lot of desi folk walking about, and b) there are a lot of muslims walking about. Grønland is made up of small boutique type shops with amazing deals. So, I bought food from the store, Meny, and made my way back to Sogn.

At 14:00, I went to Vilhelm Bjerkne’s Hus on the Blindern Campus to meet my buddy group. In the Matemathics and Natural Sciences Faculty, I  was placed in the Lutefisk group! Whoo! Lutefisk is sort of the traditional/national/acquired taste dish of the country.

While at this meet, we played an “awkward” name game and then procedded to take a tour of campus. After this, we went to the Georg Sverdrups Hus, which houses the general campus library and had a “social hour”. There is a library for each faculty. After which, we went to a lecture titled, “Norway in a Nutshell”, which outlined what to expect as international students, how to dress for the weather, and various useful/unusful knowledge. Following this, we went back to the Vilhelm building and proceeded to consume delicious pizza.

Later that night, the Social Sciences faculty hosted a welcome party at the pub located in their basement. Interesting fact: all faculties on campus have a pub in their basement. These pubs are a gateway to a great many things and opportunities that you don’t want to miss. I didn’t go to this party becasue I knew that there would be a party each night of this welcome week, so I had a relaxing evening in.

So, the title says it all.

Nothing is open on Sundays. Nothing, except for a select few Nervesens in Central Station, only because that place is busy 24/7.

Such a struggle when I am trying to set up my wifi connection, but none of the Elkjops, sort of like a Best Buy, are open. Therefore, I just basically walked around places. The USAC group was meeting at the Nobel Peace Center, but me being me, forgot about it/was late so I decided not to even make the effort/decided to explore on my own. Took some really nice pictures too! I ended up being in the same area as the Nobel Peace Center, just a bit more south, by the water. I visited the Astrup Fearnley Museet and the surrounding area. Let me tell you, waterfront property is BEAUTIFUL, and the view is not half bad either.

After such a long day, I headed home, only to realize that the USAC group was meeting at Curry and Ketchup for dinner. SO, I dragged my flatmates with me to the restaurant, because I definitely was not waking across town at night time! We had a great time and dinner was on USAC, whooo! Free food is always a favorite of any college student. After dinner we headed home, some went to the pub to hang out and others just returned to their flats. I was part of the latter.

Also, my luggage arrived! Hallelujah!

Woke up at around 6 in the morning, but it was still pretty dark out. Ate an apple with the hazelnut spread that I had picked up from the Rema 1000 the night before. Also, had a protein shake, although, Mother, if you’re reading this, the taste of the cappuccino blend is kinds weird and the vitamin pills definitely make me kinda nauseous.

SO, I left my flat around 8 in the morning to go down to central station because I know for sure that there is free wifi there. From there, I walked a bit to the free Ikea bus stop, and 15 minutes later I was at Ikea.

First time visiting Ikea, I loved the place! Here I bought a bed sheet, a flannel blanket, a hand towel, two pillos, food containers, a candle, a rug/throw thing, and some hangers. All for 619NOK, which is around 72$.

Lugging all this back to my flat was a cardio workout for me, that’s for sure!  I also explore campus a bit with my little.

Other than that, I just had noodles for dinner and went to bed at 7 pm because I was just so tired!

So, hi everyone! I know it’s been 3 days since I landed in Oslo, but I’ve been really busy! SO, now, I actually have time to sit down and write everything out.

Let’s start from Thursday morning, January 5, 2017.

Knowing that I was about to embark on a 6 month-long journey in less than 12 hours, I couldn’t sleep a wink and instead spent time with my brother driving around town, as a sort of last hurrah, together. Around 1:30 am I received an email from my airlines saying that my 6:00 am flight had been cancelled due to the inclement weather (snow storm!). I was so scared that everything was going to go wrong and that I would not make it to the meet and greet on January 6th. Luckily, I realized that I’m a “grown up” now and am capable of fixing my own problems without breaking down in hysterics or calling my parents about solutions every minute. Hence, I called the airlines and was able to have my journey re-routed. My original flight plan would have taken me from Reno to San Francisco, San Francisco to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Oslo. The new itinerary would be taking me from Reno to Denver, Denver to Washington D.C., D.C. to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Oslo. This new plan was going to have me arrive 4 hours earlier than the original plan so I was exceptionally excited. Relieved that everything was going to be alright, and under my own steam too, I tried to get some sleep, which did not happen.

Thinking that everything was alright, my family woke up around 4 am to get ready to send me off. Something that I did not take into account when departing from my house was a) the snowy road conditions, b) the earlier flight time of 5:45 am instead of 6:00 am, and c) the traffic of people trying to get to work. All these factors lead me to arrive just minutes late of the doors closing on the flight I was supposed to take to Colorado. ARGH!

