No more exams or term papers... ever! Well... I might consider a PhD in a few years. Just finished my last exam and it was very straight forward. Only used one hour of the allocated 3 hours. All the term papers are handed in and it is time to party!
Tonight Margrethe (in Oslo working for two days) and I will go out for dinner somewhere. It will only be the second time that I have been out for dinner to a restuarant since arriving in Norway. So it will be a bit of a special occasion. By 9:30am tomorrow morning I must move everything out of my room, clean it, the kitchen and bathroom and pack my bags ready to move to Haugesund. I don't have much packing to do as Margrethe has been taking stuff back with her when she visits so it should be relatively hassle free.
Gotta go and get stuck into cleaning and packing. Don't forget to update your address books with my following new address:
Shane West
Kong Sulkes gate 6
5523, Haugesund
NORWAY
ph: 52724029
Cheers and beers!
12/6/02
As you have guessed things here have been quite busy. I'm right into the business end of the term and have spent a considerable amount of time working on term papers and preparing presentations. Things are going along nicely. Just finished one term paper and have tomorrow and the weekend to finish off a couple more. Before then I have to study for an exam, but it shouldn't be too demanding.
Once all of the exams and term papers are out of the way I'll be moving to Haugesund to live with Margrethe. Can't wait to relax a little bit and dedicate myself full time to finding some work. I'm also looking forward to the opportunity to cook some nice meals. I'm not a very exciting cook when it comes to cooking for one.
The job market is pretty depressing still. I haven't been quite as actively looking and applying over the last few weeks due the workload, but I will get my act together soon. The good news is that it seems I can apply for the working holiday visa from Norway without having a job. For the last 4 months I have been told by the Immigration dept here that I must have a job if I want to apply for the visa from Norway. The solution that we had been considering was me going back to Australia and applying for the visa there where it is not necessary to have employment and then travelling back. An expensive option but we were prepared to do it. But we don't have to worry about that now thanks to a very helpful Immigration member of staff. This staff member called around to find out more about the visa and after a couple of weeks was able to clarify everything with one of the people that was involved in the establishment of the working holiday visa program. It turned out that I was right all along and have been unnecessarily stressing about it for the last 4 months! Apparently the confusion came about because I'm the first person to ever apply for the visa within Norway. I put in the application forms yesterday so hopefully I will hear something soon.
A couple of weekends ago Margrethe and went to Stavanger to catch up with our friends Mari and Hans Kristian. I arrived on Friday afternoon and found myself in a bar watching the last half of the France Senegal match before meeting Margrethe who was arriving by ferry from Haugesund. Stavanger is a very pretty city. It has a wonderful harbour area ringed by bars, cafes and restuarants. We spent some time sitting in one of the parks watching the ducks on the lake and relaxing in the warm in sunshine. Soon after we met up with Mari and Hans Kristian and bought some pizza and prepared for a pre-party.
The pre-party was held at friends of Margrethe's, Mari's and Hans Kristian's. We kicked back with a few beers and then headed into a local pub. The beers were quite cheap... I think only 36kr ($8) each. It ended up quite a late night and I was a little tired and hungover by the morning.
The next morning we travelled to a place called Preikestolen. Essentially it is a huge square ledge that hangs 600 mtrs above one of the nearby fjords. The walk up to Preikestolen took about an hour and a half and proved to be a good workout following the previous nights activities. The view was incredible! The ledge just drops away into fjord below and I can understand why the fjord is called 'light fjord'. The water had an amazing light green colour. I took heaps of pictures some check out my photos page soon. We spent a couple of hours up top and it was amazing to see people just sitting with legs over the edge like they were sitting on a normal chair. Probably the biggest surprise of the day came when I saw a guy in a Carlton football jumper! How's that? We started talking and it turned out that he was from Perth and had been in Norway for two weeks. Yup, you guessed it.... Norwegian girlfriend! That night Margrethe and I caught the bus back to Haugesund and had a very relaxing weekend.
