In Retrospect

So I'm back to reality here in Santa Barbara, California, but for anyone who is planning on visiting Norway in the future, here is my best advice.

SKIP THE CITIES

I visited a few major cities while I was a Norwegian resident (Oslo, Stavanger, Tromsø), and I didn't really fall in love with any of them the way people experience a soul connection with New York or Paris, for example. Sure Norway probably has the best-run cities in the world as far as infrastructure goes (you seriously won't find better public transport or fewer homeless people anywhere else), but compared to Europe's other major cities, Norwegian cities don't have many attractions. All you'll really find is ridiculously expensive restaurants and shops.

But if you  must remain in the city, here are my favorite places in Oslo.

1. Folk Museum
Here you'll find a Norwegian version of Colonial Williamsburg with actors dressed in period costumes doing wood carving demonstrations. There's a historic Stave Church, carriage rides, and plenty of grass-roofed cottages with pig pens and bleating goats.

2. Akershus Fortress 

This defensive fortress was historically the seat of power for Norway. Whoever controlled the fortress thus ruled the country. Don't bother paying the fee to go inside though, nothing aesthetically spectacular by European standards. But there is a nice lawn for having a picnic overlooking the Oslo harbor. 

3. Vigelandsparken
The best free place to visit in Oslo. This sculpture park is beautiful both in the summer and in winter (plus there are plenty of fun photo ops with the statues!).

3. Hovedøya

This is one of the many islands in the Oslo fjord. Only visit here during the summer though, when it's warm enough to swim in the fjord before exploring the ancient monastery ruins. And you can take a free fjord cruise there!

4. Holmenkollen
This olympic ski jump offers the best views of Oslo. The jump itself is huge, and still in use during the winter season. There are ski jumping schools nearby as well, and you might even catch some athletes practicing.

HEAD FOR THE HILLS

Norway has a well-deserved reputation on the internet for being a really, really ridiculously good looking country. So instead of visiting the cities, I recommend venturing out into nature. There are three main hikes that make Norway famous (sadly, I only made it to 2 of them)

1. Preikestolen
Preikestolen literally means Pulpit Rock because this giant stone slab juts out of the mountainside like a pulpit. The hike takes about 3 hours each way and is steep but not strenuous at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preikestolen

2. Trolltunga

Trolltunga means Troll's Tongue, and this hike is the most difficult I've ever been on. It took about 9.5 hours to complete and about a month to regain full capacity in my knees. 

It's also a bit tricky to get to; the closest town is Odda, which is tucked away between mountain ranges and I'm pretty sure the only way to get there is by overnight bus (no trains or planes). But it is very much worth it!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolltunga

3. Kjerag

My only regret from living in Norway is not doing this hike. All I know is that it is relatively close to Preikestolen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kjerag

GO NORTH

...and chase those Northern Lights! (Do dog sledding too; it's expensive but worth it!)

Dog Sledding in the Arctic

We were picked up at a hotel in town at 6:30pm by the dog sledding company's van and driven for about 20-25 minutes into the wilderness and away from city lights to the base camp. There, we were given a set of equipment that included a snow suit, snow boots, a hat, and gloves. Even though we already had our own warm clothing, taking this provided outfit was a good choice as we would be petting and playing with hundreds of smelly dogs.

Once we were suited up, we went out to the dog lot where 300 dogs have their raised wooden huts to sleep in. The dogs are Alaskan huskies, where are a mix of different breeds; that is why all the dogs vary in looks, some with blue eyes and white fur, others with brown eyes and black coats. Unlike Siberian huskies, Alaskan huskies are better built for dog sledding. Their huts are set up in rows that represent a team. In the back are the large males, who are the "wheels" of the team. They are biggest and strongest and take most of the weight from the sled. In the middle are the youngest dogs, who have the most energy and are the motivators. They bark and are very spirited, and they are usually girls. Lastly the dogs in the front are the leaders, who are clever and can understand and obey the musher's directions. They are also females, and they are purposefully put in front of the males to make them chase the girls.

Villmarkssenter also has a VIP section where the MVP dogs are housed. These dogs belong to the professional musher Tove Sørensen who also owns the center. Sørensen is known first because she is a woman, and female mushers are uncommon. Second, she has raced in the Finnmark Race several times and in the Iditarod, which usually takes 9-15 days and is the longest and most well known dog sledding race in the world. Our guide informed us that the race runs on "dog time," so once they have rested enough, it is time begin the next leg, and sometimes the dogs need as little as 10 minutes. While they sleep, the musher checks each dog's paws to make sure there are no injuries. The dogs are even conditioned to sleep with their paws sticking out because they know they will be checked. If a dog is injured, it is not allowed to be switched out. The musher must continue to run without the dog or withdraw from the race.

