Fourth Day in Oslo

Saturday was fun. We had breakfast as usual, and then took a bus out to Bygdøy, an area a little ways outside of Oslo. We passed the King's ranch, and went to the Folk museum, where we were able to see different examples of houses from around Norway. We stopped in the guest shop and sat in the cafe for awhile before going to the Viking Ships!

As always, the Viking Ships were awesome! I had just as much fun this time as I did a few years ago. The only thing that made this time around better was that there were very few tourists around to fill the area up. That, and an exhibit that was being finished last time was finally open. I really hope to be able to take people here some day.

From the Viking Ships, Kelsey, Beth and I took the bus and the Trikk to the Hjemmefronten Museum, or the Norwegian Resistance Museum. This is located in a small building in Akershus fortress, and was a very cool museum. Some parts were a little dated and cheesy, but the information conveyed the point of the museum well. I was able to read up more on things that I had researched, and definitely learned things that I was unaware of. I spent some more money on books, and then we headed to TGIFriday's!

It was Sarah's birthday, so we had reservations. Kelsey, Beth and I arrived a bit early, so we went up to the bar, where I had a Long Island Iced Tea. Our bartender was a funny guy, his name tag said John "The Bomb" Hudson, and he was from Yorkshire. When I asked what brought him to Norway, he said "A woman, a Norwegian woman tempted me with her Norwegian ways. It definitely wasn't for the cheap beer." The rest of the group came, and we were seated and had a very fun dinner for Sarah's 22nd! I bought her a drink and had one myself. Then I headed back to the hotel, and after awhile, to bed.

Third Day in Oslo

Friday was a big day for us again. We woke up, had breakfast in the hotel, heard a few presentations from classmates, and then walked up to the Royal Palace for some pictures, and on to Henrik Ibsen's apartment. Ibsen died in 1906, but being one of the most well known authors in Norway made his final residence a point of interest for many, and so a museum has sprung up around him, and the museum was able to purchase his apartment and has done extensive work to restore it to the way it was when Ibsen lived there. We had a wonderful tour of the apartment, looked around the exhibition, spent some money in the shop (I felt that it would be appropriate to have a Norwegian copy of Peer Gynt), and then walked up to the National Library to see some manuscripts. The Special Collections people had pulled out medieval manuscripts, as well as manuscripts from Ivar Aasen's (the creator and proponent of Nynorsk, the other written form of Norwegian) collection. It was an awesome presentation, and it was wonderful to see the many different manuscripts. 

We stopped in a bookstore on the way back, where I bought a copy of two of Max Manus' books, which are in Norwegian. Good incentive to become fluent in the language, no? We stopped at a nice bakery, where I bought a Kransakake ring and a chocolate muffin. We went back to the hotel, and then tried to stop into TGIFriday's and Hard Rock (where I bought some cool pins: A viking with a guitar, a folk dressed woman with guitar, and Thor playing the drums!) and even took the metro to Majorstuen (another part of town) to try and find a place to eat. We soon learned that, without reservations, it is near impossible to find a place for 12 people. Claudia, Kristiana and I went to Bambus, a Thai restaurant. I had a Chicken Curry (good, but not as good as the Hamlin's) and a Ringnes. We went back to the hotel, and I went online for awhile before bed.

Second Day in Oslo

Having fallen asleep so early, I woke up at about 4:45/5 AM for the first full day in Oslo. Luckily, I had bought an Internet card the day before and had not used, so I logged onto my computer and was able to mess around online for awhile. I took a shower (my bathroom is interesting: It has a wooden floor that is heated, but there is no little divider wall between the shower area and the rest of the bathroom, just a curtain) and then went down for breakfast. We had a group meeting with some short presentations and a discussion of an article that we had read, and then we headed to the University of Oslo's Blindern campus, which is the main campus. We walked around a bit, then went into the cafeteria, which is very nice. I can't really compare it to the UC at PLU, because they have two very different setups, but the food was good. I had a Tapas plate, which had shrimp, chicken, meatballs, and some chips, as well as and Ice Tea with peach, and a Kvikk Lunsj for dessert. We had a little bit of time, so I went to the bookstore and bought a book and a UiO lanyard. Then we met with Arne Torp, who is a linguist at the university. He has written, among other things, a book about the Norwegian R. A very interesting and funny man, he at one point sung a song for us that was written in Nynorsk, and he was very enthusiastic! He talked to us about language development in Norway and Finland, a very interesting discussion indeed!

