I went to Oslo for the food.

The Final Post

2011-01-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

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

2010-07-03T21:10:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-30T06:49:00.001-07:00

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

A Beautiful Visit

2010-05-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad in Bergen

Fjord Cruise

Train to Voss

Well, my parents are walking around Copenhagen in the rain right now. I'd feel bad, except for the fact that they got some of the best weather I've seen in Norway the entire week they were visiting. Even Bergen, a city that gets 60 sunny days a year (out of 365) was absolutely stunning. Except for literally 2 hours of light showers, they got sun, happy people, and a bustling city excited to be outside. We truly got to catch up and hang out for the first time in a long time. Since neither of them had ever been to Norway before, I got to explore Bergen and help tell them exactly what they should see in Oslo. And, as far as I know, they were quite pleased :).

We did a lot - doubling, tripling, quadrupling, and quintifying the amount of times I've gone out to eat in Oslo. Who knew the food here is delicious?? My cooking's pretty solid, but nothing beats going out for Chinese food! The highlight of their visit was the truly breathtaking trip to Bergen - a trip that extended itself a day and ingrained some breathtaking images of Norwegian beauty. Full of hills, coffee shops, fish, trolls, and funky trees, Bergen itself was quaint, water-oriented, and had a great feel to it. We stayed in a cool bed and breakfast, and explored. We went up on a funicular to the top of a cliff looking down on the city. Complete with a troll park, the top of the cliff yielded a view over the entire city on a super-rare well-lit day. We then made our way to the famous Bergen fish market, buying some awesome treats. We got fresh shrimp (w/ heads), crayfish, oysters, stone crab, and smoked whale. We chatted and drank beer as we threw the shells into the harbor and watched the birds. We continued to walk and explore, got lost, reoriented ourselves, watched the people, and speculated about the trees. It was a great day that extended quite late (Daylight from 4AM - 11PM!), and ended with me drinking a bottle of wine (Got a buncha wusses for parents haha).

A Tent at the Bergen Fish Market

If we had left there and boarded the train on the 8 hour scenic ride back to Oslo, it would've been enough. Dayenu. But we then went on a trip called "Norway in a Nutshell". A train to Voss led to a bus ride to a port which led to a boat ride through the fjords which led to the world renown Flåm train, and ended with 5 hours through the mountains back to Oslo. A lot of traveling, yes. But we saw what I called "The Scandinavian response to Jurassic Park". Absolutely stunning mountains, pure water, waterfalls, and small cities with as few as a half dozen buildings total. Just look at the video below.

We then ended up in Oslo to celebrate Mother's Day and enjoy the last few days of the visit. We found flea markets, kept buying cool stuff, and had a beautiful and relaxing day exploring Grünerløkka, a hip trendy area full of old buildings and open squares (finally not covered in snow!). We got some delicious Vietnamese food from a tent, and Mom bought scarves lol. Monday, I had class, but we met up near the end of the day to walk around the Oslo port, grabbing dinner and exploring the old fort after. The fort, in addition to being quite old, also overlooks the entire Oslo Fjord. Pretty.

Tuesday got off to a slow start, and we met up at the Jewish museum of Oslo. I met them there after they'd already gone in, but I know I'll definitely be back to check it out. But after, we headed back to Grünerløkka for a quick fish burger before they headed out on what's called the "Party Boat" trip from Oslo to Copenhagen to finish off their well-deserved vacation. It was such an awesome trip and I had a great time exploring Norway on a new class level ; ). It was really great to spend time just with them - catching up not via a skype call. Love them both!

Mother's Day, 2o10. Actually with my Mother!

- Jonathan

Good Morning, Oslo!

2010-05-04T03:59:00.003-07:00

I take back all I said yesterday about 'progress'. Gotta love a snow storm in May!

It doesn't get dark until 10PM.

2010-05-03T05:38:00.001-07:00

Vigeland Park (Naked People Statues)

Joe and Me at Songsvann

Well, I'm officially back in the swing of things in Oslo. And (other than a quick snowfall this morning), the weather is making positive strides towards warmth. Sognsvann, the once frozen spot for ice fishing and cross country skiing, is now a gorgeous lake full of trees and creeks (perfect for trolls). Ducks also make a lot of appearances. Along with really beautiful, sleek birds. I also had a bug fly in through my open window (for real, up until a week or so ago, I didn't see a bug). Progress!

Anyways, other than the rapidly transforming landscape, I've been really busy. The choir I'm in, Akademisk Koreforning, had choir concerts two weeks ago both Saturday and Sunday. We performed with the local Bærum Symfoniorkester at both a church and the first radio studio ever built in Oslo (through the state radio - NRK). Very cool! We sang a song in Swedish and a song in Russian lol.

At the same time, I also finished up a major 10-page paper (1 and a half spaced!) for my Norwegian music class. Now, as my only major paper of the semester, I shouldn't have complained as much as I did, but ten page papers are not quite my forte. Anyways, I ended up writing a paper that I'm quite proud of. It ended up being about the effect of rapidly-globalizing Norway and how increasing foreign influence (over the past 70 or so years) is effecting the morals, values, and overall socialization taught to children through children's music. I interviewed and surveyed Norwegians and ended up realizing that Norwegians are incredibly sad to see traditions fade and die, but the values from foreign songs aren't too different from the Norwegian values, making the benefits of economic success, political alliances, and an incredibly high standard of living worth the loss.

