Posts of Norway

All the posts from my 4 month Study Abroad in Norway: Starting from the first to the last.

• Chaos...Total and utter chaos
  
• Great End to a Very Long Week
• The People you meet while doing...laundry
• Building Community...One Kitchen at a time
• Updates and weekend plans
• Bergen and Stavanger
• Nigard Glacier
• London Calling and the Mother & Child Reunion
• Now that's what I call an Underground
• A glimpse into what we do
• Snow at Sogn
• My ISP
• A Glimpse into what we do pt. 2...
• Stockholm Sweden
• Latest Addiction
• A week in review
• 2 Days left in Norway
• The Final Praxis
• Back in Minnesota

20 posts dating from August 2006 to December, what a ride, most of the pictures are still up on flickr as well as Picasa...For those that missed out on previous posts...enjoy :-D

Some of my favorite photos from Scandinavia:
Stortinget

SUST group at Folk Museum

Globen Arena Stockholm

Preikestolen


And lastly...
The Oslo T-Bane



Another great way to look at these posts is by clicking on the labels at the bottom of the post, that way you can see all the posts with similar labels.

Added: January, 27, 2007 by Author...
Misc. stuff from Facebook when I was in Norway:
Activites:NORWAY, hiking, taking the T-Bane to Blindern every Monday-Thursday, taking pictures, making movies, meeting other international students, reading...whew this list got long...Conquering Glaciers, eating Kebabs!, using all variations of the Kroner, being informally taught Norwegian by my flatmates and other SUST members, all a part of STUDY ABROAD!!!

Interests:Scandinavia, European Politics, relationships with the US and the roles the EU will play in the near future, how the US and Minnesota can better ourselves by looking to our Scandinavian and European Bretheren.

-I was cleaning house on Facebook and it was time for some things to be updated, but I didn't want to lose them forever...best solution, tack them onto an old post regarding the time I had in Norway.

Back in Minnesota

Well, I have made it back to Minnesota in one piece. On wednesday morning, my friend Tobias picked me up and took me to Ulleval Stadion to catch the Flybussen to the airport. From the airport I checked my bags, got through security, and I caught my first flight from Oslo to Amsterdam and then onwards from Amsterdam to Minneapolis directly. The flight from Minneapolis lasted about 9 and a half hours and I got into Minneapolis international at 3:20 in the afternoon where I was greeted by my Dad and Kristen.

From Blog Photos

After getting home and relaxing a bit; my Mom, Kristen and myself met up with Franky J and Megan for dinner at the Granite City Brewery in Maple Grove.
Friday night, Kristen threw a surprise party for me with some friends from the University of Minnesota and we all had a good time visiting and catching up.

From Blog Photos

The rest of the weekend I spent with Kristen relaxing, watching some movies including favorites I missed while I was in Norway: Ghostbusters and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (The best of the three), and we checked out the new expansion at Rosedale Center and found some ideas for Christmas presents.
Now it is Sunday evening, and the folks and I are watching some television after eating a delicious meal of Ham, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and roasted pineapples. I am also working on creating a Christmas list due to the rapidly approaching holiday. Tomorrow I am heading into campus to attend an Urban Studies professional screaning.

The Final Praxis...Cheers to being done academically with SUST

Since I didn't get any sleep last night...not really sure why? Figured I would post this final praxis reflection paper. Enjoy.

Summing up

A Semester in Scandinavia

When I first came to Norway, I knew very little about the country and therefore had few assumptions about what the country was like. Unlike the others in the SUST program who had family connections here, I chose to study in Norway for purely academic reasons. I wanted to have an experience that would deepen my knowledge of urban life as it is experienced in another country. The opportunity to study public transport systems of similar sized metropolitan areas to that of the Twin Cities through the ISP was a major draw.

Because I was basically uninformed about Norway, I do not think I have experienced the shock that some of the other SUST participants have experienced. I did not have a strong image of Norway as the: “Land of the Vikings”, with beautiful landscapes, strong environmentalism, tolerance of other backgrounds, openness to all, etc. So, this program has both informed me about these images and crumbled them. The course readings and our guests have revealed growing tensions of xenophobia, consequences created by a constructed national identity, discrimination based on ethnic background, and a growing divide between the wealthy and the poor even with Scandinavia’s Welfare system. I learned that these issues are sometimes considered taboo; subjects that “we don’t talk about here”. By not having a strong perception of what Norway was before coming here, I created the understanding of what Norway is as it was presented to me in the readings and in class discussions.

After reflecting on the semester in general, I realize that I have had very few problems or obstacles that I have had to overcome. In some of our travels I have been thwarted by the airlines in getting to certain destinations (Bergen-Stavanger), yet through patience and perseverance I was able to get to those places eventually and reconnect with the group. In doing research for my ISP, my lack of ability to read Norwegian was an obstacle because important documents were only published in Norwegian with short English summaries. However, I was able to overcome this by contacting and talking to important researchers through my placement at the Norwegian Conservation Society. It made me feel proud to hear positive comments from my program director about my efforts to establish contacts regardless of my lack of experience with the Norwegian language.

Overall I think adapted very well to living in Norway. This can be attributed to the many similarities between Norway and the US in regards to daily life, which I described in my praxis regarding globalization. I was able to buy food that was familiar to me and didn’t have to eat fish eyes or something of the equivalent. My living space at Sogn was similar to that of most student housing developments in the US. I was able to make new friends, something that was a challenge for me. It is easy to rely on family and old friends rather than push myself to meet new people. I hope to stay in contact with my new friends and visit them in the future.

In addition to making new friends, I was able to survive a 4-month separation from my girlfriend who awaits my return. This period provided me with insight into what couples often face in long distance relationships including feelings of jealousy and loneliness, and the arguments that can flare up from the smallest of things. Through this study abroad Kristen and I learned a lot about each other and how we interact with one another when the conversation isn’t face to face.

Finally although I have traveled quite a bit with my family, this was my first trip alone. Before I left on this trip I was worried that things would go wrong and I wouldn't know what to do. I found that even when things go wrong, I can solve the problem. I have survived a traveling here, and the huge ordeal that was, but also arranging other trips in Europe including the trip my Mother and I enjoyed in London during the semester break in October. All of the travel I have done over the past four months has increased my confidence in my ability to solve problems and reduced my fear of traveling on my own.

Through the SUST program I was exposed to a large range of issues facing contemporary Scandinavia including the importance of national identity, immigration and integration, and the future of the welfare state. What I found interesting was how all of these large topics are in themselves interconnected to each other, and how they continue to fuel the center-periphery struggle in Norway, my core issue. I have been particularly fascinated by this debate the entire semester because it relates so closely to things that Minnesota politically is facing in the wake of increased urbanization and centralizing forces. So far this topic has been covered in several sets of critical questions and at least two praxis reflection papers.

