Update

I've officially been home for 19 days. It seems so weird to think that just 20 days ago I was in Oslo, walking around Sognsvann lake. Weird I tell ya. I miss Norway, but not the way I thought I would. I almost feel like I never left. Then again, there are certain things that keep cropping up that I notice are different. I thought I would feel stressed about being away from Norway, at least at first. The day I left I was anxious and had numerous occasions where I just wanted to run back to Kringsja. But after that...no culture shock, hardly any jet lag.  It was certainly unexpected. My experience feels less real than I thought it would. It's scary how it can feel like that. It's not like it faded away either. It was just like all of a sudden I was home and doing home stuff not in Norway doing Norway stuff.

There are so many times when I talk about it though..."When I was in Norway.." "Ever since I've been back..." "Sarah Ferguson...." And whenever anyone asks I'm quick to tell them Norway was and is still my favorite place and that it is the best experience of my life so far.

Two nights ago I got to swing dance again for the first time since I've been back. I was on a high from it still when I got to work Wednesday. I went to Buffalo (an hour plus drive). There was a mini lesson which happened to be almost exactly what I had learned while in Oslo. The instructors were nowhere near as good (or funny) as my great Norwegian instructors, but I knew what I was doing of course. I danced with several guys who knew what they were doing, and I even taught one of them a new move! (sliding doors, flirt, and the longer one out of sliding doors) Sara and Amanda came with me and I was so proud of them! They both danced with just about as many people as I did, and I think they had a pretty good time ;)  I definitely want to go again. Hopefully I can get some more recruits! Every time we rotated partners I wanted to say "Takk for dansen" though-and I did a couple times :p

One thing I realized being home is that I don't want to stay in this area. Before I knew I wanted to go away to experience other things, but now I just want to get out. As many good things there are to say about small towns, it seems like the not-so-good ones are more magnified. Especially the gossip. That's all anyone ever does here! (Is it just here? Or is everyone in America a gossip?)  I have noticed myself unconsciously not telling stories that other people had told me because it's just GOSSIP!! I don't want people to be up in my business and I don't want to know everything about other people either.

Another thing I do is say "nei" a lot here. I'm not sure if anyone notices though. No one ever says anything about it. I know Sara knows what I'm saying but I feel like everyone else maybe just thinks I misspoke. Sometimes I say "eh" too but not pronounced enough for people to make fun of me for sounding Canadian.

I'm also proud to say I am still regularly eating my brown cheese! I've gotten a lot of people to try it since I've been home and everyone has liked it! I was so impressed. I did injure myself with the cheese slicer the other day, but that was the only bad thing that's ever happened related to brown cheese.

I'm hoping this post wasn't too unorganized. I'm not feeling very focused right now, so on that note. Until next time..

Last Days

My last week in Oslo was pretty rainy. Like I said, Monday and Tuesday were nice days but Wednesday rained almost all day long. Thursday rained a lot, a little Friday, and a good chunk of Saturday. Friday was nice most of the day though, and Saturday afternoon/night turned out great.

I met up with Johanne Friday afternoon. She had an errand to run that required us to go back to her apartment, so I got to see where she lives. I was really happy about this. I haven't really gotten to see how any Norwegians my age live except in Kringsja. The apartment she's living in right now is really small, but SO cute! I had a great time with her. We got ice cream downtown, stumbled upon a gay pride festival, and hung out at one her favorite places, a bar/coffee shop and music shop called "Bare Jazz."

I met up with Kristbjorn and Eivind that night. Another great time. Took a walk to Sognsvann, got bit by some mosquitoes (oh wait, that was mostly Eivind :p), just hung out. That night I was trying to stay up for the sunrise so we stayed out quite late. I did stay up until the time I was supposed to, but it was cloudy and really cold out (10 C!) so I decided to just go to bed. 

My last day (Saturday) was spent mostly just cleaning and packing. I had a bit of trouble packing at first, but it worked out okay. It poured in the morning. Luckily I made  it to Kiwi to buy my brown cheese before that happened ;). Around 5 pm it cleared up and the sun came out. I was so excited about that and took the liberty to go for a walk. I think this was really my "goodbye" walk. It's funny how I never get bored on my walks. I just find myself thinking about so many things and all of a sudden I'm halfway around the lake. I took my time with this walk, enjoying the scenery and the feel. This time my mind found itself filled with thoughts of gratitude and appreciation for my time in Norway and for the people I met. I took time to say a "thank you" to Sognsvann, to Oslo, to Norway in general for the great experience.

