The Final Post

Back in Philadelphia at the Norway flag on Ben Franklin Parkway (holding a Norwegian mitten and wearing a Norwegian sweater)

Well, one year ago today, I was on my way to Oslo. When I returned to the US in July, I promised a final post within a few weeks. But a few weeks in, I was still unsure what a final post would really say. Assimilating back to America was fairly easy. I made myself busy, spent months catching up with friends and family, and took advantage of cheap food and drink. It wasn't a culture shock. I wasn't depressed. I just picked up where I left off and let the busyness take hold.

But six months later, as I've settled into my first true break since returning, I can't help but find myself thinking more and more about the impact Norway has had on how I view life. Norway made the world huge. Ginormous. Full of options, people, cultures, and opportunities. As a senior entering my final semester of college, at times this fact seems overwhelming. How can I choose the best option when the choices are endless? Should I teach English in Asia, delaying starting a career and family? Should I move to a new area of the US and discover the hugeness that is America? Should I stay where I am and start a business? Or find a job at a company that I could learn from and become an adult? Norway put ideas into my head that abandon any sense of direction. But the flip side to this is a mentality that I didn't have before. That any option is a good option. That even if I fail or find myself feeling stuck where I am, I have the confidence to learn from it and better myself.

Mentality aside, I find myself just missing things. The free schedule with ample time to socialize, work out, walk, and cook. The relaxed environment without the pressure to be somewhere ready for something. The constant snow sticking to my beard. The daily grocery shopping where every item was price-checked. The sunsets. The long summer days. Grans Bare. The way the brewing beer gurgled in my closet. The traveling. Smoking hookah and freestyling on my guitar about Norwegian foods like Nugatti Crisp (chocolate spread with crispies), Brumost (brown cheese), and cheese with pieces of bacon in it. Club 46. Group dinners. Reliable public transportation. Naked manikins. Fresh shrimp off the boat. Constant story telling and culture comparisons. Making popcorn at parties. Wearing Norwegian sweaters and not standing out. That feeling that I could go anywhere and do anything on a dime. Akademisk Koreforning rehearsal. RyanAir flights. Collecting souvenirs (and stealing glasses). Taking friends to 'The Naked People Park'. Watching the entire country change as winter became spring. Eating strawberries. Making hamburgers and pølse on disposable BBQ grills. Pomme Frittes. And that empowering sense of discovery. It was truly amazing. It really really was.

A video I took in the first week of my room and apartment

Maybe this last post should be a bit more profound. But Norway for me is constant little stories. Little feelings. Little tastes and smells that leave me feeling nostalgic and lucky. I know that Norway broadened my view of myself and the world around me. But the little stuff - the facebook pictures or the videos on my computer or texts with people or skype chats or stories I tell to people now. When I think about the things I did, it's just insane that it was real.

It's been a year since I got off the plane in Norway. Since I met Lotte and searched for our housing building. Since Lotte and I met Chris and decided to live together after 5 minutes of meeting. Since I carried 4 bags and a backpack, all without wheels, for a mile or so down an ice-covered hill to our house in the next student village. Since I settled in and started the most unbelievable 6 months of my life.



- Jonathan

Brothers

Brothers!

John Lennon Wall

Top o' the mountain

Tromso Airport

At the moment, I'm sitting in a giant purple arm chair. The same one I've sat in for years. My mom's watching Top Chef in the same room. David's got his legs folded under him, eating a frozen lemonade. I'm officially back in Cincinnati.

I'm writing this, thinking about how to sum up both the last few weeks as well as the experience as a whole. I feel like I need some time back in reality before I can really begin to understand the impact the last 6 months have had, so I'm going to promise one last post a few weeks from now. So with that in mind, the past few weeks:

David's arrival into Oslo

The end of my time abroad was spent with a visit from my brother, David. It started touristy enough - BBQin' at Sogn (Cajun burgers!), visiting the naked people park, the 'beach' at Bygdoy, The Viking Ship Museum, Karl Johan's Gate, and running the last of the Oslo errands. It was great to catch up with David since we hadn't truly hung out in almost a year and a half.