After finishing my paper, it was quite fitting to then have Joe come visit as his last journey before heading back to Philadelphia. We celebrated Queens Day (A Dutch holiday celebrating the old queen's birthday (the new queen's birthday is in a month with worse weather)), and checked out a cool underwater-themed bar. We also walked around Songsvann, watched a Norwegian movie about Nazi zombies (Dead Snow), checked out the amazing Opera House, and wound up back at the Naked People Park celebrating Lag B'Omer with about 20% of the Jewish population in Norway. Joe isn't Jewish, but Shaul, the Chabad Rabbi, and his wife, Esther (I think of you every time, Grandma!) made us both feel incredibly welcome. It's quite amazing to celebrate with Jews in a bright sunny park full of naked statues on a Sunday afternoon in Oslo. Definitely a special time for me, and, as Joe described it, 'an experience I definitely didn't expect' (of course in a good way!).

So today, after getting Joe to a 7:15 AM bus to get to the airport, I tried (unsuccessfully) to get fresh shrimp from the fishing boats. Apparently they took the day off. But I'll get 'em, don't worry. Maybe I'll try when my Mom and Dad come visit on Tuesday. They've been in Stockholm for a few days, and will come for a week (with a trip to Bergen, Norway) in the middle. It's been way too long since I've hung out just with them, so I'm excited to catch up and celebrate Mother's Day with my mom.

Their visit will be followed by a long-awaited visit from Katie! She'll be here for two weeks, and we are traveling to Berlin and Amsterdam for a week in the middle. I can't wait - you just can't give a hug through skype : ).

Other than that, I have exams coming up in the end of May and a completely free June. David will be visiting my last few weeks abroad to hopefully go to Helsinki, Tromso (for the midnight-sun half-marathon), Riga, and Prague. But the planning has yet to happen lol.

Joe at the Oslo Fjord

Lag B'Omer BBQ

Bra! Great!

Jonathan

Why is this Birthday different from all other Birthdays?

2010-04-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

Cool Hat!

It all started with us driving down the coast of Croatia with boob-dice hanging from our rear view mirror. Wait, no, let me try again. I will start by saying that my roommate and frequent travelmate, Chris, may be the luckiest person ever.

But before I get there, I'll just give a quick recap of the weekend before the one that left me on a 40-hour trip from Zadar, Croatia to Oslo, Norway. Soon after I arrived in Norway, I joined a choir. We ended up participating in a Norwegian Choir Festival that happens every 3 years in Trondheim. So me and Fiona (my American friend who joined the choir with me) headed up to Trondheim on a night bus, arrived in the early early morning, and walked around Trondheim in the rain. But the festival itself turned out really cool. Yes, we did have more singers on stage than we had in the audience, but it's been a really long time since I've sang with a choir that big (400 people, maybe?). But, since all the choirs were Norwegian, Fiona and I were the only ones who didn't know Norwegian. We sat around, clueless, isolated, and void of any choral direction. I picked my nails. However, as I mentioned to one of the other guys in the choir (it's mixed-gender, ages 18-70) that I had no idea what the director was saying, one of the guest choir members turned to me and said, "Neither do 70% of the rest of the people here. Her dialect is awful." I let out a laugh, and I continued, apparently along with 70% of the rest of the choir, into blank stares and cluelessness.

The rest of the weekend was walking around the excited-about-spring, quaint town with the oldest cathedral in Scandinavia, a huge student population and 1 of the 2 synagogues in Norway. We also had a banquet full of Norwegian traditions and toasts. We sang one song in English. It was called, "Sit on my Face." The rest were songs everyone else knew and screamed in drunken merriness. I ate my food quietly lol. But it was really awesome to experience something so rooted in Norwegian choral tradition. Everyone, and I mean everyone (20 years old, 50 years old, 80 years old) got drunk. We were not the only ones drinking in the coat closet ; ).

But as the weekend came to a close, Fiona and I took a gorgeous bus ride back (about 8 hours) full of sun, mountains, flowing icy rivers, and steep valleys. When we stopped halfway through, we realized it was warm enough to wear just a T-shirt. Then we pushed it even further and bought ice cream. Spring's comin'!

View from the bus back from Trondheim

Our first stop in our drive from Zadar to Dubrovnik

But back to Croatia. 2 months ago, I found a $35 round-trip flight from Oslo to Croatia, and decided to go to Zadar to celebrate my 21st birthday. I spread the word around my friends and roommates, and Chris (Canadian), Aurelien (French), Ellen (Australian), and Kaitlin (Chris's Friend from Canada) decided to join me, making for quite an interesting and multi-cultural group. We took a 6AM flight in which I got an hour of sleep all night. As we walked out of the airport, we saw a bunch of car rental huts. I turned to Chris and said, "Yo, we should look into renting a car. There are 5 of us, a bus can't be much cheaper." An enthusiastic "Yes" landed us Kroner the Car. No age check, cheap, good gas mileage. We were soon driving with the windows down, headed to downtown Zadar to walk around downtown a bit, pick up some cash, and hit the road for an 8-hour drive down the coast to Dubrovnik. We picked up some pizza, some nipply car ornaments, and got on the glorious and sunny road.

The drive was easy and fairly deserted. Just small towns and pretty views. At one point, we all got texts from Lebara (our Norwegian cell phone company), "Welcome to Bosnia and Herzegovina." We all laughed, figuring it was a mistake. Yet 30 minutes later, we were going through a border check. I rolled down the window. She said something in Croatian. "English?" "Oh, English. Go ahead." So off we rolled, seeing whole-roasted pigs on the side of the road, stopping for cheap alcohol and CDs for our car, and weaving through windy highway.

