Saturday, January 30, 2010

What I Know

~Hei! Hav heter du?
-Hallo! Jeg heter Kayla.
~Hvor kommer du fra?
-Jeg kommer fra USA.
~Hvordan gammel er du?
Jeg er tjue ar gammel.
Og nei, jeg shakker ikke Norsk!

So yes my name is just Kayla not Michaela. I do come from the USA, and no I'm not from Oregon. Yes I am only 20 years old and no I can't legally drink in the USA. By the way I don't speak Norwegian and I have no idea what you are trying to tell me.

*Smoked Salmon tastes like raw fish.
*You are pegged as an American when you don't shower naked in the community showers.
*It's not easy making new friends when you don't speak the same language, but even harder when you have to figure out what they are saying when they are naked.
*Walking everywhere makes you realize how much you hate to leave the house and think twice about going anywhere that's not absolutely necessary.

*The Norwegians have strollers that are for off-roading or they just use sleds to tote their children about.
*Get all of your errands done Saturday morning so you can sit at home all day Sunday, just like the Norwegians do.
*Fruit in Norway tastes better than it does in Nebraska.
*They don't have canned soup, but bagged soup instead.
*If you want to shop, go to Denmark.
*Learn to appreciate things you had at home, such as a toaster, microwave, dishwasher, washers that hold more than two pairs of jeans, and dryers that actually dry your clothes.
*You don't have to wear real clothes in Norway, just leggings and an oversized t-shirt will do.
*Don't take Popsicles, hot dogs, and bottles on the bus, they are forbidden.
*Finally, nothing is instantaneous here like in America, so bring your patience.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Note to Self...

Note to self:
*When in Norway, get used to all of the nakedness, the more you try to be modest the more people stare at you so just walk around naked like everyone else.
*Norwegians don't shovel the side walk so prepare to go hiking when you need to run to the grocery store, slip on all of the ice and slush, and walk in the street because you don't know if your walking on the sidewalk or on someones lawn.
*Although most Norwegians will stop for you to cross the street, even when their light is green, not all do. Be aware of those who don't stop for you because they don't just keep going but they speed up and try to hit you.
*Caution, bicyclists are the most dangerous people on the street. They don't warn you that they are coming up behind you and are trying to pass you. Occasionally you get the nice bicyclist who will whistle or clear their throat for you otherwise the rest are all out to run you over.
*Just because most people speak English in Norway doesn't mean that the food in the grocery store will be in English or the instructions either, so make sure all you need to know is the temperature for the oven and how long it needs to cook. Otherwise I sure hope you have the time to translate.
*There are no water fountains! You must fill your bottle up out of the sink. In most of the class rooms at school there is a sink, if on the off chance there isn't, you can use the bathroom sink.
*There aren't very many bathrooms with stalls. Most bathrooms are just a toilet, sink, and dryer. So ladies don't wait in line for the girls bathroom, just use the guys.
*There is no such thing as a Walmart in Norway! Nothing even close so you must plan accordingly, such as what is perishable, how far you must go, and how much you can carry in one trip.
*All stores are closed on Sundays, except for the gas stations and a handful of restaurants downtown (at least a 45 min walk for me). Stores also close at 4 on Saturdays, so weekend shopping is not an option unless you get it all done early Saturday.
*You can only buy alcohol until 8 pm on weeknights and 6 pm on Saturday night so be prepared for the weekend and but on weekdays on your way home from school.
*Norwegian food has very little sugar compared to American food. So the jam actually tastes like fruit and the juice is just juice...weird I know.
*Wear your walking shoes! You have to walk everywhere because taxis are expensive and taking the bus requires you to know the stops are and what bus goes on what route.
* You don't have to wear pants! My dream come true! Girls don't wear pants here they only wear leggings or jeans that are painted on them, no real pants!

*ja is yes; ni is no; fiske is fish; takk is thank you; tusen takk is a thousand thanks; and that is all of the Norwegian I know!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

SURPRISE!!