We then headed back to the hotel, and then out to dinner. Most of us went to a restaurant called Schroeder's for dinner. I had the Pølse Middag, or the Hot Dog Dinner, which had hot dogs, a brown sauce, potatoes and the "mushy" peas. It was pretty good, and cheap, which is nice in Oslo. We then went searching for an Internet Cafe, which we found on the far side of the National Theater. The place was called Ved Brua, or "Near the Bridge" and was a little strange. It was a very modern place that was playing a creepy ska music. But they had free Internet, and I had a Hansa while surfing the web. Around 10:30, we decided to head back. After a bus and metro ride, we stopped at Burger King to refuel, and then ended up at the hotel around midnight. Not too bad of a night.

First Day in Oslo

We woke up at 4:30 AM, had a quick breakfast, and then took a bus to Keflavik. We did all our tax free stuff, shop in the Duty Free, and then got on our plane. We had about 2 and a half ours to get to Oslo, so I had a nice talk with Sarah about a few things, and then watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. I finally tried some of the Icelandic yoghurt Skyr, and didn't care much for it. We arrived in Oslo, got all of our baggage and took the Flytoget to Olso Central Station and then took a taxi to our hotel. We are staying in the Thon Munch Hotel, which is just a short walk from the main walking street in Oslo, Karl Johan's Gata. Once again, I have my own room, which is a actually a very good size for a single room. I'm up on the 7th floor, so I make an effort to use the stairs and not the elevator, at least on the way downstairs. We went to a cheaper hotel restaurant and I had Kjøtboller, Ertestuing og Poteter med brunsaus, or Meatballs, "mushy" peas, and potatoes with a brown sauce, and an Ice Tea with some lime. It was a very nice first meal in Oslo. We walked around Karl Johan's a bit, and then went back to the hotel. We had the rest of the night off because of our early morning, and I went down for a short nap at 6 and then just kept sleeping.

Final Day in Iceland

Tuesday started out like the days before it. Breakfast at Sunna, and I walked down to a small shop to get myself some things in case we couldn't stop for lunch. But at 11 we headed down to the Culture House, where there is a permanent exhibition of the Icelandic Saga Manuscripts. An interesting thing about Iceland is that the language has remained mostly unchanged since the settlement of the island back around 870 AD. That means that the Icelanders, minus slight pronunciation changes and the introduction of new words, speak the language that the Vikings spoke, true Old Norse, or as close to it as we have in the year 2009. So, with very little training (mostly in reading the abbreviations used by scribes) elementary age children (and any Icelander really) can read the original Sage manuscripts without much trouble! Our guide/teacher at the Culture House was very excited to share this with us, so much so that she was quite flustered while talking. We were able to look at (behind a glass display case, at least) old, and in a few cases original, manuscripts of Njal's saga, the Prose Edda, Egil's Saga, and much more. It was an amazing experience. Then, we were able to write on vellum parchment with traditionally accurate inks and feather quills that our guide had prepared for us. It was quite awesome.

We had a quick break, where I went to the bookstore and bought an Icelandic copy of the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturlusson, and then went to a gift shop with Courtney, which almost made us late to the bus (good thing I had bought food earlier). We made it to the bus just in time, and then went on an hour and a half journey to Reykholt, the home of Snorri Sturlusson, the most well known Saga writer in Iceland. We had a guided tour by a woman who was very knowledgeable about the history of the entire area of Reykholt, telling us much about the old church that had been there. We stopped by Snorri's pool, which was the man's personal hot spring pool. We then headed back home, after helping to push start our bus. The bus driver provided some very stimulating conversation, both on the way to Reykholt and the way back, mostly about his views on language planning/policy/purism in Iceland, but also some about the history.

I went down to the Cafe Babelieu, which some of the girls had visited before. It was owned by a New Yorker expatriate who had moved here when his partner's visa to the US had expired. I was hoping to run into him to say hello, but an Icelandic woman was working the place. I had some coffee, Broccoli Soup (wasn't a huge fan, but I figured after I had gone through the ordeal of figuring out what "prokkoli" soup was, I owed her the right of trying it), and a delicious slice of Cheesecake. I walked back to Sunna, packed my suitcase, and then intended to turn in, as we had to be ready to leave by 4:30 the next morning. But, a knock on my door alerted me to the fact that Colette, Sarah, and Beth were going to the Celtic Cross, an Irish Pub in town, and wanted to know if I want to join. I did, and had a pint of Egil's Lager while writing postcards home. We headed home around 12:30 AM, and I went to bed.

3rd Day in Iceland

Monday started with some breakfast and then a meeting with the group. We went over a reading we had that proposed a view of Icelandic language planning/purity that we had not yet heard, which was nice. We then set off for the Icelandic Language Institute for a talk by its director, Ari Pall Kristinsson. I had done a project last semester on the ILI, and had read about Kristinsson, so it was really cool to hear him talk and get to meet him. He was quite a bit younger then I had expected him to be. But he talked to us about the role of the ILI and the Icelandic Language Council in preserving the language and what kind of trends had been noticed for the future. A great lecture to start the class out with. An interesting side note about Iceland is that there are no family names as we have them in the United States, minus a few exceptions. A child takes on their father's first name with -son or -dottir added on. So I would have been Adam Toddsson, and my sister would have been Kady Toddsdottir. This works in a nation with about 320,000 people, but I wonder if they will be able to keep this system if they grow larger.

