Koselig (cozy) with Emma in Norway

Last weekend I took a trip to Oslo, Norway to visit Emma! She is studying at the University of Oslo and living in the "student village" there, so I went for the weekend to catch up with a close friend and visit Scandinavia for the first time ever. In fact, I have never been farther north than this city! Oslo is such an interesting city. Emma told me that a lot of the architecture was razed to replace with more Utilitarian, almost Soviet, structures, so there is quite a mix. The harbor on the fjord was so beautiful, and we stumbled upon a food festival right by the water, where we tried some smoked Norwegian salmon, moose and reindeer burgers, wheat soup, and delicious lefse pancakes with berry sauce and cream.

In general the weekend was full of relaxing and lovely trips. We visited the Edward Munch museum as well as the National Gallery art museum. Both were full of incredible work- one of my favorite artists being Harald Sohlberg, who paints cluttered rooms (are we surprised this is my aesthetic?). We also went to the top of the mountain near the famous ski jump to have a hot chocolate and see the view, although it was so foggy it almost looked like we were in the middle of the sky. And we saw the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" in English with Norwegian subtitles while eating lots of Norwegian chocolate. I really enjoyed the film because she is a youngish woman traveling and being alone, so I could identify quite a lot with her sentiments.

I tried to speak Norwegian some, but it actually turns out I have managed to pick up a Dutch accent, at least when speaking Norwegian. Although many of the words are similar, my pronunciation was a constant struggle. Emma was so patient with my experimentation with reading street signs and advertisements. We also went to Emma's Norwegian friend's house for dinner one night. She made a thai salmon soup with lemongrass and vegetables- it was so, so good. And we watched another film about drag queens in the Australian desert!! It was very strange but hilarious. Other than that we just explored the city, did a bit of shopping (not buying much of anything because of the exchange rate!), had a lot of coffee, baked a peach cobbler with a crust mix that made no sense at all, and were generally so happy to be together again since the summer. It was the most wonderful weekend. It also proved to me how easy traveling is (knock on wood). Now, work to catch up with and sleep time. Good night everyone. Oxo Julie