So today I went to the gym. I lifted and then went swimming. So I hung my towel on the hooks in the girls locker room by the shower for when I got done. So I go swimming for 45 min and then go into the locker room and take a shower. I go to where I put my towel and find that its not there. So im wandering around looking for my towel when this naked lady starts talking to me in Norwegian and i was all like i speak english, trying not to stare at her. She asks me what i was looking for and i explain to her that i couldnt find my towel, all the while she is still standing there naked talking to me. She tells me to look in the sauna because there were some ladies in there and they might have taken my towel. So i open the sauna door and to my utter surprise there are three naked ladies with oil all on them, legs spread open for all to see. So i quickly drop my head and quietly ask if they have seen my towel. The first naked lady then comes up from behind me and tells them what im asking them in norwegian. Then one of the naked, oily ladies was all like yeah i think i do have your towel, you can have it back when im done. In the mean time you can use mine, its still clean. Still staring at the floor, i quickly mumble a thanks and retreat back to my locker. After she was all done with my towel, she kindly gave it back to me. I think i need a new towel, no amount of laundry soap will fix that.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

A Thank You Letter

Dear Santa,
Thank you Santa for the kitchen supplies you gave Kelsey! I really appreciate it, since Im the one who does all of the cooking. Im so excited! I cant wait to cook with all of my new supplies, especially the measuring cup, the strainer, and real dishes! Just so you know Santa, I can cook and I make sure Kelsey and I are eating from all of the food groups. Although we really enjoy their ice-cream and candy here in Norway, we still eat healthy and go to the gym most days. Thanks again Santa!

Love,
Kayla

Monday, January 11, 2010

Today...


Today I went to my first class only to find out it was canceled. The good news is it wasnt just me who thought we had class. The teacher didnt post anything on Frontier (BlackBoard) to say he wasnt starting class until next week for the other exchange students who havent arrived.


Once I left school I stopped at the gym and worked out (the fourth day in a row!) and then came home and took a nap. All of the walking and working out has tired me out.


I made homemade soup for dinner! Its really not a flavor, just veggies and noodles with chicken flavoring in it.


Watched Boondock Saints before my nap.


Read the rest of Of Mice and Men.


It was a good day today....SUNNY! all day long...until the sun went down at 4.


Ohh sun how I miss you....

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Sundays

I dont like Sundays here. Nothing is open...except for the gas station and the gym. So I did go to the gym today, but couldnt find a reason to go to the gas station. I miss doughnuts on Sunday mornings and basketball in the afternoons. No one does anything here.
I did do my laundry today and read half of Of Mice and Men.....

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Norwegians

I dont know if its because Im at the gym or what but Im sick of seeing naked Norwegians. They dont have a care in the world about who see them naked. It doesnt matter if its in the gym locker room or the pool locker room, but they are always naked.

The girls dress either like they are straight out of the 80s or they paint their clothes on. Guys dress in either girl pants or sweaters...sometimes both.

Not everyone speaks English and they will talk to you in Norwegian first. So I wait patiently until they have said what they want to say and then I reply "I speak English"

Everything in the grocery store is in Norwegian....even the cooking directions...HELP!

When they say walking distance it means walking a marathon. A half hour walk is just a short 30 min walk to wherever...a stroll in the park

The Norwegians are a lot nicer than Americans...they are people pleasers for the most part

Game night?

So yesterday the ERASMUS students who are connected throughout Europe with foreign exchange students threw all of the foreign exchange students at UiA a game night party in one of the dorms. Lets just say its not exactly the kind of game night that one would expect from a school affiliation. It reminded me of high school where everyone brought their own beer or whatever you prefer and sat around and drank with some loud music playing. Then later on in the night the games were going to be drinking games. Kelsey, Rachel, and I left at 10 due to the fact that it was pointless to be there if you werent going to drink. We all thought it to be unwise to drink in a foreign country when you dont really know anyone there, you have to walk home from a place youve never been, and its freezing cold out. Its really funny how different it is here. At home we all would have gotten in trouble for drinking in the dorms, here its encouraged.
We stoped at the store on the way home and got ice-cream and watched the Notebook...now thats my kind of party!

Friday, January 8, 2010

Does the devil wear snowpants?


