Finding My Feet In Norway

I can’t explain how lovely it is to wake up and see horses grazing on grass by a beautiful lake and mountain right outside your window. I am incredibly jet-lagged. After going to bed at roughly 1am, my body clock told me to wake up at 4am. So from about 4am until 11am I forced myself in and out of shallow sleep. I have a feeling I will be well adjusted by tomorrow. Interesting jet-lag is related to the liver, so perhaps that wine I had last night was not the best of ideas.

P.S. One of the horses is absolutely hilarious. It runs around and neighs and plays games with itself all day long. I love HIM!

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Yesterday the clouds fiercely glided across the sky, getting darker and darker. I haven’t seen clouds move that fast since witnessing a freak Super Cell storm in Darwin, Australia. Today, Norway is raining. I feel like I could be in the British countryside, and I am starting to get a sense of what the colder months here would be like. Lene says they’re harsh, and January and February in particular drag on. It’s so hard to comprehend what a -20C winter with a mere 5-6 hours of light a day would feel like. The landscape here is so stunning, I can’t imagine it completely white and baron covered in metres of snow. Apparently May is the best time of year. All the Norwegians are very happy and patriotic because of their 17 Mai celebrations (similar to USA’s 4th July), and its spring time. I imagine the autumn would be impressive here as well. Autumn sunsets, colours and weather always make it my favourite time of year.

I’m still very tired. I’ve also noticed that I am so far the only person I’ve encountered who has brown eyes. I’ve had many interesting chats with Lene and the politics here in particular fascinates me. I was also informed that the beautiful little wooden carvings on the houses that I so admire are the equivalent of Australian 1960-70’s brown brick and Italian influenced awnings, and the like. I am always intrigued by how the same thing can be perceived so differently by people.

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So far we have been taking it easy, and I am very much appreciating having an excuse to relax. We have primarily been keeping ourselves somewhat busy running errands for the wedding. Lene’s wedding is being filmed. I believe it is being covered by the media due to her role in politics, and she is also being covered by a Wedding TV series airing here in Norway next Spring. Because of the TV series she has been filmed during the preparation stages of the wedding as well. Today we were filmed getting our nails done Look at that! Less than 2 whole days in the country and I’m already a TV star.

Because of all the stress and hormones of moving and also the physical stress of travelling, I have been complaining to Lene about the state of my skin. So she gifted me a surprise facial at the same Spa we got our nails done. I have never experienced anything like it. There was steam, needles, lasers, electricity, beautiful natural essential oils. My skin is feeling incredibly better already. It might also help that the water and air here is so pure. The country is covered in lakes, and the water is so clean it is bottled without treatment and sold throughout the World. The tap water here comes directly from the lakes too, and tastes so clean and healthy.

Given that Lene’s nails took almost 8 hours (!!!) I enjoyed some of the time I was waiting to explore West Oslo. I was really hungry, but felt so intimidated to actually buy anything because of the language barrier. Everyone in Norway speaks English fluently so I don’t know why I felt like this. But it is interesting to be reminded how confidence is so necessary to get by in a country you don’t speak the language of. Further to that, I was a little shocked by some of the prices. I always knew Norway was expensive, but when a take-away pizza (which costs maximum $6-7 AUD) costs around $30-50 AUD you start asking yourself – am I really that hungry? Post-mix Coke down at the wharf can exceed $12 AUD a cup, and a casual luncheon which I often used to treat myself to can rack up a bill of over $100 AUD. It seems the only people who can stay longer than a week in Norway are those on a Norwegian salary.

Speaking of, I have been learning a lot about Norway’s political, tax, welfare and education systems. My experience and impressions of Norway have always been one of a fairytale. However, I have really started to learn more about and see more of the ‘real’ Norway. Norway is often seen as the ‘perfect model’ country, largely to do with its success as a Welfare State. But witnessing ‘downtown Oslo’ and learning that many students leave university with debts of over $100,000 US is opening my eyes a little. Despite education being free, most students take out student loans to cover the living expenses during their time as students. Nevertheless, I imagine it’ll take a university-leaver less time to pay off their $100,000 student loan in Norway than it would take me to pay off my mere $20,000 HECS debt in Australia given the disparity between incomes.

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Today we spent the whole day decorating the venue for Lene’s wedding party, and the venue looks incredible. We have been having a lot of fun, and bonding a lot on our long and frequent trips between Larvik and the various towns we’ve been travelling to. My jet-lag is finally starting to dissipate and tomorrow when I wake up it’ll be the Wedding Day!