Norge!!!

So this last weekend was probably one of the best!  I fulfilled a dream I've had for years and had a great time doing it!  First off Norway is fantastic!  It is beautiful!

So Thursday we had a long day!!!  My roommate Jessica and I woke up and went to the bus station at 6 in the morning, went to the airport, flew to Norway, and then took a bus to Asker.  When we got to Asker we met my friend Gustav at the bus station and he took us to Jenny's place since that is where we were going to be staying for the weekend.  When we got there Jenny was making a traditional Norwegian meal, kjøttkaker (which so happens to be my favourite).  That night we didn't go out but it was still great.  It was a long day anyway so we were perfectly content with staying and getting a good nights sleep.  That night Jenny and Gustav were telling us how since Norway is a pretty small country it's not uncommon to see Norwegian celebrities.  So I kept a look out for anyone I recognized, but no luck...

Kjøttkaker-norwegian meatballs 

(also potatoes, cabbage and carrots) 

The next day Gustav took Jessica and I into Oslo.  It was a beautiful day so we spent most of the day outdoors exploring the city.  We first went and saw Oslo from above, near Holmenkollen.  It was a great view.  

We spent a bit of time in that area and saw a Stave church and Holmenkollen. We also watched people ski jumping.  And skiing.  I think the ski jumpers were on a type of plastic but there were also people skiing with roller skis.  Which is pretty fantastic (but quite the workout) 

That was all in the same area.  After we saw that we went to the Vigeland park, which is basically a park full of naked statues...it's interesting... After we did that we decided to go into the city centre because I really wanted to see some stuff in there.  We got to see the castle where the king lives, the parliament building, where the nobel peace prize is given out, and the University of Oslo (well kinda...it was covered in plastic, i guess for repairs). 

Then we went to Aker Brygge, the picture above.  It is the main pier in Oslo with a lot of shops and restaurants.  It's a nice place to walk around.  We walked there a bit and got a snack (it was really good but I can't remember what it was called, but it was a type of bun) It was pretty close to Akershus, a fortress so after a bit we went there and walked around a bit.  There are a couple museums there.  I kinda wanted to go to the Norwegian Resistance Museum, but we were too late.  It was fine just walking around, besides walking around is free... There were some memorials outside the Norwegian Resistance Museum from WWII because outside was where many Norwegians who participated in the Resistance movement were executed.  If I go back that museum will probably be on the top of my list of things to do.  

Here's Akershus fortress 

After that we went to the Oslo Cathedral.  It's not a super magnificent cathedral compared to others but it was still pretty.  The roof was covered with colorful artworks.  We also saw the box where the king sits.  There was a small communion service going on so we watched.  Outside the cathedral there was a small memorial for the victims of the 22nd of July last year.  After the bombing and shooting last year the cathedral was covered with flowers and candles to honour the victims.  Now there was just a little spot but there may be plans for a more permanent memorial.  We also saw where the bombing happened.  They are working to repair the damaged buildings.  

Oslo Cathedral

After Jenny got off work we went to Grunerløkka and went to a park until she could meet us for dinner.  We just found a random restaurant but it was good.  After we ate we took the Tram down to the Oslo Opera House.  You can go walk on the roof of the opera house.  We went after dark so there weren't many people there.  We just walked on the roof for a bit.  It was really neat.  We also got to go inside. 