Dubrovnik

Soon, we arrived in Dubrovnik, a stunning port city with an old city in the middle surrounded by a thousand-year old stone wall. No cars, carts, or police in the old city. Just people, squares, steep side streets, and the friendliest of stray cats. Anna, the woman who owned the flat we stayed in, met us at the car and took us to a flat just for the 5 of us. She left us and we went to get fresh, uncleaned mussels from a sea-side restaurant. Then we went back to begin drinking Maraschino dessert drink (Though we believed it was brandy, and drank it as such). It soon began to taste like the worst cough syrup you have ever had, but we kept going, and made it outside fairly drunk to look for a club to go to and to celebrate me turning 21 at midnight. We sang outside, and soon realized that the city was pretty dead. Off season, Wednesday night, and a bit rainy, we soon found an open hookah bar. I was having a fantastic night. Then, before the hookah was ready, I passed out from lack of sleep, driving all day, and dessert drink. So, they tried to wake me up. I didn't wake up. They took pictures. They played me like a drum. I dreampt of artichokes and beef jerky.

Soon, they were ready to find some food. I was woken up, hoisted on Aurelien and Chris's shoulders, and dragged through the streets of Dubrovnik like a hovering banshee. They ran into a guy who said he knew where we could get food. We wound up at a small local bar full of Croatian war veterans. I was semi-awake at this point when they put a vat of Croatian liquor and told to finish it. That it was on them. That 20 years ago, Dubrovnik had no running water or electricity because of the war. And now that they had things to share, they wanted to share it with us. I took a shot, passed back out. I woke up mid-carry on the way back to the flat. I saw a stray cat. The plan from the get-go was to bring a stray cat back, and that's exactly what we did. I don't remember how, but I woke up in my fancy button-down red shirt, jeans, and Coconut curled in a ball at my knees, purring and rubbing himself on me. In a fantastic daze, I cuddled with him (or her, we're not sure) until he realized that we had no food for him :' (. But I let him out of our front door, as he was ready to leave. I forgot to open the downstairs door though. So when we left to get breakfast, the hallway reeked of cat piss. Whoops.

But we then went to grab breakfast (complete with a stray kitten named Tina sleeping in a ball on the extra chair). After omelets and coffee, we decided to walk around the wall of the city in one of the nicest days I've ever experienced. The air smelled so fresh. So we walked around, getting better and better views of the old city, the surrounding city, and the surrounding cliffs and beaches until we decided to get ice cream and dinner.

After dinner (Pizza), we drank Croatian beers and made our way to a local bar, searching for Coconut the entire time. We chased him onto the scaffolding of a renovated building, but he just stared at us. At the bar, we talked Croatian history, politics, and other highly intellectual things. On our way back after the bar closed, we soon realized that a dog was following us. Not new to housing stray animals, Dubrovnik Dog was soon being fed pretzels in our flat. Now, I was a fan of Coconut, so I left the doors to our apartment open and prayed. Soon, we heard a bark. Dubrovnik Dog saw Coconut creep in before we did! So we kicked Dubrovnik Dog out, cuddled with Coconut, and chatted the remnants of my birthday away.

The next day we drove back to Zadar, slowly realizing that we were not going to get a flight home. We stopped in Split (where we saw wild peacocks), and made our way to the hostel in Zadar. As we pulled in, we saw a whole group of Croatian college students and their professor having a party. So we checked in, grabbed wine, and mixed the red wine with coke (new for me, guys). Soon, we were having a grand ole time at a local club with a live band. I made an effort to learn Croatian. Hvala - 'thank you'. Pusho Mi Corat - 'Suck my dick'. That was it. I said each of them quite frequently. Great time.

The morning was a bit of a panic trying to figure out how to get home despite a raging Icelandic volcano. We checked the rental car place, trains, buses, flights, news. We ended up finding a bus to Sweden from Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, that we had no intention of visiting. But after a mellow last night of dinner and looking at all of our pictures from the trip, we woke up at 6 to make the 4 hour drive to Zagreb. And by we, I mean that I drove while everyone slept. But we got to Zagreb, parked the car, and walked into the shadiest bus station I've ever seen. At the counter, we were informed that "There are no seats left on the bus. The next one is in 5 days. But you can go to the platform an hour before and see if you can talk your way onto the bus." So, in a panicked-stricken few hours, we became thoroughly excited and pleading for a 35-hour bus trip through Europe.

This is where Chris comes in. Somehow, as he always manages to do, in a slew of Croatian, Russian, German, and an all-around English void, he managed to find some help and get us on the bus in the last spots without reservations, tickets, or ability to communicate. Not that he did anything special, but I now truly believe in the luck of the Irish.

But the next 35-hours were a blur of driving from Zagreb to Slovenia, entering the EU, driving through Slovenia, Austria, all of Germany, taking a ferry from Germany to Denmark, driving to the Denmark-Sweden bridge, standing on a bus from the bridge to Malmo, Sweden, then riding for free to Gotheberg, Sweden, where we caught another bus to Oslo, followed by a half hour trip more from Central Station to our place. Wow. A 21st birthday like no other. Fo sho.