After Oslo, we made our way up to the arctic circle to Tromso, the same city I went to in February to dogsled. But this time, we were there for the summertime Midnight Sun and the accompanying marathon and half-marathon. We stayed with a friend of mine's (from the choir) brother-in-law in his house a short walk from the center of town. We received some absolutely unbelievable hospitality and had a blast. We cooked dinners together, went out to the local bars, and had a late-night dance party! Borge and his roommate Daniel really made us feel welcome. The first day, Borge picked us up from the airport and drove us to the main mountain overlooking the city. Our only sunny day, David and I took advantage of it and climbed it the day before the marathon. It turned out to be a fantastic decision - the view was amazing. We finished the hike with a trip to the local market for fresh shrimp (I can't get enough), feeding the heads to the ever-present birds. The rest of the night was spent hanging out and going to a few bars as the sun refused to go down, even as the clouds set in and drizzled rain. It was quite the insomniesque feeling.

David on our way to start the 10-day journey

We took the next day really slow, not wanting to get up while trying to figure out how to get loose and stay loose for the Toro Half-marathon. I did this by sitting on the couch all day, going grocery shopping (reindeer!), and returning to the house to eat. The weather was really crappy - cold, windy, rainy (not dark, though). But soon enough, I was at the starting line with David (in his two rain jackets), waiting for the gun to go off. As I started, I soon realized how drenched and cold I would be. The view of the water and mountains as I ran was the main distraction. But an obsession with reaching the next kilometer marker kept me feeling pretty good until about 6km left. But soon enough, I finished the 21 km (about 13.1 miles). My goal was an hour and a half, and I finished it in an hour, 32 minutes, and 50 seconds, 41st place out of 645, 7th in my age group (M 18-29). I felt like death, but I was incredibly proud of myself.

So on that note, we headed out the next day to meet up with my buddy Chris and explore Helsinki. Our first experiences in Finland were a string of interesting ones that, along with a few other aspects of Finland, gave me a quite an interesting view: They seem normal, but they're full of little nonchalant quirks. The trip started with Chris's bag not making it. That led to not being able to find our hostel, though knowing we were within a block of it. This then led to being in a cab, listening to the cab driver telling us about Russian brothels and circling them on our map, though we were just hysterically laughing since Chris, unable to move his seat back from its crushing position, had his head completely out the side window. But eventually we made it to our hostel - Hostel Satakuntatalo (no joke). We walked into our room. It was a row of army cots. We locked our bags to the beds, walked downstairs for sodas and security locker keys only to see a sign that the hostel had won "The Best Hostel in Finland" in 2009. We scratched our heads, chuckled a bit, and made our way out for kebabs and karaoke (great combo if you've never had it). It was a great night, especially for a Sunday.

Chris and the Hesburger!

The next day was spent wandering around, wondering why the Finnish people looked so upset. We asked one woman for directions, who answered with a smile, "I'm sorry, I'm quite disoriented. I've been drinking. A lot." It was 3PM on a Monday, but we expected no less! But eventually we found the rock church we were looking for (a main attraction - a church made out of only rock). It was actually pretty cool. After that, we just spend the day exploring. We checked out the train station, main square, another cool church, ate sausages and potatoes on the harbor, tried the Finnish Hesburger (horrrrrrible), discovered a 'no handicapped' sign, found turtle-signs, saw strawberry statues, and enjoyed the nice weather. The night was also a bit of a wandering experience. We ran into an American for her 21st birthday, followed her and her friends for a bit, wound up at an Irish bar, and wound up eating late-night kebabs. It was a really awesome, mellow way to spend our last night in Helsinki and prepare ourselves for the trip to Riga, Latvia.

