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