After our meeting, we had the afternoon free. The majority of the class, minus myself and maybe three others, went off to ride Icelandic horses in the countryside. I later learned that Icelandic horses are NOT Icelandic ponies. One of the first laws in Iceland was to restrict the import of horses into the island, once an Icelandic horse leaves the island, it cannot return, and Icelandic horses are the only horse with a 5th gait, and it is supposedly so smooth that you could hold a pint of beer while riding without spilling a drop. I decided to go by the University of Iceland and look around. It was a very interesting place (maybe for a master's degree?), with some wonderful older buildings and some very modern and beautiful buildings. I went into the bookstore and spent a bit of money on a shirt (even though I was hoping for a sweatshirt) and some books. I then walked to the main shopping streets or Reykjavik and went to the Kebab Husi∂ and had a Doner Kebab, which was good, but not as good as Germany. I did some shopping, and am pleased to say that I was quite often talked to in Icelandic, a language that I have no command of whatsoever. I ran into our professor, Claudia, and we went and looked around a cool Icelandic bookstore, which we both recognized as a mistake when we parted with more of our money. 

After a little more wandering, Claudia, Kristiana, Sarah and I went to dinner at a place called Vegamot, which is named after the street it is on, not vegetarian food. I had a nice BBQ pork sandwich with a Thule Beer, which was the "Beer Deal" for the day. After that, I went back to Sunna, watched a little bit of How I Met Your Mother, and then went to bed.

2nd Day in Iceland

I woke up on Sunday and had some breakfast, and then went for a quick walk before church. A few of us went together to Hallgrimskirkja, the main church in Reykjavik. The service was interesting. The Church of Iceland is Lutheran, and there were definitely times where I knew that for sure. But at other points throughout the service, I wasn't always sure. However, when I saw Luther's Rose on the back cover of the Hymn Book, I stopped wondering and knew that I was in the right place. 

The church is very simplistic, but that really adds to its beauty. There should be some pictures up on my Picasa Web Albums that should help illustrate the church. Experiencing the service in Icelandic was very interesting. Even though I understood almost nothing, the order of service was similar, and the ushers gave us a helpful english guide to the service. Communion was cool. Everyone forms two lines in the center aisle of the church, and they move forward towards the pastor and move into one line. Communion is by intinction, and after you have received the Communion, you split off to your respective side, make the sign of the cross for yourself, and return to your seat. I can now say that I have received Communion in German and Icelandic Churches. Soon I will be able to include a Norwegian church in that list.

After the service, the entire group headed out for a bus tour. Our first stop was Thingvellir, of the Thing Plain. The Thing was the Icelandic parliament that was in existence during Viking Times, and this is where both Iceland and Norway get the name for their parliaments from. The Plain itself lies on the fault that separates the North American and Eurasian (tectonic) plates, so the area is continually splitting apart. From the Thingvellir, we moved onto to Gulfoss, the two famous waterfalls in Iceland. These were very beautiful and powerful, but it was so windy, wet and cold that most people went in to the cafe after snapping a few quick pictures. I had a nice grilled cheese and ham sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup. We then finished our tour with a trip to see the geysers Geysir and Strokkur. The word geyser is actually derived from Geysir, an Icelandic word. We had a good time waiting for the perfect eruption to get a PLU group picture with. 

Back in Reykjavik, we went out for our first group meal at a restaurant called Geysir. I had a Viking beer and Wiener schnitzel with potatoes, something that I haven't had for quite some time. After dinner, we walked back to Sunna and went to bed, ready to start up on Monday.

The First Day in Reykjavik

So, after waking up from the massive travel day, we had breakfast at the Sunna Guesthouse, and Bed and Breakfast type of place that we stayed in for the duration of our time in Iceland. We had a quick meeting with presentations on the city of Reykjavik and some basic Icelandic phrases, and then we headed out on the town to get oriented. We went to the Hallgrimskirkja, the largest and most well known church in Iceland. Out front of the church is a statue of Leif Eriksson, given to Iceland by the United States. We took pictures with the statue, and then went into the church. The state religion of Iceland is Lutheran, and it was pretty clear while in the church. The nave was very tall, it probably could have fit two or maybe 3 of my home churches inside, height wise. It was also very long, probably about the length of a football field, maybe even a little longer. But the church itself was very simple. Very pretty, but very simply. The building was made out of concrete, and they walls were not decorated. However, behind the altar, there were windows that allowed the light to shine into the church. Quite a sight. The organ was very beautiful as well, not as decorated as the organ at PLU, but beautiful in its own right. We weren't able to see the outside of the tower, as it was under construction, but we payed a small fee to go up to the top and got a great view of the city of Reykjavik. The city itself reminds me a lot of Anchorage. It is surrounded by mountains and water, and the city is spread out quite a bit. The weather is pretty similar, but it is a much wetter cold, similar to Washington.