Potatoes and Sausages along the Helsinki harbor

Riga turned out to be a small, Russian-influenced city with great weather, friendly people, and delicious food. We stayed in Friendly Fun Frank's hostel, and had a fantastic time enjoying the main Latvian festival, John's Day (for the summer solstice). Albeit only 1/8th Latvian (and Chris 0% Latvian), we decided to celebrate as well, hopping on pub crawls, free walking tours, and shooting handguns, AK-47's, and shotguns in an old Soviet bunker-turned-football-field-bleachers. The whole city was alive and full of shish kebabs, cats, and oak-leaf crowns. Latvian music littered stages along a mile or so-long stretch of tents, beer gardens, and crafts. We all had a great time, joining forces with a Canadian named Jason along the way. We drank a lot of cheap Latvian beer called Zalta (really bad), but it turned out really fun. All the museums and a lot of the shops were closed for the holiday, but with World Cup games on constantly in the hostel and pub crawls around the city, we made ourselves an awesome and memorable time.

Riga from the view of the Men's Bathroom

A fantastic Latvian restaurant - complete with blintzes!

David and I on our last day in Riga

Traditional Czech Potato Dumplings

The last leg of our trip landed David and me in Prague. Chris headed his separate way to Vilnus, Lithuania and the rest of his 2-month saga. But David and I really had a ball exploring Prague together. We went to a free music festival complete with awesome funk, soul, blues, and electronic music, Czech food (sausages, ham, potato dumplings, spirally cinnamon sugar funnel cakes, chicken kebab skewers, and a weird kind of garlic-ketchup pizza), and tons of people. We also went on an unbelievable tour of the city, watched the clock move on the hour, explored the Jewish quarter and its amazing cemetery and memorial (one of the most moving I've ever seen), went to the Franz Kafka museum, saw some rotating peeing men statues, ate ribs in a beer garden, went to the Sex Machine Museum, had a flaming absinthe shot, watched World Cup games set up in the middle of Old Prague Square, checked out the John Lennon wall, and ate like kings. The whole 3 days went super fast, and David and I thoroughly enjoyed the cheapness, beauty, and vastness of the city. Compared to Helsinki and Riga, Prague was in a tourist class of its own. But overall, I think we got a great variety of cities, people, and cultures.

An old Jewish Synagogue in Prague

The Jewish Cemetery - 13 layers deep.

Penguins Chillin'

Prague Tower

The next day, we headed back to Oslo, arriving at my room at about midnight with one day to pack and move out and head to Cincinnati. So we crashed, woke up for a delicious crab omelet (a last-morning treat), and began to pack and clean. We took the day slowly, but soon found ourselves on a bus at 5:26AM on our way to the airport. The room was spotless. The common areas were sort of clean. The bags were packed. And David and I were donning our surprises for our mother.

The trip back itself was pretty horrible. We flew from Oslo to Frankfurt, got our bags searched in Frankfurt, made it to our gate, got delayed an hour and a half for security issues, missed our flight in Chicago, made our way through a mess of customs, re-checking bags, and tears, and wound up spending 3 more hours in the Chicago airport before finally making it in to Cincinnati at 10PM to a beaming mother and father. A week short of 6 months abroad, I was finally back.

David and I with our surprises for Mom

As I said, I will be writing a last post in a few weeks. But before that, I just want to say that this trip/series of trips/experience has been absolutely amazing, and only time will truly tell me how much I've changed as a person because of it. Just the sole aspects of testing a relationship with an unbelievable visit, taking my brother around Europe like a travel-pro and knowing how much it will stay with him in the near future as he heads to Ohio State in the fall, or knowing how to say 'thank you' in a dozen languages will stick with me for a long, long time. The past six months have been a gift.




Best,

Jonathan

Hot Dogs, Rocks, and Bugs

Me on the hike to the top of Kjerag

Alma, Me, Jenny, and Sonja on Preikestolen

I smacked my forehead. Again. And kept smacking. My body was already covered in little mosquito bites, and yet they kept coming as we sat around a smoldering grill, smacking ourselves. We didn't really talk. We just listened to the sound of the rushing water and the sounds of the valley we'd decided to set up camp in. It was our last night in the Stavanger area, and we all thought a lot about the hikes we'd done, the views we'd seen, the hot dogs we'd eaten, and ultimately how this entire semester is coming to a close. No longer is Sogn Student Village a bumpin' international student village. Classes are over and more and more people are leaving every day. It was a weird feeling before I left on a trip. And it's even weirder being back now. Oh the times, they are a changin'.

