December Travels

After a four hour scourge of my room, I'm finally packed up and ready for my travels home. I'm hoping all goes well and there aren't any major delays because I've heard the snow in the Midwest is massive right about now. To put the climate shock to my system in perspective, here's a photo of my recent vacation to Mancora...

 

 As soon as I returned from the beach, I headed for the much cooler and damper Cusco. The city was beautiful but overwhelmed by tourist agencies and street vendors. I actually heard a tack I hadn't before at the city's Plaza de Armas when multiple children were coming up to me with hats and bracelets. The first boy asked where I was from, and in an attempt to avoid him immediately speaking to me in English, I lied and said Italy. Like some kind of crazy record player, he starts reciting facts about Italy for almost two minutes. A second girl came up several minutes later and did the same thing for the US. It was incredible that they've memorized so much but it wasn't really convincing as a sales tactic.

 On Friday, I went to Machu Pichu. The site was amazing and I explored it first on a personal tour and then on my own for several hours. The day was an excellent way to complete my time in Peru, and I would love to go back someday and experience it with others. As I went in a single day, most of my time was spent in transit. The train on the way there had enormous glass windows and a delicious "snack" (which was really a full breakfast), but I took a less expensive one back which seemed a lot longer than four hours. I've definitely had my fill of long-distance travel and am looking forward to not be in a bus/train/airplane for a very long time. Of course, that is after today. Next time you'll hear from me I'll be back in the US. Nos vemos!

Final Month Reflections Part 2: USA!

Alright, the much delayed Part 2 of my final reflections. With just two weeks to go in Peru, I am thinking about all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful parts of my home country. In honor of point one of my "looking forward to" list, the names of the categories will be... book titles.


GREAT EXPECTATIONS

   1. Books and libraries: The nerd in me is excited to have a school library in which I can loan a book for longer than 4 days. I have read over 5 novels here, but being in Spanish, its much less relaxing than my usual reading. Up next on my reading list- The Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts, Madam Bovary, Theater of the Oppressed by Augusto Boal, and A Hundred Years of Solitude.
   2. Broccoli: Representative of my desire to see a fiber-filled plate of greens. I am so ready to control my own diet once again.
   3. Transportation: I would love to have a grand total 15 minutes in  the car to get to some location. It would also be nice to have traffic laws which are actually obeyed and drivers who know they don't possess that squeezing-car charm in the Harry Potter movies. No, you are not the Night Bus and you will not fit through a 2 foot gap, sorry.
   4. American concepts of time: I'm a product of my society and would gladly return to a place where things are expected to begin on time, end on time, and, umm, actually happen when scheduled.
   5. Seeing my family and friends! I miss them all like crazy and can't wait to spend some quality time with them for the first time in over 5 months.

HEART OF DARKNESS (Joseph Conrad- if you haven't read this book, do yourself a favor and don't)

   1. Winter wear: The temperate temperature of Peru means that there is rarely a need for drastic wardrobe changes. Not looking forward to whipping out the clunky snow boots and winter jacket at all.
   2. Large lecture halls: I've gone soft and gotten accustomed to small classes, active discussion, and personal attention from teachers.
   3. Prices: It's going to be a huge shock to buy any food when I return, mostly because it's all ridiculously cheap here.
  4. Lack of corny, whole-hearted affection: You just don't have guys saying "My dear friend Catalina" to you in the US, like my friend Miguel does. They also say "mi enamorada" to describe their partners, and how much better does "my beloved" sound than "boyfriend/girlfriend"?

Alright, that's it for now! Tomorrow morning I leave for Cusco for 3 days, and then I'll be returning home! Expect a nice, picture-laden post on Saturday or Sunday.

Final Month Reflections Part 1: Peru

Peru- Lo buen, lo mal, y lo feo.
 (The good, the bad, and the ugly. And yes, I probably translated that wrong)


With one month remaining in Peru, I'm going to share a few of the things in Peru worth actively missing and also the things worth escaping. I'll start off my little diatribe with a list of things I very much like about Peru.