Port in Dubrovnik

Love,

Jonathan

My Matzah Came Strait from Holland

2010-03-31T10:42:00.000-07:00

Turtles in the Madrid Train Station

Home-made Brumost

Well, I just got back from a string of amazing nights in Madrid. But before that, I found a farmer's market in Oslo. In it, I tried a moose burger, homemade brown Norwegian cheese (Brumost), elk sausage, and horse (didn't know it until after I'd eaten it, guys). Full of free samples (one of my favorite things in life) of things I've never tried, the market was one of my favorite finds in the city. After that, we finally explored the awesome Norwegian fort that was far too icy to explore even two weeks ago! Grass is apparent, and snow is turning into mudmudmud. Definitely an awesome thing to watch. This Norwegian winter is unbelievable long, so any inkling of change is great!

Madrid in a nutshell:

- No night ended before 6AM
- The first day, we woke up and it was 3PM. Sightseeing was cut a bit short.
- Spain does a fantastic thing that we should adopt in every bar in America. When you by a beer, they give you food! Real food! Potatoes, meats, cheeses, deliciousness! Tapas. The bomb.
- Irish people are crazy. Especially when they're on vacation.
- They have a bunch of little guys running around with grocery bags full of beers, sodas, and sandwiches all night since, other than Tapas, Spain's late-night food is a little lack.
- English = not prevalent. My talkingwithhands improved immensely during our trip.
- The train station is like a rain forest with a pond full of hundreds of turtles!

So Madrid was a lot of fun. But we also went on a nice little day trip to Toledo, the old capital of Spain. Unlike Toledo, Ohio, it was gorgeous, historic, full of stone buildings and windy streets, and specialized in selling decorated knives, scissors, and letter-openers. I bought the most ornate pair of beard-trimming scissors that I have ever seen. Other than that, we (my roommates Chris and Grant, Grant's girlfriend Sarah, and I) roamed Toledo stopping to check out rolling hills and great architecture in weather that will never reach Oslo. You can check out more pictures here.

After coming back and catching up on sleep, I went to the Oslo Chabad for the first night of Passover. Out of 800 Jews in Norway, almost 150 people were present to hear the story of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. Full of Jews from all around the world (Brazil, UK, Israel, Norway) along with Norwegian non-Jews present just to learn more about the Jewish culture, I had a passover Seder unlike any I've ever been to. And since the Hagaddah was in both Hebrew and English (as opposed to being in Norwegian), I was able to follow, sing familiar tunes, and have a grand ole time.

Today, I cleaned my room and did my laundry. It may not seem like an accomplishment, but you should've seen my room. And my clothes.

Holy Toledo!

My Matzah came from Holland,

Jonathan

Honeymoon in Italy

2010-03-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

The Church in Orvieto

Joe and I in Florence

Last spring break, Joe and I were (for clarity's sake, I'll add) figuratively married. We had a lovely time in the great hat of Canada. During my weekend in Rome, it didn't take Joe long to say, "This is our honeymoon". And, in fact, it was. While our trip to Toronto was classy, Italy was full of romantic walks, bike rides in new cities, the gorgeous Italian country side, amazing meals, bed and breakfasts, small Italian cities, sharing beds, and wine. I'm pretty sure you're jealous at this point (unless you're Joe). And you damn well should be!

Italy was just plain awesome. I ate like a maniac (starting with a random decision to buy and cook a whole octopus before going out our first night) - Rabbit, escargot, meats, cheeses, pizza, pork sandwiches, kabobs, gelato, it goes on. The coffee was fantastic. And I completely lucked out on the weather. What was supposed to be a cold and rainy weekend was gorgeous and sunny - a much needed change from the snow and cold of Oslo (though I can now see little patches of green grass!). So with the context and setting established, the plot:

Arriving in Rome, I immediately noticed some major differences from Norway. First, people speak very little English. The essential people do (directions from the airport, hostel owners, etc), but shop owners speak very little, and people on the streets had no clue I was asking for directions. But eventually I made my way to my hostel and got a hold of Joe. He and Matt (One of his roommates) met up with me and we went to the Vatican to see churches, eat well-known gelato, and talk about Italian culture and how the semester in Rome's going for both of them. We then made our way to their student residence, sneaking past guards like ninjas, aimed to get ready and go out and see/meet other Temple friends and new friends from around the US.

After the first night of Octopus and a 5-liter jug of wine, we decided that we would continue make our way to Florence despite a city-wide Italian-laziness-driven public transit strike. So we (Joe, Matt, and I) met up at the Colosseum, got some food, and made our way to Termini (The central station). We found a slow train that we hoped would leave successfully, paid 16 euros, and ran down the platform to hop on and move slowly through the countryside. When we got to Florence, Matt had to meet up with one of his classes and we figured we'd meet up with him the next day. Little did we know that he'd get food poisoning that night :' (. But Joe and I began our romantic journey. We got a room in a hostel with a double bed and clearly the much better half of the painting. And after a nice dinner of wine, bread with real olive oil and balsamic vinegar, tortellini, and chats about living together freshman year, we wound up at a bar drinking dragon ale and ultimately buying late-night kabobs.

The next day, it was 11:30. So we opened up the windows, realized it was actually day time, slowly packed our things, and made our way to the outdoor Florence markets. Wary of pick pockets, I weaved my giant weekend-bag through leather-jacket salesmen, belt stands, Italian shoe makers, and tourist-trinket stands. We saw an awesome church and kept walking around Florence on the warmest day I've felt in months. We soon rented bikes and rode through the windy streets, taking turns leading and making stops to buy water and bike in circles in a small park. After we returned the bikes, we walked around the rest of Florence for a bit, seeing the fake David statue (the one that didn't cost 8 euros) and the Jeweler bridge. Then we made our way to the train station to make our way to see Karen in Orvieto.