The future's looking awesome (and a bit stressful). David arrives on Monday morning. We leave on Friday for Tromso for me to run a half marathon. Then we head to Helsinki for a few days, Riga for a few, and Prague to finish up our 10-day trip. We come back to Oslo for one day, and then we get on a plane and I leave this semester forever. I am then in Cincinnati for 4 days before I head to Philly for internships, jobs, moving, house-warming parties, and a hamster named Miley Cyrus. So with all the stresses of the future looming, it was really great to get away to the mountains of South-Western Norway for a few days.

The trip started with a 7AM train from Oslo to Stavanger (the 4th biggest city in Norway). I went with my roommate, Jenny, and two Germany girls I'd not met before, Alma and Sonja. We got to Stavanger, rented a wreck from Rent-A-Wreck, picked up some groceries, and headed to find a place to camp before hiking the infamous Preikestolen, a 600 meter sheer cliff overlooking a fjord. We drove around, stopping at beautiful landscapes and wound up camping illegally in a public grassy area. We pulled in around 10PM (still daylight), listened to the clanking cowbells and baa-ing sheep, and got our tents ready to put up. As we were getting ready, we saw a man in a cottage next to the site. Wanting to be respectful not to camp too close, and also knowing we were not supposed to be there, we decided to ask him if it was okay with him. Not only did he say to camp and not to worry, but also that he had a canoe, rowboat, and a porch with a table that we were more than welcome to use the next morning. He stayed and chatted, talking about American politics with me, and German holiday spots with the Germans. It was great. The morning was spent canoeing on a gorgeous lake and eating breads and spreads. At 1PM, we headed to the hike.

The hike itself was pretty rough. Not necessarily physically, but it was full of big rocks, making every step an ordeal. But after 2 hours, we wound up looking out onto an amazing view. The cliff was breathtaking - the cliff distinguished, the water a mesmerizing blue. We sat, had a picnic, and took pictures before heading back down.

Me on the peak of Preikestolen

We then headed towards our next challenge - a rock stuck between two cliffs 1,000 meters high - Kjerag. Since it was a 3 hour drive from Preikestolen, we decided to camp along the way. As we got tired and hungry, we wound up at the beginning of a fjord in a park adjacent to a marina. Full of fishing boats, rocky beaches, and a gorgeous sunset, we set up camp, ate hot dogs, and roasted marshmallows. It was really nice talking about our semesters, travel experiences, and future plans. We all were into different things, studied different things, were from different places, yet we all wound up studying in Oslo for the semester.

The next day, we got up and made our way to Kjerag. The hike itself is 2 and a half hours each way across 3 mountains, the 3rd being the highest and longest. But the first two were much steeper and rockier. We clung to rocks and hoisted ourselves up as we made our way along the trail, following spray-painted red 'T's. We finally made it on top of the third mountain and had to walk another 40 minutes on top of the mountain to the 'egg', trekking through snow and slush. But we eventually made it to the egg, and not a single person was there with us. Since the area by the rock was dry, actually getting onto it wasn't as dangerous as it looks! But it was really cool looking at the view from the rock, knowing that not many people will ever do something like this.

On "The Egg"

So it was on this momentum that we made our way back, found a place to camp, and ate hot dogs and smacked ourselves. We'd all had a really good trip and saw some absolutely amazing natural views. Norway is just such an unbelievably majestic and gorgeous country - every trip I've made in Norway has reaffirmed that. The next morning was a quick one - sick of bugs, we wanted to get out of there fast. So we got back in the wreck and drove to Stavanger to return the car and spend our last day seeing the city before our night train back to Oslo.

The buggy valley in the morning.

