Time Flies When You’re Having Fun

This past Friday marked my two weeks of being here in Oslo and it was the last night of “Fadderullan.” The time had really flown by and it seems like just yesterday I got here. The quote, “Time flies when you’re having fun” is so true. I really love it here!

Friday afternoon, I went to the Oslo Opera with a couple other exchange students and then we walked around the city center a lot. The weather here this past week has been absolutely beautiful. I’ve been told that this weather is usually warm for this time of the year. I’ve definitely been trying to take advantage of the gorgeous weather.

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Outside somewhat on top of the Opera ^^

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The view from on top of the Opera looking toward the city! ^^

I arrived back to Sogn at around 3:30pm and did a little grocery shopping at the Rema 1000 right near my residence before going up to my room. I then relaxed and tried to cool down because I was so hot from the afternoon outside and I knew that later on we’d be going to the last “fadderullan” party. The party theme for that night was called “Suit Up” so it was a somewhat formal event. We planned on going to the pre-party for sure, but didn’t really plan on going to the actually party because the pre-parties had always been a lot more fun anyways. Plus we didn’t want to have to pay 200kr just to get in. We still decided to dress up anyway and I was glad I did, because all our new Norwegian friends looked so good! Hahaha

I don’t think I can say it enough or describe how cool it is to have the opportunity to get to know Norwegians. Before I arrived, everyone who had either been to Norway or had a connection to Norway told me that Norwegians are so hard to get to know. I can see where they are coming from in certain ways, but as a foreigner to get to know the people of Norway you have to really put yourself into a position that allows you to get to know them. I am so grateful to have had such a wonderful and welcoming buddy group. After the first day of our buddy group, before we met the Norwegians, our leaders told us to come back and meet them at 11:00am the next day to go to the park with them. The first day we had like 25 people in this group, the following day only three of us came back and I am so glad I made that choice to come back. Those other 22 people definitely lost out on the opportunity to get to know the people of Oslo and their fellow Norwegian students. It wasn’t only our buddy group where the exchange students didn’t come back the next day, a lot of them didn’t decide to go back. I feel like that was such a lost opportunity for them. During the 10 days of “fadderullan” I got to somewhat know a lot of the Norwegians in my buddy group, some more than others. I really do hope that I will be able to continue to get to know them because I have really enjoyed the last week with them all. (:

While getting to know our buddy group, I probably can say that I may have missed out on getting to know my fellow exchange students. My whole view on this, is that all my classes will be with them and I can get to know them in class with discussions or group projects. The opportunity to get to know them is still there, while getting to know the Norwegians is there, but at a farther distance.

I really hope this post doesn’t come across rude in anyway, I am just glad of the decisions I have made so far while I am here and that everyone has their own views and opinions on why they are here and what they want to do. (:

Anyways back to Friday night, the party was very fun and probably one of my favorite nights of “fadderullan” even though I didn’t go to the actually party. My friend Sara, didn’t want to go to the actually party, but everyone else wanted us to go. I really didn’t care if we went or not, so I went back home with Sara when the others went to the actually party. Like I said before, the pre-parties are always more fun! (: & I wasn’t going to leave her, because all the other nights when I wasn’t able to get in because of being 19, she didn’t leave me. Anyways, I was starting to get a cold and it was probably a good thing so I could go to bed at a somewhat of an earlier time than the nights before.

Some pictures from the party on Thursday night and Friday night:

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The attempt to get the whole “Fadderullan Entøk” group picture after a night of drinking… = a tough task 🙂 Looking so classy!

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My favorite Canadian, Sara

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William , one of my more favorite Norwegians, but they all are my favorite!

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His pants matched my dress, so of course we had to take a picture!

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Thursday night at the superhero themed party…not many dressed up!

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Sara, Leivi and I

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He told me he had read my blog, so I said we needed a picture for my next one. So here’s the picture, Wilson! 🙂

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Saturday, I kind of took it easy and didn’t do much, I’ve been sick with a sore throat and somewhat of a cough. I went and bought two of the books for my classes, I still need 2 more, but the store doesn’t have the on in yet. The prices for the two I bought were not that bad at all. I paid around $130usd for the two books. Back home I paid almost $200usd for just one. I didn’t do anything Saturday night except attempt to study and read my text books, but I ended up falling asleep reading them instead. Hahah

Sunday morning, I slept in and made a good breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. It was delicious and the first time I’ve had true breakfast food since I’ve been here. I met Sara at 1:00pm to head to the museum. We both had registered for this free tour to BI students of the Munch exhibit at the National Gallery in Oslo. The tour was good, for the most part that I paid attention too. About halfway through I almost passed out. It was extremely hot in there and we were in a smaller room with a lot of people and then all of a sudden my vision started blurring and my hearing was going out. I had no idea what was going on and I could barely walk. All I could say was “I need to sit down.” I managed to find a bench and then I was super hot so I took out this brochure for the exhibit from my purse and sat there and fanned myself trying to cool off because my forehead was dripping sweat. I really don’t know why that happened, but I think it was the combination of it being super hot outside and in the museum, too many people in the small room, being sick, and not drinking enough water the last couple of days. I did get to see ‘The Scream’ which was exciting since that’s one of the most known/well recognized paintings in the world and I remember elementary art class learning about that painting. 🙂  I was completely fine after I cooled off, but I still have a sore throat and am a little congested. The rest of the day, I just stayed in my room and studied.

Today is Monday and I haven’t done too much. I don’t have any classes on Mondays, which I love. I have been doing some studying and I did laundry today. Tonight, I’m going over to Sara’s to have dinner. She’s making Thai food, my favorite, so I am excited about that! 🙂

Sorry this post is kind of long, but sometimes I just get into the swing of writing and can’t really stop. (: