Well, it's about time I actually write this. I think I'll write it in parts since each title topic has nothing to do with one another.
Part 1: Torchwalk
Last week my friend Libby and I went on a walk through town that apparently Norwegians partake in to celebrate the first day of fall. The walk started up near my student housing and wound along the river all the way past downtown into Grunerløkka. Initially, Libby thought we were going to be given torches as it was a torch walk, but I explained to her that I doubted the Norwegians would think giving a bunch of kids torches and sending them off into the woods would be a good idea. Turns out I was right. We arrived at the beginning of the walk and found the path was lit by TONS of candles so we followed the masses of people along the path. There were little mini concerts and artwork set up along the walk which was really great. Kids had set up waffle and coffee stands so we bought some coffee for the walk since it was beginning to rain, but were dismayed to find cheaper coffee stands only a bit ahead. Little kids ripped us off....oh well. Luckily we prepared for rain, because it started pouring midway through which actually added to the ambiance because it was really neat to look at the lit up artwork in the woods with this eerie sort of mist around it. We discovered the worst job of the night was...candle relighter. We noticed the minute a candle went out, a candle relighter would run up and light it again. I couldn't help chuckling to myself and thinking if it was in the US there would be some little bratty kid blowing out candles all along the way. So we walked, and chatted and walked..and walked and walked. At one point I was convinced that this was all a big trap to walk foreigners to death. Libby thought I was being a bit dramatic but I could tell she started to get worried towards the end too. Eventually after 2 and a half hours of walking through the rainy woods and town, we came to the end...and I have never felt so Norwegian. Of course when I came to class the next Monday I found that most of my Norwegian friends have never been on the walk...but it was still a good cultural experience all the same.
Part 2: Løvenes Konge
Laugh if you will, but I have taken to Disney movies in Norwegian to help me learn the language. You know it's genius. I have heard numerous people say that they learned English through movies and TV and decided that it would be a good idea for me as well. The only problem is finding the movies in Norwegian online as I don't have a TV nor the 50 million kroners it would cost for me to buy it from a store here. I think the fact that I am willing to watch the Lion King in 9 parts on youtube shows my dedication to learning the language. I can understand a surprising amount, which is encouraging...but then whenever I try to speak to a Norwegian they always chuckle and kindly say.."almost" so I've definitely got a ways to go. Something that concerns me is that apparently the characters in the Disney movies speak in all different Norwegian dialects, so one day when I said "konge" to a guy in my research group he said.."oh you said that in a good southern accent." I of course was not aware of this and was slightly alarmed as I would prefer not to develop a strange hybrid dialect that no one can properly understand. Vi skal se!
Part 3: Houseparty
A friend from class was nice enough to invite me to a party at her house last weekend which ended up being a great time and taught me a valuable lesson: Norwegians are punctual. I showed up with my friend Libby and a German friend from class a little before 10 when the invite said 8 and everyone was asking where we had been and were making comments about being fashionably late. Naturally, I blamed the German for it, but noted this to myself. When someone says a party starts at 8 back home, they don't expect anyone to be there until around 9:30 and even then it is a little awkward for the first people there unless they are close friends. On the other hand, in Norway when they say 8 they mean 8. Lesson learned.
I should also note that some Norwegian friends have started reading my blog as well. It's funny, I posted the link on my facebook page so I would not have to keep giving the site to my friends back home, but I neglected to realize that as I made Norwegian friends, they would read it as well. My initial reaction was to cringe at all the sweeping generalizations I have made about Norwegians because of course they are not all the same just as not all Americans are fat and religious. But then, I realized that my blog is not about being politically correct, it is about my perception of Norway and I must stay true to that. Luckily, my Norwegian friends found my blog to be funny and told me to continue to be brutally honest, so now I can safely say: Norwegians have an excellent sense of humor.
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