The city itself was excited about a multi-cultural, retail-sale festival. Choirs, foods, crafts, and sales were everywhere in a gorgeous sunny day. We walked around, ate sausage and cheese samples, and checked out the hilarious and very visible street art. I bought a fresh crayfish from a boat at the port, and ate it as we walked around the outside of the Norwegian Oil Museum, complete with a weird oil-waste themed skate park/playground/hang out place. A funky thing for sure. But eventually, it was time to make our way to the train station for our 10PM ride back. It was a really fantastic trip and getaway from the weirdness that is Sogn Student Village. I know this post has been a bit brief, mainly because the pictures explain everything much better.

I'm excited/nervous/stressed about the near future, but life is, in a lot of ways, all about change. Some things you prepare for, some things come without warning. Either way, as things come to a clear end, I'm just going to do my best to appreciate everything I'm doing and have done. It's truly an outstanding gift to be able to do this - all of it.

- Jonathan

Finish the Innocence!

Waiting 5 months was one of the hardest things I'd ever done. And it feels weird that Katie's already came and left. She's now somewhere over an ocean in a small metal tube, squished between massive amounts of people in 10F. It hasn't hit me that she's left - the past few weeks flew by. Not only because we were having fun, but also because of how much we DID. She arrived on May 14th, and in that time, she experienced 3 different countries, 20 home-cooked meals including 3 soups and 3 artichokes, 2 movie nights, 7 sunny days, 12 illegal public transit runs, 4 over-bearing beggars in Berlin, a transvestite hostel owner, a hostel room with 32 beds in Amsterdam, Dutch cheese, 3 Vietnamese food dinners, 2 jam sessions, 6 hookah sessions, 14 street performers, and a whole lot of trolls.

I'd like to start at the beginning, but I'm not. I'm going to start with a quick story we quickly called "The Clusterfuck". It all began with a bit of wine and a lack of sleep. That soon turned into the morning we were to leave for Berlin and Amsterdam (An exciting week-long trip). So we were mostly packed as we woke up in a groggy state at 6AM. I put on the coffee. We slowly showered, got dressed, threw things together. We realize we were pushing the time we need to leave by, and rushed to Ulleval Stadion to catch the subway to Central Station to run to the bus terminal to catch the bus to the Rygge airport (a 55 minute or so ride). Unfortunately, we had to wait a bit for the subway, making the situation look quite bleak. So we started running with our bags packed for a week-long trip. When we get to the bus terminal, we'd missed the bus by 2 minutes. Bummer.

So we got in line at the help desk, looking to see if any buses are going anywhere near Rygge. As we were in line, I start patting my pockets. "Katie, I think I forgot my passport." We stared at each other for a bit before "Yeah, mine's in my suitcase too," came out. So we picked up our bags and began to run. We got outside, hailed down a cab, and asked how much it would cost to get to Rygge with a slight detour back at Sogn Student Village to pick up our passports. He responded with a great deal of NOK 800 (about $140). That's pretty awesome considering just the bus would've cost 250 for the two of us. We got our passports and drove for 25 minutes or so before I realized that I was seeing signs for the other Oslo airport, not Rygge. He thought we were flying to Riga (in Latvia), not going to Rygge (the airport). So off we go in a high-speed race to get us to the airport on time after a 50-minute detour. Then, the kicker: We get out at Rygge airport with actually a comfortable time cushion. The cab driver goes, "1400 Kroner. The other airport is much cheaper."

So that was fun. But before we even left for our trip to Berlin and Amsterdam, Katie was in Oslo to help celebrate May 17th - the Norwegian Independence Day. The choir I'm in, as one of the oldest student choirs in Oslo, annually leads all of the traditional Norwegian tunes at the graves of several famous Norwegians: Henrik Vigeland (responsible for eliminating the Norwegian ban on allowing Jews to immigrate), Edvard Grieg (composer), Henrik Ibsen (Author), and others. We woke up at 6AM to make it to the cemetery, and Katie and my roommate, Lotte, decided to come along and see the event. The craziest part about it (other than the insane amount of dogs) was the costumes Norwegians wear on their independence day. Decorative bonnets, capes, sweaters, and 'cowboy hats' were donned by the coolest of Norwegians. It was actually amazing to see everyone so proud of their shared heritage - something Americans lack mainly because of the sheer size and diversity in population. But the rest of the day was spent watching the parade and sleeping and eating ice cream and strawberries. The weather was gorgeous. And I've never seen Oslo so alive.

