smoothie, tickets, cigarettes seems entertaining enough for sacrifice

Blogger doesn't let me rotate photos. Or I can't figure it out. So some of them just tilt your head. Its been a little while now that I've been in Oslo. I'm taking Victorian Literature, Introduction to British Literature, and Norwegian Life and Society for classes. They only take three classes a semester here so thats nice compared to the four I usually have to do in the States.

Starting to get stuff figured out. I bought tickets to two shows. The Arcade Fire and Bloc Party. Arcade Fire is March 24 and Bloc Party is May 2. I'm super hyped because I sort of figured I'd never see The Arcade Fire again after Vegoose. Plus this at a venue and not a festival. So less people and inside. Thanks to Perry for the heads up on both of those shows.

*and now I just bought Blood Brothers tickets to go with my new friend Alex. So that will be cool.

Been meeting a ton of awesome people. We have international coffee hour on Friday at 4, every Friday. So that is nice. And there are so many awesome underground/basement bars, a place called Chateau Neuf, which has pretty decently cheap beer (20 kroner a beer). Went to a dorm party last night at the other student village with a lot of Canadians and Norwegians. Alex and I were the only Americans. Met a cool guy named Blake from Minnesota who drums in a band called The Plagiarists. And its weird because he knows Tapes N' Tapes since they are from Minnesota and in the same scene.

I've so far met another girl named Alex from Canada who looks like Kat. I met a Gianna look alike. And a Blair look a like wandering around the statue park.

Which is really cool. Its called Vineland Park I think. Anyway, it was one guy and he made all these sculptures of naked people. The pictures are below. The large one that shoots up into the sky is piles of human bodies, and the thing is all one piece of stone. The place is open 24 hours a day too. During the summer they say a lot of people party there, bbq, sunbathe. We saw the sunsetting from there.

Tonight I plan on going out to Sogn (the other student village). Also earlier went to a cool bagel/juice bar with Alex and we met up with another girl, Torri from Australia. Its really cool meeting these people from all over the world. I'm starting to enjoy stuff more since I've been meeting people and hanging out. School seems really laid back and shouldn't be too difficult. But that may just be an illusion. I have no idea yet.

The sun has been coming out the past two days. I bought an orchard and a tiny tree to liven my room up a bit. The yellow walls were getting depressing. My light keeps fucking flickering now. Just on and off. My room looks like a haunted house from the end of the hallway with the light spazzing out. I can't read at the moment. I'll have to call the caretaker and get it fixed.

Met some interesting guys on the train who are from Brazil and Nigeria. They are forming a reggae band. Its just insane how with public transportation you end up meeting people from all over. English is so goddamn international that when you start speaking it people just light up and join in.

Norwegians are also very interesting. During the day they are very reserved and sort of doing their own thing. But at night they get a couple of beers in them and become so friendly and talkative. They love to share stories and all kinds of information.

My Singapore roommates are pretty awesome. They cook every night and I like to listen and watch them. Last night they invited me to their meal and we had a good noodle soup, I had a beer and they talked about Singapore and asked me some questions about the States.

The Canadians get really funny because some are from Quebec and the others are from Toronto and Vancouver, etc, so they start arguing about a United or Separated Canada.

Been eating a lot of frozen pizzas. Apparently Norway is the number one consumer of frozen pizza in Europe. They love pizza.

I also met a bunch of people from Barcelona. Their Spanish reminds me of a lot of things I love about Spain. And then I start thinking about good Mexican/Latin food and it sucks how bland stuff can be here.

Had a traditional Norwegian meal one night too. Alex invited me over to her flat and her roommates are Norwegian and they cooked Meatballs, with potatoes, and vegetables. It was good. Nice to eat an actual meal. I don't think I'm going to be getting any cooking skills for a while.

The weather has been off and on. All I know is that I miss the desert. But I hear that you guys have been having a cold ass winter. So thats sort of funny. Because I think it was warmer today here than it was in Vegas.

Going to have to figure out the laundry tomorrow I think. Maybe not. Depending how lazy I am. The Norwegians have this unspoken agreement with the winter time. Not to do anything during the day, so everything is open for like 3 hours and then closes. Then the dark hits and they just drink and party at night. And then Sunday they just don't do anything at all.

My light is pissing me off. I feel disjointed. Like I am scattered and all over the place. We take this self and try and keep the whole thing tied together and coherent. And maybe to deal with this place I made myself shatter in so many pieces and just sort of took a nap letting all that glass rest in remains on the floor. Maybe it is just sort of a dream, with one eye opened or half-asleep. Where things are mucked up enough to be able to fly or be a gunman but still there is a clock and we know almost what time it is and the passing of the sun and light and the day outside. Maybe it is like that.

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Excerpt: The sea passed all around us. It was full of waves and gulls in the air. Soaring so we knew land wasn't far. But enough of us were so tired that our eyes slipped below the horizon, down to our shoes that were fading from the black to brown. The tips were crumbling and some even had a toe sticking out. Our hats were soaked. Our beards had grown long. We didn't smile at each other. The sun was burning a streak, a single line across a row of clouds clutching their white faces in crying tears.

So the rain was far away and we knew that we had escaped the storm. The great boat that we stood on all trying to raise our heads dipped and filled slowly with water. When we reached the place where the rocks were teeth and razors in the blank and deep, we crashed. And four of us survived to shore. The only four who had kept their boots and coats. And I was alive. And so were they. We shuddered and the sun died in the black and day ended with the cold wind. The world was slowly dying I thought before I got here.

And now it feels so young. Like a child breast feeding. The tempest was chaos and hell and it made me fight a spiritual war inside of me. I clutched my chest and coughed and wracked like a madman all night. When the day came the rest of them had finally died and i covered myself in their coats and took off along the coast to try and find the place where I would dig and try and find a breath and life. With the shadows and terrible things behind me.

I walked.

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Orchid in my room

Majorstuen (the rich part of Oslo)

The top of the Statue Park

Statues

Statues

Tower of Bodies

Entrance to top

Norwegian Sunset

Accordion Player for Perry

Statue

Bottom of Park

Party. Vinnie is toasting in the back with his beer. He loves Philadelphia.

Kitchen Party

The train from my student residence

Singapore roommates and the meal they cooked.

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they're all gonna laugh.