4th of July Weekend

If I liked "The Lazy Song," I would post it here. Because it perfectly describes this past weekend for me. In case anyone had any doubts, being out until 3:30 in the morning after your first week in a foreign country is not conducive to being awake, alert & ready to go at 9:00 the next morning for a trip to the mines. It is, however, conducive to sleeping until noon on Saturday, eating a hot dog for "breakfast," not getting dressed/ready until 5 pm & being generally unproductive. But boy, did I need it! The day trip the program had planned for us would have been fun, but I couldn't have been happier with my decision to be a worthless bum for the entire day.

Pictures from Friday:

 Lauren from Michigan State :)

[Pre-outfit change]

 Learning German from my German friend Arne. I have mastered the first three lines of a song from German Sesame Street. Thanks to Sal, I already knew the first two. We are making rapid progress, and I hope to have learned the rest of the song by the end of the program. ;)

 

 Change of plans necessitated outfit change. --> Animal print all around!

Something I learned: Norwegians make damn good pizza (even if it is outrageously overpriced). Peppe's Pizza = <3. Next pizza-related mission: try a Grandiosa. They are apparently a huge deal here in Norway. I tried a piece of someone's last week, and I can't wait to buy my own & do the accompanying dance. (SO STRANGE BUT SO FUNNY.)

I also elected not to go hiking on Sunday. I'm not big on hiking anyway, so I wanted to save my Norwegian hiking experience for this coming weekend, when 8 Americans, an Australian & a Turk will hop on a plane to the Norwegian city of Scavenger (named European Capital of Culture in 2008) & then take a daytrip to hike up to a nearby FJORD. It's a long hike, so I thought I'd save my tolerance for hiking for what will be a truly incredible experience.

Instead, I elected to go to Frogner Park, a vast expanse of green that our group has been frequenting, with my fellow American friends, Lauren, Juls & Liz. Who knew there would be literally thousands of Americans celebrating the 4th of July in Norway?! We learned of this gathering and decided to check it out. We arrived to quite the spectacle: an ESPN batting cage, a cheerleading squad, cheesy linedancing, pony rides, and most importantly, traditional American food. I can speak for all four of us when I say it was nice to experience something familiar, albeit cheesy.

Coincidentally, I happened to sit down with my burger next to an alum of "that other school" in Florida. After engaging in some Seminole vs. Gator banter (like you do), we had a nice chat. I wish he had been from UF so I could say, "The Gator Nation is everywhere!" But I guess it's sort of close?

Something I learned: My friends here have good taste in music. Learning lots of new music by different artists, from America & different countries. I have learned from my Australian classmates that I definitely like Australian music. (It's pretty similar to American music.)


On Monday after class, we visited the Nobel Peace Center.

 American girls!

 Photo exhibits. Topic: refugees.

 President Obama

All I can say is it was a really valuable cultural experience. I think the pictures can describe it better than I can. I'm so glad the program organized those tours for us!


The celebrations did not stop ON the 4th of July, nor were they limited to Americans! Some of us bought a disposable grill and, in true American fashion, ate hot dogs, watermelon, roasted marshmallows & the like. The weather could not have been more beautiful for an evening on the roof.

 Jenny (Michigan), Lauren (Michigan), Joe (Illinois) & Lucas (Australia)

 The boys got fancy with salmon & beef. Notice the lone marshmallow.

Something I learned: In Alfred Nobel's life time he accumulated quite a fortune. In his last will & testament, he stated that the interest on his fortune should be allocated to those who had "conferred the greatest benefit on mankind" in the previous year in each of the following disciplines: physics, chemistry, physiology/medicine & peace. Each year, the "winners" receive compensation in the form of a fraction of the interest accrued on Nobel's fortune. I knew the Nobel Prizes were named after him, but I never knew that's how it came about. (Also, next time I go to the grocery store, I'm going to buy salmon.)