In my first praxis paper (Wambach, Praxis 1, 2006) I summarized the work of Knut Heidar (2001) on the creation of Norwegian identity. Heider describes how Norwegian identity was created by social elites who searched for a “pure Norwegian” after gaining independence from Sweden and earlier Denmark. These elites were looking for an identity that was as far from Danish influence as possible. Thus the periphery of Norway, due to the lack of communication technology at the time, along with common Scandinavian ancestry was the perfect place to find the foundation for the fledgling identity. (Wambach, Praxis 1 page 3, 2006). As Szlachetko stated, at the time Norway achieved independence, there were no large urban areas in existence. The relative lack of urbanization, tied with Norway’s geographical conditions, mandated that the regions were more important and self-sustaining out of necessity. The traits that lead to success in a challenging agrarian environment, such as persistence, physical strength, stoicism, and self-sufficiency (or what ever you have read - throw it in here) are still championed in Norway. Yet Norway has developed large urban centers where cooperation, collaboration and tolerance of diverse life styles will be needed to avoid urban problems such as congestion, pollution and disenfranchisement of segments of the population.

Recently this issue has been brought to the forefront for myself with our recent visit with Ketil Solvik-Olsen of the Progress Party of Norway. During that talk I brought up the issue of transportation planning to which he responded quickly and without further discussion that his party favors road investment over investment in critical rail infrastructure. Andrea tried to keep the conversation going by asking whether rail transport would threaten the current decentralized state of Norway, and if favoring roads was a simple form of showing opposition. Though he did not address her question, Andrea was on the right track. In any country there are likely to be forces promoting centralization and those promoting decentralization. Transportation planning is one area of decision-making where those forces become apparent. Like in the US, those in the periphery are often opposed to projects that increase centralizing forces such as investment in High Speed Rail and public transport subsidy. Parties who are in favor of public transportation spending, such as the Social Democrats and to some degree the Conservative party, support these projects due to the benefits of centralization. Hamilton (2004) described how investment in critical infrastructure is often justified because of the creation of economic growth that often occurs as a result of these projects. The economic growth is generated from reduced costs in the movement of people and goods, jobs created while the network is being built, jobs needed to maintain new rolling stock and guideways, etc. However, one could also argue that decentralization can also be encouraged at the same time with these investments because it makes it easier to travel to and from major urban centers of the decentralized state. For example, in the USA planners argue against improving highways, because adding more lanes to roads encourages development further from the urban core called "urban sprawl". Advocates for roads argue that most people prefer to live in more rural or suburban settings and roads allow us to do that, improving our quality of life.
In another praxis I described how classic Scandinavia Literature and art support this stigma against city life. For example, Knut Hamsun’s Growth of the Soil and artwork featured prominently in the National Gallery examine the problems of urban living. Szlachetko commented that the depiction of the urban areas during the early 19th century or height of the industrial revolution often depict the misery of urban life. This is also a common feature in the US art where very strong depictions of the harshness of the urban realm and the need to escape to the peripheries can be found in 19th century literature and art.

Through the process of examining these competing forces in Norwegian culture I have become more aware of how they operate in the USA. For example, our SUST group has discussed the threat to the periphery that Norway’s potential integration with the EU creates through the targeted elimination of subsidies in the fisheries and agricultural sectors (Matlary, 2004). Political parties such as the center party that was formally the agrarian party continue to lobby for these subsidies without addressing the negative effects of continuing these subsidies such as inefficiency and lack of competition. This is similar to Minnesota where lobbyists have called for an increase in the size of feedlots to support increases in livestock production for farmers without considering any of the negative side effects such as environmental degradation through “feedlot” farming practices. I have also come to see how competing forces influence my own personal choices. For example, I believe that using mass transit is better than driving for the environment, but it is sure more convenient to hop in the car. Reconciling the need for preserving the environment with my need to travel when and where I like is a challenge.

To conclude the center-periphery debate for Norway and other states is a dialectical problem. Dialectical problems require us to combine a thesis with its antithesis, or bring together two contradictory ideas, to create a synthesis. Hanging onto core values and traditions of the past while at the same time strengthening these traditions by adapting to changing circumstances is an example of synthesis. Another example is the pursuit of High-Speed Rail to enhance centralization while promoting decentralization at the same time. Seeing problems as either or – we either have or do not have centralization – limits our ability to come up with creative solutions. But dialectical thinking is hard, especially when we are highly committed to our positions. From my vantage point as an outsider, it is easier to see need for synthesis in the problems faced by Norwegians, than it is to see the potential for synthesis in problems we face in the USA, or that I face in my personal life. I hope that as I return to my usual environment, the lessons I have learned through this study abroad experience will help me recognize and think through the dialectical problems I will surely encounter in the future.

2 days Left in Norway

The countdown has begun for the return trip home. For Kristen this countdown has been occurring since late October and will now finally come to a close in the next two days. It is currently 3:08 AM here in Oslo Norway. I am wide awake for some reason and thought I would do some free writing to possibly make myself tired.
Last night was Saturday night, my last Saturday in Oslo, and nothing exciting happened. That’s not to say the night was a total waste, but it was close. My friends all felt tired and didn’t want to go out to the city, Mark is getting set for his trip to Amsterdam and is saving money, and I think Jennifer has a cold and I hope she starts to feel better. Saturday night consisted of sitting in Mark’s room chatting, drinking a couple beers, eating some chips, and enjoying the wonders of YouTube with music video clips featuring David Bowie and Ray Parker Junior’s Ghostbusters.
The weather has been to blame in regards to people not wanting to venture out in my opinion, then again, we are very close to the end and people need to pack who are leaving in the next few days, and then the other students here at Sogn who most of us are friends with are preparing for their final papers and exams as well, making it difficult to go out and have a good time.

Oslo City Hall, semi rainy and cold night

Just another thing I’ll have to add to the list of things I want to do when revisiting this Northern portion of Europe called Scandinavia.
I finished my Final Praxis paper earlier this evening, and yesterday I began taking down cards, photos, maps, and posters down from my walls and started to feel sad. I gave away a bunch of my kitchen stuff tonight because I wasn’t going to be cooking here again in the time between now and Wednesday morning when I plan on catching the Express bus at Ulleval Stadion to the Oslo Lufthaven (Oslo Airport). Hopefully I can have Henrike and Tobias help me load up my suitcase in their car and give me a lift down to the bus stop.

