Busy last few days with study. Yesterday I had 6 hours of classes followed by 2 hrs of the Norwegian language course. The course is going well and I have learnt heaps in the month or so that it has been running. I'm still not game to try too much of it in public, but I'm slowly incorporating it into everyday use. It can be a little difficult though as many Norwegians are more than happy to speak English if they realise that you can not speak Norwegian very well.
Today I had 9 hours of classes and then had to pack for the trip to Haugesund. I caught the Flytoget to the airport. The Flytoget is an airport express train that takes you right to the lufthavn (airport). The plane was delayed for over half an hour and didn't leave until around 11pm once the wings had been de-iced. By the time I arrived in Haugesund and took the bus to the bus terminal, poor Margrethe had been waiting for about 45 minutes outside in the cold weather.
Margrethe's place in Haugesund is quite small but it is very cosy. It's good value considering the rent that she is paying.
28/01/02
Lots of snow this morning! I have booked a ticket to Haugesund for this weekend. I will leave on Thursday night and return on Monday afternoon. I'm looking forward to seeing Margrethe's place and exploring the Haugesund area.
27/01/02
This morning... oops... afternoon I was feeling the effects of the previous night. Thankfully one of the exchange students had prepared a huge Texan brunch for all of the other exchange students. It was just perfect for a hangover - lots of fruit, eggs, french toast and fried potatoes. Very nice!
This afternoon we caught up with some of Margrethe's friends and discussed our Easter plans.There are about six of us that will be going to Mari's (Margrethe's friend) family cottage in the mountains for about a week during the Easter break. It sounds like being a great time, however, I will have to spend a lot time developing my cross country skiing skills beforehand. There is a half hour (probably 2 hrs for me) ski into the cottage, and this will prove even more difficult with a weeks worth of clothing, food and supplies on my back. The cottage sounds quite nice, however there is no water and it is quite isolated. All of the water for drinking, washing etc will come from melting snow so I must remember to avoid the yellow snow. So hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to get my hands on some gear and I can go practising my cross-country skiing. I had a look at some of the sports shops around town and it is possible to purchase some good x-country skis, bindings and boots for less than AU$500. I'll see how the budget holds out.
26/01/02
Australia Day! (Did this really happen? - thanks Chris!) Being such an important day I decided that I should look my best and bought out the hair clippers for a well overdue haircut. With the expert assistance of Margrethe we managed to add some respectability to my looks.
Early in the afternoon Margrethe and I dressed up in our Sunday best and made our way to the Australia Day celebrations hosted by the Australian Embassey in Oslo. We wasted no time in enjoying Australian beer and wine. There were around 200 people at the function with a very broad range of experience in Norway. Some people had been in Norway for decades while others like myself only for a matter of weeks. A couple of Queensland 'lads' had managed to get themselves in the national paper by rolling around in the snow in their t-shirts and shorts when they first arrived a few weeks ago. I guess there is always a couple in every crowd :)
As the afternoon wore on, I recognised a guy from La Trobe who was in the Computer Science department while I was there. We got chatting and he introduced me to few other LTU people he had met while in Norway. So here we were - five guys from La Trobe - in Oslo - many miles from home - working or studying - and the uniting factor? Yep, you guessed it - we all had lovely Norwegian partners! It was a very funny moment. As we found out later there were many others also in the same boat. It's not surprising really, as the Norwegian women are one of the countries best exports! We did however think that there may have been some conspiracy involving Norwegain Nationals returning to Norway with partners skilled in industries identified by the government. I'm very sure that that is not the case.
After the function a few of us kicked on at pub in Oslo called Belfry's. Margrethe had a girl's night organised so she head off to that and left me with the rowdy Australians. We had a great night and when the time came to get to the last train I was well and truely tanked! Of course that had nothing to with the fact that I then got lost on the way to the train station :) I was finally rescued by a fellow resident at the dorm who just happened to be going to catch the last train as well. However, he was walking in the opposite direction to me, so naturally I ended up following him.
Having finally arrived home safely I left my bedroom door open so I could hear the doorbell when Margrethe arrived home later in the night. As always, a couple of beers helps me sleep very soundly, so I didn't hear the doorbell when Margrethe arrived home. After half an hour of pressing the bell she got access after someone left the building. I was not in the good books!
25/01/02
Well the week has just been slipping away from me. The last few days I've been struggling with the flu, sore mouth and a mountain of reading to get through. The classes have been demanding and there have been a few pieces of assessment due.