Along with the 300 adult dogs, there are also puppies! Almost as soon as they are born, they are introduced to tourists because they must learn to be around people. The dogs are all very well-behaved because of this. They never bite out of aggression (but might playfully steal your glove or camera). One puppy grabbed one of Kyle's gloves and took it into the puppy house, and our poor guide had to try and get it back. "Ok, first one who gives me the glove gets a sausage!" he said.

At first you might think that the dogs are not well taken care of because they are out in the cold all night and day and some look a little on the thin side, but our guide assures us that they are perfectly fine. First, it is forbidden for any employee to beat the dogs. Second, they are born outside and live their whole lives outdoors, so they are used to it. The breed is built for being in the snow. Lastly, the dogs work very hard throughout the winter pulling the sleds, which they enjoy very much ( I could tell!), and during the summer they rest and grow fat. Besides, Tove works with these dogs their whole lives, so she knows them all very well and they are truly her best friends, so they must always be kept in top shape. They even have a retirement plan for the dogs; once they are too old to race they are taken home by Tove or by the many guides where they get to lay on the couch inside and eat treats for the rest of their lives. Also, the center does not sell any of their dogs, so there is no chance that a dog will be given away to a bad owner. 

Finally it was time to say good night and go to sleep in our Sami tent. However, all night the dogs were howling at each other! When you have 300 dogs together, of course it is going to be noisy.

The next morning we were served breakfast in the larger Sami tent:

Then it was finally time for dog sledding!

It seems like as soon as the sleds and harnesses are brought out, the entire dog lot gets excited. I think they were even more excited than me! 

The route took about 30-45 minutes, but of course time flies when you're having fun. We went through pristine powder, and I sat in the sled for the first half to take pictures and videos. The dogs need no motivation at all from us humans; they are incredibly happy to be out running, as their deafening barks attested. Halfway out we switched, and I stood behind the sled to steer. The trip alternated between moments of serenity as the team kept a steady pace over smooth terrain to sheer exhilaration (and even a little bit of fear) as the sled would lean off balance at times, and should the sled tip over the dogs were sure to just keep running unless you yell "STOOOOPPP!" But luckily all the sleds stayed upright. 

Once we got back to the base camp the dogs did not seem tired at all. As we were leaving the sled, all the teams were barking just as much as when we left off.

We're leaving Norway in under a week, and we saved the best adventure for last. Kyle has been missing his dogs throughout this whole semester, so it was nice to just be around dogs again even if they weren't ours. It was truly a trip of a lifetime! 

The Aurora Borealis

The Northern Lights are called "Nordlys" in Norwegian, and Kyle and I saw them on our recent trip to Tromsø! Tromsø is located within the Arctic Circle and usually has a mild climate, which makes it a popular place for tourists to go and see the Northern Lights. Throughout our stay here in Norway, we have been checking this website that forecasts aurora activity: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast/Europe/2013/12/11. The forecast is on a scale of 0 to 9, 0 being no activity (which, according to our guide, never happens) and 9 being the entire planet can view the aurora, which also never happens. The night we went was a 2, which discouraged us, but once we arrived to Villmarkssenter (where we would be staying for the night), our guide told us that he has seen beautiful light displays on nights that were level 2.

We walked a bit down a path that led to a campfire and sat on reindeer skins in the snow. Our guide told us about the folklore surrounding the Northern Lights. During Scandinavia's witch-burning times, the people used to believe that the lights were the spirits of the witches they had killed, and so they actually feared the auroras. People also used to believe that when women died as virgins, the lights are the girls flouncing their skirts to make all the men below on Earth sorry that they had never been with them.

This was around 7pm, and the sky was mostly clear. There was still a bit of light pollution from town, and that early in the night is not ideal for viewing the aurora. There was only a faint glow of green in the sky, and it seemed like the other group members were quite disappointed. Kyle and I were the only ones staying the night, so we weren't too worried because we planned to stay up all night to see them; 3am is the optimal viewing time.

We were a bit concerned when we learned that we were the only people staying the night; is there a reason why it is not so popular? But our guide assured us that it was only because we were staying on a Monday night, as on weekends the two communal tents are full with tourists. The tents are modeled after the culture of the Sami people, who are the indigenous people of Scandinavia.