The room, getting set for the departure
Tonight Alizee and Cora did some baking in the kitchen, which was nice. Alizee made a chocolate cake and offered a piece to everyone in the flat while Cora made cupcakes. I feel bad for not baking with them, I tried cooking for people a number of times and shared my meals with Marie so that she wouldn’t have to cook when she came home late a few times but it wasn’t a reoccurring thing.
Photo added 1-31-07

Eating some Peppes Pizza with the Flatmates before heading back to the states, it is something that I wish I would have done more of, but upon reflection I spent a lot of time with students from other countries vs. hanging out with other Americans.
Leaving for the SUST retreat tomorrow morning at 9:30 from Ulleval Stadion, so I need to get to sleep.
Probably have one or two more posts before I leave Norway,
Cheers.

Another late edition:
Some photos from the Retreat:
Morning at Sogn


A Cabin fit for a SUST retreat

Latest Addiction

This is a collection of photos and clips that I plan on using in my presentation on Scandinavian Public Transport coming up next week Monday. Enjoy, and let me know if you think it would be appropriate to include in a power point presentation.

My Independant Study Project - ISP

This has been the main reason behind my selection of Norway and the SUST program.

ISP- Scandinavian Public Transport

After our class visit to Copenhagen, I became interested in studying the major public transport systems of the three major Scandinavian Countries in the order our class has interacted with them: Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. The analysis will follow a compare and contrast of the systems with the following guidelines:

• Population – the size of the three capitols varies, how has this shaped their transport systems and what challenges has it provided?
• Size of Geographic area – this can be linked to population and size can be measured in hectors or square miles. This section could also feature geographical challenges for example Oslo’s Fjords and difficulties with Tunneling or because of Copenhagen with no geographic boundaries and no hills and what challenges this has presented to planners.
• The Age of the System – age is important in determining popular support and continued improvements. If the system is associated with failure, it is likely that it could fall victim to privatization. Age also has factors in condition of lines and decisions behind infrastructure improvements such as tunneling underground important sites for Metro lines.
• Sources of funding – How much of their funding comes from fair box recovery, how much is Nationally subsidized, what political institutions control them, is their a Minister of transport that oversees these operations, etc.
• Modes of transport – this would include all rolling stock of metro lines, busses, trams etc. Some of the major manufactures that have contracted with these services could be mentioned.
• The future of these systems – this would be the final chapter, expressing challenges these systems face be it in expansion, waning political support for public subsidy as is the example in Norway from the Progress Party, pressures of privatization. How will Norway’s EU membership (if it occurs) affect public transport, how are Denmark’s and Swden’s already affected.

My motivation to switching to Scandinavia and its three major capitol is to try to tie closer into the goals of the program. Tim and I have talked about how there is continuing pressures of cooperation in the Nordic countries. One of these players is the Nordic Council Ministers, whom we met with a representative of while in Denmark. It would be interesting to find out how this organization plays a role in transport. The motivation for the selection of capitol cities, is because they have the largest concentrations of people and activity requiring transport. And lastly, I would like to take back what I learn from this analysis and apply them to transport policies and infrastructure development in the Twin Cities, which was one of the main anchors in my reason for coming to Norway.

I continue to face challenges with the Norwegian Language in terms of research. Progress is being made in the volunteer placement, though I feel time is continuing to slip away. This will be the last change of the ISP. The end result will be a 15-20 page paper as stated in the syllabus in the program, and as a benefit to future SUST students a power point presentation summarizing the three major systems will also be presented.

Snow at Sogn

Today it snowed. Pretty amazing really, even though its just snow. I think the timing is pretty interesting, considering all of us who are from Minnesota and remember the 1991 Halloween Blizzard exactly 15 years ago, that was one of the largest blizzards Minnesota ever had. For those that don't know or don't remeber follow the link. I swear, what can't the Wikipedia find?

I wasn't sure when we were going to see snow in Oslo, from a lot of people I heard we weren't going to have snow until Mid-November, but I am not suprised by this snow storm considering that Minnesota and the majority of the midwest of the USA experience their first snows in Mid-to-Late October early November. Plus it made for a great picture.

Leaving for Stockholm tomorrow morning really early, so I will need to do some packing tonight. I might have one more post later on today, depending upon how I feel. Hopefully this isn't the last time it snows during our stay, I'd really like to get up to Holmenkollen and take some pictures from the Observation deck.

A Glimpse into what we do...

This is going to be a test to try and summerize some of the activities of the SUST program by posting one of my Praxis Refelction papers. The Praxis takes into consideration the past 3 weeks and then the student (me) finds an issue to focus on for further study. Let me know what people think of this and I can make the appropriate changes.
Date written: September 14th, 2006

Challenges of Globalization

For the past month I have been pondering to myself, why is there so much pizza in Norway? Before I came to Norway, I had the perception that all Norwegians ate was a lot of fresh fish and possibly some reindeer meat. Since Norway is on the sea and fish is a major export, it seemed like a reasonable assumption. Not being much of a fish lover, I was shocked and some what pleased when the first thing I ate in Oslo wasn’t salmon or reindeer for that matter, but instead cold pizza from Dolly Dimples, a large pizza chain found almost everywhere in Norway. And it’s not just pizza, but kebabs, hotdogs, and even burgers from McDonalds and Burger King!! I feel that the fast food from America has followed me here, however, it was already here before I got here. Is this all a product of globalization? Or a cause of globalization?

When we discussed this earlier in class, someone pointed out just the sheer number of kinds of frozen pizza that one could purchase in the REMA or RIMI supermarkets. From there we went on a tangent on how “globalized” Norwegians are through food, mass media, and technology. I started with food because everyone, regardless of location, requires food to live and most often cultures have distinct food or meals that make them “traditional food” such as Norwegian Lesfa. I wonder however, the degrees to which these foods are available in Norway because Norwegians have traveled around the world, tried different foods, and now want to eat them at home. Or are these foods in Norway because Norwegians heard about them through the media and food companies marketed them as desirable alternatives to traditional fare. In this case the food becomes a source of globalization rather than an indicator that it has occurred. In regards to fish, I didn’t have my first piece of fish until I had Fish and Chips at the Fish Market in Bergen last weekend and again in a Cauliflower Soup with some Salmon for dinner at Preikestolen (which was quite good). My new appreciation for fish is due to my exposure to Norwegian culture, not marketing, and so when I eat it at home it will be a sign of globalization.

Another channel of globalization, television, surprised me as well. Whenever I have had a chance to do some channel “surfing” I have seen many programs from the U.S. and the U.K. with spoken English and captioned Bokmal. However, whenever the nightly news comes on the spoken language reflects the local dialect from which the news is being broadcasted. This has been (and will continue to be) very interesting to observe, although a little disappointing. I think I could learn more about Norwegian culture by watching Norwegian sitcoms or shows that are uniquely Norwegian. Maybe there are other channels out there in the void that I still need to stumble upon, but so far it strikes me as odd that Norwegians rely on other countries for their TV programming.