Once again I trudged through another overnight downpour of snow. I'm really getting sick of this blasted snow! :) *laugh* Only joking! I really quite like it and one of the first things I do in the morning is look out side to see if any more snow has fallen overnight. It's just amazing to see everything covered in a thick white blanket of snow. The snow is so powdery that it's just like walking through flour.
I headed off to the dentist this morning and I got the news that I was expecting - 'Those wisdom teeth have to come out!'. The dentist was a really nice guy and told me all about his adventures in almost getting to Australia back in the 80's. He ended up getting stuck in Singapore and considered taking a boat to Australia but it would have taken too long. Mind you he'd probably be still in Woomera given the current situation. Anyway, after an x-ray and the obligatory questions that you can only answer with muffled grunts, the dentists decided to take out one of my upper wisdom teeth in order to stop it irritating the lower one. Five minutes later, after very little pain to my mouth and hip pocket, the offending tooth was out. In Australian dollars it only cost a fraction over $100 to have an x-ray, anaesthetic, extraction and checkup. The dentist has recommended me to a dental surgeon in Oslo (he refferd to her as an Indian princess) wwhere I can have the remaining three wisdon teeth. As two of them are impacted the surgeon will need to do a bit of digging and slicing into the jaw. Can't wait for that!
As the anaesthetic wore off I decided that it was becoming a little too difficult to concentrate in class so I left and fell asleep for most of the afternoon. That night my jaw was feeling much better and Margrethe and I enjoyed a nice meal.
22/01/02
Lots of snow over night and weather is quite cold again. I rang the local dentist and arranged for an appointment on Friday.
21/01/02
This morning the Australian Embassy rang to say that I had an invitation to the Australia Day ceromony that is taking place on the weekend. Margrethe is also coming along and it will be fun to catch up with other Aussies. Did I mention the free food and drinks? :)
I'm still struggling with the flu and I think that my wisdom teeth are causing me some grief as well. When it rains it pours!
It has been very slippery outside today as some of the snow has melted and then frozen into ice over night. The weather is a little bit colder than last week.
20/01/02
I woke up this morning not feeling the best. I've been carrying the beginnings of the flu for a number of days now and think that it is starting to escalate. The air is so dry here and amazingingly there is very little wind. Since I've been here I can not recall feeling a breeze or gust of wind. It's very unusual. Margrethe tells me that the west coast is subject to a lot more gusts because of the North Sea.
This afternoon we went for quite a long walk around Sandvika and visited the antique market that we discovered last weekend. After the walk we met Margrethe's friend Mari who has been very kind to lend me her tv as she has moved into a place that already has one. At least now I will be able to keep up with what is going on in the world. It should also help with my Norwegian as all of the English language programmes have Norwegian subtitles.
Margrethe left at about 6pm and I rested and started reading Harry Potter. It was snowing quite heavily for most of the evening.
Today is also Rainer's birthday so there was a party organised in the common room. I went for a little while but struggled to enjoy myself due to the flu. I had a restless night's sleep.
19/01/02
I finished adding the photos yesterday afternoon. Some of them have turned out well. The ones of the R�dhus look good, however some of the harbour pictures look pretty ordinary. Hope you enjoy them nonetheless.
Margrethe arrived for the weekend last night and we spent today doing some shopping and generally taking it easy. One of the highlights of today was the fact that it snowed for most of the day. It was very nice. Although it was light it was enough to put a few centimeters of snow on the surface. By the end of the day much of it had turned to slush and mud.
We went shopping and bought some hair clippers so Margrethe can cut my hair. It costs an absolute fortune to get your hair cut in Norway. No wonder the Vikings had such long hair! The estimates that I have received for getting my hair cut have ranged from around 150 to 200 NOK. In Australian terms that's about $35 to $45 dollars just for a basic clip! It worked out cheaper to buy the hair clippers.
Tonight we went to a birthday party for one of Margrethe's friends called Linda. However, before doing so we went ice skating in Oslo. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves even though the falling snow had now turned into rain drops. After about 45 mins I was pretty exhausted and very hot. It didn't longer however to cool down while walking back to the train station.
We caught the metro to Linda's place and enjoyed a nice evening playing a game called 'Passport' and drinking a few beers. The game was like trival pursuit but all of the questions related to different countries of the world. All the other players avoided answering questions about Oceania which revealed how little is known about Australia besides kangaroos, koala bears and bushfires. We caught the last train home and I called a few people back home in Australia.