A good family friend, Karen made Joe and me feel right at home as we toured the unbelievable 1000+ year-old house in the hills outside of Orvieto. And as soon as we finished seeing the house (including an ancient wine cellar, three stories, and super comfy beds), Karen's friends Jeff and Robin arrived to take us to a favorite rustic Italian restaurant for Jeff's birthday dinner. The meal was delicious (and 4 hours long - the Italian way!) - a local specialty lard on toast, onion soup, and rabbit, followed by a dessert of fresh ricotta with coffee, a sweet cake, and a great custardy thing. The entire menu/meal/experience was translated by everyone else at the table for me (since the only words I know in Italian are Grazie, Prego, Va Bene, Ciao). If you ever find yourself anywhere near Orvieto, make the trek to Lo Spugnone. Absolutely amazing.

After a beautiful night sleep, Karen then took us to the heart of Orvieto for lunch. She came to Italy to study Italian for a few weeks and get the amazing house we stayed in ready to start renting out. I recommend checking out her great blog about her experience! Joe and I really just had an awesome and relaxing time.

Soon enough, we found ourselves back on the train, bound for Rome. We made our way back, wound up in a small smallwoman-run restaurant eating pizza and watching soccer. And as the night progressed to beers, karaoke, being where Julius Caesar was killed and it being the Ides of March, we snuck back into Joe's place to pass out.

My last day in Rome, I just walked around and saw the Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, old Roman stuff, The Pantheon, the Synagogue in Rome, the Circo Massimo, and wound up at the Piazza de Popolo to visit Joe and Kelsey at Temple Rome's campus to eat pizza and fried rice balls. Deciding to end my trip with a bang, we went out (just the two of us, of course) for a traditional Italian meal - antipasta, primi, secundi, dessert 3-hour meal. Meats, nosh stuff, and a whole pizza first. Pasta in a red sauce with veggies for primi 1, pasta in a spicy sausage sauce for primi 2. And since we chose the meat, we got pork with roasted potatoes, meatballs, and roasted artichoke for secundi. And for desert, frozen espresso shots, tiramisu, and a spread of little finger desserts. We passed up the espresso at the end in order to make the train to my flight, and waddled back to Joe's place to pack up and head out.

The conclusion: As I laid on a park bench outside the airport having been kicked out at 12:30 and waiting until it opened again at 4, I couldn't help but appreciate how lucky I was being in Rome visiting friends while studying abroad. This experience of going abroad and traveling around the world while you're already around the world is just so cool. There are so many practical reasons that a lot of people don't do this, but they're really missing out. I've been in 6 countries in 10 weeks...

The View from Karen's House

Where Julius Caesar was Killed. Also now a Cat Sanctuary.

Joe Biking Away.

Way Cooly,

Jonathan

Jelly Belly Buttons

2010-03-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

A bit of campus

Blindern Train Stop

Hei Hei,

This past week, I did not go on an exotic trip. Nor did I find a crazy music festival. I dreamed that polar bears were roaming the streets, but that didn't happen either. I've mostly been eating candy, making omelets, running around lakes, and going to the occasional class. I'm getting ready for Rome to meet up with Joe for a few days. And I've talked a lot about getting up and getting to the port at 7AM to buy fresh shrimp.

So in lieu of super cool events/explosions to tell you about, I figure I'll just throw out some more observations about life and sweeping generalizations:

1. As an American, it's pretty cool how differently I come off to Europeans. We tend to be much more goal-oriented and less in the present.

2. This week was the first week I've seen sidewalk! Bricks, really?

3. Taco night is awesome. Everything's expensive, but when split with 4 or 5 people, delicious tacos are super duper.

4. The beer we brewed in our closet was delicious. And strong.

5. I love my Scandinavian film class. I'm watching tons of movies that I never would have heard of, let alone seen. I still think Lars von Trier is a really weird dude (Antichrist was so messed up), but a lot of the other movies are fantastic and really portray Scandinavian life.

6. Norwegian life is incredibly deeply rooted in Christianity and its Christian history.

7. Norwegian history is pretty boring. It's mostly, "We really wanted to not get taken over, but then we did anyways." A lot of their culture (art, food, music) is a lot of striving for a Norwegian identity. They've been under other governments and cultures for most of their history, and establishing what is Norwegian is taking them a long time to figure out.

8. My cooking abilities are improving immensely.

9. My first born son will be named King Kong.

10. The internet is amazing. The amount of information and ways to communicate from anywhere in the world is unbelievable. I can stay up on all of my music blogs, read, write, video chat, call a real phone, share pictures, videos, and songs. I really hope we don't get taken over by robots.

Anyways, that's about it. I'm bout to watch a movie for my film class and then keep listening to an album by Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore that I've been addicted to. Check out one of their songs, Something Somwhere Sometime. Though it's not one of my favorites, it's the only mp3 I could find lol.

The only fraternity on campus. Just kidding, it's the music building.

<("), Jonathan

Snow, Music, Candy.

2010-02-24T03:26:00.000-08:00

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

Fulfilling Unconscious Dreams

2010-02-14T06:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Tromso

The View of the City

A Gorgeous Sunset

It started with the most beautiful landing I've ever experienced. A gorgeous sun over a lake surrounded by snow-covered jagged mountains, a bright blue sky, and rolling clouds. I was in awe - snapping pictures with my camera as we landed. Then we got up (Laudry, Lieneke, Neil, and I), only to realize that we had only finished the first leg of the flight. We were unaware that our flight to Tromso had a stop! But it did. So we sat back down, and enjoyed the take-off as much as the landing.