We went home that night and watched some TV.  That first day was the day when we did most of the tourist stuff.  The next morning we slept in a bit later.  It was rainy that day.  We decided to go to a movie because there was one I wanted to see.  It was Kon Tiki.  The Kon Tiki museum is in Oslo and I didn't go in but I saw the outside of the museum... Basically the movie is based on a guy who sailed from Peru to Polynesia to prove that the islanders came from Peru and not Asia.  It was made by the same people who made another movie (Max Manus) that I had really liked so I was very interested in seeing it.  And it had English subtitles (until the end when it said what had happened to the men who were in the movie after they sailed the pacific, then I just had to guess) It was a good movie!  I really enjoyed it.  After the movie we went a grabbed a bite to eat, saw a famous Norwegian actor who I didn't know) and also saw a lot of tired looking people who had just run in the Oslo Marathon.  We went to see the Munch part.  Basically the reason I wanted to go is because I wanted to see "The Scream" and I didn't really care about anything else.  But the rest was really cool.  There was this Norwegian artist who had a lot of his works of landscapes around Norway there and those were my favourite!  I can't remember his name though...Johan something...When it was about to close we thought, "Oh we better go see Munch before it closes.  But it was too late, they started kicking us out about 5 minutes before closing time...I did get to see it at a glance.  It was still a really great museum with beautiful art and I enjoyed it very much. After the National Gallery most things had closed or were about to close and besides we were going somewhere in an hour.  We didn't have enough time to go to Jenny's flat except to just walk in and back out so we drove around a bit.  We went to a peninsula called Bygdøy.  We saw some of the king's farm.  There are other museums at Bygdøy, (like the Kon-Tiki Museum, Maritime Museum, the Folk Museum, the Viking Ship Museum and Fram) but of course they were closed so we just walked around a bit by the water and got to see a different view of Oslo.  

After we spent a few minutes at Bygdøy, we went to Gustav's brother's place and had another traditional Norwegian food.  This one is a type of stew with lamb and cabbage.  It is the national dish of Norway! It was good! Well that night we just hung out there.  We got to talk to several people.  On TV that night there was this show where Norwegian singers would compete each week singing a certain style of music, that probably wasn't their own.  I'm sure it would have been a bit more entertaining if I would have understood Norwegian, or known most of the artist before.  I only knew Alejandro Fuentes and he did a good job!  I also tested out my Norwegian that night, which was interesting...I mean fun but I do tend to embarrass myself when I try to speak Norwegian...I still really want to learn it!  It's a beautiful language and it was really neat to hear it spoken more naturally and not just in movies and songs.  I would listen to see if there were any words or phrases I could pick out, most of the time without luck.  That night was probably one of my favourite parts of that trip.  It was nice to have a trip where I didn't just experience the tourism and tourist stuff and instead got to talk with people and experience Norway in a way that I wanted to.  I mean the things to see are great but the people are even better! 

Sunday Morning we didn't go into Oslo.  We had a bus to catch at 2 to get back to the airport.  That morning we went to church.  I always love going to church in other countries because I love having the opportunity to worship with brothers and sisters from around the world and it's very cool to experience that.  I mean there was a bit of a language barrier but the sermon was translated into English and some of the songs are in English.  I was hoping they would sing a worship song in Norwegian that I knew, since I do know a few, but I didn't recognize any of them.  After the service, we had lunch at the church and then headed to the bus station and said goodbye to Gustav and Jenny!  It was a great trip and I was sad to leave.  I think I'm just going to have to go back.  I had high expectations since I have dreamed of going to Norway for years and my expectations were definitely met.  Hopefully I'll get to go back soon. 

  One of the guards

I'm back in Oxford now and back to class and homework.  I'm excited for the rest of my time here and my other trips but Norway will always have a special place in my heart and I'm so blessed to have had the opportunity to go! 

Tomorrow!!!

So after years of wishing and dreaming, I finally get to go to Norway!  And better yet I leave tomorrow.  I've been obsessed with Norway since I was 14.  To be honest one of the major reasons I wanted to study abroad in Oxford is so I could go to Norway.  I was really afraid at the beginning of my time here that I wouldn't be able to go but luckily I found someone to go with me.  Many people are leaving today after class but there wasn't a good flight available so tomorrow we're going to wake up early, take a bus to one of the London airports, and then fly to Norway!  I'll be there at about 4 (norway time) tomorrow! We're just going to spend a couple days there exploring Oslo and visiting a friend!  I can't wait!

