fitting in

Trish lives in what I would call the "arab quarter" of Oslo. Lots of brown immigrants. So I fit in great...
One plus of living in this area is having a lot of delicious food around me. I can smell curry from the sidewalk in front of her house. I should go eat some if its not over 10 euro (which it probably will be considering how ridiculously expensive it is here.) I might just have to settle for some muesli (granola).

so i wore 2 layers of wool socks today, i found long johns that a havent taken off for over a day now. i wore 6 layers on top (including my fleece and coat, and leggings over the long johns, gloves, 2 scarves (one thin, and one giant one over it, and a beanie. i could hardly move.

bundled up

I went to watch the sunrise today, and i trespassed on the opera house (dont know why there were no respassing signs, i thought it was allowed so i ignored them) and i got there late, becuse it was broad daylight, but i still couldnt see the sun because 1. it was mostly cloudy and 2. it was coming up from behind a MOUNTAIN...so i waited for an hour and the sun was being really slow, and i never saw it come out from behind the mountain so it was a bit anti climactic. now i am going to go eat something and then go to the munch museum.

opera house

frozen ocean

this reminds me of one of my enclosures projects from arch. school

oslo and the opera house

the sun was supposed to come up over the mountain on the right

cozy in the snow

glass sculpture that looks like an ice berg

snow

oslo

more frozen ocean water

perfume and freezing nostrils

it reminds me of my mom.  i discovered it when I was in salamanca i believe, and now when I'm waiting in the airports i go  in the duty free stores and go straight for it.

on a more {generally} relevant/important note: the inside of my nose froze tonight when I was walking to catch the bus. a new sensation I suppose i'll have to get used to. oh another new sensation: your face hurting from the cold. I also cant wear glasses in this weather because they will inevitably steam up and then freeze . also, wearing glasses, because its metal, make your face feel much colder than it actually is. I feel like i understand my parents more in just having come to norway. My parents lived in Minnesota for 8 or 9 years when they first moved to america. They were living in temperatures similar to what I am experiencing now. (but it gets darker in oslo faster)

thats all for now!
x

$$$$$$$$$

HOLY GOD norway is EXPENSIVE!!!!!
i just realized what all these prices are:
190 NOK (what i just spent on an 8 ride metro pass)=31 dollars?!?!?!?!
(also, apparently I spent 170  getting from the airport to the central train station)
600 NOK which is what i'm told to take a taxi to get to the girl's house to have dinner is 100 dollars
and 1500 NOK whcih i just took out of the bank is really 251 us dollars....
so far ive spent 60 dollars and just on transport....thank god i dont have to pay for lodging here...and i brought food!

I made friends with the viking's daughter!

eee!!!! i'm so excited! ive never been so up far north in the world before!!
ok so it IS VERY cold here, but not as scary as i thought! oh! and Siri (viking's daughter) was sitting next to me on the plane! amazing! so i made friends with her and turns out she was just studying abroad in BERKELEY for a semesterrrrr!!!!! and she was returning home to oslo after about 3 or 4 months. she was really nice and i got her email after my pen exploded all over her hands (2nd pen to explode between madrid and oslo) and maybe we'll hang out in oslo while i'm here!!! it was weird i couldnt beleive how close she was to my home and she had JUST arrived in europe...in schipol...where i was...and 7 hours before she was in sf it just blew my mind. i wanted to reach out and touch her arm or something because i felt like then i'd be closer to california or something bizarre it really was very crazy for me to think that she PROBABLY passed by keon on the streets of sf and then here i was sitting next to her. im actually still blowing my mind just thinking about it.

anyway i got to the airport, and got my giGANTIC back pack and my messenger bag (carry on) and was ridiculously bundled up with a 4 layers then a northface fleece then a wool jacket from mango and a huge scarf and gloves and pants with tights and leggings and ski socks and my boots. and then i proceeded to walk a kilometer in the snow (up-hil,l both ways..haha..jk) and my boots were totaly inappropriate! i almost slipped 100 times. but even if i did fall, my back pack would have broken my fall and nothing would have happened anyway. there were a lot of men who apparently are immigrants and dont celebrate christmas and like to hang around scaring little girls (me) by making creepy sounds and walking towards them in the dark (the sun set at 3:30)  around but i was fine. (oh also they have like 1 hour of sun here now...not 5) because there were enough non scary people around too. anyway i go to the 7-11 next door to trish's apartment and i tell them "i'm shayan and i'm here to pick up the keys" (actually i presented the lady with a piece of paper that trish had told me to print out that said that in norwegian) and the (indian) lady presented me with the lovely keys and i entered the iron gate, and took a left and went through the door and up 3 flights of stairs and entered the door with the stickers on it into the apartment, and entered the room directly across the entrance door and BAM!!THERE I WAS! standing in Trish's room in OSLO!! surreal.

now I am about to change real quick and go to Trish's frien (marianne's) house for a vegan/raw food christmas dinner! i'm so excited!!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!!! i love you!

boarding!

about to board for OSLO!!!!! EEEEE!!! EXCITED/NERVOUS!!
there are people dressed in SKI CLOTHES and wearing really scary boots.
but theres also this girl wearing all black and what looks like leggings and super high heels. so i'm sure what i'm wearing is ok? but then again she looks SUPER aryan/nordic. her dads probably a viking and shes a native from the north pole, so she probably thinks its hot right now in amsterdam...see you in norwayyyyy!!

5th times the charm?

Starting to feel like the Count Von Count from Sesame Street. "Lets see up to how many cards Shayan can count!" (we're at 5.) I think I figured out that my camera case (which has magnets to keep it shut) is what keeps on demagnetizing things. So I got rid of that case and am now using a sock to keep my camera safe. I will have to deal with ordering a new card AGAIN on January 11th after I've returned. I hope Jesus wont get mad at me [Jesus is the guy who works at my bank who has been helping her this wholetime] super.

On a brighter note  i go to norway tomorrow! its actually not bright at all right now.  Norway is in total darkness basically, less than 5 sunlight hours. and i'm nervous because its going to be COLD.  and i'm scared of the cold...

please, wish me luck!