1. The food: Pretty much any dish here has a long history, from fusion to import to adaptation. The cocineros have a few staple ingredients they know how to use and use well, as well as some interesting ones. Among the, how to put it, "unique" things I have tasted here- cuy (more commonly known as guinea pig), cow heart, pig stomach, and lucuma (a delicious fruit only found in Peru during the summer). Chela, my host mother, told me she once ate cat. Mmmm.
2. The lack of heating/air conditioning: While I realize that the temperature extremes here are, well, not extreme at all, I have to admire the complete negligence of these systems. One Peruvian attitude we can all learn from would be translated like this: "Buck up. Wear a sweatshirt."
3. The variety: Peru has just about every type of geography possible and seemingly limitless locations to explore. I could explore the many fascinating landscapes of Peru for months on end.
4. The history: If there is one place that celebrates who it is and where it came from that place is Peru.
5. Academically, the focus on development seems very realistic and productive. They invest in research for how to bring themselves out of poverty, raise the standard of living, and generally improve the country. What's more is that they are training the next generation to do the same.

Now for the mildly annoying attributes...

1. Why are there 10 ophthalmology stores in a row on a single street? Or an avenue full of mattresses? Does this business strategy really make sense to anyone?
2. Also, how many key replication shops does one neighborhood need?
3. Kissing traffic jams. This one extends to every culture that uses the cheek kiss as a greeting and decides to say goodbye in the very center of a crowded sidewalk between a group of 10 or so. Flash forward15 minutes and foot traffic finally stands a chance.

Finally, the hate list. It had to come, but I hope you will see my negativity as charming sarcasm or some other bull crap (hey, there's always the chance, right?)

1. Lines: They don't have them here...
2. because people think they need to be extraordinarily rude to service workers in order to actually get what they want/need.
3. Machismo and catcalls: Wanna hear my BIG-cat call? GRRRR. Now get the hell away from me.
4. The celebration of diversity when there is actually huge singling out of minorities, a highly racially divided society, and rampant stereotyping.
5. Teachers not showing up for classes. At the danger of sounding like a petulant teenager: WTF? Who does this? Its your job for which MY tuition is paying. You need to be there.
6. On the same note, teachers rescheduling classes they miss and then taking attendance. No no. Not happening.

 Anyway, this is part one of my "final month" special. As this one focused on things I will miss/not miss about Peru, the following will do the same about the US.

November has arrived and it is time to get down to business. Which is why I'm sitting here writing a blog post. As far as procrastination goes, I'd say this is fairly productive. Regardless, I've been doing some pretty fabulous traveling during the last two weeks of October in preparation for my November homework hibernation. The highlights of my trips are as follows...

Ica

• We hit up a bodega (wine and pisco brewery), did some tasting, and bought our weight in alcohol. We're legal here after all!
• I visited a museum with a large collection of mummies, deformed heads, and various other non-appetizing images, after which...
• My roommate Katie found a worm in her food. Yum. The waitress simply said, "Oh don't worry. It's from the lettuce," and picked it off the plate.

Huacachina

• The only activity we took place in during this excursion was sandboarding, which was more than enough. It breaks down like this: hop on dune buggy, race over gigantic mountains of sand, grab a snowboard, and ride it down standing up or lying down. It was awesome, and I even stood up once or twice!

Paracas

• This touristy town is really just a gateway to other activities, but we did meet a friendly artesano and his loyal Peruvian hairless dog.
• The Islas Ballestas are a 30 minute boat ride from town and are packed with every type of marine wildlife: birds, sea lions, penguins, everything.

Arequipa

• The White City had all the brilliant sun and gorgeous architecture Lima is missing. The locals were friendly, the number of catcalls was significantly lower, and the food was something else.
• The first day here we spent wandering and seeing the beautiful colonial homes, churches, and monasteries.
• At Museo Santuario, I had the chance to see the frozen remains of Juanita, an Incan human sacrifice on the top of a mountain near Arequipa.

Colca Canyon

• So much fun. We had a great, but exhausting trek down the canyon to an oasis. Everything was included in a surprisingly low price and we made some American friends that were put in the group as us.

Selvamanos!

