First Day of Class Update

Hei everybody!
Like many of you I had my first day of class yesterday, January 15th. However unlike many of you, I only had a single class which started at 4:15 in the afternoon, about 30 minutes after sunset, and ended a little after 6. The class is titled Intro to Norwegian Life and Society and this first class session was a quick crash-course through the first 11814 years of Norwegian history! 😅

But aside from the actual information that was presented during that class, I learned a lot about how the structure of higher education is different than in the United States. First off, as previously stated, I only had one class yesterday; and that class only meets once per week. This is the same pattern found with my other classes. I have no classes today (Tuesday, January 16th) and I have one class tomorrow at 8:15 in the morning (well before the sun rises). Next week I begin my third and final class which meets twice per week for an hour on both Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This may seem strange to a person accustomed to the US style of three to four classes per day for the entire week. However the way that classes are assigned credits is much different than in the US. At Marietta College, a 3 credit class means that that class meets for 3 hours per week. Here, all three of my classes are 10 credits, but I am not going to class 30 hours a week. Instead the credit value is assigned based on the expectation that that is the number of work hours per week required to be successful in that class. For example, because my Intro to Norwegian Life and Society class is 10 credits, it is expected that I do an average of 10 hours of work for that class each week. This includes class time, homework, readings, and other assignments.

In other news, I saw the first snowplow since I've been in Norway only yesterday. They do not worry very much about clearing roads and walkways of snow and ice here. They also do not put salt down on slippery surfaces, as it's bad for the environment. Instead they spread a thin layer of rocks (everyone here calls it sand but I promise its not) over the walkways. This provides just enough traction so you won't fall if you're paying attention. But if you try to text and walk or take a corner a little too fast you're likely to take a seated position very quickly and rather unexpectedly. Good thing there's a nice universal healthcare system!

Until next time,
--Tom Farish


PS: Please send ideas/recipes for cheap and easy meals for 1; I'm running out of ideas!

Arrival/First Days

Hello! (or "Hei Hei!" as the Norwegians say)
Well, I'm here, I'm moved in, and I've already made some friends. So far so good.

This post will be a brief summary of my first 2 days in Oslo.

I arrived in Oslo, Norway at approximately 2:00pm local time, which is about 7:00am in Ohio, and the sun was already setting in the frozen North-land I found myself in. Pictured below is a sunset over the Oslo Fjord which occurred on the third day (this sunset lasted about 2 hours, WAY longer than in the US).

Immediately upon arrival I realized that the norms of this country are very different from the United States. It was amazingly easy to get through customs and immigration and this, along with multiple other experiences, really showed just how trusting people are of other people are in Norway. After being allowed into the country and being helped through the purchasing of a month long metro-pass with the help of some students from the University of Oslo (UiO) we were instructed to leave all of our luggage in the middle of the very crowded and busy Oslo S (Oslo Central Station) train terminal/mall/city center while we were given the briefest introduction to the subway map. This, honestly, might have been the most nerve wreaking part of the entire moving in process. From here we gathered our bags traveled along Track 5-West to Blindern, which is where campus is located and where I was able to get my room keys. Then I returned to the subway where I continued westward to Kringjå (pronounced Kring-sho with a rolled 'r') where I live. I am in a suite style living space where I share one shower, toilet, and sink with a Chinese student named Tina (Norway is apparently very relaxed about co-ed/gender neutral bathrooms) and we share a kitchen with 6 other students who I have yet to see in the three days I've been here. I, however, know they are here because they keep leaving the lights on in the kitchen.

Thanks to jet-lag and changing time-zones, I ended up staying awake for about 26 hours straight without realizing it. 3/10, would not recommend.

My second day in Norway was spent meeting new people and learning my way around the city a little. I met up with a group of fellow students who are traveling with USAC (the company which sent me to Norway) and we broke up into groups and had a fun little scavenger hunt around the downtown part of Oslo. My group walked all along the Fjord (pictured above) and visited the town hall and the parliament building. The town hall was beautifully decorated both inside and out and had such a neat blend of old world Nordic designs, lots of harsh looking geometric shapes, and newer European influences. I did not get to travel inside the parliament building, but I did learn a little about the structure of the national government in Norway. When we walked past the building there was a group protesting something outside the building (I don't know what, I couldn't see/read the signs). But there was no barricades, no fence, and no police officers separating these people from the building. In fact, they were so close the the front door that I did not believe it was the equivalent of the US Capitol building. These protesters did their thing for about an hour as my group ate lunch at a local pizza place (9/10) before dispersing on their own accord. Then we had the much needed Ikea trip. I learned along the way that the 'I' in 'Ikea' is actually pronounced with a 'ee' sound. 

After a 4 hour adventure in the biggest Eekea I've ever been in, I returned home and proceeded to fall asleep for a very long time.

Overall I am having a blast. I have met many interesting people and I have yet to run into a situation that I felt I could not handle. This first week or so before school is mostly full of scheduled events and I honestly cannot wait to be done with it to have the time to explore the city and the country on my own and with the group of friends I have started to make.

Until next time

--Tom Farish