Almost time to go home!

It's the holiday season, and all I can think about is food! So, a short blog post on the top 3 things I'm looking forward to eating when I get back to the Twin Cities:

1. Coconut Macaroons (aka Crackaroons) from the Salty Tart bakery in the midtown market

2. Carbone's pizza (from the one on Randolph, of course)

3. A burrito from Los Ocampo at Chicago and Lake, with that super hot sauce they give you on the side.

Oh, and maybe a Surly Furious to wash it all down.

Norwegian Christmas Dinner

Pinnekjøtt

Lutefisk

Multekrem

I had a typical Norwegian christmas dinner tonight, and it was so delicious, I decided I had to blog about it right away. It was a going away dinner for myself and Paula, the Scottish exchange student, and it was a gift of the dental school. We were taken by our favorite instructor here, Gunhild (see earlier post), and we invited a few of the other dental students who have been especially wonderful hosts to us during our stay.

I ordered the christmas dinner that is typical for western Norway, Pinnekjøtt. This is lamb that has been smoked and cured in salt and dried, then reconsituted with water before cooking over a layer of birch twigs. Everyone keeps talking about this dish, so I was very curious about it. I have seen the scary-looking racks of dried lamb appearing in the grocery store for the christmas season, and my neighbor Juliane tried it the other day and was not very enthusiastic, so I was a bit nervous about trying it. But it was really delicious: salty, and a little smokey, and very rich. It is served with mashed rutabagas and potatoes. So yummy.

Gunhild ordered lutefisk, which is another dish I have been quite afraid of. I'm sure all the Minnesotans know about this already, but it is cod that is preserved in lye and other scary solutions until it becomes a bit gelatinous. Truly frightening stuff. But it is served with bacon on top, which makes everything better. And the fish itself was nice and light, it didn't have a funky taste, it almost melted in your mouth. It tasted soft and fresh, and it was almost like sushi. My Minnesotan ancestors would be so proud that lutefisk has won over another convert.

For desert, I had multekrem served with krumkake. Multe is called Cloudberry in english, and it is a rare berry that only grows in northern climates. They have multe yogurt here, and I was previously warned by the other dental students that I might not like it and it's just something that old people like (they say the same thing about brown cheese, which I also love, so I guess I have the palate of an old Norwegian person), but multe yogurt is incredibly delicious. Multe with whipped cream is a traditional christmas desert, and this one was served with krumkake, which are delicate cookies.

Finally, a really fabulous restaurant meal in Norway! Norway isn't really known for its food overall, but this was a really wonderful meal. I have included some pictures from the internet (not my actual meal tonight) for demonstration purposes.

Prague, Thanksgiving, etc

Mom enjoying some Czech beer

Me enjoying some Berechova

Rebusløpet

Cooking our first Turkey

Thanksgiving dinner

WAY past due on blogging, so time to get caught up... What's happened since last post?

1. I went to Prague with my mom.

First, mom came to Norway, and brought the sunshine with her. Our vacation week had almost no rain, so that was very nice. The first night, we went out for dinner, and spent about $100 on 2 cheeseburgers and 4 beers, and they were weird cheeseburgers at that, so we learned the lesson yet again that eating out in Norway is SO not worth it. Our favorite day in Norway was just sitting on top of the mountain, enjoying the sunshine. On a sunny day on Bergen, there's no better way to spend the day. We also had a nice day trip to see one of the fjords, but the trip got to be a little long so we were unprepared the next morning as we left for Prague.

After getting up about 4 am monday, we were very tired when we got to Prague, and all the guide books had us stressed out about not getting ripped out by taxi drivers, so we felt in over our heads when we first arrived. We felt slightly more at home when we saw a billboard on our way from the airport for a musician named Jakob Smolik (Smolik is my mother's maiden name), but we were still a little unsure what we had gotten ourselves into. After a nap, some dinner, and some of the lovely herb liqueur called Berechova, we started to settle in. I was really looking forward to eating out in Prague, since I have been a little deprived in Norway, but many of our meals were very underwhelming. I think it was just because we ate in a lot of the touristy places, so the quality was not so good. Our favorite meal was actually in a Mexican restaurant. After feeling so out of our element all week, Mexican food reminded us of home. But overall, Prague was very nice. Very touristy in some parts, but beautiful architecture. I'm looking forward to my return trip to visit to see my friend Frank and to see the non-touristy side of Prague, because the city definitely has an exciting vibe to it.