Globalization is defined by the Wikipedia (2006) as: An umbrella term for a complex series of economic, social, technological, cultural and political changes seen as increasing interdependence, integration and interaction between people and companies in disparate locations. The Wikipedia, which is created and modified by internet users, provides a common, non-technical, understanding of the term and is in turn an example of globalization as well.

With this definition in mind, it is reasonable to argue that globalization is not a new phenomenon. Rather globalization began occurring when the first human beings set sail across the seas and began interacting with other people through trade as seafaring peoples such as the Phoenicians traveled the ancient world. The Romans and the Vikings also spread their language and customs around the globe as they conquered other peoples and forced them to assimilate to the conquering culture. In more recent times the British, French and Dutch established large empires that included colonies that were exploited to increase the wealth of the colonial powers. For many years the Merchant Marine of Norway traveled all over the world delivering goods and exchanging people, ideas, and practices which all contributed to what Norway and the world are today. However, abuses that are associated with conquest and colonialism raise issues about modern globalization which is accelerating due to new communication technologies and economic policies such as the Washington Consensus. The issue of who wins and who loses through globalization has been brought to the front burner once again. Is globalization a new type of colonialism is disguise?

The readings we were assigned for this topic and the two guest lecturers, Peter Vilsted and Kirk Samson offered interesting insights into the benefits and problems of globalization. Vilsted and Samson described globalization in the context of social justice issues such as the need of fresh water in most of the developing world. They also described the tensions between the U.S. and Norway such as Norway's lack of support for current President George W. Bush and the general pendulum swing of US interest away from Europe to more contested areas of the middle east.

In the readings, Bhagwati (2004) painted a rather rosy image of globalization stating that in general globalizing policies that favor large transnational corporations or NGO/TNG’s do more good than they do harm. Bhagwati argued that globalization is central to solving the third world’s economic problems. On the opposing side, Susan George (2004) provided a great analysis of the failures of the Washington Consensus and described the increases of inequalities in the world that have resulted from neoliberal economic policy. However, she does not offer new solutions to the economic problems faced by third world countries unless these are brought up in other chapters.

An optional reading for that same week, that I feel should have been required and am disappointed to have not finished, was the article by Held (2005) who also attacks the failures of the Washington Consensus but suggests that these policies need to be amended and changed along with what is referred to as the Washington Security Agenda to a human one. I hope to finish this article, and that all are fully discussed soon in the course of this class.

Norway and Scandinavia have benefited much from globalization. Norway specifically has gone from being one of the poorest countries to being one of the richest countries after discovering oil in the North Sea. The sale of this oil on the world market was made possible by globalization. Norway also benefited from its relationship with NATO after the post-war years and during the Cold War when Norway was a crucial ally to the US. However, now that the Cold War has been over for almost three decades and the E.U. is increasingly becoming more responsible for its own security, NATO it seems is becoming less important. As Kirk Samson stated in his lecture, "if American interests are moving from Europe, who is going to come to the aid of Norway if it is ever threatened?" It will be interesting to see what changes occur in the next decades and if Norway becomes an active participant of the E.U. rather than a state that plays lip service for economic purposes.

Nigard Glacier vid

This is from my second Hiking in Norway trip, through the University of Oslo special Events for international students. We spent a weekend in Fjaerland hiking 1000 meter hills and walking on the Nigard Glacier.

Enjoy the movie, it is one of my personal favorites:




More updates soon to come, just got back from Denmark, and still need to post the details of the Bergen/Stavanger trip, prepare for the trip to London with the Mom (next weekend already), fill out postcards and mail them, as well as continue to read and study.

So much to do and so little time,

Andrew

Bergen and Stavanger

September 8th-11th 2006

This was our SUST groups’ first trip together on our own in Norway. We spent for days on the west coast of Norway, 2 days in Bergen and 2 days in Stavanger. Our Professor had given us the day off on Monday the 11th, and so we had plenty of time to plan.

Andrea cooked up a great and pretty affordable itinerary for us all to follow that got us to Bergen by train from Oslo, then flying to Stavanger and later to Oslo. Aviation will be discussed later in the blog.

Late Thursday evening, I got my backpack filled to the brim with clothes for the four-day trip along with some toiletries and spent the night looking through my lonely planet guide unable to sleep. I think I might have gotten an hour of sleep at the most, because I was up at around 4:30 AM taking care of last minute packing and eating some kind of breakfast before heading to Ulleval Stadion to catch the T-Bane to Oslo Central Station. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:20 in the morning, meaning that we needed to catch the first T-Bane out of Ulleval.

It was cool to see Ulleval all light up in the early hours of the morning, and seeing the moon above Sogn was quite a sight. Suffice to say, I made it to Ulleval pretty early and waited for the T-Bane for a good half hour. While waiting, Maria and Jennifer arrived with their stuff and waited as well. They were able to get some sleep the night before, but weren’t up for much conversation. Around 5:45 AM, the T-Bane finally arrived and Heather came bolting down the steps to the station and got on just before the doors closed. I was impressed that she was able to make it, however, she had some trouble catching her breath afterwards but then so would I if I had to run down a flight of stairs with a huge pack in an attempt to catch a train.

We arrived at Oslo Central Station and identified our platform where our Train was waiting patiently for us.

From the platform, we identified our couch and seat numbers and proceeded to get settled and wait for Mark and Andrea that didn’t catch the first T-Bane. We got a frantic call from Andrea once we got in the train, saying they were on their way and concerned about their passports. We told them not to worry and they shortly arrived.

Mark had to call a flat mate of Andrea’s to find out his seat and confirmation number after forgetting to print them off earlier. Although it may seem early in this story that it was Mark and Andrea who were the ones who were left behind, it gets better (or should I say worse) for our author in the coming paragraphs.

Suffice to say, the train left without a hitch and with all of us present and accounted for. The others for the most part slept or listened to their Ipods, while I was wide awake and glued to the window, watching us being passed by other trains coming in and out of Oslo Central Station, and the changing scenery as we left Oslo and moved out along the Oslo-Bergen Railway named one of the most Scenic routs by National Geographic in 2004.

While the ride was very scenic and smooth (not too many bumps), the train or tog still took 6 hours. The delay was due in part because most of this line is single track in many stretches through the mountains, and trains must yield to other trains based upon who gets to use the ROW first. However, there is a German company that has plans of upgrading certain routes such as the Oslo-Bergen railway to “high-speed” rail standards and adding double track in certain parts to cut the overall trip from 6 hours, to 1-2 ½ hours. This is to increase competitiveness of the Norwegian Railways to compete with the Air Industry in Scandinavia. For those interested check it out: Norsk Bane

We got to Bergen Friday afternoon around 2:30 and were greeted with typical Bergen Weather, which is nothing but rain. We quickly found our hostel, Jacobs Apartments, centrally located in Bergen and highly recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide and other people who we had talked to before we left, and did the entire process of checking and getting settled before taking off for high adventure.

After we checked in, we all realized we were really hungry and headed to the Fish Market in the pouring rain for some food. All of us settled on fish and chips, freshly caught Cod covered in batter and then fried along with some French fries, and was my first time having fish in Norway. Wasn’t that bad, had a clean plate at the end, and was satisfied for the remainder of the day.

Because of the rain, Andrea got upset that her shoes were getting wet and so we set off on search for a pair of rain boots for Andrea. We walked to like 5-6 shoe stores all before they closed. Thankfully she was able to find a pair that was her size and a color that was a pretty snazzy red. With Andrea’s new boots taken care of and everything right with the world we started looking into nightlife. Suffice to say, I was ill prepared for nightlife with not packing my contacts and stuck with the glasses. We ended up going to this nightclub/bar that ended up later in the night turning into a crazy rave. Not that there is anything wrong with raves or dancing, but when you add drinks in glasses and then bodies moving to music, the result is not only drinks poured on other people but glasses being dropped and shattered all over the dance floor. While waiting to head out, I saw a guy come running down a set of stairs with blood running down his arm, I assume he had fallen on the floor and got cut up pretty bad.

Saturday morning, the weather cleared and stayed warm and sunny for the rest of the entire weekend. We capitalized on the nice weather and took the Bergen Floibaner or funicular to the top of the hill, and got some good pictures of Sentrum Bergen and some good group shots.
Post Card Bergen:Forgive the quality of the photo, I think there was some condensation on my lens from the day before.







From the top of the hill, we had a great hike back down, not too tough considering there was a gravel path and made our way back down to the city center. I split off on my own to check out a tower and former guard post of Bergen, hoping to climb to the top and get some sweet pictures, unfortunately they had closed about a half hour before I got there. However, I did see some kids mock fighting in full medieval battle gear (swords, axes, and shields) that provided some entertainment. From there, I wondered back to the main tourist drag near the fish market, found a place selling Pancakes for 10 Kroner and got one fresh off the pan vs. cooling on the plate, and then bought some postcards focusing on Bergen (that yesterday September 27th, I finally mailed).

Saturday night we ran into some German friends of ours from Sogn, who had drove from Oslo to Bergen for the weekend. We made plans to hang out later, and that night I became an honorary German through a couple of rounds of “Circle of Death” or “Kings”, from which we embarked to a crazy bar called….can’t remember the name but they had Guinness (which I love) and turned out to be a metal bar with tiny Norwegian girls with really really deep scary voices performing in the basement (lol). Suffice to say we didn’t stick around long considering in the morning we needed to be at the airport to catch a flight from Bergen to Stavanger and the next two days of our trip. I set my alarm for 7:45 AM and hoped I would wake up.

Sunday morning I woke up on time, and thought I had enough time to get to the airport considering my flight wasn’t until 9:20. However, to get to the airport I either needed to take a bus or a taxi. I checked out of the hostel by dropping off my keys and walked to the bus Terminal looking for the Flybussen. However, by the time I had gotten to the bus terminal the Bus had already left and wasn’t coming again until 9:00!!! Immediately I thought, what am I going to do? The flight is scheduled to leave at 9:20, how fast can this bus get me to the airport, is there a taxi? Not having a mobile phone or answers to any of these questions nor a taxi in proximity, I decided to take my chances with the Bus. What else could I do?

I got to the airport 5 MINUTES late, no baggage to be checked just needed to get on the plane and ran to the gate, tried to get through security as fast as I could, and the plane was already gone. My hope was this would be like a US airport where the plane doesn’t leave for another 10 minutes, boy was I wrong. Later I found out that my friends had gotten on the plane because they had taken a taxi and were expecting me to come running on the plane or running out to the runway, and no matter how much I wish that could have happen it didn’t.

I think I am cursed when it comes to air travel considering that the day I was traveling was the 10th, 1 month after my first chaos with planes and Norway. Suffice to say, I ended up being 2 hours behind my friends and had to book another flight with a different airline and then sit and wait for a 40 minute + flight. Flustered but enduring I pressed on and made it to Stavanger and through the use of the lonely planet guide found the ferry that would take me to Tau and onwards to Preikestolen of the Lysefjorden.

When I made it to the ferry I called Tim, my program director, who gave me the mobile numbers of a member of my group who I frantically called and caught up with. The first thing they said was “How r u, and more importantly where are u??” I explained that I had made it to Stavanger and would meet them in Tau.

When I got off the Ferry, there they all were as promised and I was never so happy to see them all. We hopped on the bus and took it to the hostel at the start of the hike to Preikestolen. We took care of checking in and then HIKED THE MOUNTAIN. Now, this wouldn’t have been a problem, but I had run out of cliff bars about a week earlier and hadn’t had anything to eat since arriving in Stavanger. But the weather was nice, and we were uncertain to the amount of time we would have on Monday, and so we hiked the path to Preikestolen, 2 hours up and 2 hours down.



And wouldn’t you know it, my camera decides to die right when we make it to the end of the hike, not die as in permanently dead, but the battery quite out on me because I didn’t bring a charger. The view from atop Preikestolen (604 Meters above the Fjord) was probably one of the coolest things I have experienced so far, and it is my hope that I can come back with Kristen or my brother and share the experience of the hike with others.

The shot (shown above) was taken by me using Mark’s camera, which he generously let me use for a few shots. When we reached the bottom, Mark and I got some food, enjoying a cauliflower soup with broiled Salmon and bread for about 70 Kroner which was one of the best meals I had enjoyed since my arrival.

All tired and fed, we relaxed by chatting and drinking tea and ever so often wondering outside into the cold air to look at the stars (which were not to be seen, too overcast) and reflect on the days events, particularly of the follies of the first time traveler, Me! I think the night after the hike, may have been the hardest I have slept in a long time, and I can assure you that my legs were trembling when I came down the mountain, and not too happy with me the next morning.

Monday we left Preikestolen, after a huge Norwegian breakfast and headed back to Stavanger. The plan was to dink around town before our scheduled flights. Most of the others went shopping and did some exploring, I did some of that myself and ate lunch at this neat Greek Restaurant, and then to pass the time went to the Norwegian Petroleum Museum to then take the Flybussen back to the airport. Little did I know that fate was against me again.

Turns out I had booked my flight for the morning instead of the evening, not taking into account military time, and ended up having to buy a ticket on the last flight to Oslo that evening which was delayed several times. By the end of the weekend, I didn’t want to step foot on another god damn plane. Suffice to say I landed in Oslo around 8:30 (Maybe) then got set to take the Flytoget (Airport Express Train) back to Oslo Central Station, costing me 160 Kroner then finding out afterwards that there was a student rate, but too late, and then getting off at the wrong station. When I figured this out, I quickly jumped on board the next regional NSB tog (or train) and grabbed a seat and sat nervously waiting for Oslo S to be the next station. I began to see people move towards the front of the train, and then out of the corner of my eye I turned and saw a ticket inspector coming my way. Not having a valid ticket for the regional NSB tog, I grabbed all my things and walked as fast as I could to the front where the other people were gathering, and as soon as the doors opened I was gone like the wind making my way to the T-Bane.