So Kelsey and I had to go to the police station to get our passports stamped in the immigration office, we had to wait 2 hours. During this lovely wait, this little boy was insane. He was flipping light switches on and off, pushing the button to take a number (i believe him and his mother had about 6 different numbers), running through the halls, you name it he did it. The whole time this is happening, his mother is on her phone playing some game or something. Then all of the sudden, the little boy comes up to Kelsey and just kicks her. It was so funny, I busted out laughing and the boy then kicked her some more. After he got tired of kicking Kelsey, he went and wheeled his stroller over to his mother wanting a snack. She started to peal an orange for him and he finished it. Once the orange was pealed, he started throwing the orange slices on the ground and then he went up and stomped on the one in front of me. Thankfully his mother took him into the waiting room and I didnt hear from him again. I couldnt believe his mother let him do that and did pay attention to what he was doing. He was hell on wheels!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

No confidence

Last night the fire alarm went off. At first I thought it was the doorbell and when it didnt stop I got up and asked my roommate what was going on. She told me it was the fire alarm and I could stay in my room. Against her advice I went downstairs and found out that the cause was burnt food. I stayed in the lobby of our building, not wanting to get a headache from the fire alarm and it took the landlords 20 min to shut it off. The fire department didnt even come. Hope theres never a real fire because we are all doomed if there is.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!

The wicked witch is leaving tomorrow at 6am for Romania and will be gone for 4 weeks!

Yes, let the joyous news be spread The wicked Old Witch at last is dead!

Walking...Walking...and more Walking


This morning I went downtown to register with the police, and it took me 30 minutes to walk to the police station. I don’t know if it’s just me, but it seems like it takes 30 minutes to walk everywhere from my house. It was really cold outside, and my nose was running (of course I didn’t have a tissue) when I finally got to the police office. The line was so long, I waited in it for half an hour and left, without getting my passport signed. On the way home I stopped at the grocery store for some real food. Not that I got much because I had no idea what half of the things were. The labels are in Norwegian for the most part and the store seemed to go in no particular order. So I only got some cereal that is like cocoa pebbles, milk that I believe is skim but have no clue, some sugarless apple juice, and fruit and veggies (I promise to eat veggies every day mommy). After walking for an hour in the freezing cold I dragged myself home and against my rule of no sleeping during the day to get on their time schedule, I took a nap. When I get home I’m going to be in really good shape!

Orientation

Today was orientation for school. We took a taxi there because it was too cold to walk in the morning. Note to self: don’t take a taxi to school unless it’s absolutely necessary, such as the bus is not running or my legs are broken because taking a taxi is expensive. But don’t worry we walked home, and it only takes 30 minutes. The university is small but has a ton of buildings and it seems that all of them are really spread out (Yay! more walking). The tap water tastes funny so I was really happy to have some juice (that has no sugar) to drink. The jelly also isn’t very sweet, but the good news is that I hear they have Oreos. I’ll have to go shopping tomorrow for some real food such as Oreos and juice. On the tour, they took us to one of the pubs in the school. Not only do they allow drinking but they encourage it. We were told the best place to go out to drink, where the closest place is to buy beer, and the cheapest. It is really different from the US. The ERAMUS students are throwing us a party on Friday night, it’s supposed to be a game night, but I think it’s going to be more of a party-party.

The Wicked Witch of the West

My roommate is a *****! and I dont even know her name. She told me the first night that I arrived, but I dont remember and nor do I care to know. She has her shit everywhere and made no effort to make room for me. I get one little cupboard in the bathroom and she gets the other cupboard, all of the hooks, and a shelving unit. In the kitchen I get two cupboards and two drawers and she gets the rest. In the refrigerator I only get two small shelves and one in the door. She gets the rest. She is rude beyond rude. She hand washes her clothes by hand and has a drying rack that she sets in the shower area to dry...for days! What is wrong with her room? When Kelsey knocks on our door she always tells Kelsey to find out for herself if Im home when she knows that I am. I really dont want to seem like I'm bitching to much but her and her boyfriend need to find a time when Im not home to do their activities...it really makes me want to throw up when I hear her bed banging into the wall.

Unpacking

After two days of traveling and going to bed at 1 in the morning Norwegian time, I oddly woke up at 9:30. I greatfully took a half hour shower and laid in bed and read my book. I took the time to unpack (which I didnt enjoy). I dont know how I got so much stuff inot my suitcases because I barely have enough room for everything.

