My last few days in Norway

Hei all.

All of a sudden, I'm leaving tomorrow and the adventure is nearly over.

I spent the weekend alternating between packing, eating tapas with the remaining 7 or so exchange students, photographing and buying last minute memories and lying in the
sun/swimming at the Sognsvann in the 28-30 degree heat.

Today, I also had telephone interviews at 10am and 2:45 Melbourne time. Sounds innocent until you realise that 10 = 2 am and 2:45 = 6:45am. As a result it was with bleary eyes that I faced my last day on Norwegian soil.

I've finally finished the packing and have vowed not to go near any scales until I have to- the day before I leave Germany should be about the right time! This afternoon we're going for a final BBQ on Bygdøy. An ideal chance to use up my remaining dregs of vodka before my 18 hour bus trip tomorrow! The weather has been amazing this last week making it even harder to leave.

I've decided to prepare a list of things that I will miss about Norway:

1) Non-stop and Freia med Jordbaer chocolate. Cadbury's is fantastic, but tastes different!2) Norwegian cheese. Holy cheese at it's best3) Kitchen Parties. Having no money to go out means we have parties in our kitchens. But it's nicer than going out and you don't have to worry about how to get home.

4) Hospital Clothes. So nice to not have to worry about washing and ironing clothes to wear in the hospital!
5) Nature. It's only a 15 minute walk to Sognsvann for swimming or skiing in the winter and there are gorgeous parks, fjords and forests everywhere.

6) Snow!

7) The travel. So many cool places nearby.




8) Being considered an expert in one language whilst learning another one

9) Becoming close friends with people from all around the world.


10) Having a BBQ wherever we feel like it.
11) Waffles

12) Fjords

13) Living in a community within a socialised country. Becoming 'we' instead of 'me'.

To be continued, I'm sure!

Anneke

E's visit

Wow!

After the sad farewell of last weekend I had just 24 hours to recover before greeting Elissa in person. I hastily cleaned my room, borrowed a mattress and headed into town to meet her airport train.

I think I saw her baggage before I saw her, as a moving pile of suitcases and bags approached me. Luckily, a face appeared behind the bag and I knew I had the right person. I would not advise passing through Copenhagen duty free shops in the next few days. There may not be anything left.

We strolled around the main station in Oslo for a while, picking up a few groceries and sampling the frozen yoghurt, as the weather was finally starting to feel like an Australian summer. Our main goal though was to head to the bus station, where we caught an hour long bus to a place called Båtstø, where we had been invited to spend a night at my housemate's family's seaside cabin.

I must say, Elissa was very luckily, she had an amazing first night in Norway. It is very common for Norwegians to have cabins, either by the seaside or in the woods. They go to these cabins on weekends or for holidays with their family. Many cabins are old-fashioned, the most extreme have no running water and just an outdoor long drop. This one was more modern, with an indoor shower and washing machine as well as a separate annexe where Elissa and I stayed.

We arrived at the bus stop at about 8:30pm and dragged the bags to the cabin, which was maybe 50 metres from the bus. It was good timing, as the BBQ was sizzling away and after a brief chat to Veslemøy's lovely family (who I had not met before) we enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken, beef, lamb and pølser (grilling sausages) and lomper (delicious Norwegian potato flat bread). My first meat meal in a long time, and definitely worth it!

Satisfied after such a nice meal we chatted outside for a while before heading inside to pack a freezer bag with the fruit we'd brought for dessert, coffee, tea, mugs and some blankets before strolling the 150-200 metre walk to the fjord. There we sat, at 11pm as the sun 'set' (it never really gets dark), eating fruit and icecream and enjoying our tea by the fjord. It was St John's Day, which is apparently the day to celebrate the summer solistice (even though the longest day of the year was actually 2 days earlier) so we also were on the lookout for the traditional bonfires held on this day. It seems fire bans exist in Norway as well, so we were unable to see any. But what a night- sitting by the still water of the fjord, a little harbour with boats just nearby, watching the sun set and the boats traverse the fjord. Definitely a highlight for me, let alone Elissa who had just arrived!

