God tur!

I feel like, at the close of the year, it's a good idea to emphasize the positive over the negative. So, here are half as many low points. Enjoy!

5. Getting hit on by anyone old, smelly, or creepy -- on public transportation no less. And, as a head's up to anyone else who's thinking of trying, I don't find anything flattering in being referred to as "angelic" in any way. Yes, I'm blonde and pale. However ... I don't know, I could go into a whole explanation but let's just say I'm not a celestial being, and I find any comparison to one made by a total stranger incredibly creepy. Especially when it happens twice in one week.

4. Being without a bank account for over a month! Until I got the appropriate legitimation, I had to go to my scholarship office and get enough for the week's groceries, etc., in cash. This was fine ... except for that time they were out of cash, so the woman took me personally to the ATM in the train station, and then passed over the equivalent of about 300 dollars in a not-so-discrete location. I felt like I was doing a drug deal.

3. The broken umbrella. I arrived in Norway without one. Big mistake. After several soggy-haired days under a brown hooded sweatshirt, I paid about six dollars for one. I was pretty proud of myself. But then the 'brella started coming off the frame. Whatever, it still functioned. Eventually, enough of the spokes came undone, it basically did nothing for keeping me dry. So, one very rainy morning, I decided to be late for class in order to repair the darn thing with yarn. Again, I was pretty proud of myself. But the question was how long this repair would hold out. Answer: Not long. The end of the story is that one of the major reasons I was excited to come home was because I could bring back my amazing umbrella which I left at home. If you think that's silly, you still don't understand how often it rains in Oslo.

2. Heathrow. Heathrow, Heathrow, Heathrow. I hate that place with every fiber of my being.

Although, in the interest of being fair to the complexities of life, I will mention that I have some wonderful stories that came out of this experience. But they're definitely the kind you share over coffee, so if you want to hear them, you'll have to invite me.

1. Realizing that the larger the pool of years I have to draw from gets, the less significant each individual year appears. I could easily spend twice as much time doing everything I'd like to do in Norway. Time to get organized!

As the year comes to a close and, with it, the first half of my adventure in Norway, I think it's a nice idea to recap some of the best moments so far, particularly those I haven't yet devoted to print. Here goes ...

10. That one day in Old Norse class when my adorable advisor told my (typically loathe-to-say-a-single-word) class that if we had any questions for him, we should "just shout!" And after yet another deafening silence from us mumbled, "bamalama."

9. Being passed on the sidewalk by a guy practicing his cross-country skiing in the autumn by rolling around on "ski skates." (They look like skis, but they've got a wheel on each end.)

8. My friend Alison's description of Norwegian sales clerks: "They don't want to talk to you as much as you don't want to talk to them."

7. The way that every question you ask my Iranian friend Ali about why his life has taken a particular course (e.g. Why did you move to Norway? Why did you decide to study German? Why do you think you need to be as rich as Bill Gates?) begins with the phrase, "So there was this bea-u-tiful girl, this amazink girl ... "

6. At the Antony and the Johnson's concert, when Antony explained that his musicians were all playing on borrowed instruments because "British Airways is shit."

5. One extremely crazy birthday party, where I witnessed four counts of public urination, one very disturbing car/trikk accident, and nearly got beat up by a couple of strangers -- but which was redeemed by this, the only kiss I've gotten in Norway:










4. Oh, wait, actually ... speaking of kisses, my next favorite moment may have been when Wes gave me a Thanksgiving kiss on the top of the head that resulted in him getting locked out of his room. That was pretty cute.

3. Basically any time one of the Czech girls gave me a compliment on anything ... my glasses, my sweater, my coat. *Blush* They're so beautiful!

That, and the very bizarre, I repeat very bizarre made-for-TV Czech movie I watched with them, wherein a bunch of teenagers in 60s clothing ran around trying to lose their virginity and singing cheesy American pop songs with very odd lyrical adaptations. And everything works out in the end ...

Except, no, actually in the end the Russians invade and everything goes to hell! What kind of feel-good nostalgia trip is this?!

2. That time I went to see Erlend Øye in concert, and he became my gangly, puffy-haired friend. Oh wait. That hasn't happened yet.

1. Anytime I passed for Norwegian on the street when someone asked me a random public transportation question ... anytime a Scandinavian didn't realize I wasn't Scandinavian until I told them my name ... that one time the Australians asked me for a good club recommendation because they thought I was Norwegian ... oh, and, of course, the time that Canadian kid asked me, "Have you spent a lot of time in North America?" Why yes, I have spent a lot of time in North America. Because I'm American.