Sam moved to Oslo back in January to do a study abroad for the semester and she lives in an apartment place on the outskirts of Oslo. Her lease ends in two days, so I was able to live here the whole time. It sure was nice to be able to unpack and live out of a closet!! This place is seriously incredible tho...in one direction you have Oslo City and like a two second walk from her front door is nature....mountains, woods, lakes, hiking, camping it is amazing. here are a few photos of the area around here:
Googlemap a map of the world....something i didnt realize was that norway is at the same level (is it latitude?) as alaska... so right now it doesnt get dark out...that picture above is about the darkest it gets here. but norway also does not get the freezing cold temperatures that alaska (or even MN) gets...its quite a nice winter..still full of snow but not deadly temperatures.
our first night here we went for a 7km hike up the mountain that's conveniently located in her backyard and at the top you get an incredible view of the city as well as of the ski jump. what a way to start off my time in oslo. that night i met a bunch of sam's friends that also live in Kringsja, a 'student city' area. We went to the lake (10 minute walk from the apartment) and had a grill out and enjoyed some choice beverages and a bonfire.
that night we went to Julie's parents house for dinner. Julie is one of our really good friends from uni who is from Oslo but studies with us at the U of MN...her parents were so wonderful. We enjoyed some delicious Paella (no its not norwegian, lol its a spanish dish) but SO good and drank loads of wine.
And as one could probably assume, we went out that night to a club in Oslo city. (sorry no photos)
On saturday Sam traveled to the western coast with her family to the city of Bergen.... so i had the next 6 days to fend for myself here in Oslo, which quite honestly was so easy. Her friends here in Kringsja have been so much fun. Stayed plenty busy hiking all around, hanging out at the lake, meeting all these europeans that live here, and of course partaking in the nightly drinking festivities. That saturday evening we all went to the city to party at the good ol' TGI Fridays! hahaha....yep it is quite an epic bar by night.It has been a bit sad around here though, because almost everyone has left by now.. and it's the same for all of these guys like it was for me during my final weeks in Sydney. You have just had the most amazing 6 months of your life and made incredible friendships with so many people....and having to say goodbye and not knowing when/if you will ever see them again... so hard. but hey ever since i came back from sydney, i had met up with friends from all over the states on two different occasions and decided to do this eurotrip so i could come visit some of them as well! ...and skype and facebook make things a bit easier to cope with as well. It is hard tho... and it's not something a person can truly understand unless they have been thru it. yeah, studying abroad is perhaps the most incredible thing one can do, but it really rips into your heart....even makes those tough guys tear up.
well i hope you all have enjoyed all the pictures i have posted....not sure when i will get another chance to do that as i have been able to use people's computers here to upload them! My time here in Oslo has been so relaxing... very much needed after seeing what will be coming up during the next two months =0
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