I wanted to do more of a photo journal for my past weekend's visit to Oxapampa. Oxapampa is a small town located in Peru's central rain forest, and this weekend it was the host of Selvamanos, a music festival. A quick synopsis of events: arrive in La Merced after a 10 hour, over-night bus ride, take a taxi to Oxapampa making a side trip at a small indigenous village and a waterfall, eat a hugely satisfying meal, wander about town, sleep, chill out, drink a wee bit too much, eat a delicious papa rellena, attend the concerts, sleep, take taxi back to La Merced, realize we as a group are completely broke, take return bus to Lima, sleeeeeeepppppppp. It was a fun weekend, but I'm getting a little tired just thinking about it. Enjoy the pics!

Livin' the Lima Loca

To start your day off on a bright note...

Don't feed the deer!!! These little guys run around our gated campus and are the least skittish "wild" animals I've ever seen. They're a truly unique part of La Catolica's (the vernacular for PUCP- my university) campus.

Oh, and something else about PUCP: classes. Were I to summarize them, I would say challenging. tons of group work, and unstructured. The whole concept of a syllabus is looser here, and readings are given each week during class. After being informed that a article or chapter is due, students go to a photocopier for the academic department their class is in and have it printed. The main challenge is obviously language, however others do exist. The workload is high, even for a native Spanish speaker. Group work and interactive classes are a norm here, and I have many group projects due throughout the semester.

Now, the interesting part: the cool things I've been doing in Lima due to my class work. Ecology and Society (my most bleh class) has a group exposition on rights to natural resources mid-way through October. Organizational Communication likewise has a large final project, however this one deals with investigating the corporate culture and functions of a major business in Lima. We previously had to observe non-verbal language in a movie scene, for which my group chose "The Notebook"- Noah and Allie 4evah!

Okay, so those were not the coolest. My Intercultural Communications class may be. Today, I went to the Museo de la Nacion and went to the Shining Path exhibit. It chronicles the 20 year civil war in Peru that ended with tens of thousands of fatalities. My assignment is to take a photo from the exhibit and analyze it in the light of several articles we read recently.

Also a top contender, Activity in Anthropology. This class is basically one long field research project. Our task is to interview a specific artisan in Lima who produces traditional crafts for festival and other purposes. My group is investigating the work of Jose Luis, a bordado maker. His work is fascinating and is located in Central Lima directly behind the Congress building with a number of other artisans.

 

 This weekend for my Anthropology class I will be visiting the patron saint festival of a small village in the Andes. All I can say is, "be prepared!" (courtesy of Scar- a little Lion King action and you never saw it coming). Anyway, there is definitely one monster-sized blog coming up.

Ode to Peruvian cuisine

Last night my roommates and I went into the Parque Excursion to stuff ourselves with absolutely delicious Peruvian fare at the Mistura food festival. Just getting in to event was difficult as we did not buy our entry tickets ahead of time. After we succeeded in entering, the problem was deciding what to eat because there were so many options.

While my friends were munching down on empanadas, I was scoping out the scene and decided to try a tacu tacu. Its appearance was of a soft, almost sponge-like roll covered in green sauce with a sprinkling of fried chicken on the top. The chicken provided a great salty crunch on top of the savory tacu tacu and the sweet salsa on top. It was so good that I ate the entire thing before remembering that I wanted to take a picture of it. After the fact, I discovered that the base ingredient is beans and rice and it is fusion African-Peruvian dish. However, there is a ton of variety on how to prepare it and it can come with any variety of toppings.

Well, I was playing catch up to the other girls who already had consumed two dishes, so I followed them on to dessert- Toblerone cheesecake. Best invention ever. The servings were small (from an American frame of reference), but it was incredibly rich. The "cheese" part of it was barely noticeable and the texture was much thicker than traditional cheesecake.


Unfortunately, the evening took a little downward turn when the friend of my roommate was robbed of her wallet and passport while she was waiting in line. She left to report the incident, but the rest of us remained for several more hours, carefully watching our belongings.


My final dish was actually quite the steal. I was talking with the cashier, trying to find out the ingredients of the different dishes offered, and he immediately asked what my home country was. Apparently he had spent several years in Texas and loves the United States. Thus, when he discovered that I only had half the money required for the food he took it quickly and put the order through. For once, the "gringa" price was a good thing! It was a chicken, rice and beans meal: incredibly filling, with a nice spicy kick.

