Friday 14 November 2008
My Vacation to Norway by: Callie Fenwick
OK so I guess I'm feeling chipper enough now that I can tell you about my trip. I honestly tried yesterday but the creative juices just weren't flowing. Plus it was just one of those days where all my happy thoughts had drained out of me and were circling the drain... Every once in a while you just have to have one of those days, right?
SO. Norway. Get ready for a long ass post, folks.
So we get to the airport at like 6pm on Thursday night for an 8pm flight, which, of course, is delayed. Something about bad weather in Norway? Not a good sign... We check in and proceed through security to our waiting area. Of course, savvy traveler that I am, I decided to wear a sweater with a GIANT METAL BUCKLE on the side of it, so I have to have the public pat down. They take me behind the CLEAR PLASTIC WALL (really guys, if you're trying to be discreet there are better ways to do it) and a big black lady gives me a rub down. They send me on my merry way into the waiting room where my plan of action is to get dinner at one of the many pizza hut's I saw from the bus window as I passed the terminals and then head to take a pee. Well ya know what? The Norway terminal doesn't do pizza hut. I settle for a ham and cheese-spread sandwich and a coke..............
.......after which I move on to the next thing on my agenda. WELL, apparently in the Norway terminal not ONLY do you not get pizza hut, you don't get a TOILET. So I have to go BACK through security, pee, and return to greet the pat down lady with my giant metal buckle proudly displayed on my hip and a smile on my face.
ANYWAY we get into Oslo around midnight and start walking to our hostel. Norway has this weird, quiet air about it. The streets are practically empty, the restaurants are all closed up, and there isn't a car in sight. It was very eerie. To make matters worse, when we check into the hostel and stumble into our room at 12:30 we find that we are living with three middle aged men, who, of course, all smell like a butt. Not to mention my pillow and comforter REEK of man sweat.
End day one.
The next four days were actually pretty cool. Besides the fact that it was thirty degrees and RAINING the whole time we were there, we actually experienced something that was new and unknown and I'm really proud of myself for doing that. We went to Bergen, Norway one day which was really cool. It's a little fishing town situated right in the middle of a bunch of fjords. We took the funicular up to the top of a mountain and got to see the whole view which was just AMAZING. Here's a picture:
We also saw all of the viking history museums and one exhibit that showed these amazing viking ships that had been buried and perfectly preserved.
Apparently when a viking ship was taken out of commission it was saved so that it could be used in the burial of an important person. In the 1900s in Norway 3 13th century viking ships were discovered buried in Oslo with most everything perfectly preserved. 
One of them was a viking queen, and she was buried with gold tapestries and beautifully carved sleighs and even peacocks and horses! The clay the ships were buried in preserved them PERFECTLY. I thought it was really, really cool.
So basically, the trip was cold and wet and kind of stressful for quite a few other reasons I don't care to mention, but overall it was a cultural success and I'm really proud of myself for pushing through it even though it was kind of hard.
OH yeah, and the last night we were there, one of the men moved out and this 80 year old Middle Eastern woman who spoke NO English moved in in his place. What happened to the concept of a YOUTH hostel?? ANYWAY...she started yelling at me in some language I did NOT understand. I thought she wanted the lights off so I turned them off, which just riled her up more so I turned the bathroom light on, which STILL didn't stop her so I went to her bed to see if she was ok, which just irritated her MORE, so of course I was left standing there with my arms raised saying "I DON'T SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE!" Her reaction? She THREW HER SHOES AT ME. Excuse me, bitch? Having always been taught to respect my elders I politely gathered up her shoes and placed them by the side of her bed, gave her one last shrug, and went to sleep.
SO. Norway. Get ready for a long ass post, folks.
So we get to the airport at like 6pm on Thursday night for an 8pm flight, which, of course, is delayed. Something about bad weather in Norway? Not a good sign... We check in and proceed through security to our waiting area. Of course, savvy traveler that I am, I decided to wear a sweater with a GIANT METAL BUCKLE on the side of it, so I have to have the public pat down. They take me behind the CLEAR PLASTIC WALL (really guys, if you're trying to be discreet there are better ways to do it) and a big black lady gives me a rub down. They send me on my merry way into the waiting room where my plan of action is to get dinner at one of the many pizza hut's I saw from the bus window as I passed the terminals and then head to take a pee. Well ya know what? The Norway terminal doesn't do pizza hut. I settle for a ham and cheese-spread sandwich and a coke..............
.......after which I move on to the next thing on my agenda. WELL, apparently in the Norway terminal not ONLY do you not get pizza hut, you don't get a TOILET. So I have to go BACK through security, pee, and return to greet the pat down lady with my giant metal buckle proudly displayed on my hip and a smile on my face.ANYWAY we get into Oslo around midnight and start walking to our hostel. Norway has this weird, quiet air about it. The streets are practically empty, the restaurants are all closed up, and there isn't a car in sight. It was very eerie. To make matters worse, when we check into the hostel and stumble into our room at 12:30 we find that we are living with three middle aged men, who, of course, all smell like a butt. Not to mention my pillow and comforter REEK of man sweat.
End day one.The next four days were actually pretty cool. Besides the fact that it was thirty degrees and RAINING the whole time we were there, we actually experienced something that was new and unknown and I'm really proud of myself for doing that. We went to Bergen, Norway one day which was really cool. It's a little fishing town situated right in the middle of a bunch of fjords. We took the funicular up to the top of a mountain and got to see the whole view which was just AMAZING. Here's a picture:
We also saw all of the viking history museums and one exhibit that showed these amazing viking ships that had been buried and perfectly preserved.
Apparently when a viking ship was taken out of commission it was saved so that it could be used in the burial of an important person. In the 1900s in Norway 3 13th century viking ships were discovered buried in Oslo with most everything perfectly preserved. 
One of them was a viking queen, and she was buried with gold tapestries and beautifully carved sleighs and even peacocks and horses! The clay the ships were buried in preserved them PERFECTLY. I thought it was really, really cool.So basically, the trip was cold and wet and kind of stressful for quite a few other reasons I don't care to mention, but overall it was a cultural success and I'm really proud of myself for pushing through it even though it was kind of hard.
OH yeah, and the last night we were there, one of the men moved out and this 80 year old Middle Eastern woman who spoke NO English moved in in his place. What happened to the concept of a YOUTH hostel?? ANYWAY...she started yelling at me in some language I did NOT understand. I thought she wanted the lights off so I turned them off, which just riled her up more so I turned the bathroom light on, which STILL didn't stop her so I went to her bed to see if she was ok, which just irritated her MORE, so of course I was left standing there with my arms raised saying "I DON'T SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE!" Her reaction? She THREW HER SHOES AT ME. Excuse me, bitch? Having always been taught to respect my elders I politely gathered up her shoes and placed them by the side of her bed, gave her one last shrug, and went to sleep.
Thursday 13 November 2008
Bad Week....
I've only got 8 minutes before I have to go to class (the second one because I slept through my alarm AGAIN) so I'm just going to post my little rant. I PROMISE you there will be a positively glowing report on Norway to follow, I just don't have time for uploading the pictures and turning my frown upside down. Believe it or not I'm actually a lot better today. I've been having some serious homesickness. I know...I only have a month and 4 days left. I KNOW I'm coming down the home stretch, but this week, a month has seemed like a lifetime and it's getting to me a lot. Norway was really stressful. We had to sleep in a hostel with awkward roommates, it rained the WHOLE time, it was freezing cold, and there were countless awkward interpersonal moments throughout the whole trip. I guess I kind of cracked on the way home. I didn't want to be coming home to Paris and more of Europe and more of my teeny tiny room and speaking French. I wanted to be coming home to a big hug from my family and a big kiss from my Joe. I needed to be warmed up and snuggled with. It just kind of broke my heart for a couple days. So basically, yes I'm fine, yes I appreciate this trip, but man am I homesick.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Christmas on election night...
I just thought this was a cute picture...I guess you're allowed to start putting up Christmas decorations early when you don't have Thanksgiving as your official date you have to wait to put up decorations for... From left to right this is Shaina, Anne, Dale, and Me!
Elections...
Ok so I wasn't exactly THRILLED with the results of the presidential election, and that's no secret. The thing that I'm worried about is that we have a 70 percent democratic domination in Congress and now with the president. I don't know if it's gonna work out but here's my message: The best thing we can do to have a successful nation is stick together. The election is over, the results are in, and we have our new president. If he starts making a nation I don't approve of, then in 4 years I'll vote his butt out. For right now, Congratulations President Obama.
