Oslo and the Suburbs Part II

Okay!  So I have definitely been slacking with my blogging.  The whole plan with my blog was to update it while I was on my trip...that obviously didn't happen because I have only written about my first four days in Europe and have about 25 more days to write about.  I got home over two months ago and I definitely do not want to forget anything that I wanted to share!  It's time for me to get cracking.

Onwards:  as I wandered around with my friend, who graciously served as a knowledgeable tour guide of Norway, I was fed many interesting tidbits of information about my surroundings.  One of the most interesting pieces I heard was the fact that the American embassy has the highest surveillance of all the buildings in Oslo.  There are tons of cameras to monitor the facade and street.  To me, it looked like a prison on the outside.  I wonder if they were able to perform facial recognition on me as I passed by to see if I was a terrorist or a U.S. citizen?  I digress.  The building is super creepy, maybe the plants out front aren't doing the trick?

Not too far away from the embassy is a park.

You may be thinking to yourself: "this park isn't that great, why are you telling us about it?"  Well my friend, it is because it is not quite like any other park I have been to. That pole-like thing in the picture above is actually a stack of a bunch of naked people:

(Pardon the blur)

Yup, that's right, they're all nakey.

I imagine this park has a lovely, official name, but I decided to give it a name of my own. I call it The Nakey People Park--quite fitting, don't you think?

What would a trip to The Nakey People Park be without a lovely picnic?

That's not cheddar, it's tomato cheese, and it was delicious!

And a picture I am sure I will regret floating around the internet (to my future employer(s), sorry):

The other tourists were certainly getting a kick out of my posing!

My Norweigan culturing didn't stop there!  I went to the Edvard Munch museum.  Regrettably, I wasn't able to take any pictures from within the museum, but here is a google image of his eminent painting, The Scream:

An interesting bit of information about Munch is that he would often times paint a picture and then repaint that picture from a different angle or perspective, include or exclude a certain element.  There are numerous copies of The Scream, but they are all pretty similar.  The museum also did not have this as a major display, it was on the wall with copious other works.

This was one of my favorite pieces, The Sun:


My last day in Norway was jampacked!  Back at the Rygge home we played a bit of frisbee and had a little going away party--the cake was amazing!

The next morning I woke up at 7 AM and I was off to the train station to begin the rest of my journey alone!
 

Oslo and the Suburbs

Oslo:  The Tiger City

Oslo seems to be a new city in a sense.  When you go downtown to the Opera House and look at the skyscrapers it seems to be all shiny and new.

              A look inside the Opera House

           The outside of the Opera House

            Some of the tallest buildings in Oslo

It's as if IKEA came in and built their city!  The Oslofjord is right up against the city and there are tons of boats and water activities available here.  

As I was taking a picture a man in a kayak arrived on shore right near the Opera after paddling for 8 hours that day.  

As I wondered around the town with my friend, Rebekka, I saw many beggars and a few junkies.  As I was taking a photograph of the memorial to the attacks on Oslo in 2011, near a prominent church, I watched a young woman shoot up heroine.  She searched for a vein and then injected the drugs.  She then sang to me in English "it's a bright, sunny day."  I didn't realize what was going on until my friend had told me.  This came as a major shock to me that someone shot up within 100 feet of me.  I had never been exposed to this before in my life!  You can see her in the picture looking for her vein.  I wish I didn't have this picture, but it is the only one I have of the memorial because right after I took this picture I realized what was going on and I left the area. 

I thought the phrase on the heart, "greatest of all is love" was absolutely beautiful (ignore what is going on in the bottom of the picture).                            

Here is a fountain that was on the route I took downtown:

And here is a blurry picture:

The Suburbs

They were absolutely adorable!  I felt very at home when I arrived.  I was graciously welcomed into the Rygge's beautiful home where I spent 4 days.  The houses here are so cute!

According to the family I stayed with it was very unusual weather they had been having.  It was very sunny and warm, usually it is rainy with overcast.  

          Their bright, lovely home.

Rebekka was kind enough to take me to a nearby gård or farm (pronounced gore).  

              "Welcome to Sorum Farm"

The chickens were very happy.  They had plenty of space to move around and weren't all cooped up like commercially raised American chickens.

         This bunny also lived in the coup with the chickens!

            A friendly horse that came over to greet us

            Me, feeding the sheep!  I threw grass in there and they just started to eat it off of him!

            Rebekka feeding the sheep.

The goats were my absolute favorite.  They were so funny and cute.  They were digging a hole under the fence in order to break free.  There was a mama (the black and white goat) and two kids that had just been born in the spring.

        This kid especially liked being scratched on the chin.

And of course a cat came up to me and wanted me to pet it!  Almost all of the animals were very friendly and not afraid of people after you had been around them for more than a few minutes.

Rebekka and I then went for a walk through the forest and found a frog!  

On the way back to the car we saw wild Norwegian rose bushes and smelled them.  It was one of the most fragrant roses I have ever smelled in my life and the petals were a very vivid, beautiful color.

I had a wonderful time at the farm!

One Month

Today I stand exactly one month out from the beginning of  the trip of a lifetime.

I have been asked quite a bit about where I am going, what I am doing, and why. To put it quite simply, I don't know. The only things that I do know are where I am flying to and that I am also going it alone. This is an opportunity for me to set up a situation where I literally live in the unknown. The unknown is scary, intimidating, looming; however, it is an opportunity to see the good in not knowing and also forces me to stand on my own two feet to take care of myself and learn about who I am. What am I capable of? what scares me? what brings me happiness, joy, excitement? I do not fully know the answers to these questions as of yet, but I hope on my return that I will.

This trip will serve as my own adaptation on a wanderjahr:  a year of wandering.  I will only be wandering for about a month and primarily by train, not foot.  I am looking forward to this trip; I am bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready to go.

Where will I go?  Follow my blog to find out!