We spent a comfortable evening in our little cabin before arising to another sunny day (maybe 28 degrees). A hearty breakfast of cold meats (including moose!), eggs, cheese and bread served with OJ and tea was enjoyed before we headed down to the fjord again. There is a little swimming area with some planks to dive off and so Veslemøy and I had a brief dip, and a hit of volleyball before drying off in the sun. The three of us (E, V and I) then trudged back up the hill to collect the luggage and Elissa and I farewelled our hosts and returned to Oslo.

The afternoon was spent sorting out my room, doing washing and catching up on the mundane tasks of travelling whilst I ducked up the road to say goodbye to another of my departing friends, who returned to USA on Thursday. My friend and I had a glorious swim in the lake (Sognsvann), before I raced down the hill again to prepare for the evening's activities.

The night was spent at a BBQ on the lawn outside our place to farewell some more of the departing exchange students, Anna (French) and Sundar (Melbourne Uni). As well as our special guest from Australia (E) another of the French student's parents and dog made a brief appearance. It was a really nice chilled night, and we were sad when it started to conclude. Until the guy with the parents and dog (the parents and dog had left some time ago) had a sudden desire to do something crazy. When my tamer suggestions were fobbed off with distaste the idea of returning to Sognsvann for a late night swim was met with a look of approval and hence Elissa, Sundar, Manu and I grabbed our bathers and headed up the road again. The lake was beautiful at midnight and us four were the only ones there as the 2 brave medical students plunged into the murky depths. Manu and I were well rewarded though with such a refreshing swim. And it wasn't even that cold!

The next day saw Elissa and I wake up surprisingly late although this may be explained by our late night swimming. After a few administration duties we hit the town, seeing the Scream in the National Gallery, the Palace and the main street, the harbour, getting on a ferry to an island called Hovedøya, exploring the Gustav Vigeland sculpture park and taking in the pretty, sunlight streets of Oslo.

Exhausted we returned home for dinner before deciding to end the day with another refreshing swim at Sognsvann. This time there were 2 Sheas swimming, albeit one in polka dot pajama shorts due to only having one bathing suit to share. After some reluctance to get in, a kindly Norwegian pushed me in, followed by Elissa as she laughed at my fate! We swam out to an island in the lake and returned home for a well earned sleep.

Today was deemed shopping day after the intense sightseeing of yesterday. We started with a stop off at the University of Oslo where Elissa very kindly bought me a UiO t-shirt after she found out at the BBQ that the one I received for my birthday was stolen at my birthday party. Before this sounds suspicious, I was not wearing it, I had just received it!!!

She then discovered the shopping delights of downtown Oslo: from H&M to Cubus, we left no stone unturned. The weather was again stunning and we joined Veslemøy for an outdoor lunch at TGI Fridays, which was having a lunch special. Everyone in Oslo seemed to be on Karl Johan's street today with the sun shining, and we were even treated to a brief parade from the Palace Guards who marched down the main street with their instruments.

The afternoon concluded with some more shopping, followed by a return to my place to put the finishing touches to the packing and head out for the 4th time this week to the bus stop to await the arrival of the airport bus.

She's well on her way to Malaysia now, apparently checked in ok with the luggage and hopefully the Copenhagen Duty Free shops received my call and shut their doors when she arrived. I couldn't quite reach the shops in Malaysia though...

Best Wishes to you all,

Anneke

Exams and the aftermath

Hello again,

Well it's been a big week, and I can't think of anyone who's particularly enjoyed it.

We had our examination on Tuesday last week. It consisted of a 26 station OSCE (objective structured clinical examination), which in Australia would mean history taking and clinical examination stations, but here seemed to mean a hodge podge of written, computer based and oral examination stations.