18/01/02
I picked up my photos today so I'm hoping to get them on the web sometime today. The ones of the R�dhus turned out quite well. In the meantime I've added some photos of my nephew Max. He's a real cutie!
17/01/02
Well, I've been getting stuck into the study over the last few days. I think I have finalised which subjects I'm doing and it seems that I will have quite an amount of work to do. There are quite a few presentations to give and about three term papers to write. A lot of the marks for subjects come from class participation and presentations. I'm not too worried about them.
After classes today I went to Oslo and caught up with Hanne and Johan. Hanne is the sister of Trude who Margrethe used to live with. I'm not sure if that is clear or not. Not too worry. Anyway, we went to a rather trendy cafe called XO and had a couple of beers. It was great to catch up with them both and Johan is is going to organise a trip to the Viking Ship museum.
I've added an indication of the weather to the site. However, I'm not too sure how accurate the forecasts are. They've been forecasting sub zero temperatures for the past few days but everyday it has been plus 4 or 5. Oh well.... I shouldn't complain.
15/01/02
A number of people have enquired about the gym so I guess I should address that issue. I agree that the walrus has a demonstrated ability to survive and prosper in some of the coldest conditions, however the prospect of an entirely fish diet and rolling around on my stomach doesn't really appeal to me (Margrethe might have something to say about that as well).
Although the walrus prospect is unappealing so to is the gym membership at the moment. Further enquiries at the gym uncovered a number of limitations. First, it is not possible to suspend the membership for any length of time. This is a problem because in two months the term will end and I will spend 2-3 weeks in Haugesund with Margrethe. Therefore, the third month will be a waste of money. Second, it is not possible to get guest passes. So when Margrethe visits and wants to train with me it will cost her a whopping 120NOK per visit!
I think what I will do instead is just be carefully about what I eat. The fresh fish here is very cheap. Last week it was possible to buy salmon for around $10 per kilo. Due to budget restrictions most 'junk food' is unaffordable so I don't think that a gym membership is going to be that necessary. Anyway once the weather warms up a little it will be possible to do a lot more outdoor activities.
Hmmm... I think that it is a enough justification for not getting a gym membership.... I've sucessfully convinced myself :) Think I might go grab myself a beer and a kebab to celebrate! *laugh*
14/01/02
I had quite a busy and productive day. I bought a jacket that Margrethe and I had seen on Saturday. It was reduced from 1000NOK to 400NOK. That's a bargain in anyone's book! I also recieved a letter from the politi, however as it was all in Norwegian I was unable to understand a word of it. Taking a chance I went to the politi and asked them to explain it to me. Thankfully, it was good news and not a warrant for my arrest. As it turns out my application for a residents permit has been accepted and I'm allowed to stay legally in Norway until the 1st of August 2002. I enquired about extending the permit for a few extra months and was informed that I could apply for the working holiday visa that has been recently established between Australia and Norway. This was great news!
The working holiday visa will allow me to work and travel in Norway for up to 12 months. I was informed that I could apply for the permit while in Norway, instead of having to travel back to Australia and applying from there.
Although there are few jobs available at the moment, I'm confident that something will turn up before I finish in June. There are a lot more full-time positions available than part-time or casual positions. I think that with the skills that I am learning now and the skills that I have acquired over the past few years then I shouldn't have too many problems finding something.
I actually did some study this afternoon. Did the reading for two of my subjects and practised saying my Norwegian vowels. They aren't easy!
13/01/02
Margrethe's father drove us back to Sandvika after another wonderful breakfast prepared by Margrethe's mother. We spent the afternoon looking at the 'trash and treasure' market at the local sports centre and then went for a walk around the island in the fjord. This is the same island that Rainer and I walked around last Sunday. This time Margrethe and I decided not to walk on the ice due to the recent warmer weather and the fact that none of the locals were walking on it. We thought that they would know best. The island is connected to the mainland by a large suspension bridge and is a popular location in the summer for its beaches.
The remainder of the afternoon was quite lazy and neither of us was looking forward to departing once again.The consolation this time is that it will be only four days until we see each other again.
12/01/02
It was a slow morning and we enjoyed a lazy breakfast and then went into Oslo to do some sightseeing. I took a lot pictures of the palace and 'downtown' Oslo. We then spent a lot of time walking through the R�dhus (town hall) of Oslo. The walls of the hall are covered in murals with one painted by Munch. It was an amazing place that was very ornate and intricate and portrayed a lot of the history of Norway. It is also where the Nobel peace prize is awarded.
