Snow, Music, Candy.

The Central Station Tiger with Snow-Stripes

by:Larm Music Festival Tent

We were sitting around a hookah, eating my new plethora of Pez, talking about life and love and meaning. And then Grant sat up and said, "Yo man, we've been here like 7 weeks. In Norway." I threw out a 'yeah, man,' and began to think about how much I've done. How many nights were fantastic. How I've been attaching and detaching myself to certain aspects of Home. How I'm taking classes. How I've taken advantage of being in Oslo (FYI, Oslo means 'Pasteur of the Gods'. Now you know!) and being in a gateway to the rest of Europe. Trips to Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Amsterdam are coming up sooner and sooner. I've already been to Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Tromso. I now have 2 Norwegian sweaters! I just experienced a Norwegian music festival called by:Larm. I've settled in. In Norway. Wicked.

The past few days, we just keep getting more and more snow. On Monday, I went for a run around Sognsvann - a beautiful lake a few kilometers from where I live. I finished with icicles clinging to my beard. But the frozen lake and blanket of pure whiteness was gorgeous. No cars. No muddy snow. Just cross country ski tracks and the occasional dog. During the run, I spent a lot of time thinking about the previous weekend. I bought a pass for a 3-day industry-geared festival featuring all types of Scandinavian (though mainly Norwegian) bands. Hundreds of bands were playing in dozens of venues, and the only band I'd heard of was Katzenjammer. So getting myself involved in a bit of the Norwegian music scene was cool. The bands were as anonymous to me as I am to Oslo. Everything was new - foreign band names didn't even tell me if a band was hardcore or a mellow singer/songwriter. Something I've never experienced anywhere else. I even ended up reviewing a mellow, expansive band called Pica Pica. You can check it out here.


But in other news, I just got a fantastic package from home filled with so much candy that I'm still giddy about it (though I guess that could be the sugar high...). Either way, the pile on my floor is slowly shrinking, but I'm still thrilled about it.

Snow, Music, Candy.


<3,

Jonathan