Last week saw fantastic weather with temperatures up to 27 degrees. I tried to survive in long pants but it was just impossible and treated myself to a new pair of shorts. When Margrethe arrived on the weekend we had pretty resigned ourselves to sitting on the beach and saoking up the great weather. On Saturday we spent about 7 hours on the nearby island with about half of Oslo. As soon as the weather turns fine the Norwegians are at the beach. Who can blame them when the winters are so cold and dark! We had a very relaxing day and finished it off with a BBQ. Sunday was pretty much the same.
Back to term papers!
25/5/02
Well I really should be writing a few term papers but I really can't be bothered at the moment. I have a term paper due on Tuesday which I have to contribute about seven pages to, but if you know me you know that I tend to work best under pressure. So as you have guessed I haven't really done that much. I still have all of Sunday and Monday!
Tash and Rich left at the start of this week to go to Sweden for a wedding. It was great to see them. They arrived back in Oslo on Friday afternoon (17th of May) after spending 2 and a half days in Bergen and taking in the sights of Norway's famous fjords. They had a great time but weren't overly impressed with the weather. Bergen has the reputation of having more rainy days than any other city in Norway and on this occasion it didn't let them down.
On the morning of the 17th of May, Margrethe and I got up early and hoisted the Norwegian flag up the flag pole at Margrethe's parents house. Bernt and Anne Kristine had very kindly let us stay at the house over the weekend while they were in Spain. This meant that Tash and Rich could enjoy 5 star accomodation instead of the half star accomodation available at my place. After a small flag raising ceremony we started getting ready to celebrate Norway's national day.
Unlike Australia day, Norway's constitution day is celebrated widely across the nation with children's parades, national costumes, plenty of flag waving and shouting of 'hurra!'. It certainly beats board shorts, t-shirt, thongs, a barbie and the cricket. Hmmm.... well... the cricket is rather special.
Margrethe looked wonderful in her national costume and I scrubbed up ok in my new suit. The national costumes differ according to where your family originates, so it was interesting to look at the different styles of each region. The costumes can be a huge investment so often you will recieve one when you have pretty much finished growing. It could get very expensive replacing them when you consider that some outfits can be worth more than $5000 AUD!
Margrethe explained that it was quite exciting as a child to march in the 17th of May. You got to dress up, sing songs, wave the flag and then eat as many hotdogs and ice creams as you could. The children meet a location for each school and they then march along the streets and meet up with the other schools before marching to the town square. Here they will sing a few more songs, play the national anthem, listen to a few speeches from the mayor etc and then head off back to school for fun and games. The teachers march with their classes, and hate it when marching past a bunch of Russ kids. The Russ have their own 'business cards' that have jokes and photo of themselves on it. The younger kids love to collect them and therefore rush over to the Russ to collect their cards. The teachers then have to get everyone back into order, which can take some time. Margrethe added that when the Norwegian Princess Martha was Russ her card said that 'the worst thing about being a princess is having to kiss so many frogs!' We considered waiting to see the schools from Ski march through the town but decided to head into Oslo to watch the main parade.
When we arrived in Oslo the first thing we noticed was the number of people and all of the balloon sellers. They were everywhere! The place was packed! We got off the train at Oslo S and slowy made our way up Karl Johan to the Castle. The royal family stands on the balcony and waves to the passing children and marching bands. You have to admire their stamina as the parade can last for more than 2 hours! It was amazing to see everyone dressed in national costume or atleast formally. The weather was fantastic and after a little bit of wandering around we headed off to Aker Brygge (Harbour district) for a well earned rest and beer (or two).
We managed to find a table and met up with a couple of friends. After a couple of hours we met up with Tash and Rich, who had just arrived back from Bergen, at my regular watering hole (Belfry's) and sat outside and soaked up the atmosphere (and more beer). We had also arranged to meet a friend of Tash's there who was visiting Norway from London for the weekend. Having managed to catch up with everyone, we rejoined the masses and made our way back to Margrethe's parents house for a BBQ and kick of the footy. It was a great night with lots of drinking, eating, football kicking and discussion of cultural differences.
