Dinner in Drammen

Started off my first week at the Uni, I guess if you could call 1.5 classes a day from Monday to Wednesday a “week” of class. Its like having fall break every week….

I guess how school works in Norway is that most students have only 1-2 classes per day monday-thursday, but they’re a bit longer than US classes (about an hour and forty-five minutes). Norwegians love taking breaks though, so we usually get one-two fifteen minute breaks per class, which is so awesome but so inefficient. Trond and I walked into our Econ 400 class which we’re intimidated by only to realize that half the students had never taken an Econ class before. So needless to say we’re pretty pumped. I think the only slightly challenging class we’ll have is Norwegian Language. I think I learned more in my first class this week than I did in my entire first three years of Spanish at WES. They kind of just threw us into the language classes and went right into it, which was pretty challenging but really rewarding. And now that its Thursday I get my four day weekend!

The best part of this week was a family dinner that we up at Frode’s house (same uncle that picked us up from the airport). He lives in Drammen, which is about 45 km south of Oslo. After our Norwegian class Frode and his son Frithjof came to UiO to grab us, so we jumped into his Tesla and we zoomed off through the city. Oslo has the highest proportion of Teslas in the world, so its pretty regular to see at least 15 in a given day or so. I’ve never been in a Tesla before, and its was pretty damn sweet. Frode told us that most cars in Europe are about twice as expensive as those in the US, but because of tax benefits Teslas cost about the same as they do back home. Driving through the outskirts of Oslo made me realize how clean and futuristic the area is. Even miles outside the city center, large beautifully designed buildings dotted the mountainous landscape. Everything is also so so clean. The roadways were some of the nicest I’ve ever seen, very different from the roads and construction zones of say Boston. I wish I could have taken pictures but it was dusk and the lighting was bad.

Trond’s cousin Tina and her husband also came to the dinner, as did Frode’s wife Bente and Sofie, Trond’s other cousin who's about seven years older than us. Everyone was a bit quiet at first, but after dinner finished (and perhaps a bit more beer and wine was consumed) Trond’s family opened up a lot. Norwegians are definitely a bit shy to outsiders and new people, but give them a bit of time and a bit of alcohol and they are some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met.

The favorite sport and pastime of Norwegians (and Trond’s family) is cross-country skiing, which is probably the exact opposite of Americans. Here cross-country races are televised and watched by thousands of people, its like almost like American football. They have a ton of pride for their olympic and world cup cross-country racers. It was so weird to hear Trond’s family talk about the current XC racers just like my friends would talk about football teams back home. Sofie and Frithjof invited us to come up and use their hytte, which is essentially a house/cabin up in the country that many Norwegians have. Its pretty much a second home that many Norwegians go up to on the weekends to relax. Cross country skiing is largely tied with the hyttes, at least with Trond’s family. Can’t wait to write a post about that.

Erik gave Trond and I some Aquavit, which is a classic Norwegian liquor that tastes like a mix between tequila and gin, pretty strong stuff. Meeting more of Trond’s family was an awesome experience, I really hope we do something again now that we’re much more closer with them. Trond mentioned that in the Spring they have a large family gathering up at the hytte, which would be unreal.

Having a warm home-cooked meal was amazing. In order to save money Trond and I have been eating the cheapest food possible, which is mostly centered around blocks of goat brown-cheese, crackers, nutella, carrots, peanut butter, rice, an occasional meat stick, and a giant bag of potatoes that my friend gave to me. Anything to save money in one of the most expensive countries in the world. This weekend we’re hopefully meeting up with Frithjof at one of his favorite bars in Oslo, and next weekend I’m taking a bus to a huge ski mountain to see if I can ski up to the top. Stay tuned!