On a final gastronomic note, I've included a picture of the delicious coconut balls that are sold at the bodega (a corner store) next to our apartment building. These will be the reason I gain weight in Peru. They have a cake-y center, connected with a caramel filling, and coated in a baked coconut mixture. Que rico!

Marcahuasi and Back Again: A Hiker's Tail by Caitlin Zandiego

Imagine that you are surrounded by a humid, chilly breeze and looking up at a gray sky. The air feels heavy and a myriad of smells, from savory food to motor oil, are upon you always. You are in Lima. Now imagine you take a crickety old combi (a small bus) through winding roads that hug the cliffs of the Andes Mountains. You arrive at the town of San Pedro, where the air is thin because of the high altitude, the sun is shining, and everything is covered in a layer of dust.

Peru is definitely a country with variety. Lima is surrounded by desert which progressively become mountains. The borders of Peru to the south and east are the beginnings of the Amazon while the north is filled with beaches. The radical differences are experienced without any of the conveniences we are used to such as heaters or air conditioners. As I experienced this weekend, sometimes all you can do is put on a few more layers of clothing.

My roommates and I all signed up to go to Marcahuasi with several Peruvians for camping and hiking, though at the time we definitely were ignorant of all that would entail. Marcahuasi is a mesita, a volcanic rock formation, on which ancient peoples built various posts for religious ceremonies. It also had the advantage of having several small lakes which captured the water and made brief habitation possible. It truly wouldn't be feasible to live up there without the support from the people of San Pedro, many of whom make a living from this popular tourist attraction.

We began our trip on Friday evening, arriving in a town 2 hours outside Lima. A majority of us slept under the stars, rising early with the sun. The following day we spent nearly 3 hours on the rented combi, twisting our way through the mountains. When we arrived in San Pedro, our backpacks and sleeping bags were loaded onto burros while we ate a very tasty lunch of chaufa, a rice and chicken dish that had a very unusual (for me) combination of spices. We began our trek up the mountain. The climb was difficult but mostly due to the elevation- higher than the climb to Machu Pichu apparently. After 3 hours of huffing and puffing our way up the mountain, we arrived at the Antiteatro: a flat surface surrounding by rocks to shelter us from the winds. At this point it was already 6 in the evening, so we had to set up our tents quickly and put on our night gear. I think my roommate Emma won the contest, having 6 layers of pants and shirts on to stay warm. Even with our growing resemblance to the Michelin Man, most of us were cold and went to bed very early. Not, however, before our food arrived via burro. That's right, mountain side delivery all the way from San Pedro. After we devoured our soup, we were off to bed in some incredibly tiny tents.

Sunday was the most challenging day for the entire group. Quite a few people were suffering from the altitude and couldn't join us on a hike to La Forteleza. This was a point about 1 hour away that had ancient tombs and a fort built on top of one of the highest rocks on Marcahuasi. The hike was exhausting for me, especially because we got lost on the way back to camp. After we finally returned and ate massive amounts of food, we started down the mountain. My major complaint about our guides comes from this last trek. They decided that it would be shorter and easier to go a different path down the mountain than we did ascending it. Not true. We ended up clinging to the sides of cliffs, trying to find solid rocks when the dirt beneath us gave way, and picking our way through fields of cacti attempting to find a path. After we finally made it to San Pedro, I was beyond exhausted but we still had a long combi ride to our camp for the night. Those were probably the most terrifying hours of my life. We were flying down the sides of the mountains in the absolute black of night down one-way gravel roads on cliffs that were hundreds of feet high. I was alternately saying prayers, trying breathing exercises, and thinking how much my mom would be freaking out were she in the bus. Once, there was a build up of cars because we met a bus coming from the opposite direction. Neither bus wanted to move, and only the appearance of several cars behind us made the bus from the other direction back up. We ended that night in a campground in which we spent a few nice hours lounging in the pool the following day.

Although I probably will not be taking a bus through the Andes anytime soon, I look forward now to exploring Peru more than ever. There are so many areas I want to experience, but maybe next time I'll try the beach. I think I deserve that.

