Sister City Hilarity
Saturday, January 26, 2008
To understand this story, you have to know that I spent a good part of last week in Kenmare, North Dakota, the town where my dad grew up. As I was waiting around the airport in Minot, ND, I noticed a glass case housing a display in honor of Minot's "sister city," which just happens to be Skien, Norway.
The case contained a really fat troll in a weird outfit, a big print of a national romantic painting depicting the Birkebeiners, several advertisements for Minot's annual Norwegian fall festival (Høstfestival), and a variety of other quaint items of vaguely Norwegian origin. My favorite, though, was this little tiny bottle of perfume, about 1/3 full. Behind the bottle was a poster of an overly quaffed man who was apparently Geir Ness, a "Norwegian fragrance designer." I can't really remember the name of the perfume, I'm pretty sure it was a woman's name, but the perfume was sub-named (I guess you could say) "the essence of Norway."
This got me thinking, if you were to put all things "essentially Norwegian" into a scent, what exactly would that scent consist of? Hm ... I might volunteer sea salt, whatever that characteristic smell is in every Norwegian grocery store I've ever been in, some form of coniferous tree (cliche, but certainly "essential") ... I guess for me it would also include the general smell of the UiO campus, particularly the dining locations and the basement of the humanities library ... pilsner, absolutely. Um, what else? Hot dogs and possibly fried onion ... Bad coffee. I am open to any suggestions others might have. (Simon, I'm counting on your participation.)
The case contained a really fat troll in a weird outfit, a big print of a national romantic painting depicting the Birkebeiners, several advertisements for Minot's annual Norwegian fall festival (Høstfestival), and a variety of other quaint items of vaguely Norwegian origin. My favorite, though, was this little tiny bottle of perfume, about 1/3 full. Behind the bottle was a poster of an overly quaffed man who was apparently Geir Ness, a "Norwegian fragrance designer." I can't really remember the name of the perfume, I'm pretty sure it was a woman's name, but the perfume was sub-named (I guess you could say) "the essence of Norway."
This got me thinking, if you were to put all things "essentially Norwegian" into a scent, what exactly would that scent consist of? Hm ... I might volunteer sea salt, whatever that characteristic smell is in every Norwegian grocery store I've ever been in, some form of coniferous tree (cliche, but certainly "essential") ... I guess for me it would also include the general smell of the UiO campus, particularly the dining locations and the basement of the humanities library ... pilsner, absolutely. Um, what else? Hot dogs and possibly fried onion ... Bad coffee. I am open to any suggestions others might have. (Simon, I'm counting on your participation.)
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on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at 10:44 PM.
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12:38 PM
I humbly submit my additions to the Smells of Norway:
Wool
Money
Reindeer
Smugness
I like your list, though. I definitely recall the smells of UiO...Blindern Studenterhjem had the smell of dust and old wood. My floor in Kringsjå just smelled like rotten Cameroonian food.