A Veegie Tale
In the last month, a lot of people at Augustana who have recently returned from a study abroad experience have expressed in a number of ways their affinity and appreciation for the American culture and its comforts. I happen to be of the same mindset, but on the other side, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the things that I happen to miss about Norway and, in particular, Oslo. Then maybe I will get the peace of mind from my homesickness long enough to do my homework for the day.
- The Ocean
South Dakota is notoriously landlocked, which for a guy who's lived his entire life only a few minutes from the ocean tends to lend itself to claustrophobia. The ocean also represents so many other qualities I couldn't live without for longer amounts of time, like the philosophical substance of it, the smell of salt water, seagulls, islands with picnic and swimming opportunities, beaches, watersports, the feeling of waves, and the sound of the water.
- The big city
- To most other nationality, Oslo has a small town feel even though it's got 700,000 people living there. I miss the subway, ironically, and I miss not being dependant on a car to get from A to B (or C for that matter). The freedom of complete movement comes with a city totally interconnected through a public transportation grid, or a more condensed area.
- The movie theatres
I know, I know. US movie theatres have seats that recline and free seating order, more buttery popcorn and more fountain drinks to choose from. But take Oslo's Colosseum Kino, the world's largest THX movie theatre, which seats 1,158 people (a staggering 2,100 before the fire of 1963), for example. Now, that's a movie theatre! Fully electronic ticketing systems (purchase online, print the tickets at home or at the theatre), overly stocked candy stores and kiosks (with Norwegian chokolate, hey), and the subway taking you to the front door whenever needed, that has any of SD's movie theatre experiences beat. Gotta love the reclinable seats here, though.
- Norwegian culture and language
Sure, Norwegian has fewer words and phrases for expressing exactly what you mean, but at least it sounds cool and demands more tongue artistry of the speaker. Norwegians, while maybe shy and even arrogant and rude to begin with, open up like a Pandora's box of joy when they feel comfortable enough. Norwegians in general play few mind games, calling it as they see it is a fundamental Norwegian trait. No BS, as you would say. That's refreshing. Drinking culture is a chapter by itself, with their vorspiels, nachspiels, and general drunken craziness way into the wee hours of the morning. Vikings party hard by nature.
- Exotic Foods
- And with this, I'm not just meaning that I miss kjøttkaker (meat cakes), mackerel in tomato sauce, liver patè spread on bread, Pizza Grandiosa, or even my beloved chili nuts. I mean all the truly exotic foods you can find in Oslo. On top of my long list is the indian food (best: The Zaika Restaurant), closely followed
by thai (best: Jaja's Restaurant), and of course, Turkish kebabs in pita bread (best: Vinny's Kebabs and Bislett Kebab House). My mouth is literally watering right now, that's how much I miss all that stuff. It's a given though, that no country does Tex-Mex food (of course) as well as the US.
- Tiny Grocery Stores
Yes. I love Wal*Mart. And I always will. But, this must be said, Wal*Marts have no personality. Now, in Norway grocery stores are still only about food, and thus significantly smaller in size. They have a much smaller selection for each food type, but this is something Norwegians are fine with - the choice happens to be between cheap and regular priced items of the same (approximate) quality, and hence less time is spent choosing between millions of brands for each bread you're buying. The country has only a few chains of grocery stores (Rema 1000, Rimi, COOP, Bunnpris, and a few more), but given the country's size, this suffices plenty. With small stores, and this is what I kind of miss, you can go right in and come right out in a matter of minutes, still having bought what you wanted, and without walking forever from the soaps to the vegetables. Grocery shopping isn't really a pastime in Norway, that's all.
No worries, I'll probably think of more later. And I'll give you the equally long list of things I think are better in the US of A, as well.
That helped a little.
Labels: Everyday, Lists, Pictures, Rants
An American Deja Vù: Being Back
So I'm back. And for most of you, this is the only sign of life you have received from your favorite future doctor in the exact month (that's 30 long days to those of you with a longing for Christian and a passion for numbers). Whether you're reading this on Blogger or Facebook, man, do I have news for you. Sit down, grab your most comfy blanket, a box of tissues, and your biggest jar of
nitroglycerin, because this post might just alter the course of your life.