We were shown our private tent which was covered in reindeer skins and heated by a small furnace. It also had windows which let us check on the skies throughout the night without having to go out into the cold. They had set out trays with tea, coffee, and snacks and lit the tent with candles. Very cozy and romantic, our Sami tent for two! Usually a private tent costs extra, but we were lucky to be the only ones there and have the privacy for free. It certainly was a better experience than heading back to a hotel in town before it was even late enough to see the lights.

We were given dinner (reindeer stew for Kyle and couscous and vegetables for me, followed by tea, coffee, and homemade Norwegian chocolate cake) in a larger Sami tent which housed wooden tables and seal skin covered seats. Visitors could also roast sausages by the indoor fire, and our guide made sure that everyone had enough food and drink.

After the other visitors had left, our guide told us that we were allowed to come and go as we pleased. He gave us snow shoes and headlamps and we grabbed some reindeer skins and trekked out into a snow-covered field away from the camp. We laid on our backs and watched the lights grow and recede. One grew larger and larger until it streaked across the sky right above us, although it was still very faint:

I was pleasantly surprised to see these lights at about 10 pm because I thought we would have to stay up all night to see them. We had also checked the weather forecast before we left Oslo, and it looked like the sky would be completely cloudy from 6 pm until morning. If you plan to look for the Northern Lights, you must know that even if there are all the lights there can be, you won't see any if there are clouds in your way. Luckily for us though, it was only partly cloudy for the first half of the night.

The day we visited, the sunrise was at 11:30am and sunset was at 12:17pm, so barely more than 45 minutes of sunlight. During the wintertime in Tromsø there is so little daylight that you can potentially see the lights at any time, if there is a high forecast level of course. Our guide said that he has seen them at 6pm in August, so it is possible to even seen them in the daylight as well.

I would have been disappointed at how faint they were, but I had not expected to see them at all so I was actually quite pleased. Next we should head south of New Zealand to see the Aurora Australis!

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do

It's my last week and a half here in Oslo, and I thought I would share some updates with you all!

First, I took my Norwegian final back in November and I passed with flying colors! Congratulations to me, I can now speak perfect elementary Norwegian! I also just took my Fiction and Film final this morning, and I think it went well. And lastly, I just turned in my final paper for philosophy mere minutes ago, so now I can update this blog finally!

That's a perfect opportunity to inform you all about the exam system here at UiO. It is incredibly daunting that the grade for the course is based entirely on the final exam. Whereas at UCSB there are multiple assignments and thus multiple opportunities to feel out what the professor or TA likes or doesn't like as well as chances to improve your work throughout the course of the class, here you really don't have the slightest idea of what your grade will be going into the final. That's why it is crucial to ask questions from your professors about the finals, and I think that helped me on my English final. But aside from that, you just have to hope that you studied enough of relevant material for the exam and try to use up the whole 4 hours so you can do a thorough job. I get the sense that professors understand that this kind of exam system is challenging; my English professor assured us multiple times that we have nothing to worry about.

I have also been working as an editor for themoose.no, an exclusively English-language online magazine here that caters to an international student audience. I am the editor for the culture section, and you can read articles here: http://themoose.no/category/culture-creativity/. It is my first editing job, but I've learned a lot about the editing world and it is a good preparation for the professional editing minor at UCSB, into which I have recently been accepted.

Kyle and I have also done a bit more exploring while we wait for the snow to arrive. We always feel like we have seen everything we wanted to see in Oslo, but we always discover new adventures on our outings. Because of the few daylight hours now, we make a point to leave the apartment as much as we can so that we don't just sit inside all the time. A few weeks ago, we went to the market at Blå, which is in the very hip and fashionable Grünerløkka area of Oslo. Here is some graffiti from the area: 

 I of course found a kitty along the way:

Regarding the weather, it has only snowed on three separate days and not enough for it to accumulate on the ground. This has really disappointed me; I was looking forward to living somewhere where it snows and going sledding. I guess studying abroad here for spring quarter would have been a better choice for that. Instead, we have gotten "freezing fog," which looks like this: 

and leaves this on everything:

So while it is incredibly cold here, there have not been any snow storms and so all we have are ice crystals. 

The cold has also made the lakes freeze over, and Kyle and I stumbled upon this frozen lake a week ago:

Of course you should always be cautious on ice like this, so we didn't venture too far out.

It is, however, supposed to snow up to 5 inches tomorrow, so even though the weather has played with my heart too many times offering me empty promises of snow, I am still excited!