A Beautiful Day in Bath

Yesterday was fantastic!  A group of 12 of us went to Bath for the day.  We had to wake up early to catch a train so we could get to Bath around 8.  As we pulled in I could tell that the city was going to be fantastic.  It was absolutely beautiful.  Seeing as we got to the city at 8 in the morning, nothing was open.  So we split up into smaller groups to find places to eat breakfast since we were getting pretty hungry.  After breakfast the group I was with went into Bath Abbey!  It was absolutely beautiful!  The inside was breathtaking as well as the outside!  After we spent some time in the Abbey we met back up to go to the Roman Baths.  I wasn't sure what to expect and what all was there.  I expected to just see the baths and that would be it.  But the museum is really cool there.  It had the baths, (of course) but it also had a lot of remains from the temple that had been destroyed and it talked a lot about life when the Romans were there.  We also got to see the source of the spring, which is the only hot spring in Britain.  It was pretty amazing how they did that.  One thing that was crazy is how old it is.  It's from the 1st century!  The water in the pool was really disgusting and greenish brown....hopefully it was a bit cleaner when the Romans used it but I kinda doubt it.  After the Baths we separated into smaller groups again and some people went to the fashion museum and some went to the Jane Austen museum.  Since I wasn't really wanting to go to another museum I went with another group and we went exploring.  Someone found a walking path that went up to a great view of the city so we set off.  We stopped at a couple parks along the way and then went to hike the city.  It is pretty steep in many parts but we wanted to see a good view.  We may have made a wrong turn somewhere so we didn't quite find the spot we were looking for and the view of the city was mostly covered by trees but it was still pretty cool.  We had to meet everyone else pretty soon so we went back down.

So I was just thinking we would spend the whole day in Bath.  I wasn't sure what all we could do for a day but I just kinda assumed we would do that.  But someone had a better idea so yesterday morning I found out that I was going to go to Stonehenge!  So after the walk around town we all met up to take a bus to Stonehenge!  I didn't know if I was going to be able to make it to Stonehenge because I just didn't know a good time to go but it is only about an hour away from Bath so we went.  The whole tour was about 3 hours so that took up a good chunk of our day.  On the way we past a white horse on the side of a hill which is pretty famous but I don't know the name and there are a lot of white horses on the side of hills in that area and I don't know which one it is.  It is from the 1700s though.  My expectation of Stonehenge is that it was going to be a short walk away from the road and pretty isolated.  I was wrong...it was very close to the road and there was a road on the other side.  Which was quite surprising.  But it was still fantastic!  I was so glad that I got to see it!  We spent a while there taking pictures, some funny pictures, and then road the bus back.

When we got back to Bath we ate dinner and then went to a park like thing and played Ninja.  And I have to say it was one of the most entertaining games of Ninja I have ever seen.  It was pretty intense. After that we took the train, went back to Oxford, stopped and got ice cream at G&D's on the way back to our houses, and then we went to bed after a long, exhausting day.  But it was a great day!  It was so much fun and I got to spend some time with my new friends.  The group we went to Bath with was great!  We all had a blast.  I like how we were big enough to split into groups and do separate things when people wanted to do different things, but how we were still small enough that we could do things together and have fun as a whole group.  I love all the people who are studying abroad here with me and am very thankful that I get to know them and grow closer to them.

I'm sorry there are no pictures but the internet is really bad and I'm having problems downloading them but hopefully I can put pictures up on here soon!

Update

It has been a few days since I updated the blog so here's what has been going on. Not much out of the ordinary. Just class and stuff. Classes have been going pretty good! I like how my classes tie into things we're experiencing here in England.

The history of the UK is so fascinating! We talked a bit about it in class earlier today. It's crazy to think how much history is all around. Oxford is pretty old and it has been a pretty major city in British history. Even little things have historical significants! I've always loved history and am looking forward to learning more British history and European history too! It's also really cool to be at places where history happened instead of simply hearing or reading about them! This Saturday I will be going to Bath and we will be exploring around and going to the Roman baths! I'm really excited! There is a lot to do in the city so we will see what all we do! There is a good sized group going on we will have fun!