A first glance at Lima

Well, well, well. Lima. What is there to say about it? A whole lot. How much of what I say would be depressing at this point? Most of that. I'll give you the Sparknotes version and end with my hope for improvement. In general, my first impressions has been one of danger. It's more than a paranoia; it's a constant threat hanging over my head every time I'm out of one of my "safe zones" like the apartment or the university campus. My first time being a minority has been much more intimidating than I ever would have anticipated. Each interaction makes me feel more nervous. The helpful ones caution us and tell us to keep our things close, speak only in Spanish, and be aware. The hostile ones push us and whisper about the gringas. I don't understand this unmotivated hatred anymore than I understand the way traffic works here. One thing is for certain though- my empathy for minority groups in any place is increasing. It is so difficult to know you are trying your utmost and that it doesn't count for anything in their eyes.

There are areas of Lima that feel more familiar and safe. The wealthier places in particular are comfortable, but they pose a serious challenge to me. If I spend much of my time there, am I really exposing myself to Peruvian life? To intentionally deprive myself of this insecurity I'm feeling now would be to miss the point entirely of traveling to a developing country. In the same way I am pulled to improve my own situation here and shelter myself, I am drawn to find a way to make life better for the people here. Even in the first week I can see how much their quality of life could improve if the water were potable, if transportation were centralized, and if there were a larger police presence in all areas. Mind you, this is only Lima of which I am speaking. Rural areas, I am told, suffer from much greater poverty than Lima and have even worse conditions.

This week has been eye-opening. My fight or flight impulse has been called into play, and I intend to fight my way through the language barriers, the security issues, and all other obstacles. Hopefully, by the end of my first month I will be better at coping and will have found my place here. For now, I'm taking it in day by day.

3 continents, 3 days (ish)

What a whirlwind this week has been, and it's not over yet! In T minus 5 hours I will be leaving the land of Ibsen and Munch for the exotic land of Rochester, Minnesota. 6 weeks was hardly enough to experience everything Oslo had to offer, and the thought of leaving is very hard to face. Most of my goodbyes have been said, and I will miss the incredible people I have met here. Each day was an exploration of new perspectives and an exercise in bonding with people who have very diverse backgrounds. Coming to the International Summer School was probably one of the best decisions of my (albeit fairly short) life thus far. The highlights of my trip have been...

• Weekend rafting trip in Jutenheimen National Park- probably the best pair of days I have ever experienced
• My much lauded bicycle tour through Copenhagen
• Coordinating the kitchens for the International Cultural Evening and later being complimented by the ever skeptical house father who had been giving me preliminary talking to's because he expected the kitchens would be a disaster
• Finishing a 10 page paper about gender equality policies in the Nordic countries in 3 days
• Exploring Oslo every day
• Running into my professor around midnight downtown on a Thursday night and having him call me out on it during class the next day... woops!

The next days will be hectic but I'm really looking forward to seeing people at home. Unfortunately, I will miss some of the people I most want to talk to, but I am going to try to fit in as much time with my siblings as possible.

Saturday is the big departure day for me- Peru. Arriving on Sunday will allow me a few days to become comfortable with my surroundings. However, four months is a long time. It will be scary and I have my fair share of doubts, but I looking forward to my time there. My next post will be coming from South America. Wish me luck!!!

Crunch Time

Oslo is a peaceful city. People stroll here. They take their time. I, on the other hand, have been running around like a maniac. Its crunch time people, and the last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. The first part of my activities was arranging the food for the International Cultural Evening, which took place last night. Pretty much this evening is the peak of the global cooperation the International Summer School is supposed to promote. As a member of the Student Council, I was elected co-chair of the Cooking Committee. This has been quite the effort, including weeks of planning. This past week I have been meeting up with 3 or 4 people each day trying to nail down some details and make sure everything gets done. The big day yesterday went really well, and I'm proud of our outcome. Everyone, the ISS staff, the Blindern staff, and the students, seemed pleased. The event itself was incredibly cool- we saw performers from over 20 countries performing their national songs and dances.