The next two days we spent visiting Oslo's landmarks including Vigelands park, Holmenkollen Ski park, the castle and Viking Ship museum. The weather was great and Sunday in particular was very relaxing. Tash and Rich left for Sweden on Monday morning and Margrethe returned to Haugesund that evening.
This week I've been getting stuck into the student life again. However I was struck down with a dose of the sneezes and sore throat which has kept me me pretty close to the bed for most of the week. Margrethe also had the same fate and we have reason to believe that it may have been something left behind by one of our Australian guests. I won't mention any names.... Richard!
The job hunting is still a disappointing process. Some of the jobs I have applied for have had over 200 applicants and I guess the non-Norwegian speakers are first to be eliminated. Guess I will just have to keep trying. Something is sure to happen soon.
14/5/02
Welcome back! Another hectic few weeks. It is amazing how time flies when you are busy! In fact it is only four weeks until the next exam period and then I'm done! The last few weeks have been great, with plenty of sun and lots of opportunities to spend time with Margrethe.
Over the last two weeks Margrethe and I have spent more time together than apart. The month of May has many public holidays (one each week) so I was able to fly to Haugesund last Wednesday and only returned late last night. We had a great time enjoying the fantastic weather and catching up with a few friends. Last Thursday (public holiday - Ascension Thursday) we spent most of the day in the garden relaxing, reading and working on our tans. In the afternoon we went for a walk around a small lake and sat and watched people swimming and playing beach volleyball. Although the weather was quite warm I don't think that I would have ventured too close to the icy cold looking water. We enjoyed the sun and even managed to get a little sunburnt.
On Friday night we caught up with a friend of Margrethe's from Trondheim and I had a another opportunity to improve my Norwegian. It is getting better, however I find that sometimes I don't remember the meaning of a word and then miss the remainder of the sentence while I try and work it out. It can be a bit fustrating, but practice will make perfect. I plan on taking a 3 week intensive language course once I have finished my MBA. That way I will be speaking mostly Norwegian 5 hrs a day, 5 days a week for 3 weeks. This should get me well on the way to fluency and best of all it is free!
Saturday was spent shopping and lounging around indoors as the weather had turned a little wet. That night we went to a pre party and then headed off to one of the nightclubs for a bit of a dance. The cover charge for the nightclub was 100NOK ($22 AUD) and a beer was 57NOK ($12 AUD). There was more dancing than drinking! We finished up at around 3am and I spent an hour calling a few people back home in Oz.
The weather in Oslo is fantastic at the moment. Beautiful clear skies and very little wind. The trees and flowers have really come alive over the last few weeks of nice weather. Everything is so green! It is such a difference to when I first arrived. The days are also much longer with the sun rising before 5am and light until around 10:30pm. It seems a little strange going to bed when it is still light outside.
At the moment everyone is interested in what the weather will be like on Friday the 17th of May. The 17th of May is Norway's constitution day and is celebrated with a children's parade (barnatoget - 'children train') through the streets of all the towns. In Oslo the parade can go for few hours while the children march past the Royal Castle and wave to the Royals. At the moment it looks like the weather will be fantastic.
Tonight I will be meeting up with Tash and Richard who will be visiting until next Monday. I can't wait to catch up with them and show them around Oslo. We are meeting this afternoon in Oslo and then they are catching the overnight train to Bergen. They will be staying Bergen for a few days to visit the fjords and then travel back to Oslo on Friday. It would have been great to go with them however, my money situation wouldn't allow it and I couldn't afford to miss the classes. We will have plenty of time over the weekend to catch up. We are playing on having a BBQ on the Friday night with a few friends and then spend the weekend discovering Oslo and possibly Fredrickstad. Should be great fun!