Norway - A country I'm going to have to come back to.

I'm just going to go ahead and say it. I love Norway. Even though it is at least as expensive as everyone warned me it would be. And today it is chilly and rainy, and it definitely gets cold at night.

I spent Wednesday and Thursday primarily travelling. I packed up, got from Glenesk to London by train, during which I sat across from a girl who had a disconcerting habit of staring at me, found a youth hostel and went to bed there. I met some cool Australians in the room, but I didn't really feel like partying it up. Next morning I sorted myself out and traveled from London to Stansted airport, and took a flight to Oslo/Torp.

On the way to board the small Ryan Air plane (which cost me about 25 bucks, by the way :), I saw an elderly fellow struggling with the stairs and his luggage. He was weighed down by two bags of duty free alcohol. I asked him if he needed some help, and he assented. I carried all his booze onto the plane, and then I sat between him and a nice man named Lee, who was going to visit his wife and baby in Norway.

The fellow I helped was named Olav. He is about 75 and Norweigan. He was some kind of mechanical/naval engineer (similar to the sort of stuff my grandfather used to do) and he has had such an interesting life. He listed off all the places in the world he has been and lived, and it certainly put me to shame. He lived in the North Sea for 15 years. He lived in Libya. He's been basically everywhere. He's also been married for 48 years. He reminded me of my grandparents, and he semi-adopted me. A few minutes into the trip he asked me where I was going. I said, "I'm going to stay with a friend in Asker." (a suburb of Oslo). He said, "My son-in-law who is coming to pick me up lives in Asker. He can give you a free ride there." And I was like...Umm, OK! Sure! Seeing as free stuff is great, strangers are great, and basically risk-free hitch-hiking is absolutely my idea of a good time.

Olav's son in law was a Kurdish former-communist refugee from Iran who has been living in Norway for the last 20 years. His name was Asalan (I think. May have misheard). He was also really cool and nice. Olav wanted me to meet his wife, because she used to study at a college in Minnesota and speaks good English. Unfortunately, she also has a heart condition and she was fast asleep when we rolled up at their house. It was quite scary. I rode in the car with these guys for about an hour and a half (through the beautiful sunset scenery of rural Norway) to get to Olav's village Kongsberg. And for a little while there I thought I was going to have to witness this man dealing with the loss of his wife. But it turned out she was only sleeping. Phew! But we didn't really get to hang out or drink tea or anything. Then Asalan drove me to Asker and I met up with my UWC first year Robin, and his girlfriend Sarah. They have a cool basement apartment underneath his parents' house. Upstairs reside his parents, his cool, adorable 16 year old brother Magnus and his much younger brother Daniel (3). They're all super nice and welcoming. Basically from my first moment with Norweigans on, I have found them very friendly, warm, welcoming people.

The scenery reminds me a great deal of Maine and Vermont. The trees are changing color with the autumn, there are LOTS of them, there are farms and mountains, rivers, lakes and sea coast. The houses are cute and bright colors. I know there is more dramatic landscape to be had in other parts of the country, but so far I have really liked what I've seen.

The weather was really nice my first day in town, Friday. I was in Oslo from about 11:30 am until a bit after midnight. I spent a great deal of that time walking, and my legs were indeed tired by the end of the day. I didn't do or see anything in particular (I didn't have a map, or destinations in mind, and I was totally experiencing sticker shock everywhere I looked). I did accidentally stumble upon the cemetary where Henrik Ibsen was buried. That was pretty sweet. He's a good playwright, so I went to pay my respects. Then I enjoyed the very pleasant hills, grass and sunshine to be had there, cemetary as it was. Did a few stretches and sit-ups. :) I also found the National Library (which I identified by the semi-cognates those words are in Norweigan to languages I recognized). Browsed over a few cool paintings and an exhibit about Arctic exploring, navigation and map-making. I also found a lot of parks.

After that, I got lost. I wanted to get back to the central train station, but I was given bad directions, and I wandered into the residential neighborhoods. It was a bit frustrating. I don't like getting navigation wrong, and I like being able to rely on my wits and instincts. But eventually I did. I found some tram stops with tram maps on them. They listed the train station I was looking for on them, so I walked along tram lines, checking at each that I was still going in the right directions, until I finally arrived back at the station. It took a while, but it was pretty satisfying to manage on my feet, and not have to pay for any public transportation during the day.

I had about an hour's rest at the train station, and then I met back up with Robin and Sarah and we went to see some of their Norweigan friends, another couple. We hung out at their apartment for a while, drank some very pleasant beer and ate some pizza. They gave me some grief about being American, but I am both good natured and accustomed to semi-eloquently defending my native civilization, so I didn't mind much. After a while we went to a club next door, and heard some really nice live music in English. A lot of their music, and TV, and books are.

I must say, it has been a bit strange to finally break out of the English speaking world on this trip. I know most people around me can speak at least a moderate amount of English. But generally when I pass them, they don't. The signs and maps and street names and instructions are all in Norweigan, and more than anything so far, it makes me feel foreign, a bit lost and out of the know. It makes me feel a bit less self-sufficient as well. And a bit lonely. And Norweigan really is not an easy language to pick up. The pronunciation is so wacky and intense. But I like listening to it. And Robin and his family and Sarah and their friends have done a good job of making me feel welcome.