So that sums up my weekend in Bergen and Stavanger, been really tough to write all of this down, but hopefully I can post it later tonight and add in the photos I want from the flickr pages to make it better.

Stay tuned for new videos (maybe) and summaries of other trips in the land of the midnight sun that is Norway.

Until next time,
Andrew

Updates and Weekend Plans

Andrew's first decent. See more at my flickr site.

Hello everyone,

I have just recently updated the aint Nothin but a Drew thing page. If you look to the right on your screen, you will see a recently added link titled Drew's Homepage this will take you to my .mac account where I have posted two videos and also links back to the blog and flickr photos which have also been updated.

This weekend, the six of us SUST people are making our first trip on our own to Bergen and then onto Stavanger, both cities that are on the West Coast of Norway. Tomorrow morning very early, we are catching an NSB train from Oslo Central Station to Bergen. The trip will take approximatly 6-7 hours total, but is one of the most scenic routes in all of Norway. When we arrive, we will spend two days in Bergen and then fly Norwegian Air to Stavanger where we plan to spend two more days and return home on Monday the 11th in the evening. It should be a very exciting trip and I am looking forward to it, minus the 6:20 AM train (ouch).

I hope to post more next week and hopefully post a video on my .mac of my first hiking trip, which happened yesterday afternoon at Kolsastoppen about a half hour outside of Oslo.

Until next time, wish me luck on the Bergen trip and the hiking in Stavanger, I hope to come back with some great photos!!

Andrew

Building Community…One Kitchen at a Time

The first three weeks of the Scandinavian Urban Studies Term have passed. The common topic: Identity. The factors that create national identity, importance of identity in the future of the Welfare State, etc. All of this was very interesting, looking at how the Norwegian identity was created relatively recently due to Norway’s independence only 100 years ago.

In a way, we have all been building community and identity on our floor of building 48. A couple of nights ago, about 5 of us were all in the kitchen. We were all cooking, eating, chatting, and cleaning up together. It was great when all of a sudden the Norwegians would just start having full fledged conversations in Norsk. I would try to listen as close as I could, but still not get anything.

Anyway, after we all had finished eating and cleaning up after one another, a few of us Eliza, Mari, and myself all started talking about rearranging the kitchen into something more inviting. We also discussed the situation with the garbage can and its existing location. Right now it sits on the balcony outside of the kitchen. All of us would prefer to have a smaller one to put under the sink. That way we could take the garbage out in smaller bags, instead of one big bag that has to be dragged down the hill to the large garbage bins.

So, around midnight Mari and Eliza started rearranging the kitchen, set up a bunch of candles and turned the room into a kitchen and study room including music!! We were listening to a particular Norwegian artist, and I asked Mari if I could import the music onto my lappy. She said yes and now I have some Norwegian music on the lappy!!

Back to the title of the post, all of these interactions has helped build community in building 48 floor 2. Similar to interaction in the dorms of colleges in the state of sharing a floor, eating together, and interacting with other students on other floors of the building as well as your own. The difference between this student living community and the dormitories is that there is no cafeteria, that’s on campus, and instead everyone cooks for themselves and has their own room. In a way, this is more like Riverbend Commons and the newer student housing buildings on the University of Minnesota.

I’ll try to get some pictures of all the members of the floor together, and when the kitchen is cleaned and nicely organized (my week to do it wish me luck) I’ll snap some pictures of that too.

This is another post along the lines of the People you meet in the laundry room, another place is the kitchen, common communal places where human interaction is inevitable. So to those still loyal readers of Ain’t Nothing but a Drew Thing, send me some recipes so that I can share them with my fellow flatmates and SUST group. This goes double for family members :-D

The past three days have been beautiful weather here in Oslo, Norway. Not sure what I have planned for the rest of the day, but it will probably end with me falling in a heap as has been the case. Need to do some laundry, eat some breakfast, and possibly do some shopping, see if I can find a Norwegian flag and pick up some postcards for those in Minnesota.

Take care for now, and until next time, work on those kitchens you never know who you are going to meet or what you will make :-D

Andrew

The People you meet while doing…Laundry

The Laundry mat, or the laundry facilities of a dormitory or student living community such as the one at Sogn Studentby can be one of the best places to meet other people for love or friendship. In our society, no one walks around nude, so we all must wear clothes and no one likes their clothes being constantly dirty so they must be washed. I met Kristen at the laundry facilities in Middlebrook Hall at the University of Minnesota, and had my first conversation with her and her best friend and roommate Meghan Halverson.
After that first meeting, I spent the next six months chasing her until we became a couple and the rest is still in progress :-D

Friday morning, I woke up around 10:00 AM and went down to start some laundry from the week’s activities. When I first walked down, I met a guy named Pablo who helped me figure out how to use the machines that were slightly different considering all the directions were in Norwegian and all of the temperature settings were in degrees Celsius. After figuring that out, I purchased some laundry detergent at the REMA 1000 Supermarket at Sogn, however, couldn’t find any dryer sheets! Puzzled, I talked to the store clerk as I was checking out, and he said that he had never heard of them and that they didn’t stock them. Let’s just say, it made it interesting folding clothes after coming out of the dryer without the dryer sheets, although Frank explained to me that more likely they use Fabric Softener during the wash cycle rather than the dry as we do in America.

Anyway, while competing for machines I met Thomas and Tamara, both students from Germany who were doing laundry at the same time as me. Both of them have great English and were able to carry a conversation. Seeing that it was a nice day, I asked them what they were up to the rest of the day and if they would be up for venturing to Sognsvann, the Lake close to Sogn and Kringsja.

Myself, Tamara and Thomas at Sognsvann

The three of us headed out to Sognsvann and did some swimming. Man, was that a cold lake!! I have been in cold lakes before in Minnesota, but even this was beyond cold. It was very refreshing. The water was surprisingly clean as well and very fresh. There were a lot of people in and around the lake enjoying the day.

The Lake at Sognsvann0

From the Lake, Thomas went to join his law school buddies, and Tamara and I walked to campus and met up with her “buddy group”. We walked up this real tall hill entering campus and I convinced Tamara to take a few pictures. I got a great profile shot of her looking out over the hill, while the one with me isn’t that good. But oh well, that is photography. There were a number of “buddy groups” and students that had occupied the top of the hill and both Tamara and I agreed that we should try to drag our “buddy group” over to the hill. I though the hill would be perfect to roll down and make a video with, and it looked like others had rolled down smaller parts.