But this was only the beginning. We soon landed in Tromso, found our 4-person cabin, and booked a trip to try and see the Northern Lights. So at 4PM (the sun was beginning to set), we got onto a bus, drove along a mountain and watched the sun set over the city. We were on our way to a boat that would then take us back to Tromso, getting us out of the city lights in an attempt to see the infamous bright green and blue Northern Lights fill up the sky. Four hours later, across two ferries and two buses, we wound up on a cruise ship determined to see the northern treasures. So we made our way to the top deck of the ship. We sat in lawn chairs in a circle on the deck - the four of us facing different directions. I sat in my mustache ski mask, bundled in two pairs of long underwear, staring at a blankly dark sky, determined to wait the full 3 and a half hour boat ride on a freezing and windy deck. Pretty soon, everyone got cold, and I was the only one left braving the cold (I came much more cold-prepared than the others. Thanks for the tips, Mom ; ). Anyways, 3 hours into sitting on the deck, me and one other person were still out there. She came up and said, "I think I see something." So I got up, saw a wisp of whiteness grow brighter in the sky. I called the crew, and continued to watch the white vapor grow a bit and change for about 3-4 minutes, snapping pictures that came up as completely blank shots. Then we went under a cloud, and that was it. A 7 and a half hour journey for 3-4 minutes of white light. But a cool experience nonetheless. Not completely satisfying, but I saw something!

Luckily, that was only the first part of our trip. The really cool part was dog sledding. In sixth grade, we followed the Iditarod (A 12-day dog sledding race in Alaska). We all picked a person and I don't remember how mine did, but I remember thinking about how cool it would be to drive a dog sled. And that's exactly what I did last Friday. I drove a dog sledge with an experienced dog team - two of the six dogs had actually been on the company's Iditarod racing team. I stopped them with my hard brake, slowed them down with my soft brake, and drove them across the track in the middle of a snow storm. Laudry and I were a team (we switched drivers half way through) and had an unbelievable experience. The smell of dog poop was in the air, the snow was making it difficult to see, and dogs barking created the atmosphere I'd definitely never experienced anywhere else.

After the sledding, we then ate reindeer and vegetable stew - a traditional Sami meal (the northern Norwegian indigenous people). We sat in a giant tent with an open top around a birch-wood fire and really got a chance to digest what we'd just done. They talked about how they treat the dogs (hundreds of dogs each have names and their own houses) and how they gear them for racers or trainers for younger dogs. I felt like I'd just fulfilled an unconscious dream of mine.

Later that day, we went to the Polaria museum - a museum of arctic animals. It was a cool shaped building with seals, king crabs, sea urchins, and arctic cod. A little kid-oriented, but still really interesting. As we left, I soon realized that I was experiencing the warmest weather yet. It was raining. Which means it was above freezing! Wow! This was fantastic until I was drenched and then it got cold again, turning Tromso into a giant sheet of ice. This made for interesting walking/shuffling. But it also made for another cool element to the trip.

Overall, the trip to Tromso was really awesome. Even as we left the city with a 2-hour delay because of a snow storm, I couldn't have been happier with how unique and exciting the trip was.

Neil, Laudry, and Lieneke in our Cabin

Norwegian Frost Fighters De-Icing our Plane

Flying Back into Beautiful Oslo

Freezingly,

Jonathan

Sup, Stockhomie?

2010-02-09T03:11:00.000-08:00

Mr. Gnome, please don't say anything.

Well, it finally happened. My addiction fed, my pride reinstated, my taste buds back to normalcy. Last night, I made popcorn kernels successfully on the stove. It involved about 6-8 minutes of shaking the pot over the med-high heat and periodically taking the pan off of the heated burner and moving it to a non-heated burner as to not burn the delicate love-kernels. I'll admit, I did use a lid that didn't fit, and so some popped out of the pan and onto the stove-top/sink/floor/mouth on accident. But I did succeed in making delicious popcorn that reminded me of the fact that the only reason I have friends at school is because I make them popcorn. Who da man??

Also, I just got back from Stockholm, Sweden on Sunday. It was a fantastic four days of traveling, sight seeing, eating (much more affordable food), and wandering the streets of a new city. We stayed in The Number 1-Rated hostel in the world, complete with free pasta, free internet, hot check-in ladies, and rude Spanish fools who decided to get up at 6am and be incredibly loud as they got ready for 2 and a half hours. Though weirdly, Pablo's girlfriend is in her second year at Temple studying Spanish Theatre...

But anyways, Stockholm is a beautiful city. Clean, old, bustling, and full of energetic, fun people. I was talking to a friend the other day, and we decided that Norway is like the good, no fun older brother - high-esteemed, self-complimenting, reads the paper, drinks the coffee, likes to be better than the rest. Sweden is like the hot little sister of Norway who wants to have a good time and that everybody loves. And then Denmark is like the youngest brother who nobody paid any attention to. And he's pissed about it.