Sunday 2 November 2008
Saturday 1 November 2008
PS: Dear Family and Joey,
You CAN leave comments even if you don't have a Google ID. Just click the "comments" link at the bottom of the post, write your comment in the box, and click "Name/URL" underneath the comments box and type in your name. You don't have to put in a URL. I like to know what you think of my life here!!!!
Good morning!
So its actually 11am, which really isn't morning, but who's cares huh? It's about 5am ya'lls time so I'm just gonna go by that! I'm sitting here in my bed with a cup of instant coffee (You thought France was like the coffee capitol of the world right? Wrong...everyone here drinks INSTANT COFFEE...slackers...) and listening to the market below my window. I'm usually woken up every morning by the same little chants "3 kilos 3 kilos kilos! giroles 5 euros giroles 5 euros!" Giroles, I found out the other night at dinner, are little orange mushrooms that look like chanterelles. Very earthy but pretty good. They look like this:
So anyway, it's a pretty nice lazy morning that I'm sharing with my coffee and my friends downstairs.
One of my girlfriends told me last night that the reason everyone says french women don't shave, is because they use this thing called "La Machine" to forcefully RIP all the hairs out of their legs. Looks like this:
Apparently if you do it enough after a while you don't really have to shave anymore. It's THAT GOOD that if you walk to someone in France and say "La Machine?" They will know exactly what you're talking about. It's THE machine. Im gettin in on that! I'm not even lying. I think when I'm done with this post I'm gonna walk to the darty down the street and buy one. Is it really THE machine? I'll let you know.
France has been about 45 degrees and rainy. Not that great a combination, but since I no longer have a straightener, it doesn't really matter anymore. Callie Fenwick hasn't straightened her hair since September 3, 2008. It's kind of a big deal. As for the cold part, well, I just had to remedy that with another new coat. It really was a necessity purchase this time, cause I'm going to Norway for 5 days next weekend and I'm pretty sure it's going to be -1000 degrees in Oslo. That's viking territory, folks. We're headin to the fjords! (Please revisit monty python dead parrot skit to understand exactly why the fjords excite me....) Or maybe they excite me because they look like THIS:
That cute new leather jacket just wasn't going to cut it.
So November is going to be my month of cultural experience. Here's the schedule.
Love, Callie
So anyway, it's a pretty nice lazy morning that I'm sharing with my coffee and my friends downstairs.One of my girlfriends told me last night that the reason everyone says french women don't shave, is because they use this thing called "La Machine" to forcefully RIP all the hairs out of their legs. Looks like this:
Apparently if you do it enough after a while you don't really have to shave anymore. It's THAT GOOD that if you walk to someone in France and say "La Machine?" They will know exactly what you're talking about. It's THE machine. Im gettin in on that! I'm not even lying. I think when I'm done with this post I'm gonna walk to the darty down the street and buy one. Is it really THE machine? I'll let you know.France has been about 45 degrees and rainy. Not that great a combination, but since I no longer have a straightener, it doesn't really matter anymore. Callie Fenwick hasn't straightened her hair since September 3, 2008. It's kind of a big deal. As for the cold part, well, I just had to remedy that with another new coat. It really was a necessity purchase this time, cause I'm going to Norway for 5 days next weekend and I'm pretty sure it's going to be -1000 degrees in Oslo. That's viking territory, folks. We're headin to the fjords! (Please revisit monty python dead parrot skit to understand exactly why the fjords excite me....) Or maybe they excite me because they look like THIS:
That cute new leather jacket just wasn't going to cut it.So November is going to be my month of cultural experience. Here's the schedule.
- Next weekend: Oslo, Norway, the fjords, hopefully some small authentic viking town found somewhere outside of Oslo,
- Weekend after that: Gibbon comes to see me from Barcelona! More Paris sightseeing. Versailles
- Weekend after THAT: Geneva, Switzerland! Hopefully a photograph like Sound of Music family in the mountains
- Weekend after THAT: Frankfurt Germany to see my cousins for thanksgiving. Woo! Apparently we're having apple wine and schnitzel for thanksgiving dinner
Dear Joey,
Love, Callie
- Weekend after THAT: Amsterdam, Holland to see my friend Pauline and spend "Sinterklaus" with her family. That's the Dutch Santa holiday.
Apparently in Holland they don't have any REAL black people for the sinterklaas parade, so they have to make some fake ones. - Weekend after the weekend after that: Going hoommmeee!!!!!
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