Following the r�dhus we then went to the harbour district of Oslo where there is a large shopping and restuarant area. It was reasonably quiet, however Margrethe assures me that it becomes very busy in the summer.
In the afternoon Margrethe and I met some of her friends at a cafe in Oslo. They were all very nice and very interested to meet me. Much of the conversation was in Norwegian, and I was able to pick up little bits of information, but I think that most of it came from body language and gestures.
We spent the night at Margrethe's parents in Ski and enjoyed a lovely meal and beer. The house looks quite a bit different now that much of the snow has melted due to the warmer weather. Everyone has assured me that I will definitely see it snow before the summer. I hope so!
11/01/02
Gave the place a bit of spruce up this morning and then went shopping to buy some things for dinner tonight. The fresh food prices here aren't too bad. I bought some fresh basil and tomotoes at much cheaper prices than what I would get in Australia.
Margrethe arrived at about 7:30 and we had a nice dinner of Thai curry and red wine followed by a beer at a nearby bar. The food tasted great and was one the first good meals that I have prepared myself. It certainly beat the liverposte and makeral and tomato that I have been eating a lot of. I went to Vinmonopol and bought some Chilean wine this afternoon. It was probably one of the cheapest ones on the list at 74NOK. That's about $17 dollars for a bottle of not great table wine.
10/01/02
I had a very boring class this afternoon. It is mainly composed of student presentations and critical analysis of journal articles. I think I will continue with it as the topic itself is quite interesting.
Tonight was the International Committee buddy dinner where the exchage students were broken up into groups and had a dinner prepared for us by one of the members of the International Committee. Our dinner was in Oslo, not far from the National Theatre. The dinner was a lot of fun and a great opportunity to get to know many of the other exchange students. Afterwards, we all met at a nite club called Cafe Opera. It was a fun night and finished around 4am. Like most cities Oslo also has a problem with a lack of taxis. There are many 'unmarked' taxis that seem to be driven by characters of dubious nature, probably at very high rates. Nonetheless we managed to get home in one piece and cost almost $80 dollars for a 20 min trip.
09/01/02
I found out yesterday that one of the classes that I'm enrolled in has been cancelled so I have been trying to figure out what course to take instead. I think that I will drop the subject on Monday mornings and enrol in an IT subject as well as a Marketing subject. It has the added benefit of giving me Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays off classes (Hey, I'm a full time student now, I'm entitled to 5 day weekends!).
Today was also the first Norwegian class. It was fun. Many of the European students will pick it up rather quickly as the language is relatively similar to Dutch and German. It think that it will be a little harder for me. Margrethe has taught me a lot of Norwegian already and I'm sure that she will be a willing tutor for me practice Norwegian with.
08/01/02
The highlight of today was a trip to Oslo organised by the international committee. Sandvika is only 15mins from Oslo by train and costs 36kr ($7) one way. Oslo looked wonderful with a trees filled with Xmas lights, a light covering of slow and a small amount of fog. The buildings and parks looked spectacular all light up.
We all headed to one of the ice skating rinks and hit the ice (many of us literally!). It was great fun and hopefully something that improve on while the weather permits it.
07/01/02
Classes started today, and my first class for the week was at 8:30am on a Monday morning... Ugh! It's a class on International financial management that looks at exposure to exchange rate risk, hedging options etc when considering an investment in a foreign country. Some of it I've already covered, but nonetheless it should be interesting. The class sizes here are small. There was about 20 students in this class with many of them from Norway and other European countries. As far as I can tell at the moment I seem to be the only one from down under.
I spent some of the afternoon doing some reading for the first class. Nothing better than getting right into it straight away.
Tonight members of the BI international committee gave us a guided tour around Sandvika. Nothing terribly interesting. Most of us only went along as there was free pizza and cheap beer afterwards. Many of the exchange students gathered at the BI campus pub and we tucked into some pizzas and 20kr beers. It was a good opportunity to catch up with a few people and learn more about the some of the countries represented at the school.
06/01/02
I got up relatively early this morning and went for a walk up to one of the small hills that surround Sandvika. The houses in the area look wonderful as many of them have Christmas decorations hanging from them covered in snow.