So now that that's been put into perspective, here's what I did in Stockholm. I ate kebabs the first night, then pizza from a different kebab place later that night. For breakfast the next day, we made it a brunch since it was noon when we woke up. I had a seafood soup that was yellow. It also tasted pretty solid. For lunch, I had a cheap day-old sandwich from a cart, and then for dinner we went to Taco Bar - a sort of much much-worse Chipotle, before we went to a casino (the same one that wouldn't let us in the night before at 4AM since we appeared intoxicated). Later that night, I had two hot dogs from Swedish street vendors (one before, one after going to a 3-story club that made me feel awkward. They also played a rap version of Shenandoah going into Cotton Eye Joe...). The next morning, I started off with a ham and black olive quiche and coffee, along with a delightful little lemon meringue tart. I didn't have lunch, but enjoyed a huge cup of coffee in a fantastic old part of Stockholm by the main palace. We met a fantastic gay couple from Toronto/NY who wanted to talk about Obama and his health care reform. Hooray for American politics in Sweden! For dinner, we went to an awesome Swedish meal (complete with losing half of our group along the way forcing me and Grant to run up and down the surrounding streets trying to find them before our table was ready). I got a stir-fry type thing of potatoes, meat (unspecified as to what kind), onions, and some other stuff topped with a fried egg. That night, I went back to the hostel to get some sleep when the rest of the crew (9 of us total) went clubbing again. I then woke up the next morning and got a bagel-esque roll with smoked salmon. The shmear was sub-par, but it was a really tasty sandwich. For lunch, I felt like I had to get some Asian food since it was abundant and affordable in Stockholm. So I hopped on the bus back to the Stockholm airport with a to-go order of pad thai and a set of chop sticks. And now back to not eating out ever. But now that I have popcorn, I guess that's okay!

Some pictures from Stockholm:

Welcome to Stockholm

The Royal Palace

I hope you enjoy!

Jonathan

All Aboard the Copen-Wagon!

2010-01-31T07:18:00.000-08:00

The View Down a Canal

It was a rather short trip to Copenhagen. On Friday afternoon, we boarded The Crown of Scandinavia - bound for a 6-hour journey in Copenhagen. The boat came complete with a pool, sauna, karaoke bar, club, family restaurants, and duty free stores. We didn't make it to the pool, sauna, or family restaurants. But I did sing karaoke while successfully rocking my new Norwegian Sweater.

Anyways, as we got off in Copenhagen, we decided the best thing to do was to walk across the city, stopping at various sites along the way. So for six hours, we walked through the freezing wind. But the sun was out, I ate a Danish, and we really got to see a lot of the city. We saw the palace, the Little Mermaid statue, Christiania (A kind of old hippie area that used to be solely bartering), and the outsides of a lot of museums. Cool!

So even though I didn't get to spend a full day in Copenhagen, the trip was a lot of fun. Tequila's a bad idea. Copenhagen's beautiful.

The Little Mermaid Statue

A Cool Canal - weird that the area that doesn't get sunlight is the melted part...

Oslo from Afar

2010-01-22T09:49:00.000-08:00

1000 Naked People Later...

2010-01-21T10:45:00.000-08:00

Vigelandsparken - "Naked People Park"

A wise old man once said something I didn't pay attention to, but my roommate Chris said of Norway, "It's unreal!!!". And as I've booked trips and looked at what I've done, I've noticed just how unreal this really is. This weekend, I'm hanging out in Oslo and going to a few 'start of the semester' parties. Next weekend I'm going on a cruise to Copenhagen for two days through the University of Oslo international programming. The following weekend I'm going to Stockholm, Sweden from Thursday to Sunday. And the weekend after that, I'm going to Tromsø, very Northern Norway, to dogsled and see the Northern Lights. And I'm working on booking trips to Amsterdam, Rome, and possibly Helsinki for the rest of the semester.

In addition to some great planned events, I've also had a great couple days getting into a sort of routine. I had two of my 4 classes (I only have class Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays), bought a guitar, bought a Norwegian sweater, bought a Norwegian cardigan, cooked Norwegian salmon filleted right in front of me, had a job interview with the disabled students department at the university, and bought a mustache mug. I toured the Oslo opera house, visited an awesome sculpture garden, joined a choir (we sang songs in English, Latin, and Swedish?), and just explored.

I was talking to my friend Lily today (She's in Cairo, on her way to South Africa for the semester), and I thought about how this entire experience is constant exploring. It's nuts how new everything is. I never would've known that Norwegian police drive Volvos. I never would have known that Oslo's main public park is full of statues with nearly 1,000 naked bodies. Or that they make spookniforks!

Unreal.

Sweet Aviator Mirrors

Translation: "Never Trust a Man Without a Mustache"

I don't think the sculptures were sacred or anything.

- Jonathan

Welcome to OsBRO

2010-01-13T05:49:00.000-08:00

It's kinda funny. The album I've been listening to a lot lately (Teen Dream by Beach House) has a fantastic song called "Norway" on it. The song itself isn't really about Norway at all, but it's a really pretty song that, in feel, beautifully captures the landscape of the snow-covered, ice-embossed, festive city of Oslo.

I've been exploring daily, crossing off tasks on my incredibly long list of to-dos: register with the police, apply for a Norwegian ID number, get a Student Card, purchase a gym membership, sign up for a student public transit pass, register for classes, find a coffee pot, meet the hundreds of international students in a student body of thousands, etc. But as I've check off each task, I've begun to realize how much I'm settling in and embracing the people and places of Oslo. I feel like I've been here for weeks, and that while I still have no idea what people are saying or what signs say, I do know how to get where I need to go fluently. And even though I feel very alone sometimes, I have so many people to talk to and meet - something I haven't experienced since freshman year at Temple. And even then, I had an awesome family in Philadelphia to help me adjust. So while some aspects feel familiar, others are completely new in ways that I could never have expected.