Lotte, Fiona, and Katie on May 17th, 2010

It was on this high that we then left for Berlin. I'll say now that both cities, Berlin and
Amsterdam, had a great feel to them. And also that our trip in general was fantastic. Fun, exploratory, hilarious, and romantic where it needed to be : ). Annnywho, I think Berlin is one of my favorite cities in Europe. It's cheap, hip, full of awesome graffiti, squatters, cool people, and festivals. The city itself is broke, so that's why it's so cheap. And while it was honestly a bit weird walking around knowing that people's grandparents had hated my grandparents solely for being Jewish, it didn't stop me from enjoying a cool, new place. There are memorials everywhere from Germany's past, and Germans I know in Oslo have described to me the paradox in expressing German nationalism and patriotism. Basically, it is not socially acceptable to say, "Go Germany!" unless it's a soccer match or Olympic event or international competition of another sort. I thought about this a lot, especially since a unified Germany is pretty new, and unified Berlin has been struggling with establishing an identity and its financial stability. And I found myself imagining the country in war a lot - something I didn't do anywhere else in Europe.

Some really cool art in Berlin

But that aside, we really enjoyed a lot of Berlin (especially the summer rolls!). We went on a walking tour of the sites (checkpoint charlie, museum island, etc), got a 3-liter beer tower, went on an alternative Berlin tour (turf wars, graffiti tags, squatters), wound up at a squatter sculpture garden, went on an alternative Berlin pub crawl (full of 18 year-olds, but funny lol), wound up at a cultural festival with millions of people and booths of food, alcohol, crafts, and psychics. Really, really awesome. Side note: It is legal to pee in public in Berlin, as long as it's not a front door or public monument. It is also legal to drink in public, have sex in public parks, and prostitute (though you'll get taxed). It is illegal to cross the street when it's 'don't walk'.

Anyways, we really had a great time. My dead camera was replaced with a disposable that should be fun. And sandwiched right in between the whole thing was a quick trip to Amsterdam. Besides being stuck in the worst 8-hour trains ride possible, Amsterdam was like a giant carnival and music festival - kind of like the Hollywood of Europe. The city itself was beautiful and full of crooked buildings, trees, and canals. We got lost so many times since the streets look very similar to each other. And while all the rumors of coffee shops, prostitutes in windows, and a liberal atmosphere in general, are true, the city itself was really cool. The public park was unbelievable (as was the cheese). And everyone was on bikes (must hurt on the cobblestones...). The Anne Frank house was cool, and the people were super laid back. We were staying in a hostel complete with its own smoking room, club, and 32-bed room. One of those things you say you've done and leave it at that!

How ridiculously crooked are these buildings??!

In front of the many canals in Amsterdam

Even though getting from Amsterdam to Berlin turned into a nightmare (arriving at 4:20AM when the hostel didn't open until 11AM), the trip was really special. And coming back to Oslo to take my Norwegian exam (One of those things you're not really sure how you did lol) and watch movies and mellow out felt amazing. We made little day trips around Oslo and wound up seeing a FIFA Soccer match with the Norwegian national team. While not the most exciting games, Norway won, and it was pretty cool to see a game at the stadium I've lived next to this entire semester.

But now she's almost back in Philadelphia. It'll be another month, but a busy one, and Grandma said the time will fly (She's always right). I'm headed to Stavanger June 7-10th, and David's coming to visit on the 13th for our insane trip to Tromso, Helsinki, Riga, and Prague before heading back to Cincinnati! It's so weird that things are coming to a close. Already, Grant has left our flat, and Aurel is leaving tomorrow. Katie's gone, and I'm terrible at goodbyes. I guess things always move forward, huh? The future's coming fast.


Love,

Jonathan