2. Ashley and I attended Rebusløpet

Rebusløpet apparently means something like treasure hunt. I still have only a vague idea of what we were supposed to accomplish, but Ashley, Paula and I had fun dressing up in trashy outfits, riding around in a party bus, and enjoying a few beverages with our classmates. Once again, we witnessed first hand Norwegians and their top-notch partying skills.

3. Thanksgiving!

After recovering from our hangovers from the rebusløpet, Ashley and I cooked an all-American thanksgiving dinner for our dorm friends. Since Ashley is going home before actual Thanksgiving, we decided to have it early. We spent an absolutely absurd amount of money to get a turkey in Norway in October, but it was totally worth it. We pulled out all the stops: Turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie with whipped cream. Ashley and I were very impressed with ourselves for pulling it off. The party went until 1 am, as the wine and whiskey started flowing, and second and third helpings were had a by all.

Having Thanksgiving early has actually come back to bite us in the ass a little bit: you know how everybody eats way too much during the holidays, from Thanksgiving until New Years? Well, we started our holidays a month early this year, and we can't seem to stop eating. It doesn't help that the days are getting really short and it's dark all the time, and it's still raining all the time. I definitely have a wicked case of Sad Bastard syndrome, as Paula calls seasonal depression.

4. Stavanger

I went to Stavanger with some girls from dental school: Janne (Stavanger native and our kind host), Ida, and Paula. We had a lovely girls weekend of shopping and going out. Things got a little crazy when we got separated, and I forgot that I had all the phones and wallets in my purse, but we had a fun night and got some good stories out of it.

5. Countdown to Ashley's departure

Sadly, Ashley is headed home soon, but for a good reason: interviews for her Pediatric residency! So we are trying to make the most of her last days here. We have been using this as an excuse to eat too much of all the Norwegian foods we love, like waffles and brown cheese, and boller with sour cream and jam, and pastries, and chocolate, and...you get the idea. Our german friends Laura and Juliane are planning a farewell dinner with Spaetzle and Streusel, so we are looking forward to that. We will also have a final hike on Ulriken for Ashley on Saturday, followed by a little kitchen party so we can have a proper farewell. Stories to follow...

More Norwegian in Me

The coast

Exploring

Our group, heading back to the cabin

The cabin, near Gulen, Norway

Hiking around the island

Sunniva, attempting to get the fire going

To all who follow the blog, I know I'm quite a bit behind in blogging. So many things have been going on that I can't keep up with the writing. Plus, it has been especially hectic now that I am coming home early. For anyone who didn't know, I currently have three interviews for a pediatric residency. Life is waiting and it's time to get back home.

Before I go, I thought of a few more things about the Norwegians that I connect with:

- They LOVE hazelnuts and hazelnut flavoring. Hazelnut cookies, hazelnut cereal, hazelnut coffee, hazelnut icecream. It's all heavenly.

- They take their dogs with them everywhere they go. Dogs are allowed practically everywhere: grocery stores, boats, and shopping malls to name a few. People walk their dogs in the middle of the city with no leash and it's perfectly okay. So great!

- Being a brunette is special. The blondes are a dime-a-dozen here, and being a brunette really catches the guys' eyes.

- They are very determined people. I went away this past weekend to a Norwegian girl's family cabin on an isolated island along the coast. She started a fire in the old-fashioned fire place, but the wind and rain was pushing the cold air down the chimney. The smoke wasn't able to go up the chimney and billows of smoke were flowing out of the fireplace. Relentless, she continued trying to get the fire hot enough to push the smoke out the top. No such luck. After an hour of fanning smoke out of the windows, coughing, and making most of our group get out of the house, she gave up.

I will be writing one last blog, "The German in Me" very soon. I went to Germany and Switzerland for 7 days and have to share a few of the things I observed. Stay tuned and thanks to all who have been active in their emails, comments, etc.

Ode to Comments

Ok, so I was hoping a few more people would leave comments on the blog. Ahem, Jeff, Mom, Sally...?!?! Dianna is kicking your butt in this area. Pick it up... or no blogs for you!

When I'm Eighty-Six

My Danish friend (and fellow dental student) , Julie, invited me to go sailing with her grandfather last weekend. She had been telling for the past couple weeks that he really wanted to meet me…I thought…why of course:)

We took the train from Aarhus to Vejle, the town where her grandparents live. When we arrived her grandmother had a wonderful Danish meal for us and we proceeded to the fjord for the day.

Julie’s grandfather, Erik, is one the most fascinating people I have ever met and I am grateful I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with him.

Here’s why…

· He just turned 86 yrs. old and has been sailing for over 70 yrs.

· He competes every Thursday and still wins regularly…He proudly showed me all of his sailing competition prizes and his most recent…a pretty nice Helly Hansen jacket.

· Over the summer he and his wife used to sail together for a month and just returned from a three-week trip in August.

· He is the president of his local rotary club and welcomes exchange students from all over the world for a sail on his “Spar ES." When we arrived to the Spar Es he had put a U.S. flag on the boat just for me.

· When we were getting ready to get off the boat (or so I thought) he told me sit down and said, “This is the best part.” He pulled out three orange Fantas along with his favorite candy and proceeded to chat about our lives.

· He was a member of the 40 Club and was kicked out after age 40…so when he turned 41, he and his friends started there own club called the 41 Club….and after 45 yrs., he and the other members still have weekly meetings where they invite interesting people to lecture to them on various topics.

· Before he retired he worked in sales of farm equipment and traveled all over the world…very interesting stories…and I can’t remember all the languages Julie said he speaks fluently!

· Every picture or ornament in his house has a great story to it. (Granddaughter made it, a great uncle who sold umbrellas, uncle who was a bishop and the only Catholic in his family, view from summer home, elephant tail from travels, etc.).

· He competes weekly in bridge and ping-pong…Last week he ranked number with his partner in bridge!

· He and his wife complete a crossword puzzle everyday and in the evening help each other out to solve it.

· Early in the day I noticed a book on the coffee table, which I later found out he purposely left for me to see. It was called “George W. Bush…the Great Accomplishments during his Presidency.” Later during dinner he asked if I voted for Obama, I didn’t know what to say because I thought he was fascinated with W, so I just tried to smile. He started laughing and ran to get the book. He told me to open it…it was all blank white pages!

· He was taking his wife to Oslo this weekend to visit his other granddaughter.

· He showed me pictures of a whale that had committed suicide in the fjord and when the Spar Es sailed right next to her Danish Majesty's Yacht Dannebrog. And after asked me if he knew of anyone else who could show pictures on the television like he just did.

· He is on Facebook.

I could go on…I hope to be so great at 86!

The Norwegian in Me

My grandma is 100% Norwegian, and being Norwegian has always been a part of my family. I have had fun in the last 45 days or so analyzing the culture in order to better explain myself. These are generalizations which are hard to prove as being Norwegian, but are noticeable differences I've only seen here. Whatever the case, I'm going to pretend this explains my quirks.

- They don't walk around smiling all over the place. They have this stoic, no-nonsense unemotional affect. No bogus fake smiles. And they stink at chit-chatting with strangers.

- They get a little or a lot of alcohol in them and then dance like maniacs. They're really aggressive and even the Germans are scared of them. I feel like I need a mouthguard on the dance floor as elbows and foreheads are flying. They'll partner dance and run right into you with full force. No one says "sorry" or "excuse me."

- They love chocolate. No messing around with that hard, bitter garbage called dark chocolate. Its smooth, sweet, and melts instantly on your fingers like butter. The other day, my patient at school told me (completely serious) that Nordic countries have to eat a lot of chocolate in order to stay warm. That's the best excuse I've ever heard - chocolate for physical survival.

- They're not that skinny. However, they're not obese either. No one gawks if you've got a little pudge.

- They love wearing skinny, black running tights in all possible situations. Shopping at the mall, getting some groceries, having dinner... the possibilities are really endless.

- They air dry their laundry on metal racks. (I've been doing this for years.)

- Girls lift free weights in the gym and not 2 and 4 kg weights. They're pumping like 10 kg plus weights. (1 kg = 2.2 lbs) They love squat lifting, too.

- They like modernism and uncluttered decor.

- Girls don't wear a lot of makeup. Enough to accentuate the points of focus, but not pageant style at all. Very natural.

- Seafood is a major part of their diet. *When I was 6 years-old, if you had asked me what my favorite food was, I would tell you crab.

- They eat liver paste regularly (AKA pate). Nummy!

- They use paprika spice on tons of things. (My grandma always has this on the table at meals. When I was little I would call it 'red salt.' Great on cottage cheese.)

- Structured child-rearing but not over-protectiveness. Parents let their 9 year-old son bike across town from soccer practice and their 3 year-old walk on railings over precarious cliffs, but they're strict with other things. For instance, kids are only allowed to have candy and pop on Saturdays. They call it Lordag Godt (Good Saturday). Kids also get a spoonful of cod liver oil every day. Bedtime is always 8 o'clock, except maybe 9:00 if mom and dad have company over. (I can only hope to be like this as a parent.)

- They love Yorkies! They're everywhere. I get really excited to run and pet them.

- They ride mopeds. Seems crazy considering how much it rains here, but they are great in a town with limited parking space and high gas prices.

Cozy in Denmark

"Hyggelig" which translates to "cozy" in English is a quite common phrase used in the Danish language. And my experience for the past three weeks in Aarhus has been just that. Here is a bit.

City of Aarhus

Random things about Norway

1. If a Norwegian agrees with you, he or she will nod and say "yeah" with a sharp inhalation, the same sort of noise we would make if we were startled. It keeps scaring the crap out of me.

2. Some Norwegian words sound like rap words, which is hilarious, because Norwegians aren't very "gangsta". For example, "Ha det", which is a way of saying goodbye, sounds like "Holla". And "boller" are little bread rolls, but whenever I hear it, I automatically sing to myself in my head, "Baller, shot caller, 20 inch blades on the impala..." Yeah, remember that song from a few years ago?

3. A preliminary list of things I already know I will miss when I leave Norway:

-Walter's Mandler. A delicious milk chocolate candy bar with roasted, salted almonds (mandler=almonds) and bits of toffee.

-Paprika potato chips.

-Mountains. For example, jogging sucks, but jogging in the mountains...well, still sucks, but at least you have a fabulous view to distract you.

-Swearing on the radio. You know the new Cee-Lo song? It's on the radio here. Awesome.

-Brown cheese. Aka brunost or geitost, the bizarre yet delicious brown cheese, especially good with waffles. I think you can find this in the US, but it doesn't seem the same.

Endless climb 2

A week or so ago, a friend in the dorm provided me with information about an outdoor recreation club. After looking at the short summary of an upcoming weekend hiking trip, I decided I had to do it, even though it seemed hard-core. The informational meeting eased my fears when I saw everyone appeared average-looking, and that there weren't any hippy or triathlon types. At the time, I misjudged one girl wearing giant fake pearl earrings and trendy H&M clothes to be an inexperienced camper. I thought to myself, "Yeah, I got this," so I signed the 'at your own risk' sheet and went home for the potluck. Friday afternoon, we loaded the rental cars and hit the road. I was happy one of the German guys was driving since the car was a manual and the roads were one lane (for both directions). He was shifting constantly, and we were struggling to figure out where we were. We missed the turn and got trapped on the wrong fjord. Two hours later, we were back on track, but were way behind the others. The sun was setting, and we began the two hour hike to the first DNT* cabin in a rather somber mood. In total darkness, we made it to the first cabin and devoured the leftover dinner (we all shared dinners, but brought our own breakfast and lunch). To save some kroner, I decided to sleep in the tent outside. Not realizing that a sleeping mat prevents the earth from sucking your heat away, I shivered in my sleeping bag until the sun started coming up. I went into the cabin and slept on the bare wood floor for two wonderful hours. I woke up and realized I was 26 years old! Yay! During breakfast, everyone lined up one-by-one and gave me a hug or hand-shake and congratulated me (literally). It was actually turning out to be okay to spend my birthday with strangers. Ankles wrapped and blisters bandaged, we loaded our gear on our backs and began the hike. It's hard to explain the hike, but it was one of the physically hardest days I've ever experienced. We hiked for over 10 hours in extremely rugged terrain on the leftover mess of a glacier from long ago. We went up steep trails way above the tree line and down a billion boulders... about a hundred times. The weather was incredible. It was sunny and maybe 60 degrees F in the middle of the day. I couldn't believe I was able to wear a tank top. We made stops every now and again to let the stragglers catch up (usually 2 Peruvian girls and a few others). I started off a little slow, but this weird thing happened where my stamina seemed to increase as the day went on. The Norwegian girl, Johanna (with the pearl earrings), was always first and way ahead of the German guys. Toward the end I was right up there with her. I wasn't sure if it was the Norwegian in me, or if my build was made for this. Before Jeff and I dated, he'd told his parents he wanted a girl with backpack-carrying legs. Well, I guess I proved that on this trip! Hehe! But the last hour was absolute hell. It felt like the Baton Death March, and I wanted my birthday to be over ASAP. The sun was beginning to set, and we still had a lot of ground to cover. When we finally got to the next cabin, it was full of other hikers. Being we were "kids," the people in the cabins weren't very willing to share space with us. So we had to change out of our sweaty clothes for dry while standing in the freezing cold. We then cooked some pasta and onion over an outdoor flame-thingy in the pitch dark. When I found out that two cartons of cream were going into the pasta, I was disgusted and shocked. Having worked in a restaurant for a number of years, I couldn't fathom the idea of eating dairy products that hadn't been in a refrigerator for two days. After an interesting lecture about sour milk from the rest of the campers, I learned that warm milk turns into yogurt and doesn't make you sick. Apparently bad milk has mold and good bacteria, but not really a lot of bad bacteria. After dinner everyone was wiped out and heading off to bed. Without a mat, I once again had to deal with finding a place to sleep without freezing. I basically had to beg the grumpy, old Norwegian hikers to let me sleep on the floor in the tiny entryway of the cabin. On the bare floor, I tried to sleep while my body twitched like crazy from being overworked. I woke up in the morning with a ton of energy (must be that mountain air) and we hiked for another 6.5 hours. We stopped to take some pretty sweet pictures at this rock formation called Trolltunga (Troll Tongue). It was definitely easier than the day before, although the last two hours were a mega balance test. It was very steep as we descended from the rocky glacial terrain into the tree zone. I kept apologizing to my poor knees. I finished the trip second to an American guy from Boston, and we obnoxiously chanted, "U-S-A, U-S-A..." We had a great laugh about that. Then, with two other European girls, we quickly threw our bikinis on and jumped in the lake. The numbing effect of the water felt so good. We had a nice trip home, especially after stopping at the gas station. I devoured a giant bag of chips, a cheeseburger, and a Coke and then rode along quietly thinking about the trip. I thought of all the amazing things I had done over the weekend, which were things I would never have done without a group like this. A few days later all fourteen of us got together and exchanged pictures. Here are a few of them. Wish you all could have been there with me to enjoy the adventure.

*The DNT cabins are an amazing accommodation provided by the Norwegian Trekking Association. You can find the cabins all over rural Norway, and they are so adorable and practical. Inside the cabin, you'll find bunk beds, a table, stove, cooking unit, and a wood-burning fireplace. There is a small fee to use the cabins, and you pay on the honor system. If you're a member of the association, you pay even less. They're first come, first serve and are open to everyone.

Norway in a nutshell

We've been a little lazy with the blog lately. Let's see, what have we missed...

Last weekend, we took a mini Norway in a Nutshell tour with a day trip up to Flåm. Following Rick Steves advice, we got off the train half way there to enjoy the scenery at slower pace. We had an amazing hike- good old Rick Steves knows what's up. We had the path mostly to ourselves, we ran into some friendly goats along the way and fed them some oats (totes). We hopped a wall and climbed through thorny bushes where Ashley developed some hives, all to scrounge for a few measly wild raspberries...then found a man selling a giant bag of them down the road for a few kroner. We got to see the Sognefjord, which was beautiful, but after all our travelling that day, we were a little fjorded out on the 5 hour boat ride home.

We had a lovely potluck dinner last week with our kitchen mates and a few other friends. Ashley made homemade macaroni and cheese for everyone, since many people here had never had it, but had only heard about it on tv. Others brought swedish pancakes, a peach crumble with some german streusel, some norwegian smoked salmon rolls, and lots of other yummy things- it was quite an international affair. We also celebrated Ashley's birthday a little early that night, since she went on a crazy hike this past weekend, which I'm sure she will tell you about soon.

I attended my first "Super Friday" this past weekend in the bar in the basement of our dorm. This happens when the Norwegian students get their checks from the government, and they celebrate with cheap 10 kroner beer, which is an unheard of price here.

And finally, we also started school, which has been a challenge with all the charting being in Norwegian, and not knowing who anyone is or where anything is, and all that fun stuff. But we will get the hang of it, and I think we will have a lovely semester. Looking forward to this Friday, when there will be a back-to-school party at the dental school, and we can get properly introduced to all our new classmates.

The Happiest People in the World:)

So some of you may or may not have been wondering if I am alive...well...I have been hanging out in Houston and Atlanta...the South. I finally leave for Denmark tomorrow, flying through Amsterdam and Copenhagen before finally reaching Aarhus, where my lovely "tutor" will pick me up at the train station.
As I have prepared for my visit such as buying "Danish in 60 minutes," I came across an Oprah episode featuring Denmark. The Danes have been considered the "happiest people in the world" (http://www.physorg.com/news73321785.html) and she wanted to know why...check it out.

http://www.oprah.com/world/Inside-the-Lives-of-Women-Around-the-World/1

I can't wait to find out for myself...until Denmark...

Endless climb 1

It's 12:53 am here. I have pain in every muscle and I'm so tired that I can't form sentences anymore. This is all I can muster. Me, Amy, Laura. Easy road getting exponentially harder to manage. Met guy who told us crazy things happen on this path. Slippery. Sweating. PBJ break. Muddy. Amy turns around. Hiking boots mandatory. Crossed waterfalls. Crawling on hands and knees too often. Raining then sunny. Landscape like a dream. Think Lord of the Rings. Clinging to bare rocks getting old fast. Lost grip and fell in thorn bush. Cussing. Thirsty. No water bottle (long story). Wondering what it would feel like if you fell and your skull smashed into a rock. Death within list of possibilities. Top of mountain. Ate wild blueberries. Squishy moss. Where the frick is the tower? Barren. Got to tower. Drank water. Cold sweat on the downslope. Loosing steam. Don't. Look. Down. Loose rocks. Again, death on mind. Mind over matter. Imagination annoying. Thinking, "Jeff, I love you, take care of Bunsen." Talking to myself to boost self esteem. Moving a little faster. More trees. I think I'm going to make it. Five and a half hours later, Ulriken is conquered by Ashley L Turrittin.

Tomorrow: first day of clinic.

We went on a fjord tour on Friday. Will mention in next blog.

The shit's in here...

We had our first visit to the dental school today, and it was...interesting. We first met with a woman our contact person, Gry Ane, described as "our version of Peter Berthold"- the higher up person in charge of the international exchange program. Peter Berthold, she was not, however. She was a hip middle-aged lady who seemed very laid back. She extolled the virtues of the Norwegian welfare state, one chief benefit was that she, a "rich" person, was not robbed on a regular basis since the poor people were pretty well taken care of, so she thought that was a big selling point. She then leaned back in her chair, letting some belly skin hang out and get a little air. As she stood up to take us on a tour, we discovered she was wearing some fashionable acid-washed jeans. She showed us a few labs and conference rooms, then when it was time to see the main clinic area, she pointed to one of the doors and proclaimed, "the shit's all in here". Needless to say, we were very charmed by her.

She kept apologizing for the poor state of all the equipment, which looked brand new to us. She also said that we might be a little puzzled by the way they do some things here; with endodontics, for example, she said we might find their way to be "quite stupid" (her words, not mine), but it would be a good learning opportunity nonetheless. She also reminded us that Norway is a very informal society, so we should get used to addressing our instructors by first name, which will seem a little strange at first. So we are very excited to start clinic next week. We have one day a week off to study and work on our project, so I think we will find the schedule very agreeable.

We also got our fancy white scrubs today, with scrunched ankles and all. They are pretty spectacular. Hopefully we will have pictures soon.

Man up

Amy and I stayed inside the dorm facilities the entire day. Our blah day inspired me to talk about Norwegians rather than us.

I would like to discuss one aspect of Norwegian society; Americans take note. Gender equality is so engrained into society that it's old news to talk about it. Women are the powerhouses now and they commonly hold high positions in government and business. Without the time to cook and clean, men have had to 'man up' by becoming happy little homemakers. It's the norm for men to cook dinner, wash dishes or laundry and make trips to the grocery store. When it comes to children, Norway is the only country in the world that mandates paternity leave, and, believe it or not, it's longer than the maternity leave. The men do the household duties surprisingly well, and here's the kicker, without complaints. If you ask them about the lack of gender roles or reversal of gender roles, the men defend the women saying, "Well, they work really hard in their career and someone has to do the housework. I do what I can."

In sum, I believe Norwegian boot camp for American men is the answer to our prayers.

Bumming around in Bergen

Yesterday was very productive. We registered for our classes, got a free SIM card at the Student Center, found a phone for Amy, went to IKEA by coach bus, found a 'Princessakake' for Amy's birthday, and then made the steady climb home with our goods. When Amy finally broke down and bought her new SIM-compatible phone, I asked the guy if they sold a lot of this type of phone to foreign students. He replied with, "We sell a lot of them to bums. We call it the bum phone." Yes, it may have been the cheapest phone at 4oo Kroner, but we were a bit amazed at bums being able to afford a $60 phone. So going forth, Amy will be reachable on her bum phone. IKEA was an interesting adventure. A free IKEA bus picked us up and drove us 20 minutes to the outskirts of town. We were glad to purchase some missing touches to our rooms (hangers, plants, etc), but weren't exactly thrilled with the prices. I ate dinner at the IKEA restaurant, wanting Swedish meatballs but changing my mind at the last second to "whatever the person in front of me is having." I wound up with a plate of two large flour dumplings, 2 weiners, a slice of ham, and some sort of mashed cauliflower side dish (hello meat sweats). Once we finally made it home, we were exhausted (as we tend to be every night), and Amy made a splendid Italian dinner. We drank wine, chatted, and then busted into her lovely Swedish cake made of Marzipan and jam. Our neighbors, Doug the hippy from Montana and Laura the German girl, joined us in obtaining a major sugar high in celebration of Amy's 29th birthday. Today, we woke after noon and decided to tackle Ulriken mountain, which happens to be the largest of the seven moutains and nearest our dorm. We packed a lunch and headed out to find the trail head. Amy and I were somewhat apprehensive of the climb knowing it had a reputation of being dangerous. In fact, people have died on the trail. We started out strong, climbing precarious rocks and stopping for water and a good view, and we finished with heaving chests and exhausted hamstrings. The last part of the climb was rugged and challenging, and when we were ready to trek down the mountain we panicked. The temperature was dropping and the steep decline was too daunting. We opted for the funicular for the return. When we got to the bottom it was raining and chilly and we were satisfied with our last minute decision. Ulriken, we will return and conquer!