School is an additional stress. I would not recommend to anyone taking 8 credits in difficult classes when you are in a different country during the summer. At the same time, I really have learned so much from my classes and it will help me (hopefully) to graduate early. I have a final exam on Wednesday and a final paper due on Thursday... yikes! Proof of the incredible amount of work my Gender Equality class and Scandinavian Government and Politics class have been is below: my 6 course compendiums and 5 books. Oh,not to mention various packets and booklets. I can't really complain though because for each of my classes we also took about one excursion to a relevant site. My favorite for the gender class was visiting the most highly rated Crisis Centers in all of Norway. The government class had a number of interesting excursions, including visiting Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the City Hall.


Last on my list is preparation for going to Peru. All sorts of plans for housing and classes at the university there are happening. A little overwhelming, but a lot exciting!

Velkommen to Kobenhavn!

So, back from Copenhagen with all body parts and important documents accounted for. Haha, actually Copenhagen (or Kobenhavn as it says on all my maps) is the safest capital city in the world, according to our tour guide Mike. The guided tours in Copenhagen were really good quality, even if our canal tour guide sounded like he might fall asleep he was so familiar with the material. The first day we were in the city we wandered about for almost 4 hours with all our bags until our hotel check-in could begin. This gave me a new respect for backpackers and a higher awareness of my need to pack down in the future. After we finally deposited our bags, we resumed our wandering and went to Nyhavn, or New Harbor. We jumped on a canal tour and spent a really pleasant hour on the water. By the end of the day, however, I had the emotional state of a sleep-deprived two year old and needed some rest, stat.

The second day began with a bike tour of Copenhagen, courtesy of Bike Copenhagen with Mike (fun fact: Copenhagen has the most bikes per capita of any city). It was honestly my favorite part of the trip. The sights were beautiful, and our group hit up every major landmark that I'd wanted to see while in town. When we showed up, Soo and I were the only ones present and we thought we were going to get a private tour of the city... until 5 couples showed up, including one nauseating pair of newlyweds. It was actually a really good group and we had a great time. We made about 10 stops, and Mike would tell us all about the sites and their history. Never before in my life have I heard so much about Kierkegaard and H.C. Andersen. We did make it to Christiania, which was amusing because of everyone's matter-of-factness about it. Mike told us before we got there not to take pictures of the entrance because they don't like any photos getting out of the line-up of drug booths. The cafe in Christiania has a sign by the door saying, "Safest Cafe in the world- 4,000 armed police inspections since 2004".

Also, side note about the food and drinks. Holy expensive! All the restaurants had crazy high prices, so I ended up eating kind of cheaper street food or special lunch deals. The only Danish food I had was the breakfast buffet at our hotel. The first day I had a Chinese meal for lunch and a falafel sandwich for dinner. The next day was pizza for lunch and samosa for dinner. All the food was good but the average cost per meal was about $10 in the U.S. Absolutely insane! We ran across some luck when we went out though and came across a group of men at the bar all too happy to buy us drinks. I'd love to go back to Copenhagen at some point and maybe get a tour to the castle from Hamlet or rent a bike and explore on my own, but I will wait until I'm not a college student and church mouse poor. Overall, it was a fun weekend, but I'm glad to be back and have my bed and normal sized shower-home sweet Oslo.

The Great Clock Crisis

Nearly three weeks into the program and one of the most complicated, time-consuming, exhaustive parts of my trip has been my epic search for... an alarm clock. Something that doesn't seem incredibly important during normal daily life, but when you have class at 8:15 each morning and prefer to wake early to exercise, this basic lack becomes very urgent. The hardest part of it was knowing that I had actually prepared for this and brought a clock from home. However, my clock didn't have the same voltage as the European outlets. Nonetheless, I tried it out. Exhibit A: my burned out clock.
My next line of action was a temporary fix- Olga's alarm on her phone. We made a system that ran pretty well, but I mostly had to adapt to her schedule. After nearly a week, I went to a flea market in Gronland. I stumbled upon an alarm clock for 10 kroner, the equivalent of about a $1.50. Not a bad deal, huh? Well, I should have known from the price. After plugging it in, I found that most of the lines in the display were gone. Miraculously after a few days, all the numbers returned. This wasn't the end of my problems, though. The clock has a functioning alarm- that only goes off if the volume for the radio is on at all times. So basically, in order for the radio to not be playing, the entire machine must be on mute which equals no alarm. Foiled again!
The final solution: Olga's alarm clock.

