Vivian in Europe

Monday, August 22, 2011

Vivian Starts Uni

Today was the first day of class and I'm actually done for the week. Quite odd. I am taking three classes, Health and Medicine, Philosophy of Action (ugh), and American Literature. All three classes are on Mondays, except I have a seminar for American Lit on Tuesdays (starting next week). Yes, this means I have five day weekends (with a few exceptions where I have 4 or 6 day weekends). Unlike school in America, classes don't all start in the same week. My philosophy class doesn't start for another 2 weeks. The Norwegian education system is a lot less organized and structured. It is amusing how the Norwegian system tries to mimic the American system, but only the social aspect, and by that, I mean the partying and drinking. The university has a pub ON CAMPUS, next to the cafeteria. It also owns a place called Chateau Neuf, which is a student-run building with 10+ pubs. Each faculty has a basement that they use as a pub/party place. This would NEVER fly in the US. I suppose all of this is balanced out by the extremely strict rules when it comes to alcohol and the outrageous prices. Interesting tidbit: I found out that alcohol and tobacco is taxed about 400% here. If you buy a carton of cigarettes from Duty Free at the airport, it will cost you about 150 NOK (~$28). If you buy it anywhere else where its taxed, it will cost you 900 NOK (~$170).

Bedroom -- I found out the hard way that it is impossible to live in Norway without curtains but to save money, I just used my UNC sheet. :)

I found this nice little surprise in my closet when I first moved in. Considering I had just watched Scream 4 on the plane, I did not appreciate this at all.

I don't know what it is with UNC and UiO putting me on the top floor of dorms without elevators.

Map of Sogn Student Village -- Sogn was originally built to house people for the 1952 Winter Olympics but is now a student village for the uni

We have our own supermarket that have groceries with student-friendly prices

Amatoren, the pub

UiO (Universitetet i Oslo) Informatics Building

UiO Informatics Building

UiO Humanities Faculty

UiO

T-banen (metro) that I take to get around

Ulleval Stadium - the stadium for Norway's football (soccer) team

this is my stop for the metro

Olympics building

Sogn is about 5 minutes pass the footbridge

Friday, August 19, 2011

After a week...

Impressions of Norwegians after a week: Same as my first impressions and still adjusting..

Impressions of Norway after a week: Same as my first impressions.

1. EXPENSIVE -- Still not over this...

2. Beautiful --I've done some more exploring of the city and have not at all been disappointed. I'm super stoked to explore the rest of Norway!

3. Weather -- The weather here is quite finicky. Its been either sunny or raining, and by raining, I mean sprinkling... the kind where you don't even want to take your umbrella out but can still get wet. The temperature has been in the high 50's to low 60's (in Fahrenheit), which is quite nice, except that it is only mid-August. I'm afraid of what December will be like.

Here are some pictures of Sognsvann, one of the biggest lakes in Oslo: