Being an Entity, Marmite Coffee, and Yummy Yellow Cheese

I still wouldn't call this "regular," but it's because I'M HAVING SO MUCH FUN!!!!!

In regards to life recently, it hasn't really strayed from the "get up, go to school, chill out" formula, but there has been one highlight since my last entry.

SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN SOGNSVANN

Yes, on Sunday we spent from about midmorning to almost dinnertime hiking in Nordmarke (the area north of Oslo) and around Sognsvann, a lovely lake a few T Bane stops away from campus. We hiked up to a cabin and enjoyed our matpakke, and I learned that the gulost at breakfast was not Swiss cheese, a food that I love to despise. Rather, I learned that it is a much milder, tastier, all around nicer cheese, and have been thus enjoying it. This really has little to do with Sognsvann.

As expected, we were so numerous that we literally clogged the hiking trails and earned our "dirty look from the natives" achievement. We also stopped to take pictures. I took many pictures. Most of them are green trees and ponds.

This is us as the glacial-paced fire hazard on the trail.



This is a beautiful shot of a still pond that I took. And of Sognsvann.





I've gotten into the habit of running again and have already made two journeys back to Sognsvann. The circumference is perfect: 3.3 kilometers is a length I can do that will not definitively kill me.

Can YOUR athletic club do this?



Didn't think so.

Saturday was also eventful, though not as nature-y. My friends and I again took the T-Bane out to downtown and got off at a stop that suited our fancy. Among the first items on our agenda was to find a cafe and prove to ourselves that coffee in Norway does not suck, and that the cafeteria must literally take bacon grease, car oil, and marmite and label it "coffee." I'm serious. That bad.

We did find a coffee shop, and though it was expensive (35 Kroner for a soy cappuccino), it was quite worth it.



After that we walked around the not tourist part of Oslo, and the pictures of that adventure are all up on Facebook already.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1932298188612.2101110.1276980227

and

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1946173535487.2101885.1276980227

Also in this expedition we went to IKEA (my first time, believe it or not) so that my friends Lauren and Gus could get more pillows because they are two-pillow sleepers. We went out into the middle of nowhere and had to cross under a highway and up and down hills, only to find that there apparently was an IKEA bus that went to and from Sentralstasjon. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is an example of POOR PLANNING.

While I was there, I had to try the IKEA meatballs. They were delicious. I was hungry and ordered entirely in Norwegian. And by entirely I mean I said "Jeg vil ha femten kjøttboller. Nei takk. Takk. Ha det!"

That's some extreme Norwegian there.

Finally, we went to Grønnland, an ethnic area on the east side of Oslo, where we were told that we could get cheap fruit. And we did. I got apricots and cherries. It was nice to have fruit for a couple of days.

After Saturday we all were exhausted. Look at these two happy campers.




My friends Ian and Evan from St. Olaf on the trikk, or "The trikken" as we fondly miscall it. We all crashed shortly upon returning to the dorm.

Also, if anyone is still wondering what marmite is, it's this spread used in Britain made out of yeast as a byproduct for brewing beer. It also notably does this in water.





I hope this has been an informative post!

Or something.