From here, my dad and I talked to the airlines agent who was able to get me on a different itinerary to Oslo. This new plan was going to take me from Reno to Chicago, Chicago to Munich, Munich to Oslo. Thankfully, the first flight out was leaving at 8:15 am, and since I was already at the airport, I said my goodbyes to my family right then and there and went in to await my flight.

Of course, that wouldn’t be the end of the story if it was a nightmare, now would it? Nope! Due to the icy condition the plane’s wheels were stuck to the tarmac. These needed to be defrosted before the plane would be able to go anywhere. Then, the plane exterior needed to be defrosted. Midway through the defrosting process, the machinery that was spreading the defrosting solution all over the plane, ran out of the solution. Which, needing to be refilled, took an inordinate amount of time. After the machine was refilled, the rest of the plane was defrosted. But, that’s not the end of it. The plane needed to be covered in anti-frost solution, so nothing would freeze up at 30,000 feet in the air, which would not be good for me or anyone on that flight! This whole process took 2 hours.

Anxious to get the heck out of dodge, the plane was finally taxied out and we were then able to make our way toward the runway, where we soon took off.

Arriving in Chicago, I double-checked my tickets and realized that I had 15 minutes to make it to my connecting flight! If you’ve ever been to O’Hare International Airport, then you know my struggles when I say I had to make it from the end of Terminal 3 to the end of Terminal 1. I know there is a small tram-like thing that circles around on the outside, but I had so little time to think, didn’t know where the transport was, and I knew that I needed to eat something before taking off on the 9 and a half hour flight to Munich, that i just basically fast walked/ran to my flight. But, this is me we’re talking about so it doesn’t just end there. I, for some reason, thought that I needed to head to gate C10, but when I got there, there was no one in the sitting/waiting area. Imagine my panic thinking that I had missed my flight! Looking at the flight board, I realized that my plane was boarding at gate C19, which was in the other wing of Terminal 1! Running to that gate I was able to make it before they closed the door on the flight. Phew!

All out of breath, carrying a McDonald’s bag full of greasy food, carrying my grossly overweight, but still managing to escape the scrutiny of the hawk-eyed attendants so as not to have to check my bags, I headed to my seat. Taking my seat, the only thing that is on my mind is taking off my heavy snow boots and eating my McDouble burger with fries. The kids sitting next to me are of course a little exuberant, prompting the mother of the children to switch seats with me. I complied, because even after the struggles of my day, I’m not going to be that asshole that doesn’t want to give up my seat for anyone, even if it keeps a mother from her children. So, switching seats with her, and lugging half my life with me to the other side of the plane, I plopped down into my seat and prayed for the blissful embrace of sleep. Of course that didn’t happen right away.

On the bright side, I met an awesome girl in the seat next to me who was going to go study abroad like me, but in Verona, Italy! We exchanged contacts and even hung out in the Munich airport together while waiting for our respective flights.

The only reason I needed to arrive on Friday before 4 pm, was to pick up my housing keys so I had a place to stay for the night. Not only was it after sunset that I arrived in Oslo, I was snowing and I had luggage to tug around. Slightly freaking out that I was going to freeze to death on my first night alone and abroad, I called my mom. Just knowing that I was able to call her was a godsend and calmed my nerves like nothing can. Waiting for my bag forever on the carousel, I soon realized that my bag was never going to come out and in fact had not even left Munich! I file a form with the Lufthansa airlines and hoped my bag to be delivered to me in a speedy manner. Of course, I didn’t know which building or room I would be staying in the Sogn Student Village, Sogn Studentbolig, so I just gave the airlines my general address and hoped they would be able to deliver it to me and not just leave it out somewhere on the building grounds.

Luckily, having just switched over from AT&T to T-Mobile, I had access to unlimited data and text while abroad, hence I was able to contact my friend, and little, to pick up my house keys for me before the office closed. Having that aspect of my worries figured out, I then had to figure out how to even get to my place. I had to figure out how to buy a train ticket to get from the airport to the Oslo Central Station. From there I had to buy a transport card to take the metro from Central Station to Ullevål Stadion. Having never used public city transportation before, I took the wrong T-bane line. But, quick thinking, after discovering my mistake, I got off at the next stop and made my way onto the correct line and got off at the stop I needed to disembark on. From there, I asked direction from two boys who didn’t know where Sogn Studentby was at first, but after describing it to them, they were able to point me in the right direction.

My little found me on my way to the village and helped my woe-begotten form by carrying my obscenely heavy bags for me; all the way up the small mountain to my room, which just happened to be at the top of the hill, on the seventh floor!

Finally finding peace and comfort, in the knowledge that I had successfully made it to my destination, even though life threw me curveball after curveball, I dumped everything I had on me and went to meet new students around he village. Going home at the end of the night, I hopped into bed and passed out from sheer exhaustion.

And that concludes my travel and arrival in Oslo, Norway!

Fun fact: Sogn Student Village used to be the Olympic Village that housed the Olympians of the 1952 Winter Olympics.