When we landed, I started to feel a little off, perhaps due to lack of sleep or for not having eaten or drunk very much. I made my way out of the airport to the express train to get to Oslo Central Station, but after I boarded the train I started to feel worse. And some guy ended up sitting next to me, which made me feel even more desperate to not get sick. As we neared Central Station the familiar waves of sweat and dizziness started to wash over me so I lowered my head down and desperately willed myself to not get sick. Then I did nearly vomit but just barely managed to keep it down. But after that moment I started to feel better. When the train stopped, no one in my section moved so I almost missed it because I thought perhaps we weren't supposed to get off yet, but then I ended up getting off just before the doors closed. Then I walked to the hostel.
Here are a few first impressions about Norway:
- I thought Norway in October would be cold, and the average temperatures that I looked up said it should be in the 40s. I'm someone who gets cold easily, so I had bought a big ski jacket to help keep me warm, and I seem to remember that when it gets cold in SF I really feel it and I wear a peacoat and sometimes even scarf and gloves. But it isn't cold at all here! I've been wearing my octopus v-neck tshirt, with a light fleece jacket on top. Now I have to lug this huge coat around while I'm traveling. But better safe than sorry, I suppose.
- Fashion seems to be a little different here. So far I haven't seen a single woman wearing tall boots.
- Lots of good looking men. This was expected.
- Haven't seen any American fast food chains, but I have passed several 7-11s - weird.
When I got to the hostel, I took a nap because I was short on sleep, but in the evening I got out and walked around the city a little bit. I would have liked to go out for a drink, but I don't feel comfortable going to bars by myself and the one girl I saw in my hostel room didn't seem keen on going out. So I think tonight I'll probably chill out here, perhaps read some more or check out MIT's OpenCourseWare for their intro cs course which I've been meaning to do for a long time. I did look a little bit around meetup.com and couchsurfing.org to see if there were events I could join with other travelers, and I think I'll try to make one in Copenhagen next week.
Tomorrow I'll aim to get up early for breakfast and then head to the Viking ship museum. I will then have to fly out of Rygge to Edinburgh, to visit my friends in Glasgow, but the flight isn't until around 7 pm so I have some time to spend in the city. I've been thinking of making this trip a Viking-themed one and hitting up all the Viking museums I can - the Oseberg ship is in Oslo, there's another museum outside of Copenhagen in Roskilde, and there's a third in Lofoten Islands. The Lofoten one is actually closed during the day while I'm there, unfortunately, but they have some events at night it seems so I'll try to manage that. But either way if I manage to do the Oslo museum tomorrow, then when I come back to Oslo next week I'll be free to do other sightseeing.
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| Excavation of Oseberg ship in 1904. From http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Excavation_Oseberg_ship_1.jpg |
Unfortunately no cool pictures today, really - hopefully there will be some soon!