Okay, I'll be sincere. This isn't about you (it's about time you start your own blog, I guess), it's definitely about me. And while we're on our way, let me first recap the past month of my life to you. Briefly (yeah, right).
Alicia and I landed in
Sioux Falls (often referred to as SooFoo or Sucks Falls, the latter being more derogatory than it deserves) on August 11th, and her family greeted us at the airport with (silent) screams and hugs that couldn't have been more genuine. We went out to eat (count 1 of multiple fast food visits these past weeks) at
Fuddruckers, and had the most amazing burgers (and my first Cherry Coke) over pleasant conversation with the family and one of Lish's friends who had tagged along. I immediately got along with her parents (I am a parent favorite, not surprisingly), and my somewhat crude, sarcastic sense of humor seemed to fit right in with the Coggins crowd. Now, our getting along was technically also the
only option, because of the week we had ahead of us.
On the 13th of August we all ventured, by car, up to Grand Marais (Minnesota) and the
Boundary Waters, with everything from tents, food packs, canoes, paddles, sleeping bags and matches to bug spray. We spent our first night at a camping ground at the edge of town (our last showers of the week), before we embarked on the 5-night trip into the wilderness. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness has a no-littering, no-motors, no unauthorized fires, no toilets, and no other people policy, which means the most rustic camping around. The entire rest of the week it was life as only Rambo would have preferred it: up at dawn, preparing all our meals over the campfire, 4-5 hours of intense paddling to find our next camp site, making poopsies in the woods or specially engineered latrines 150 ft from the lake, and about 14 portages (that is, carriages of 4 kevlar canoes, several oversized backbacks and food packs, paddles and so on, from one lake to another, oftentimes through dense vegetation or up steep hills). You'd be surprised, though; I ended up loving it. The camp fire bonding, healthy physical exercise, incredible starry nights, sleeping on the rocky ground, and being without a shower or shave for a week all turned out to be exactly what I needed. Disconnecting from society, from the
Facebook monster, from Mr. TV, and from all our ridiculous comforts is an amazing feeling, and I'd go back and do it all again tomorrow, if I could. As aching, smelly, hurting, and tired as my body was after the trip, my soul couldn't be happier. That, my friends, is the meaning of good pain.
Returning to Beresford, Alicia's hometown, we spent our next weeks relaxing and being spoiled. Dawn, Alicia's mom, cooked us incredible meals every day, and the evenings were spent playing
Rock Band (on X-Box) or Dice (the Coggins dice game that truly grows on you after a while, as simple as it is - and it doesn't hurt when you ROCK it completely every time either). One of the nights Alicia and I went back to Sioux Falls, with one mission on hand: Wal-Mart. We spent about 3 hours just walking around, taking in the atmosphere that is Wally's World, and concluded they were the exact WM dosage we'd been craving ever since leaving the US last time. You might not appreciate it now, but believe me - Wal-Mart is up there with apple pie and peach cobbler when abroad.
On the 2nd of September, I moved into the dorms, and got my room set up. Thanks to Alicia and her decision to save money (
on car insurance?) and precious time on living at a friend's house, I now have the sweetest room around. I bought a black fridge, I have a black loft, a black (coooomfortable) couch, huge TV, and even my own bean bag chair. I bought a blender (for those
Men's Health smoothies and occasional Jimmy Buffet nights) - and yes, that is black too. I brought 5 (!) suitcases of personal belongings and clothes (and thanks to a mistake made by United Airlines, I only paid $100 for the 3 that were both overweight
and in excess - remember,
technically just 2 bags of 50 lbs each), so now I have almost all my stuff in one cool room. Classes are hard (I'm taking Organic Chemistry, Terrestrial Plant Ecology, and Genetics), but I'll survive. I'll have worse later, so this is a good time to prove I can do it.
Lastly, I'm single again. But you probably knew that one. And there's nothing I feel like saying about that on a forum as public as a blog, so I'll just leave it with that. Let me just, incredibly, quote Usher: "Breaking up is a natural evolution when you try to figure out what you want in life. If you're with an individual who isn't moving in the same direction and at the same rate that you are, it ain't going to work." And I suppose it didn't.
Labels: Breaks, College Stuff, Major Updates, Personal Issues, Vacations
