Back in Oslo

Well, I'm back in Oslo for the time being after a few weeks of travelling.

I went to Ireland for easter to visit Ros and Boz and their guests, Elinore (my cousin), Nick and Sofia (their 6 month old baby). Sofia was gorgeous, smiley and happy to be passed from person to person. We also went down to Carrick on Shannon to visit my aunt and uncle, who met their grand daughter for the first time!

Uni started back with vigour on the Tuesday after Easter, and I returned from Ireland on the Wednesday to launch into Gynacology fun. We learnt how to perform pelvic exams on models and saw lots of videos of deliveries to prepare for our obstetrics term. I brushed up on how to say "this might be a little cold" in Norwegian and was turned loose onto the wards this week. Back to early mornings and actually working!

But it's not all work. Last Thursday night we were attended a dinner at our professor (and my PBL tutor's house) with all the international students (>30). We ate reindeer with potatoes and brussels sprouts. Reindeer is not that different to other meats, but it tasted great because it relieved our vegetarian diet!

The sun is out in Oslo at the moment. Everywhere you see people shedding their winter coats and hesitantly trying out their spring wardrobes. Despite the sun, its still only 5-15 degrees but the atmosphere is fresh, and when you have a jumper on and sit in the sun, it feels a bit like summer. Days that are warmer than about 12 degrees feel so amazing, and the sun, flowers and lack of snow (it melted so quickly) remind us that summer is coming.

Spring has seen everyone sitting outside on the lawns, having BBQs on the disposable grills (which consist of a metal oven tray, charcoal, a flammable piece of paper and a grill on top). When it gets a bit warmer we hope to catch a ferry to an island in the Oslo fjord and have our own BBQ there. We may even consider camping there...

Saturday saw me hitting the shops to replace my broken sunglasses and dying my hair brown. My friends headed off to one of the many flea markets hosted by schools that have popped up everywhere. There is even a website to trace the markets. They returned with treasures such as bicycles, decorations for their rooms and balls to play with in the sun, all obtained at bargain prices. There's one up the road next weekend, so watch and see what I come home with!

I thought I'd comment on a few other aspects of life in Norway, firstly the public transport system. In Oslo, a city of half a million people, there are buses, trains, trams and ferries, which all run well, servicing the city until 12:30 even on weeknights, and are supplemented with a night bus on weekends. All public transport options except the night bus are covered under the monthly ticket I own, but I laugh at the number of ticket options there are available. I have still not figured out what the various boxes at the train stations are for, I think they are trialling several different ticketing systems as well as currently using at least two. So I see some people scan tickets in one machine, others punch tickets in another, others who don't validate anything and others who buy tickets for a machine which prints out valid tickets.

Catching the bus from Majorstuen, the starting point of my bus route, is sometimes a bit frustrating, expecially during a snow storm. The bus will arrive at the stop 5-10 minutes early and sit about 50m from the stop with its door closed, regardless of how many people are waiting at the stop. If you attempt to get on before the bus is due to leave the driver (who remains sitting on the bus) will kick you off. At exactly the time the bus is due to leave the driver drives the bus to the stop and opens the door to let people on and continues on its way.

Another interesting experience is shopping at the supermarket. You grab what you need, including bread (sold unsliced, with an electronic slicer provided for customers who wish to use it) and make your way to the checkout. You then unload your goods onto the conveyor belt and fiercely defend your goods by making it very clear that the sliced cheese 30cm behind your items doe not belong to you.

Once you reach the head of the line, your goods are scanned and unceremoniously dumped down a sloping bench. You then start to sweat as you pay, separating your coins from your notes and sometimes putting your coins into a little coin machine, purchase a plastic bag if you wish, and furiously throw your goods in your bag, disregarding the position or nature of the goods you are packing. You meanwhile pray that the customer behind you has bought a large number of goods. This is because the bench that your goods slide down is divided into two by a sliding divider so that customer A can pack whilst customer B is having their items scanned. Once this transaction is completed, the divider is pushed to seal off customer B's goods so that they can pack whilst customer C's goods are scanned and slid down the other side of the divider. So, if you're customer A and customer B only has a few items, you will either have to separate customer C's goods from yours or hold up the line as you finish packing.

If you wish to buy items such as razors, condoms, snus (tobacco that goes in your mouth in a little pouch- very popular here due to smoking bans) or cigarettes, you first purchase a card at the receiver, then insert the card into a machine after you have gone through the checkout. Your goods will then be dispensed into your waiting hands.

Another novelty at the supermarket is the recycling system. You bring all your bottles to a hole in the wall, which accepts them and gives you some money back for each bottle (maybe 25cents). You can then use this as store credit, automatically donate it to charity or claim it by presenting the receipt.

Well, off to watch a movie now, so will write more later.

Best wishes to you all,

Anneke