Oxford Open Doors

So instead of traveling this weekend I decided to stay in Oxford and explore! This weekend was the time to do it too!  Many colleges that are normally closed to the public were open during this weekend as a part of Oxford Open Doors.  Many colleges and churches took part in the weekend and let people see the inside.  Saturday after lunch some of us headed out in search of open doors.  We started down Woodstock Road which is a path that we often take to get into the city centre.  We got to see inside many places we had just normally walked on by.  We saw a couple colleges down that road as well as the St. Giles Church and St. Aloysius.

This is the outside of St. Aloysius.  One of the churches we visited Saturday.  It was really pretty.  We only did that for a bit when we decided to go see the Shrunken Heads at the Museum of Natural History.  We didn't just see that but that's basically the reason we went there in the first place.  It is a really neat museum and free all the time which is even better.  

Sunday after church I went out again to see what else was open this weekend.  First we went to Magdalen College, which was beautiful.  It was one of the ones I really wanted to see this weekend so I'm glad I got to.  C.S. Lewis was a fellow here at this college and it is said that the animal statues were his inspiration for the animals of Narnia... While at Magdalen we also went to a garden area and watched people punting on the river.  We also went to Queen's College which was really pretty as well!

 But I have to say my favourite was probably Christ Church!  That is the one that most people come in visit.  It's the most well known and it is also where they filmed some scenes of Harry Potter.  They filmed on a staircase and the Great Hall here is the inspiration for the Great Hall in the movie.  It is gorgeous.  The whole college is just beautiful.  I had been to evensong there before but had only gotten to see the cathedral which is gorgeous.  There is also a famous door at this college.  

The story of the "no peel" door is that those two words were put there in 1829, in protest of a man, named Sir Robert Peel, who was in favour of greater freedom for catholics.  There are a lot of examples all around of the problems that protestants and catholics faced in the UK and the feuding against each other.  

I had a lot of fun around Oxford this weekend!  It was definitely a good weekend to be in town and I won't be in town too many weekends.  It was a lot of fun, the weather was great (it just has been great this whole time, maybe a little too hot).  But overall this has been a great experience and I'm looking forward to the rest of the semester! 

Dorchester Abbey

Today after class we went as a group to a nearby village outside of Oxford called Dorchester-on-Thames.  It's a small town but it's very beautiful.  We went specifically here, Dorchester Abbey.  It was founded in the 1100s so it basically is incredibly old.  Amy reminded me that it started around the Robin Hood period (at least the one on the BBC show).  Growing up in the States it's hard to imagine something being 700-900 years old.  We think that something is old if it is 400 years old. Whenever she would say that an artefact or part of the church was from the 1200s or earlier it seems crazy.  This church has been through a lot since it's started.  Just think about the medieval period and the renaissance  and all the things that have happened since 1140.  It's old.

It is beautiful! We learned a bit about the history and St. Birinus.  He had come to Oxford in the 600s! The reason why we went to Dorchester Abbey today is because it was his feast day today!  So we had a tour of the abbey and got to explore a bit and then we had a little worship service in the grass.  It was a really good day and I'm looking forward to going and seeing more bits of England.  I'm excited about visiting other countries too but it's cool to get to see more of the UK since I'm here.

First Weekend/St. Giles Fair

These first few days have been a blast!  We have be able to explore the city.

This weekend was a lot of fun!  It was a great start for my time in the UK.  I've spent the last couple of days getting to know people and getting more adjusted to living in this city.  We've gone out to the city centre a lot and and have found some new favourite shops, Primart and PoundLand.  They're pretty fantastic!  Primart has a lot of cheap clothing and there is a lot of cute clothing.  And PoundLand is pretty much self-explanatory.  Everything cost £1! It's not all junk either there is food and other neat things.  We love both of those stores! 

