i bought a loaded gun at the thrift store; robbed a bank at seventeen

Its really cold. As usual. Past couple of days have been nice though. The sun is slowly makings its appearances longer and longer. I've started school for real. I go everyday except Wednesday and Friday. But Friday class starts on the Feb. 2, so that vacation will end too.

Because I haven't updated in a while I am trying really hard to piece together stuff I've done or whats happened, so it might be out of order or maybe I'm missing things.

Cooked tacos one night with Alex and Tori. Then another night we cooked hamburgers which turned into giant meatballs on hamburger buns.

I'm starting to get more used to living here. Stuff that seemed difficult before is normal, and it all becomes a routine of something or the other. Alex and I went exploring into Grunerlokka yesterday. Got lost for a while until we managed our way into the hip district. Kind of like Greenwich Village. Passed by hair salon after hair salon. Found a cool music/clothing store. She bought a yellow dress I bought a coat. I like coats. I think I have a problem. Tasted a scone with two cups of coffee in a really trendy, nice coffee shop. It became the most bomb thing I've tasted. We met an asshole at a 7-11 who didn't know the name of the street over. Found a greaser/50's store. Then we managed our way back and watched Huckabees. Which, that movie, every time I watch it I always manage to get something else out of it.

I tried doing my laundry one day. That turned into an all day affair. The machines are tiny so I took up two of them for my clothes. And I had to shove my box of detergent into the tiny hole since they are side loaders. And the dryers are a pain in the ass. They don't fucking dry your clothes. Plus, the water isn't that cold here, so my jeans bled and turned my whites into light blue. So now I have a bunch of retarded looking thermals and undershirts. It soon became 11 pm and I had to retrieve all my clothes which I tried drying three times. They were wet. Hung 'em up. I miss my washer and dryer.

I've gotten care packages from Greta and Mom. Both very awesome, and helpful. Thanks guys.

My list of shows so far here in Oslo:

Blood Brothers - Feb. 6
The Arcade Fire - March 24
Akron / Family - April 11
Bloc Party - May 2
Built to Spill - May 11

I'm trying to get Field Music tickets and Mountain Goats tickets. But the place they are playing doesn't seem to sell through ticketmaster, so maybe tomorrow I'll go downtown and check out whats the deal. I'm pretty hyped.

I saw the Coachella bill for the three days and got insanely jealous. There is no way in my mind you guys are not going to go. So many good bands. I really wish I could go again, except skip the camping part and get a hotel room instead.

I finally went to my British Lit. group meeting. Basically, that class is broken up into group sessions and a lecture. The lecture is on Thursdays and is only 45 minutes. Then the groups are 2 hours long, my group meets on Tuesday. The system confused me at first so I missed the first session. When I got in there the second time, everyone spoke in Norwegian and she started teaching in Norwegian. Then she asked if everyone understood her and I was the only one who said no. I felt pretty bad because she switched it up to English. But people don't seem to mind. They have a good grasp of English. Made a couple of friends in class. It is really easy though. Most of the lit. is stuff I did in high school. Plus there isn't much in the way of homework. I just read. And I have to write a paper and the test is all writing.

Had a cup of coffee in the library before that group class. Watched people out of the window and read some Murakami. Then after class I went up to the second story of the library and wrote some more to Nearing Twilight in that journal Jessica gave me. Which has become a place for random sketches, pieces, and thoughts. I like the leather feel to it. Plus it has a really cool long string that wraps all the way around. Its crazy old school.

The campus, as Alex has pointed out, isn't much to look at. All standard box buildings with bunches of windows. Its all kind of drab. They say Oslo's university is the ugliest one in Europe. This is because most European Universities are very old and have architecture from the past. Old stone buildings, etc. None of that here.

I think Oslo in a whole is a better city in the spring and summertime. Stuff right now seems worn and everything is cold.

An old Norwegian lady tried striking up conversation with me on the train. She talked to me about doctors, being a doctor, lawyers, about her family, about her in-laws. Really strange. Her English was pretty broken so I just nodded my head and hoped that the train would move quicker.

Drank a bottle of really bad wine. I think I might just stay away from the wine.

There is the same fucking bird on the tree outside my window every afternoon. Its like a death crow. The thing is creepy. And I've managed to regale events in the most tangled, cobbled together fashion imaginable. Like I am on the verge of austic with my hands so typing is a slow and not flowing form. I couldn't manage a word besides not flowing, so I'll add the negative and leave the structure as un-elegant as possible.

Soon Feb. will be here. And after that 1 month, making 5. And then time will be closer to a newer point. I suppose things flow and move forward and I feel crazy distant, so far that I stopped thinking about seeing over the ocean. Its a really weird feeling. Probably because I haven't felt it this long before. And I think it will be long enough to enact change.

The photos below are my earnest attempt at capturing more of my surroundings and where I am. Though, cameras for the mind and the inside, are, words. These words should relate that I am terribly lost and that the structures I use to build are not in the present functioning. Though that all sounds vague. Its me trying to explain why everything I say, in my head, feels tangled and murky. Not fluid at all.

Enjoy the pictures.

The library. A monster of glass. Alex giving me the finger.

Campus from the bottom

Babies. Norway is full of babies.

One of the many nurseries that exist wherever people and buildings meet.

Alex

Fields of Snow

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but we're, not out of ammo yet