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

A Beautiful Visit

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!

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

It doesn't get dark until 10PM.

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?

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

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