Anyways, other than logistical check-list achievements, I feel like I should just tell you a little bit about what I've been doing/eating. For starters, I had a delicious bowl of fish soup and a cup of coffee for 70 NOK (approx. $14.00) the other day at a coffee shop right after getting lost and running into the gorgeous Oslo port during the sun set (3:15 PM). Last night, I decided to draw the only animal I know how on my curtain (a white sheet) to liven things up! And today, after getting my residency permit and passport validated, I stopped into an old army store with my roommate Chris and a few other friends and I bought a really a cool silver Norwegian pin from WWII. I also bought mittens.

Also, I feel like I should forward some contact info. If you don't know, I have my regular phone available for texting, so feel free to shoot me a text anytime at (513) 373-0775.

But if you'd like to mail me a letter or call me in Norway, below is my address and phone number:

Sogn Student Village
ROLF E. Stenersens
Alle 46, Rm. 201
0858 Oslo

Norwegian Phone Number: (47) 96 71 85 06

So far, even though I've had a ton of things to do, I've had a lot of freedom to explore and get to know my roommates and other International students. I've met people from all over the world including The Netherlands, Germany, France, Prague, Italy, Morocco, Brazil, Suriname, Latvia, Norway, and Canada. It's been interesting to talk about how the rest of the world views Americans, what American culture items go global (Ugly Betty?), and how different governments function. If nothing else, this semester will be a learning experience like none I've ever had.

Also, if you'd like, you can check out "Norway" by Beach House here.

The Library Main Entrance

The Main Cafeteria

- Jonathan

A Few Days In. A Few Falls On The Ice Builds Character.

2010-01-10T03:16:00.001-08:00

Sogn Student Village Entrance

First impressions:

1. It's cold.

2. Public Transit is awesome.

3. Oslo looks like what I'd imagine the North Pole to look like - covered in snow, quaint, peaceful, and festive.

4. My living situation is going really well - nice room, good people. (A video of the room to come soon.)

5. I don't know how I'm going to eat. And drink. Crazy expensive.

6. It's very cold.

Beyond first impressions, I've had a pretty awesome time so far. Yesterday, I went with two of my roommates, Lotte (The Netherlands) and Chris (Canada), to the immigrant section of the city to check out a second hand market outside, and then went to Oslo Central Station to hop on the free IKEA shuttle and then to walk around a bit. Other than covered in ice, the city is great, and looks to offer a lot.

Outdoor Market - Under The Bridge

Belt Buckles - For Looking Fly

Oslo Central Station

More to come in the next few days,

Jonathan

Thursday Morning, 2:30 AM, 12ish hours until departure.

2010-01-06T23:42:00.000-08:00

   Well, sometimes life goes as planned. Sometimes it's a straight line that moves consistently and comfortably. Other times, it zags. Curves. Goes up, down, does a loop. Last night, my Bubbie died unexpectedly - replacing being excited and spending final hours with my family with feeling overwhelmed, stressed out, and emotional. Yet here I am. In my living room. Bags packed. Clothes out for tomorrow morning. Papers in order. Thinking about what Bubbie would want. Thinking about the journey I'm about to embark on. Thinking about the many hours of thinking I have ahead of me.

    I wonder how these next few months will transform me as a person. What will be the key things that I truly grow from. What will incite that passion, drive, desire inside. I also wonder what I'll truly begin to miss, appreciate, and crave from my life here. What will I miss the most? It's easy to say the food. Or maybe it'll be the live music concerts. Or maybe my family. My stability. My home. Or maybe I'll miss nothing and just appreciate. Just add to ME, gaining new perspectives and new lenses.

    Someone told me the other day that they admire me for my ability to jump without looking. Which is exactly what this trip to Norway is. I'm not sure if what I'm doing is by any means rational. But I know I'm going to jump right in and turn opportunity into growth and knowledge. I'll miss home. I'll miss love. I'll miss Bubbie. I'll miss food, music, stability. But I'll find new things to embrace. New things to grasp. New things to crave. And I think Bubbie would be proud of me. I think Bubbie is proud of me. I think I'm proud of myself.

I love you Bubbie. I'll miss you always. XOXO,

Jonathan

Monday January 4th, 2010. 3 Days until Departure.

2010-01-04T10:16:00.000-08:00

"Are you excited?" They ask. Shoulder shrug. Smile. Back to shoulder shrug. "Yeah, man. Nah, man. Not sure what to be excited for." I'm going to a country that's got a high of 4 degrees the day I'm arriving with 5 hours of daylight. I've never met any Norwegians, nor do I know how to pronounce the places people have told me to go. I have no clue what the people will be like - will I stand out? Will I look normal? Are sweats okay (They goddamn better be)? Can I hug people when slightly inebriated? What are the new rules? How does society work? How does being American affect how people will see me? How does being Jewish affect how people will see me? How will I do alone across the world with limited abilities to stay in touch with the people I love? "Are you excited?" "Nah, just stressed out. Stop asking questions. I've got enough of my own."

But in another reality, I'm very excited to go. To experience something new. To establish myself somewhere else. To make that Faux Pax of hugging someone who doesn't want to be hugged. To pack my bags, arrive somewhere, and figure out how to get where I need to go. To take Norwegian society classes and compare it to everything I've ever known. And to eventually come back home having grown as a person with good stories to share with good people.

- Jonathan