The OSCE was run for semester 9 (the semester I've done here) for the first time last semester. As it was a completely different examination type, they ran a practice OSCE, had a lower pass mark (only 50% compared to 65%) and had a very easy exam, judging by the stations that last semester's exchange students told us about. The university this semester refused to release even one example of the exam format, would not run a practice OSCE (even though it was a completely new style for all but about 13 of the students), set a pass mark of 65% and a requirement that students pass the 4 subjects (anatomy/histology, pathology, paediatrics and obs/gynae), set a much harder exam and gave us a 7 minute time limit for each of the 26 stations (something I'm used to in Melbourne, but very difficult for those sitting the exam in their 2nd or 3rd language). The result? 1/3 of the class of 90 students failed.

We found out our results on Friday (I passed), which was a day of confusion as all the students and indeed the University seemed shocked: it's a new record. As well as the flood of students seeking advice about what happens next, the students who passed all had to get forms signed for their home universities and the Norwegians had to get their temporary licenses to start work the next week. No one seems to know what happens next, not even those who set the exam. Many of the exchange students have left or are leaving without any idea of when and how they can resit the subject or subjects they failed. Some got very good marks on the exam overall but failed one of only 2 pathology stations (despite having previously passed a pathology test) and hence the exam. A few did well in the 2 questions they later removed from the exam as too many people did badly on them, leaving those few below the 65% cut off for that subject.

To add to the sombre atmosphere, many of my friends have left in the last few days (including Zoe and Lenka on Sunday and Lena on Monday), and there has been an incredible string of bad luck for everyone including freak accidents to mobile phones, bad phone interviews for jobs back home, sick relatives, the list goes on...

Luckily we have enjoyed some highlights including a fantastic post-exams BBQ in a sculpture park, at which we rode a bicycle-for-two around the park, played a Norwegian game which involves throwing bits of wood to hit other bits of wood and grilled our delicious burgers (an art we've perfected in Norway). As it started to get dark at 11:30 we strolled to a nearby bar to continue the party.

Wednesday saw us at a Norwegian friend, Siri's, house where we learnt to make a Norwegian porridge which is made from sour cream and served with cinnamon sugar. It was very heavy but quite nice! We also tried Norwegian aquavit, a herbal alcoholic drink. It was..interesting, probably not something I would drink at my next party though!

We had great plans on Thursday to go to an island or up to the lake, but the pouring rain soon changed our plans and we spent the day using up our remaining ingredients by baking cakes. Thursday night was spent partying the night away for most of my friends at a Kitchen party at Lena's, but unfortunately I was sober as I had interviews at 7am the next morning!

Friday was a fantastic night, despite the results being released, at a free concert in Oslo. Zoe and I stood in the pouring rain about 20 people deep from the stage singing and screaming along to Alexander Rybak (eurovision winner) and Aqua, a Danish band from the 90s, with hits such as Barbie Girl. Despite being absolutely soaked we had a really fun night and returned home for pancakes at midnight to warm up!

Lenka and I hit town early on Saturday to enjoy her last day in Norway. The sun was out and we strolled around, taking in the Iran election protest, dropping in to say good bye to the Scream in the National Gallery and hitting the shops for her last time. We spent Saturday evening with the four of us (Zoe, Lenka, Lena and I) drinking their remaining duty free vodka, listening to our favourite songs from the last six months and enjoying our last meal all together before we split off (Zoe and I back to Aus, Lena to Germany and Lenka to Slovakia), and spent Sundar taking first Lenka and then Zoe to their respective buses for their journies onward (Zoe to Iceland for a few weeks, Lenka to Prague, where her University is).

Lena and I ate one of Lenka's recipes in the evening and carefully documented every moment of her last night in Norway. Eating Lenka's recipe, her song came on the radio and that set us off. Luckily we recovered and spent the rest of the evening swapping photos, songs, music and so on. Today Lena and I strolled around the University preparing for the inevitable tears as for the third time in 2 days I made my way to the bus stop carrying bags and waited the awful minutes as we kept our eyes peeled for the approaching bus.

