Can't study at all. My mind is on a million things and none of them happen to be pa norskkurs. Getting kinda nervous that I might just go through the next 5 months without actually doing much. Okay wait reword... I have been doing a lot and it's been amazing, I've just been slacking on the school front. It's insane how quickly the weeks go by here...I really just want to prolong it all, stretch out time- for once!
Checked out blitz again today and asked about working there... Seems like I could meet some interesting people there... Then may e again by hanging out there too?
Heading to Germany to visit cami in march! Yay!
The radio show has been going nicely so far, it surprises me that I actually enjoy making pew recorded segments... Maybe being able to edit parts gives you a sort of freedom? Anyways this week's one is on long distancing heh heh heh ... happy valentines day!


To do:
Order film
Pay for dark room membership
Book Geneva tickets
Studere norsk
Do readings

Okay study 1 hour
Spise gratis vaffel
Toga toga toga

 Laura's birthday turned out awesome! I'm not sure how many people we had in the flat but... there were a lot of people. Ended up dancing at 3:30 in the morning, sleeping in till 9:00... and missing my first Norwegian class- that wasn't so cool. I did make it to the second lecture of the day however, and that one... was not so interesting. Went over like 12,000 years of Norwegian history in 2 hours... I'm definitely looking forward to moving on to other topics in Norwegian life and society.

Scoped out some Veggieburgers at school with Juulia... they were alright. Decently priced and decently edible, not something I'd kill for again, but also, not something that was tooo horrible. Good to know there are Veggieburgers on campus though.

Made it down to the waterfront which is SOoooo romantically gorgeous... it really is! And because it always seems like the sun is constantly rising and setting just emphasizes it. To me,  the snow, slush, and darkness are just dreamy...  You've got the contrast of water and snow at the waterfront, and then 30 mins away you've got the quiet, frozen lake...Oslo is a city for lovers!





On Friday, Irene and Francisco cooked up a mad pizza storm in Chris's kitchen- don't think I've EVER had legit pizza made by Italians! It was great... quite different from the pizza hut-esque food I've come to know as pizza, and something that I want morrrreee of. Mmm food. It was nice just chillin' with our buddy group at Chris's... lol despite all coming from different places, we still managed to have some 90s boy bands and eurotrash to laugh about.


 Next stop, we headed to Blindern... got pretty pissed with the bouncer taking my beers from my bag, so I wasn't in the best of moods there.  Have to say it was a bit bizzare to see parts of the school converted into bars. Next... we went back to the art school bar! Like last week, the place was awesome. There wasn't a DJ this time, but it was still cool... man I love that place.. check out one of their bathrooms:



Was supposed to work on my Norwegian on Saturday, but I didn't really get around to it though, but Laura and I did make it down to Gronland and got cheap Tofu!!!!! Veggie life sorted! We were planning on using it to make a taco filler for our taco/burrito/dip/beer night fillers, but by the time we made it back home the food was already out, so we ate instead. Ended up using the tofu today in AMAZING noodles though... if you've never put avocado in noodles... you're missing out! And uh yeah... checked out the Kringsja pub yesterday... it was funny to see the place empty, and then suddenly filled with people from 24. Heh.

Oh, and I finally got to my Norwegian homework! Yes!

Just came in from the soccer field where Kringsja was playing snow soccer! Another example of what Oslo has on Toronto in terms of winter living. It was so surreal being out there... the sky was the same colour as the snow, and there was a haze out... it was really beautiful. Hopefully the photos i took came out alright!

The whole flat is preparing for Laura's birthday right now! We've got nice speakers, a playlist on the way, three cakes, alcohol, and a bunch of people coming over! Stoked!

Was brought to a legit Norwegian party last night by Kevin's buddy group leader, Holstein...it was great!

Originally the plan was to end up at some club, which could have been less fun depending on the music. I guess I really don't know Norway in the first place, so I shouldn't have made the "they might have bad music" judgement...try everything once! Anyway, the party was crazy good! The beer was on sale for 3 for 100 kr, and the people there seemed interesting, plus the DJ was playing an eclectic mix of everything, so the next song was always a drawbag.

Oslo by night.

Meet the Kringsja night bus.

Oslo, so far, has been sick. What I have seen of  this city has been awesome, and the building I'm living really couldn't kick much more ass!  I arrived at Kringsja after 15.5 hours of flying between HK and Zurich, and then Zurich and Oslo, and was stoked to find that when I made it to my res, Building 24, that there were a TON of helpful and friendly people outside, offering to carry my bags up and saying hi and all. So after spending about 10 minutes in my room, and meting a couple of people in my flat, I headed out again to join everyone down stairs going to the school to register.  DID not expect that at all! The scenario that I had imagined at that point was of me being cooped up in my room thinking "Okay so I'm in Oslo... now what?

So after registering for courses and all, I headed downtown for the free bus to Ikea with a couple of girls, and picked up a few things here and there. Despite the outlandishly insane prices in this city, Ikea really didn't seem too far off of HK prices.  Man, and compared to Ikea in HK, the one here definitely has their menu down pat... they've got a restaurant, AND a kiosk with ice cream, hot dogs, spring rolls, and free drink refills =]. So after that, I picked up some food and headed back home.

Oslo's most decent food prices at Ikea!

That night, I got my first feel for Building 24 bonfire then, ... kitchen party!

It's been busy to say in the least; today is the first time since moving in that I've had a chance to just sit and chill a little. We've been ice skating, have had bonfires, have gone to parties, have had coffee socials,  sat through "information" sessions, and have been madly dashing to the cheapest grocery stores.

I've only been in Oslo for 5 days, but already it seems like I've known the people on my floor and apartment for ages. I guess many of us are still hyped on the whole exchange thing. Really hope that the vibe continues throughout the next few months. Classes start on Monday for some of us, so I'm hoping that that doesn't change things too much...

Right now, I'm pretty close to settled in.. got my visa registered, food bought, courses (kinda) sorted out, and I finally put my suitcase away today... although everything I took out of it is now on my bed haha.