Well, I'm off to Copenhagen for the long weekend. This is what I'm planning so far...

• city bike tour through some of the main tourist attractions
• going to a little coffee shop recommended by my classmate Lisa
• hopefully hitting up the beach
• seeing the hippies in Christiana
• museums!

Let's see if I fit it all in. Bye now!

Takk for waiting...

So here I am sitting at my desk while it is bright and sunny outside (don't believe what they say about Norwegian summers) after completing a full week at the International Summer School. Thanks for waiting since my last post, I'd been so occupied with planning and just getting things done that I'd forgotten to take anytime here. There are so many things I could and would love to share with anyone who asked, because I have enjoyed the experience so much already. The trip over went smoothly, the only irritants being the children sitting behind me kicking my seat the whole way. In the end, my neighbor turned around and threatened to throw them out the airplane windows (which they couldn't understand as they were speaking Icelandic). The dormitories we are housed in are very cute but very full- I have two roommates, Olga from Russia and Krasamira from Bulgaria. We all get along very well, and there is no shortage of friendly people here. The days are incredibly long, and the nights are never quite dark. Part of me feels exhausted due to the amount of work I have been doing, but the rest is completely energized by the constantly bright sky. When we arrived, I met Olga and our neighbor Sarah. The three of us "explored" Oslo- a pretty way of saying how lost we got. Among other things we found the Oslo penitentiary... definitely the first stop on any list of tourist attractions. We did some sightseeing over the weekend at the Viking Museum, the Opera House, and Vigeland Park. While all of these were breath taking in their own way, I definitely feel a need to re-visit them while I am here. Though I have only been here a week, I feel this pressure to do and see absolutely everything possible. There are just so many options and intriguing places, not only in Oslo but the remainder of Norway and Scandinavia in general. At the same time as sightseeing and enjoying myself with all the people I've met, classes are a huge strain on time. I am in my Scandinavian Government and Politics class and then Gender Equality in the Nordic Countries from 8 until 1 each morning. Government is very interesting because of the teacher (an Aussie with a mohawk) and the content which shows Norway as both a quality place to live but less ideal than is commonly thought by the outside world. Gender Equality is the most challenging class I've taken since I began college. The diverse people in it and the depth of conversation is truly amazing. Each of the countries represented are from very different levels of development with regards to women. Some contrast so greatly from the highly gender equal country of Norway that it is almost unbelievable. Already they are broadening my view to an incredible degree.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship...

current location: madison, wi
time: 9:30 a.m.
date: 6/3/10

Yes, I know. Not the most original title (though more appropriate syllable-wise, Matt Laeur) but fitting for my upcoming world travels. In exactly 3 weeks I'll be leaving the good ol' US of A for Norway. Indeed, crossing the Atlantic, hopefully missing those pesky ash clouds from Iceland, and arriving in Oslo for a month and a half of classes. Though I'm not on the run, ala our friend Carmen, I hope to follow her and a long line of bad-ass women doing what they want- Bonnie of Bonnie and Clyde fame, Katherine the Great (minus the bit with the horse), J.K. Rowling, Rosa Parks, etc. Right now I'm in the last stages of preparation for leaving my apartment in Madison, my job, and going home to pack. Most of my things were taken back a few weeks ago, so now I am living in what I alternately describe as "zen and simplistic surroundings" and as "a hobo-squatter in my own home with just my mattress, guitar, and a box of clothes". On the up side, however, I have been hitting the library hard; in the past week I've seen I Heart Huckabees, Up in the Air, Arrested Development Season 2, and read Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte and Black Hills. And on a completely unrelated note: things to expect from this blog...

1. Lists- My life is not complete with out them, and therefore, my fanbase of two will be subjected to an endless stream of lists.
2. Food talk- Traveling = new food = over-the-top descriptions by someone who spends entirely too much time at their local farmer's market.
3. Self indulgent rants- Yep.
4. Endless pop culture/old movie/historical/mythological/random fact references.
5. Way too much information about school- ask my roommate; once I start, it never ends.

Thank you for tuning in! Next time I hope to have some pictures up and be more ready for departure.