E comes tomorrow so I'm spending my evening cleaning up ready for her arrival. Maybe we can attempt a dual blog update in the next few days!

Following Elissa's visit I will have the weekend to pack up my stuff before making the same journey to the bus stop next Tuesday. I'm getting the bus to Berlin, spending a few days there before heading to Lena's in Aschaffenburg near Frankfurt. After an enjoyable ten days there I jump on the plane at Frankfurt and fly to Singapore, then Adelaide, then back to Melbourne ready to start Uni again.

Anneke

Vodka review

As per reader's suggestion:

Vodka from our international vodka night
from left: Smirnoff, Russian Standard, Grasovka (Polish bison grass vodka), Absolut 50% (Sweden), Honey and Chilli vodka

Smirnoff, the classic party vodka, agrees with the palates of most party attendees. Versatile, it can be mixed with a variety of mixers: while the author recommends the classical orange juice, an amazing variety of substances have been successfully combined with this age old favourite. Perhaps not an option for an exotic cocktail evening, but definitely a worthwhile addition to any liquor cupboard.

Russian Standard was obtained by special request from a duty free shop in Frankfurt. This is high quality vodka that deserves to be enjoyed without the dilution of any additives. Ideal at the start of the night when the expectations of the guests are high and hence a vodka of considerable quality is required. This is not one to waste, however, on those with no appreciation for fine vodka.

Grasovka was an experimental vodka, purchased partly due to the exotic furry bottle. On first glance, the vodka is a colourless yellow fluid, containing a long strand of grass finely suspended inside it. Grasovka is truly a taste to be acquired, however the reviewer suggests easing gently into it with a mixer of chilled apple juice. Too much of this without the subtle flavours of a mixer may turn you off Grasovka forever.

Absolut 50%. Well, where to start. Containing 50% ethanol, this is the ideal vodka for those of you who want to see Swedish girls (or guys) as quickly as possible. No comment can be made about the existance (or lack of) of these fine specimens. This is not a vodka to sip slowly and savour. Best enjoyed once the Russian Standard has run out or amongst friends whose goal is not spending an evening sampling fine vodkas.

The honey and chilli vodka offers a unique challenge to those who love vodka. In comparison to the ethanol burn of the Absolut 50%, the chilli burn of this blend is longer lasting and less wholesome. Whilst the honey does sooth things a bit, this vodka is ideally only sampled once, for repeated intake adds the risk of repeating the burn on the way up again. This is a vodka for the macho men, the sleazy guys in the club or your mortal enemies.

Norwegian chocolate

Hei again,

Caught up in a dizzying spin of CVs, cover letters, catching babies and exam study at the moment, so not much to report. Went to an awesome jazz club last night called Blå. Free entry and really cooolll musicians. Also hit the town on Saturday after a day on the labour ward (1 birth and 1 c-section) as they had a free music festival. Was a very nice night, with stages all over town playing concerts of any genre you could wish for. The night was pleasant so we wandered around, partook in carnival rides by the harbour and watched the glowing orange full moon slowly ascend (at about 11 at night).

But, I now offer you the post you've been waiting for, the reason you decided to read this blog in the first place, the pinnacle of reporting from the Norwegian front: my review of Norwegian chocolate.


I'll start with my favourite. Freia is the main chocolate company here and many of the chocolate bars to follow are produced by them. Their specialty is to combine their chocolate with some other ingredient. In this case, they've combined their chocolate with Non-stop (which are like smarties).

And it works! This is a well chosen combination. The rich colours of the Non-Stop contrast the sultry brown of the Freia chocolate. The flavours blend magnificantly: the interior of Non-stop a darker chocolate than the Freia, offering a delightful mouthful of two types of chocolate with a hint of fruity flavour from the crispy sugar layer. The chocolate squares are just the right size to fill the mouth with flavour without offending the sensitivities of the taste buds.

