Oslo...It's In Norway

I know I have been a blog slacker and plan to put in some serious blog time this week so that I can inform all of you (ok more like the five of you that actually read this thing) about life in Edinburgh since I have not given many details lately. But first, I have to do an obligatory post about my adventures in Oslo from this past weekend. I went to Norway with Liz and Cristina and was EXTREMELY excited about going to continental Europe for the first time ever! We took a plane from Edinburgh to Oslo Torp on Friday evening and arrived "in" Oslo around 10 p.m. We then had to take an hour and a half bus ride to actual Oslo. From there, we treked through the drunken streets to our hotel, which I must admit I was nervous about. I wasn't sure what to expect from the hotel although my (former) flatmate Anna (who is from Oslo) had reassured me that the hotel was in a lovely area. Luckily, she was right. Our hotel was AMAZING. The beds were so comfy and warm and our bathroom floors were heated! Anna told me that this is common in Oslo but I was extremely impressed. Before crashing that evening we had to make a very American trip to McDonalds because we were all starving. Liz had her first Big Mac (yayyyy!) and we were interrogated by some extremely drunk girls trying to speak Norwegian to us.

The next day we woke up bright and early and on very little sleep to have a free breakfast in our hotel. The breakfast was great - they had many different eggs, breads, fruit, waffles, etc. Definitely delicious. We then decided we were going to do the touristy outdoorsy things for the day. The weather was supposed to be not so nice on Sunday so we thought if we had to we would walk around museums and be inside on Sunday. Luckily, both days were beautiful so it wasn't an issue. Anywho, we walked around Oslo to Karl Johans Gate which is basically the main street in Oslo and saw some of the sights there. Next, we went down by the water where the Nobel Peace Center is. Our plan was to go see the fjords and that is precisely what we did. We found a boat tour that took us around Oslo to see the Opera House and then would drop us so we could walk to the Viking Ship Museum along with a few other museums. The boat was VERY cold and windy but definitely worth it. The Opera House was absolutely gorgeous and you could actually walk on top of it. Next we stopped and got off the boat so we could go see the Viking Museum. Cristina was really excited to go see it and it ended up being really cool. Vikings are not so much my thing, but the boats were fascinating and I learned a lot about the Vikings. Also, Liz found a Dutch man that she was in love with named Dennis but unfortunately we lost him somewhere in the museum. Somehow she was able to get through it and remained upbeat for the rest of the trip :p

We hopped back on the boat in the afternoon in order to get to Oktoberfest on time which was clearly a mistake because it was quite...uneventful. But first, we partook in perhaps the most eventful part of our Oslo trip. We ate Moose/Elk jerky. From the boat 'cafe' thing. It was absolutely horrid but also absolutely hilarious. I don't think I've laughed that hard since I've been in Scotland but we were ridiculous trying to eat this jerky on the boat and causing pretty much the biggest scene ever. Luckily we were inside and the majority of people were outside on the boat but it was totally a "you had to be there" thing. Thought I should inform you all of it anyway. There is definitely a video of me trying it and being grossed out which I should try to post on here at some point.

Anyway, instead of going to Oktoberfest, we shopped around the outdoor markets which was really cool and I found a flower ring that I was absolutely in love with but thought it was too much money. Since I have the best friends in the world, Liz and Cristina bought me the ring as an early birthday present! I was SO excited about it! And I'm currently wearing it because it is super awesome and I'm obsessed with it. Anyway, we tried to get in to the Cathedral that evening but it was locked so we decided to come back on Sunday. We wandered around the city some more before returning to our hotel for our free "light evening meal" which turned out to be nachos. I must say that the UK and Europe have an odd thing for nachos. It is pretty much on EVERY single menu, everywhere. It's in restaurants, it's at hotels, it's in SUBWAY. You can literally order nachos at SUBWAY. I find it quite interesting, and slightly disturbing actually.

So since we were all exhausted we decided to have a low key Oslo evening and went to see a movie. Before going to the movies, we went to Deli de Luca where they had awesome desserts and I got an Oreo Dream Bar. SOOOO GOOD. After stuffing ourselves with chocolate, we went to go see The Kids Are All Right which was really good and I of course hysterically cried throughout the film. Luckily, it was in English and had Norwegian subtitles. Many Norwegians know English already so it was pretty easy to talk to people even though we didn't know the language. If you started speaking English to someone although they were Norwegian, they knew English and would respond to you in English. It was kind of interesting being the minority language there because 90% of the time I would walk by people, I would have no idea what they were saying. It was definitely a different experience for me.

After the movie, we went back to our hotel to go to bed. However, I was still bothered by The Kids Are All Right and decided I needed a drink so I dragged Cristina and Liz to the hotel bar with me. I had a Bellini which was awesome and we chatted for a bit before passing out. We slept in a little bit on Sunday, had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Vigeland which is essentially a sculpture garden. It was really cool to see all the different sculptures that this one man created. They were incredible and of course there were ones you could kind of pose with so obviously I did that. After the garden we took the Tram back to the National Gallery to see the famous "Scream" painting which I thought was underwhelming in real life honestly. The colors are night as vibrant as I would've expected them to be, but it was cool to see it nonetheless. We then tried to find a late lunch in Oslo which consisted of pizza at Mona Lisa which I would say is "our place" now. Then we went back to the hotel to grab our bags, picked up some delicious dessert at Deli de Luca one last time and headed to the bus station. We luckily got on an earlier bus than we thought and had plenty of time at the airport. Liz and I even got some reading done like the lame people that we are and Cristina documented it because she never has reading. We made it back to Edinburgh around 10 p.m. and were home by 11 p.m. which was nice.

This week is my birthday which I'm super excited about. We're planning to go to Candy for appetizers/drinking on Thursday night (my actual birthday) and on Friday we're going to make sangria and probably end up doing something Halloweenesque. I'm prepared for a very Edinburgh birthday. I have also been a very lucky lady and have received cards, packages and presents from tons of people from home this week which is way more than what I expected. I truly feel lucky to have so many wonderful friends who took the time and energy to send me things all the way over here! Also, this weekend marks the halfway point of my Edinburgh journey. I'm not too sure how I feel about it yet. It's odd to think that I only have 7 weeks left here. I am looking forward to spending time with Chris and my family and friends for Christmas but it's going to be hard to leave some of the really amazing friends I've made here. Well, until next time!