We left the church and went down the main shopping street in Reykjavik. We needed to get going to our first class oriented destination, so we quickly stopped in a small grocery store to grab a few things, and I had an interesting conversation with the clerk. As I was checking out, the clerk, who had found out that we were American, asked me "Where are you from, my friend?" I said that I was from Alaska, to which he responded "Ah, are there still Indians there?" I said that were were, and that my sister was actually an adopted Alaskan Native. He asked "Do you see the Indians often?" to which I responded, yeah, more or less. He then ended the conversation by saying "Will you bring the blessings of the Icelanders to the Indians of Alaska?" I said yes, and thanked him for his friendly conversation. I thought that the conversation was a little odd and out of place, but interesting nonetheless. I later found out that because the immigrant population does not always know Icelandic, most people actually speak English in the grocery stores, not Icelandic.

We then walked to the National Museum, where the main exhibit seeks to tell the 1200 year history of Iceland in two floors. There were many amazingly awesome artifacts, but our tour guide hustled us through the exhibit rather quickly, which took away from the fact that we were looking at ancient viking swords, 1000 year old Christian artifacts, or the portable toilet built for the Danish kings visit many years before. But the exhibit was interesting and well done, and I enjoyed going to the interactive area and feeling the weight of the chain mail shirt, wearing a viking helmet while holding a sword and shield. 

After that, we had a little more free time to look around and get a bite to eat, and then it was off to the Blue Lagoon! Iceland is known for it's natural hot springs, but the algae and some other components of this particular hot spring make it special (www.bluelagoon.com). The lagoon itself is about 30-45 minutes outside of Reykjavik by bus, so I had a nice nap. The Blue Lagoon area is really neat. You walk in on a path surrounded by lava rock. Then you realize that there is an entire resort complex for the lagoon. They have these really neat bracelets that allow you entrance to the lagoon itself, but they also unlock your locker so you can store clothes and such. The lagoon itself is a milky blue color, and the entire group had fun swimming around and doing as the Icelanders do. It was an action packed first day, and I was ready to go to bed by the time it was over!

Travel

Ok, now that I have a good and reliable internet connection, I can finally get this stuff down. I'm currently in Oslo, Norway, after 5 days in Reykjavik, Iceland. Getting there was quite the adventure, however. 

We left Seattle at 6:45 PM on the 8th. Our flight was 9 hours straight to Kastrup, Copenhagen, Denmark's International Airport. They had some Norwegian newspapers on the plane, so I started the flight by reading Aftenposten and Dagbladet, two of the big newspapers in Norway. I found out some interesting things, but I also saw a story about a Norwegian Sundance film called Død Snø, or Dead Snow. It's a movie where these friends go up to a cabin in North Norway, only to find that it was used by the Germans in World War II. And the Germans are still they, but they are in fact Nazi Zombies. It looks good, and I may have to go see it. Also, there is a movie out called Max Manus that is about the most well known resistance fighter in Norway, and I'm going to see that for sure. And it sounds like we are going to go see Kurt Blir Grusom, a children's movie based on a book that my Norwegian language class read. All in all it should be fun. After that, I watched a Danish movie about these kids, one of which is a Templar Knight, who solve some mystery, and then the movie Ghost Town. The rest of the flight was unsuccessfully trying to sleep, but all that mattered was that we made it to Copenhagen.

We landed, and had an 8 hour layover in Copenhagen, so we went into the center of town, walked to the harbor, and then had coffee at a little shop called Fruhaven, which is the Danish word for Little Mermaid (Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, collected the story of the Little Mermaid and published it). Then we went to the Royal Palace, which was very beautiful, but it was dark, so we went back to the airport and waited for our plane. We flew Icelandair to Keyflavik, Iceland's International Airport, which is a three hour flight. We arrived at Keyflavik and took a bus to Reykjavik. By that time, it was either midnight or 1 am, but we hadn't eaten on the plane, so we ordered pizza. Split ten ways, I paid 890 ISK, which is about 7 dollars if my math is right (1 USD=approx. 125 ISK). The pizza was good, with a thinner crust than is usual in the US. Then I went to bed around 2 AM on Saturday the 10th, making for a very long few days.

I'm going to do my best to catch up on telling about Iceland in the next few days, but I'll leave you with this for now. I'm staying in the Hotel Munch in Oslo, which is very nice and is close to the main street in Oslo. I cannot wait to get started with things here in Oslo!