The only downside this reviewer sees to Freia med (with) Non-stop is the price. At 26-30 kroner (5-6 dollars) per 200g block, this is an expensive treat.


Next up is a late addition to the reviewer's desk. Having recently been released for summer, Freia med Jordbaer (strawberries) offers a new flavour to the Freia range.

Once again, a combination that works. The moderate size chunks of the sweet, dried strawberry
contrast superbly with the encasing smooth chocolate. Perhaps the proportion of strawberry to chocolate could be increased, but otherwise a solid blend that is threatening Non-stop as the reviewer's favourite.

At 25-27 kroner a pop, this is also not a cheap treat, but perhaps this reflects the high costs of living in Norway.


Another Freia combination, though more complex than the previous flavours. Walters Mandler is a combination of roasted and caramalised almonds and salt.

This is a flavour that has potential, however delicate Australian tastes will not appreciate the salty flavour, which is at times, overdone. Ideal for those who like a crunchy chocolate.

For those looking for a smaller treat, Walters Mandler does come in 100g size, although at 13-16 kroner a bar, the larger 200g (23-27 a bar) is more cost efficient.

Next up is Freia med Daim. Daim is a hard toffee that combines well with Freia chocolate. Persons with delicate teeth may need to exercise caution however, as the dozens of tiny toffee bits tend to play havoc on the dental bills.

At 23-27 kroner a bar, Daim is usually a cheaper option than Nonstop or Jordbaer, and it definitely has its devotees (Lena loves it). But this reviewer would suggest spending the extra few kroner to reach chocolate heaven.
An outsider, not a Freia combination, Smash is constructed of an inner wafer layer surrounded by an external chocolate coating.

Smash offers an alternative for those who do no appreciate Freia chocolate. It is a light, summer chocolate although perhaps does not fill the mouth as well as the chocolates mentioned above. Devotees of wafer chocolates will appreciate this.

A cheaper alternative for a quick chocolate hit, but not one to be savoured at a special occasion.

The typical Norwegian chocolate, Kvikk Lunsj (quick lunch) is like a kit-kat. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of it, but you will find one in the article below.

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvikk_Lunsj

Kvikk Lunsj is the chocolate you take for a day's skiing. It's tough. Your friend in the middle of nowhere. Something to slam down quickly for an energy hit.

Cheaper than the other chocolates and available in a variety of sizes, Kvikk Lunsj is the best option for kids parties or a trip outdoors.

I hope this has been useful so that should you come to Norway you need not go through the adjustment period that I grudgingly suffered when I first arrived.

Anneke

Sognsvann

Related to the last post, below, I offer some comparisons between Sognsvann today and Sognsvann in winter.

1) the lake today
2) the crowds sunbaking
3) a brave Aussie
4) walking across the lake in winter
5) standing on the snow covering the ice on the lake, winter

6) sun going down on the lake, winter.

Summer in Norway.

The weather this weekend has been glorious, and combined with the knowledge that our time here is running short, we have all been madly BBQing and sunbaking.

Thursday night we headed to a bar in the city. "Drunkard" I can hear you thinking as you imagine a tale of vodka og vin and walking home in the early morning light. Well, you're wrong: we went to this bar for a night of culture.

The bar was called the Underwater Bar, and with good reason for its interior resembled a ship, complete with wooden beams and some fantastic scuba diving pictures on the wall. Themed bars in Norway are cool- they don't seem to spare kroner on making the place look authentic. Anyway, as we imagined the rocking and the creaking of a ship in the depths of the sea we heard another sound. Opera.

The Underwater Bar is host to professional Opera singers who come and perform on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week. They sing short bursts of three songs followed by a 20-30 minute gap. The singing was fantastic- in German, Italian and lots of songs in Norwegian. One of the Norwegian songs had the large crowd laughing hysterically, but our Norwegian is not quite that good yet! But I did add a new German phrase to my expanding list of German vocabulary "Ich möchte deinen Atem trinken" (I want to drink your breath). Slightly more cultured than the German pick up lines I have been learning.