Nachspiel

Ashley and I had a revelation tonight: we suspect our interest in study abroad stems from the fact that neither of us had a proper first year of college: Ashley had too much time with the nuns at St. Scholastica, and there just wasn't enough partying in general at Northwestern. So we are attempting to make up for lost time, living it up in the dorms. Tonight, we sat around the dorm kitchen drinking beers, having snacks, quoting movies, and capping the night off by throwing water balloons off the roof at the drunken med students. Very juvenile, very fun.

Our first weekend in Bergen was awesome. Our last post ended with us quietly getting caught up on emails at a bar in the city center. After we left the bar that night and headed on our half-hour walk home, we ran into some cute Norwegian boys (fancy that), and Ashley was kind enough to play winglady for me as they convinced us to walk back to town to have a drink with them.

One conclusion we have reached after a few short days here is that the Norwegians like to party. As the drinking is rather expensive here, they like to drink at home before and after the bar to save money. They have adopted the German terms 'Vorspiel' and 'Nachspiel': roughly translated 'pre-party' and 'post-party' (one alternate translation offered was 'foreplay' and 'afterplay', which we had a good chuckle at). So after the bar, not wanting to miss a Norwegian cultural experience, I attended my first Nachspiel with our new friends, while Ashley had the good sense to go home.

The next day, we were awakened at the ungodly hour of noon when Synnove arrived to take us for our mountain hike. Bergen is surrounded by 7 mountains, so hiking is a favorite pastime. I huffed and puffed my way up like an obese geriatric, while svelte Norwegian grandpas jogged past with a smile. After our hike, we swam in the ocean, then hit the fishmarket to pick up some fresh shrimp (2 kg to be exact, which for those not familiar with the metric system, is a sh*t-ton of shrimp). I was a little freaked out by having to rip the heads off and by our friend Yi-hu's suggestion that the brain is the best part, but still enjoyed them nonetheless. For dessert, we had some Norwegian waffles with brown cheese (geitost), which tastes bizarrely like a combination of peanut butter, cheddar, and sugar, but is entirely delicious. This is a dorm tradition started by Yi-hu called 'Vaffel Sondag', or 'Waffle Sunday', so that was another first for us this weekend.

Today we concerned ourselves with practical matters, like FINALLY getting an internet connection at our dorm, which was no small task, and still not accomplished for Ashley. Next step: getting a phone.

Blogging at the Bar

Amy and I stumbled upon an internet cafe a couple of hours ago. An empty quiet little eatery. Two hours later it's loud and packed, people are lined up at the bar for drinks, every table is taken and here I sit blogging on my computer. NERD ALERT. So excuse the brevity. Soon we will be making the trek back to the dorm and I will devour some lox and cream cheese on bread. Let's hope Amy's flip flop sandal holds up for our walk home. She tripped on a cobblestone street and I MacGyver style rigged a hair band onto her shoe to get us through the night. We continue making friends, very randomly, who are connected to our dorm (Alrek). Pretty soon we will know the entire building through our misfortunes. This place is a fairy tale and I'm totally enchanted. Tomorrow we are going on a hike and a swim in a lake nearby with Synnove.

Arrived in Norway

Ashley and I have arrived safely in Norway. We don't have our internet cables yet (no wifi in the dorms, seriously? Get with it, Norway), so we are hanging out at a bar with wifi, sipping our outrageously priced beers.

Our travelling was pretty uneventful. Ashley was mildly harrassed by a drunk person on the plane, and later we missed our bus stop and had to lug our suitcases up a giant hill, but otherwise things went smoothly.

Synnove, a Norwegian dental student we met while she was on exchange in Minnesota, was kind enough to pick up our room keys for us since we arrived late. However, without a phone to call her, we were locked out of our dorm until we could reach her. But we met some nice young gentlemen in the lobby, fellow dorm residents, who not only let us use their phone, but cooked us dinner and shared some wine with us. Norwegian hospitality is pretty top notch!

The Beginning of Farewell

Amy and Ashley left for Norway tonight...we miss you already. Bon voyage ladies!

Yesterday we finished our last (real) final of dental school history! We thought it would be appropriate to celebrate with our lovely friends and say farewell until 2011...we will miss you and come visit us.