Im There in one piece

Finally we arrived in Copenhagen, and I was feeling really sick. Even though the first class ride was amazing, the motion sickness was really bad. To top it all off our plane landed late and we had less than an hour to go through customs, security, and passport verification! Kelsey and I sprinted across the Copenhagen airport scrambling to find the right terminal. My advice is to not fly into Copenhagen for a connecting flight. Choose a flight that will connect somewhere else, because some people missed their planes and had to spend the night in a hotel. Once we finally made it to our gate, just in time, I really felt like I was going to throw up in the plane. Thankfully they serve Sprite, which helped to settle my stomach. I sat next to this boy, who did speak English, who was from Estonia and was going to Oslo, Norway for a holiday (they don’t know what vacations are!). Once in Oslo, Kelsey and I walked through the “I don’t have anything to declare” doorway and rechecked our baggage. Kelsey and I were worried that we didn’t go through customs, but the check in lady assured us that we did, even though no one went through our baggage. We had a 5 hour layover in Oslo, which was good and sucked at the same time. I wanted to just get to Kristiansand and go to my dorm to sleep, but at the same time I was glad to have a break from flying. To pass the time Kelsey and I watched a movie, played cards, slept, and sat and sat and sat. The flight from Oslo and Kristiansand is a blur, I fell asleep before we took off and was woken up by the plane landing. I do remember trying to climb over this kid to get to my seat and he didn’t speak English and was trying to tell me to wait until he got up. Then when I sat down I used part of his seatbelt to buckle up. That poor kid probably thought I was insane. I of course profusely apologized and explained that I had a really long day. Of course he didn’t understand any of it because he didn’t speak English. Then I must have fallen asleep then. Once in Kristiansand, a super small airport, we didn’t get a gate we had to walk down the stairs that they put up next to the door. It was freezing cold outside and the airport had no heat! Then Kelsey and I had to wait for three hours in the freezing cold. We passed the time by sitting and trying to sleep. There was no one at the airport and most of the signs were in Norwegian. When fellow exchange students landed, we ended up taking a taxi with all of our luggage to the central city bus station. Dylan, Kelsey, and I crammed ourselves and our luggage into the world’s smallest car, sitting on top of each other, bags stuffed everywhere. Not that I didn’t feel sick enough from the 20 hours of plane travel, it was an experience that I won’t forget. Once we arrived at the bus station we had to wait for a half hour in the freezing cold until Maltz (don’t know if that is the correct spelling but it is pronounced like malt with an S on the end) came and got us. We then had to dodge traffic and cross the street, with all of my luggage mind you, to a waiting taxi. Now Maltz was sort of a gentleman and took one of Kelsey’s suitcases, but he took the smaller one. I struggled to make it across the snow and ice dragging my luggage to that stupid taxi that would cross the street for us. Once we finally made it to our dorms, Kelsey lucked out and got a room on the first floor. I on the other hand had to drag my luggage up three flights of stairs to the third floor. Thankfully Maltz took my big suitcase and I just had my duffle bag. Once I was safely in my dorm, I promptly unpacked my PJs, toothbrush, and sheets and went to bed. Thank God, some real sleep for the first time in two days!

I finally left


The flight from Omaha to Chicago was awful. It was a small regional plane that was full. It was really loud and bumpy, and to top it all off the lady in fromt of me got sick. SO needless to say I had motion sickness, which happened to stay with me the whole time. Once in Chicago, we had a hard time finding there we were supposed to go for our connecting flight to Copenhaagen. Kelsey and I just started wondering around and asking people, getting different answers each time. When we got on an elevator and these guys asked where we were headed and Kelsey told them we didnt know. Bless these gentelmen's hearts, they escorted us to the train and told us whent o get off and hwo to get to the terminal. Once we baorded our flight to Copenhagen, Kelsey and I were treated to first class for the 9 hour flight. It was amazing! We sat across from each other, by chance because Kelsey was originally in economy and someone needed her seat. When we walked in, we were offered champagne and orange juice (I chose orange juice mommy). We got to sit in reclining seats that had foot rests and everything. There was was a movie screen in the chair in front of us that you could use to listen to music, watch movies, play games, and get information about the airplane and flight. Once we took offf, we were given hot wash cloths to wash our hands (which I only know because the guy next to me told me). Then they gave us place mats and served us a 4 course meal! We had a choice of beef, fish, or ravioli for the main course and an assortment of bread to choose from. Then they offered us wine, beer, soda, and water. It was like being a princess for 9 hours. They got you blankets and tended to your every need. Then for breakfast they went throught the whole routine again. I'm in love with first class flying...Thanks Daddy!!