I was trying to think of how to compare my love for the U.S. with my love for Norway. I decided that I love the U.S. like I would love a family member. At first I loved it because I was told to, because I was born here, just like you originally love your family because well...they're your family. But now, I love the U.S. because it is my home, because it is familiar to me and because it is in many ways (but not all of course), a great place to live. Norway on the other hand, I would compare to meeting a new "old" friend. I think of my relationship with Sarah kind of like this. First you meet someone and you don't know them so you need to get to know them, but the more you do you realize they feel like an old friend to you. You just fit together. I feel that way with Norway. It was new and took a bit of adjusting, but something inside me just feels like it is an "old friend" to me, someplace that I won't be able to set aside. 

I will return to Norway. I know that. I can feel it. It may take some years, it may be in a completely different context, but I'll be back eventually.  When I think of my time there, I am hit with a rush of memories: people, places, dances. It has been the best experience of my life. With that being said, I hope to have many more "best" experiences. Oslo (and Norway in general of course) will always have a place in my heart. Takk for alt Norge. Ha det bra!

The Long Trip Home

On Sunday my day started at 3:30 am. I'd gotten about two hours of sleep. I walked to Sognsvann with the hope of finally getting to watch the sunrise-and I DID get to see it. It was pretty cloudy when I walked over and still cloudy when I got there, but there were two decent chunks of sky that were visible in the East. I stood there for about 15 minutes watching the sky get lighter and lighter. Then, I decided to start my walk around. It was an awesome walk. Every time I got to a place where I could see that part of the sky it was different. At one point I had a very good idea exactly where the sun was because the clouds behind it were so vibrantly pink and orange. Needless to say I never actually saw the sun, but the sky made up for it. It took me a little over an hour to make it back home. I stopped a lot. I was trying to take in everything I could, knowing that it might be years before I could see a sunrise at 3:50 am again. I stopped at my favorite place, the dock on the opposite side of the lake. I couldn't sit because the dock was soaked from the rain but I just stood there and stared out at everything. It was just me and Sognsvann and the Oslo sun, newly awake. The left side of the lake was covered by a thick sheet of puffy grey clouds, while on the right side of the sky there were wisps of pink and orange clouds on a backdrop of baby blue sky, and these were reflected in the water. Such a contrast.

When I finally made it back home I took my time eating and getting everything ready to leave. I left Kringsja around 7:15 am. I had sort of said "goodbye" the day before so the fact that I was sweating like a pig because of carrying my bags didn't really interrupt the fact that I was leaving for the last time. I am very very happy that I was able to leave on a sunny day.

Overall no major problems flying home. There were some minor worrisome details with the flights, but no problems with security/customs. My brown cheese made it! At Newark they were cancelling and delaying departures due to weather so my flight was delayed a bit, but only by a half hour or so.

There were a couple times when I wanted to turn around and run back to Kringsja. At the Oslo airport the majority of people at my gate were Norwegian but there were so many Americans and they were all talking how Americans talk and I just wanted that to be put on hold. Newark was crazy. Loud and lots of people. As soon as I got there some guy mouthed off to one of the airport workers and the worker stormed off, spouting something about how she doesn't know why she even tries to help. There were a lot of people complaining about the wait to recheck our bags. And yes, it did take forever but it was just very stressful. You wouldn't see Norwegians complaining that loudly at least :p

My parents met me at the airport and it was SO great to see them. Everything felt way too normal though. It felt like I wasn't seeing them for the first time in six months, or riding in the car or walking around my house. Everything just felt familiar.  Even seeing Sean felt familiar. Same kind of thing with my parents. I was SO happy to see him, but everything after just felt normal.

One thing that was different was how DARK it gets here. I'm hoping that will help my adjusting-ya know, so my body knows when to fall asleep. I slept GREAT last night and I was up by 7:30 this morning. I guess it makes sense though. I was up for almost 36 hours with only about 5 hours of sleep.

I think I will get a bit overwhelmed by all the people who want to talk to me/see me. I spent a good twenty minutes texting/facebooking people before I got out of bed this morning. I'm glad I have two months to say hi to everyone again :p Some people only come home for a couple weeks.

Sean is coming over for breakfast today. I have an eye appointment this afternoon and then car shopping! Should be a good first day back.  Though it's only 8:30 am and I'm already sweating...hey, summer.