We got to campus, and met up with the buddy group. However, it wasn’t as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Trying to make the best of it and not make a stink I participated. We started out by going around a circle and introducing ourselves and what had brought us to Norway or something. I dived right in. I told everyone that I was from the USA, specifically Minnesota (the best kept secret in the US ;) and that from coming to Norway, it really reminded me of home and Northern Minnesota because of the trees and clear blue sky. I told the group that I understood why Europeans settled where they did, they settled in places that reminded them of home. Everyone else went around, and then there was the awkward silence that comes from a leader that doesn’t know what one is doing or doesn’t necessarily care. Attempting to capitalize on that lack of activity, Tamara and I suggested we all go to the hill and roll around and play instead of just sitting. The buddy leader didn’t like the idea. I also suggested we all play duck, duck, greyduck which then I explained how the game was played, but no one seemed to be in the mood for running around. Overall, I was pretty disappointed with the leader, and should have rolled down with Tamara while it was sunny.

Saturday, there were plans for all of the international students to go to the picnic on one of the islands. We were all going to meet at 11:30 at the Oslo Central Station and catch a bus to the ferry. However, Saturday morning it poured rain. So instead of going to the island, I hung out with Tamara and her friends. A bunch of us went over to building 8 and ate a pasta lunch with a bunch of international students and ate till we couldn’t eat anymore.

Sunday, I and all the other SUST group members had dinner together. We made chicken fajitas with chicken, and peppers provided and cooked by Andrea while I provided the Tortillas, cheese, salsa, and onions. It was nice of all to eat together and hopefully this will inspire other meals together to continue a group identity of our own and possibly strengthen friendships that are still in their infant stages, in my opinion.

Now it is Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll continue to keep this blog updated and continue to take more pictures :-D

until next time,

Andrew

Great End to a Very Long Week

I guess I am not doing as great a job of keeping this blog updated and keeping everyone informed as I hoped. You’ll have to forgive me, of course, with the whole fiasco of not having bags arrive on time and the reflections that come with it. Some of these reflections include but are not limited to:

• Maybe I should have stayed in Detroit for the night. I could have gotten full nights sleep and had all of my stuff when I arrived in Oslo. However, that is not entirely a guarantee considering the horror stories I have heard about Amsterdam and people’s luggage going missing.
• Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea going through one of the airports in London. Well at least it wasn’t Hethro, which was the worst to be flying out of. Plus, it made the trip more of an adventure and in a way prepared me for all of the pitfalls someone in the Amazing Race would face.
• It is too bad that I wasn’t able to make my connection in Prague and then onto Oslo. Oh well, I’ll have to see “The Golden City” some other time in my travels.

Eventually all my bags arrived and I was semi settled in my room H0407 in building 28 in Sogn Studentby. The first bag arrived Saturday evening, even though it was the bag with winter clothes and such, I was still happy to finally have a bag and fresh clothes after being in the same shirt and jeans for close to 48 hours! Happy that the first bag had arrived, I and the other members of my program went on a night on the town lead by a local Norwegian named Ketile living in the same building as Andrea Larson. He took us to an older part of Oslo along the river and we did a major bar crawl. Having pre-partied before hand with red whine and whiskey, I got drunk pretty quickly and was ready to go home around 2:30 AM when a big local Norwegian guy asked me if I wanted to fight!!!! After that, I ran into the bar and grabbed my friends and we found a taxi back to Sogn.

Sunday August 13, 2006, was productive. That morning I ventured into the heart of Oslo once again and purchased my student public transport pass that is good until the end of August when I must purchase another. From downtown I took the T-Bane or the Metro from the Jernbanetorget station to the Blindern station that is down the hill from the University of Oslo campus. I toured around in the rain until finally locating the building in which the International Summer School or ISS has its office and where our group would be meeting Monday through Thursday. I was a little upset that I couldn’t hang out with the other members of the SUST program, however, I had to wait by the phone for information about my final piece of luggage that arrived and was later delivered around 8:30 PM. Immediately I unpacked everything and found my toiletries bag and took a well-needed hot Shower.

Oslo T-BANE

Monday, our Scandinavian Urban Studies Term SUST had its first class, which was more of an orientation of sorts and another round of getting to knows. We also discussed the guidelines that members of the program should all adhere to. The contract ends with the words “Be Pumped. Totally”, or as our program director Tim phrases it “Be Pumped Full stop (meaning period), Totally” which was of high comedy for all of us. For lunch, all of us in the cafeteria of the student Union which has a daily special for 39 Kroner. I think the rest of that day, we spent shopping in downtown Oslo going to a variety of shops with Mark and I just looking while the girls did most of the buying. I think potentially over the weekend I will make another trip in to maybe pick up a "hoody" or a warmer zippy as the cold weather is rapidly approaching.

Tuesday, Tim got the majority of us registered with the University of Oslo and the other members of the group took their placement exams for the Norwegian Language class. That afternoon, all of us participated in a large welcoming ceremony for international students from students and faculty from the University of Oslo. We were all broken up into “buddy groups” who then toured us around the campus and had scheduled other activities throughout the week. However, since SUST started early, most other students start class this coming Tuesday or Monday, we have missed out on those other activities.

Wednesday, I had my meeting with Tim. We discussed my Independent Study Project ISP that will focus on the Public Transport systems in Norway and how they are planned, funded, operated, maintained, and how they relate to the overall development patterns in Oslo. We also had to discuss our first readings from the SUST Compendium or reading packet, which we all purchased on Monday. In the afternoon, we had a meeting with the International Student Advisor for SUST Ted Essebaggers, who also informed us of the special events that were available to international students during their stay in Norway including guided tours, film nights, coffee hours, and hiking tours, which I attended this evening. Also, I finally signed my housing contract and got a laundry card plus got a NEW FREAKING ROOM!!! I had applied for a room transfer earlier in the week, and finally something opened up. However, this room is on a building on the top of the hill, but on the plus side is very large and has Internet!! On top of all that, Heather and I made our run to IKEA and bought some things to better our lives here at Sogn, with most of the things I plan on donating to the SUST students that come next time, kind of like a small subsidy and leaving my mark, although I may have to take the Duvet cover back with me even if it is Twin Size, we could use it at the Lake :-D

Finally today, we had a great guest lecturer from the Folk High school program in Scandinavia who gave us a brief history of the origins and the importance of the Folk High schools and their roles as centers of enlightenment. To top things off the weather cleared and it was a warm beautiful day in Oslo and around campus. The nice weather, inspired me to whip out my camera and do some mad photography, which hopefully will be posted on both my flickr page and my Facebook page tomorrow at the earliest. A bunch of my group members talked about going to the lake, however, ran out of time when I had to attend a meeting on one of the special events: Hiking in Norway. Hopefully there are still some spaces available because from the descriptions this would be an opportunity of a lifetime.