Saturday morning dawned (4am) bright and sunny and after a morning of study, yearning to be out in the sun, we headed off to an island in the Oslo fjord for a BBQ in the afternoon. Wow. It 25 degrees (meaning every Norwegian was out and about) so we got a ferry there using our regular public transport tickets, hiked over the island to the perfect spot on the rocks overlooking the beach and set up our disposable BBQs. Veterans of a number of BBQs here now, we'd gone classy with grilled aubergine, chicken and capsicum skewers and potato salad. Unfortunately we couldn't find any skewers, but it was a delicious meal all told. However, the highlight was still to come as we stripped down to our bathers and went for our first swim in the Oslo fjord.

(see http://www.visitnorway.com/ProductImages/Tellus/733_23_large.jpeg for a great aerial shot of the islands)

Well, the water was slightly chillier than expected and one look at the bottom of the sea saw us wearing our thongs, but I'm glad to say I did it. The good news is that thongs float so if they get snagged on the rocks and seaweed in the murky depths of the Oslo fjord you can easily recover them. And the best part was relaxing on the rock in the sun afterwards, where we stayed for the rest of the afternoon.

In hindsight: when packing to go to Oslo, one really should pack sunscreen. Particularly if one intends to wear their funky H&M sunglasses whilst sitting on the rocks on an island in the Oslo fjord. Particularly if one does not want to look like a fool the next day with a bright pink nose and a pale line delineating the extent of the sunglasses' protection. Nevertheless, the lesson has been learnt and the warning posted to you all: now don't attempt this at home.

Heading back home, sleepy after an afternoon in the sun, we decided to stop at a supermarket in the central station to grab a few groceries before a relaxing night in. This was where things went wrong as we found ourselves in a two-aisle-long queue at the only supermarket open after 4 on the day before a long weekend. Usually, shops open until around 8, but due to yet another public holiday on Monday (and the shops never open on Sundays), they decided to close early.

However, the atmosphere in the shop was jovial as people grabbed groceries for each other and chatted about their afternoons in the sun. This is not very Norwegian, so must be a combination of a) the weather (it's well known that the Norwegians are more extroverted in the sun) and b) the fact that the only idiots trying to shop at 6pm on a Saturday night before a public holiday were foreigners. At one stage I was chatting to a British couple who complimented me on my English! I should have replied by mentioning that I'd been learning it for a long time, but instead I confessed that I was Australian and they looked even more confused.

Today was also 25 degrees- incredibly warm here. There's something magic about summer here. After a long cold winter summer seems so feminine, so doe-eyed, so dainty, so gentle compared to the brash heat of Australia. Everything is green, there are Norwegians everywhere enjoying the sun, the men without shirts on, the women in tiny bikinis sun baking on lawns, rocks, beaches. The flowers are stunning and all the fountains have been turned back on. The sunlight is just indescribable- it paints everything in a stunning way, and lasts for so long in the day.

After a morning's study we strolled up the road past some gorgeous colourful cottages to an enormous lake called Sognsvann. Surrounded by a forest of pine trees, the lake has the sun sparkling across it and dozens of little piers and pontoons for relaxing on. The atmosphere was like that of a beach- runners, little children running around splashing each other, bikinis and shirtless men everywhere, BBQers a plenty. Very few people swam and those that did simply jumped in to refresh themselves. Until the Aussie arrived.

Lenka and I set our towels on a pontoon and after a period of dangling my legs in I jumped in. To the shock of the watching Norwegians, I swam round for about 25 minutes before swimming to the other pontoon to climb out the ladder. It was so lovely with the sun and the clear brown water. And it really wasn't as cold as everyone seemed to think.

We chilled in the sun for another hour or two before returning home to eat jelly and icecream before hitting the books again. One of the Spanish girls is having a BBQ there tomorrow night for her birthday, before we commence our labour ward duties on Tuesday (after the public holiday of course!)

Anneke