Hello all. I thought I would post some photos and an update from the past few weeks which included the conclusion of the fall semester here. Kristie will be arriving shortly in Oslo. We're going to tour around the city a bit on Monday, and then we head for Heidelberg, Germany on Tuesday where we will spend Christmas. From there we'll travel to Rome and Barcelona and spend a few days in each location. I'm excited to put my Spanish skills to use for a bit while in Spain.
I had my Norwegian language course final exam last Monday, and I turned in my last exam for my masters program on Friday. The last exam covered a course on qualitative methods...new and interesting content for me.
I also had a meeting on Friday with a nurse named Pauline at a nursing home just a bit north of where I'm living. She showed me around the facility and introduced me to some of the residents. I'm looking forward to making regular visits starting in January. Pauline and her husband are hosting a Rotary exchange student from Brazil this year while their daughter is on the same program in Japan. While it has been a difficult task to find a service opportunity here in Oslo, a Rotary connection has swooped in to my rescue!
God Jul (Merry Christmas) and hope you all have a nice holiday season.
Beautiful, snow-covered University of Oslo campus
These photos are from a few weeks ago...we recently had a surge of warm weather (like 32-38 degrees F) and all of our snow has melted. I've been reassured there is plenty more to come for a replacement in the near future though.
My master's program, International Community Health, celebrated its '10th birthday' on 3. December with a program of speeches, multicultural entertainment and a luncheon.
A fashion show was also part of the festivities for the 10th anniversary celebration
Random picture, but I had never seen one of these before. Its an orange assaulted by cloves and serves as a Christmas potpourri ball. I snapped this photo at my host Rotarian Trond's house.
On a completely different note, but also involving sticking objects into citrus fruits, we had an 'interactive lecture' on acupuncture in class the other week. First we practiced on clementines.
Then we tried on ourselves. I had never experienced acupuncture before and was surprised how it didn't hurt at all...unless you stick the needle in wrong of course.
I acquired a Christmas tree for my floor to get my floormates and I into the holiday spirit.
Low-cost decorating. Aluminum foil and ribbon.
My floormate, Misha, and I showing off the masterpiece.
Julebord. That directly translates to 'Christmas table' and is an important celebration for every office, organization, business, program, club and anyone else who meets regularly in a group to utilize as a holiday gathering celebration. I went to one with my institute at the university, another for my master's program, and the latest with the Oslo Rotaract club.
I've enjoyed some skiing recently. There is a local ski park accessible by public transportation in northern Oslo that I visited for downhill skiing. I also went cross country skiing for my first time the other week with a friend. Learning the basics went well I think...but since the snow melted recently I haven't been able to get back out to practice. Next semester I hope to get out to cross country ski regularly. Its only a 10 minute walk from my place to hop on a ski path.
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