This evening, I took it easy and relaxed around the new room. I called my girly Kristen back in the states (in fact just got off the phone with her) and caught up with the folks who are getting set to leave for the Lake and my cousin Monica’s wedding this weekend in Bemidji.
Tomorrow, I plan on catching up on some much-needed ZZZ’s and doing some well needed laundry. Hopefully I can figure out how to set up the Internet connection in my room, the student office only gave us directions for PC’s the Bastards.

So, thus ends the longest week, and we’ve only been here for 5 days!!! I am just glad that all of us made it here, with all of our stuff, especially after Tim told us today that over 20,000 bags are lost at Hethro airport every year.

Until next time, let’s hope the weather holds until Monday and that I have no problems setting up the internet :-D

Andrew

Chaos…Total and utter chaos

-Note, this was the first post I wrote when I arrived in Oslo. I am working on setting up a new blog, but in the meantime enjoy this and the photos that I update soon on flickr.
Andrew...

Saturday August 12th, 1:09 AM (Oslo Time I think)

This would describe the past 24 hours in my excursion from Minneapolis to Oslo, Norway. Thursday morning, I awoke and quickly finished packing my carry on luggage as well as finishing up the checked luggage. I didn’t sleep very well the night before, having being drained physically and emotionally from the difficult task of saying goodbye to my Kwisten (who will be turning 21 as I am typing this!!!). I’ll admit it, I cried pretty hard when it came to the final goodbye.
As most of the world knows by now, 21 terrorists were caught by British Intelligence, and their plot of bringing liquids on airplanes for the use of liquid explosives was foiled. However, for everybody else this meant that there could be ABSOLUTY NO LIQUIDS OR GELLS of any kind brought on with carry-on luggage. This presented a hassle for many travelers who were forced to check those items. I had seen the report earlier in the day and was ready by having put those restricted items into my checked luggage.
My parents drove me to the Minneapolis Airport and saw me off at the gates, I got pretty emotional and cried because I didn’t know when I was going to talk to the two of them again. However, I was confident that everything with my existing itinerary of:
• Minneapolis to Detroit
• Detroit to Amsterdam
• Amsterdam to Oslo
…would go off without any trouble, I had followed all the rules and was more than on time.

Boy was I wrong.

For starters, the first flight Minneapolis to Detroit was delayed from 5:00 PM to 5:30 PM and then even later to 5:50 PM. After that, we all boarded the aircraft and were about to Taxi, when the captain announced over the PA that the plane needed maintenance and we would all have to exit the plane. On top of that, the weather decided it would thunderstorm with lightning to effectively close down the runways and keep baggage throwers from doing their jobs. However, at the same time Northwest and KLM had a flight from Minneapolis DIRECTLY to Amsterdam that left without a hiccup at 7:00 PM when I was stuck on the broken down plane. After the broken down plane, I still believing that I had to get to Detroit to catch my connection, which was at 9:20 PM, rushed over to the next available flight. Thinking that I was on and ready, I relaxed a little. However, I had forgotten that there is a time difference between Minnesota and Michigan and missed my connection by over an HOUR!!!! I nearly gave up in the Detroit Airport.

Being stuck in Detroit, I examined the options in front of me. Northwest and KLM offered me a hotel stay for the night with a flight to Amsterdam at 4:00 PM. The other option was to catch the flight from Detroit to London (big mistake, but more on that later) and then to figure out a way to Amsterdam and my final destination Oslo from there. Having a stigma against Detroit, and from a boost of confidence after a call to home to let the folks know I was ok, I hopped on the plane to London at 12:00 AM Friday August, 11th with the hope of catching a connecting flight to Prague and then Oslo later in the day getting me in at 3:30 PM.

The flight was long but enjoyable. I struck up some good conversations with the lady sitting next to me, who was taking her four cats from Detroit to their new home in the swinging UK just outside of Nottingham (yeah, the city in the Robin Hood Lore). Unlike me, she slept through almost the entire flight, while I watched Over the Hedge and Monsters Inc. on the on-demand video for entertainment. I tried to watch a serious movie but was far to tired, but was able to get some young British girls to say no the funky way that they do it as Frank has often joked about, I had to prove it for myself. I tried to catch some shuteye, but as usual had trouble falling and staying asleep on the plane. I believe we got into London at 12:20 PM, meaning I had missed my connection to Prague, which was scheduled at 12:05 PM, and so I began trying to find ways of getting to Amsterdam and eventually Oslo.

I rushed through Customs, and immediately went to NWA and KLM’s desk that were expecting me this time and informed me of a flight with British Airways from London to Amsterdam but that I would have to hurry and I would have to check my Backpack. Because of the incident Thursday, British authorities were not permitting any carry-on luggage of any kind except for wallets, key travel information, and passports. All other items were to be checked including carry-on bags themselves. This I didn’t have a problem with. What I did have a problem with was that they gave me the flight information at 2:20 Pm telling me that the plane would begin boarding at 3:30 PM and then leave as soon as possible. Not wanting to miss another flight, I ran as fast as I could and tried to bypass the cue by finding the nearest BA employee and asking if they could get me on the flight. Instead of booking me at getting me to the head of the line, they made me stand in line and when it was my turn they came and shouted flights to Amsterdam until they found me or I found them. Having checked my bag, I frantically located the gate and ran as fast as my legs could carry me to the gate.

Suffice to say I made it, but if this were the Amazing Race, the plane would have left without me :(
On the plane from London to Amsterdam I met four old ladies going to Amsterdam for a Holiday and coming back on Monday. I teased them that they were going to cause them nothing but trouble, and in turn they encouraged me to keep on trucking and to get to Oslo.
I arrived at the Amsterdam airport at about 6:20, and then immediately caught my connecting flight to Oslo, which I had arranged in London. When in London, I had to check my Backpack, however, the final destination was for Oslo with the backpack when it could have been Amsterdam. Being without my pack for those three hours made me feel very vulnerable due to the important things in my hands (travel information, boarding passes) and the valuables around my neck (passport, Kroner, Wallet).

I eventually made it all the way here (Yeah for Me) and met up with my program director Tim who met me at the airport after I called him from a pay phone using my debit card (maybe not such a good idea…). However, my checked luggage did not arrive with me or before me and instead will be here today in the Afternoon hopefully around 2-4 PM.
Having had the day I just had, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad staying the night in Detroit and catching the flight to Amsterdam. Then again, I wouldn’t have had the adventure of going from flight to flight like it was life or death and not having your travel pack. It was a thrill, but now I am tired and want to go to bed.

This is Andrew’s first post of many from the land of the Midnight Son Oslo Norway, I love you all and miss you very much.
Until next time,

Andrew