Sunday afternoon we went into town and went to the covered market.  I hadn't been yet but it's really cool! After we kinda started walking the wrong direction to go to PoundLand so we turned around and some of the people we were with wanted to go to a game shop so we went in just to look.  After a few minutes looking around the guy working the shop started talking to us.  It was pretty interesting but after the first 30 minutes we were kinda ready to go but he just kept talking.  He would say "I should probably let you go...Ya know I would really like to go to Texas."  We talked with him about quite a lot.  America, Texas, Doctor Who, Torchwood, England, train travel, etc.  It was all very interesting but we needed to get on so we left and headed to PoundLand.  Since I had been there the day before I went to an Orange Shop instead so I could get my mobile phone.  I got a cheap phone with a cheap plan that I can call internationally with.  After PoundLand we went to Primart and then headed back to go to a sandwich shop near out house.  We watched them set up the St. Giles Carnival yesterday and it should open today.  We went to On the Hoof for a late lunch, it's a sandwich shop that everyone at ACU study abroad goes to and loves.  And it was really good!

That night we went to evensong at Christ Church Cathedral.  Christ Church is probably the most famous of the Oxford colleges, and they filmed some scenes of Harry Potter there.  We were just in the cathedral, it's open free to the public for church services but if you want to see other parts of the college you have to pay to get in.  I couldn't take any pictures inside the cathedral but it was beautiful!  It was also really interesting to go to an Anglican service and see how they conduct a service like that and see a little bit of how Christianity is viewed in England.  Christ Church does get a lot of tourist so I hope to go to evensongs at other churches and go to a variety of churches during my time in Oxford.  

Tonight we went to the St. Giles Fair! There were a ton of people there.  Sunday when we went into town we saw them setting it up, which really makes you not want to ride the rides (besides some were £3 or £4). We just walked around and explored a bit.  It was super loud and to be honest we were just there for the donuts, which were really good.  We went all the way down and back.  I might stop by tomorrow and get some fish and chips or something. 

Today was actually my first day of classes. We watched Star Trek in Core. Classes should be really neat this semester and connect with being in England well so I think the classes I'm taking are going to be a really neat experience. 

It is tourist season so there are a lot of visitors around Oxford and the students aren't all here since class isn't in session.  Many of us feel like we've been here longer than just a few days.  We already feel like we live here and we don't feel like tourist.  We have a house, and a place to call home in Oxford, and we go to PoundLand and Primart and places that I wouldn't go to if I were a tourist.  We buy groceries and cook our own meals.  (Oddly enough I eat healthier when I'm buying and cooking my own food.) Every once in a while we will just stop and look at each other and say, "We live here!" In disbelief.  I'm sure we will do that for the whole semester.  

So far this experience has been incredible and I just started classes today.  I can't wait to see what all happens the rest of the semester and there is a lot to look forward to.    

Oxford!

So I have spent a couple days here and it has been a blast.

Here is a picture of the house I'm staying at.

And here is the other house.

The house I am in has a smaller group. It's nice though to be in a quieter house but also a lot of the fun things happen at house 9 because they have a commons room with a television and games and such. They're both really cool! I think I heard that they date back to the 1870s. Our houses are about a 20 minute walk from the centre of town.

So today the first episode of series 7 started. It was really good and it was also cool to watch it on time in the UK.  This series (by the way they say series instead of season in the UK so that's a fun fact) started out completely different than what I was expecting.  I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series to see what all happens because it should be very, very interesting.  We also watched a game show called Secret Fortune, probably mostly because it is what came on after Doctor Who.  It was pretty intense and really intriguing.  I think it's really cool to watch television in different places.  Even in different countries with languages I don't understand I really enjoy watching local television.

Fun Fact: I learned that Jumping Jacks are called Star Jumps in the UK.

Well that's all I can think to say for now. Bye!