Rainer my flat mate arrived late last night and we spent most of the morning catching up. He let me in on the best (read cheapest) places to shop and gave me a tour of the city. We checked out some gyms and will probably get a membership at one located just across the road. Ironically it is located just underneath McDonalds.
The weather seems much milder, still well below zero but just a little bit more comfortable. Today was a clear blue sky and we went for a walk out across the Sandvika Fjord. Just about everything is shut on Sundays except for a few service stations and 7-11 type shops and the streets are very quite. However, it didn't take long to realise that everyone was out walking along the fjord.It was absolutely amazing. The fjord has frozen over and is covered by 5cms of powdery snow. There was a column of people walking as far as the eye could see. There must have been hundreds of people ice skating, sledding, skiing and walking along the same 3 meter wide track like a colony of ants. The fjord itself is huge and it was amazing to look out across the frozen, flat landscape and just see it disappear to the horizon.
The Norwegian people enjoy the outdoors with many of them playing with their children on the fjord and lighting campfires on the ice packed islands. It's an amazing sight and hopefully something that will become part of my Sunday routine.
I spent a bit time yesterday afternoon checking out my budget and financial situation. Not the best news but I'll manage. The cost of living is unbelieveably expensive. Everything is pretty much double the price. We decided to go out last night and have a beer at one of the pubs to celebrate the start of new academic year. I paid 49 kroner for a 500ml glass of domestic beer. When you work it out that equates to more than $10 Australian dollars! I think I'll join the gym and give up beer - it will certainly be cheaper!
04/01/02
This morning I spent a lot of time preparing for classes next week and applying for a residents permit at the police station. I have organised my student card (very bad photo!) so I now have access to the Internet - hence the large update.
I managed to put together all of the necessary documents for the residents permit, so hopefully that shouldn't take too long to come through. Once that is organised I'll then apply for a bank account.
The weather today seems a bit colder than previous days, although it appears that some of the snow is starting to melt. There isn't a lot of snow but plenty of ice that makes walking around the town a little bit dangerous.
I've been a little bit bored this afternoon and miss Margrethe heaps.
03/01/02
We woke up this morning to a large and very delicious breakfast prepared by Margrethe's mother. There were lots of cold meats, pate, mackeral and tomato, eggs, smoked salmon and bread. It was quite a feast!
Everything is covered by snow and this morning the trees are coated with frost. It really looks like a postcard! I took quite few photos of the Stenr�d's house and went for a walk to the city of Ski to look for a computer part for Margrethe's computer. Margrethe, her father and brother spent most of the day loading a trailer with Margrethe's furniture for her apartment in Haugesund. It is an 8 hour trip to Haugesund that goes along the southern tip of Norway. Normally it would be quicker to go across the mountains (saving 3 hrs) however, the weather is a little unpredictable and likely to close the roads through the mountains. I've decided not to go with them as it is a very long trip and will be exhausted by the Monday morning.
After another very delicious meal prepared by Margrethe's mother we returned to Sandvika. It was very sad to see Margrethe go as we will not see each other again until Friday week. We will both have a very busy and unsettling week as we settle into new accomodation and work/study environment. It would be great if we could be there in person to support each other. I guess for the time being it will have to be by email and phone.
I spent the remainder of the night unpacking and setting up my room. The room is a little empty at the moment, but hopefully it won't take too long to fill. I've already set up a place for all of my pictures of Melbourne, and goodbye cards that I have received. Margrethe has given me her CD player so I was able to listen to some Paul Kelly before going bed.
02/01/02
I've finally arrived in Norway and holy crap it is cold! The flights were OK and relatively uneventful, except for an hydraulic failure that left the plane on the tarmac at Frankfurt for 20 minutes. I didn't get a lot of sleep but have managed to get into the Norwegian timezone quite quickly without too many symptoms of jet lag.
I've settled into my accomodation at Sandvika. It is quite new, but nothing terribly exciting (look out for some pictures soon!) The accomodation is located right in the heart of Sandvika town center and my window looks out over the main shopping street and directly into the local McDonalds. Margrethe and I explored the shopping center yesterday and worked out some the best places to shop and where the nearest banks etc are located.
It has been surprising to learn how little English used. Everything is in Norwegian, however the language lessons from Margrethe are paying off and I can understand quite a bit. I even managed to order two hot chocolates!
I met Margrethe's family and had a wonderful meal of roast moose followed by dessert, pastries and cakes. The house is nice and warm and it is fantastic to to look outside and see everything covered in snow and frost.