Oslo on a Monday

Our first full day in Norway is slowly winding down.

I'm currently sitting in the conference centre/danish-exchange-student-chill-out room on the second floor of our hotel here in the city centre. Thorsten is being a gentlemen and getting Robin and I water, since we're so comfortably slumped on this black couch, Marieke is sipping on hot chocolate across from me, and Kristin and Hugo are Facebooking on the provided computers.

The mood is a little...musky. Does that make sense? There's a still sort of energy in the room. It's like when you're arm is limp, and you lift it up and it drops so heavily with gravity...

We have until Friday to shoot our stories, but a lot of us are running into problems, (like interview sources cancelling on them). Plus, everyone is getting really annoyed at Norwegian food prices. I actually brought enough food to last me a good month, which turned out to be worth it. You can't find a meal for under 20 bucks here, and for the past two nights we've dined at an indian buffet for that much money. HA! How very Norwegian of us.

But. Despite the frustrating circumstances that students such as us inevitably face, today was a rather joyous occasion. HOO HA.

Dave, Hugo and I had an interview at Innovation Norway this morning with one of the advisors of ecotourism initiative in Oslo. It went pretty well, but what was more exciting was how BLUE the sky was when we walked outside. So naturally, we proceeded to taking pictures in the sunlit streets and filming each other goofing off.




We also walked the shore line and found the opera house!!! NO no, that's not a painting! 'Tis the view across the harbour, and I'm going there Thursday! LAAAAAA.


Our adventures then lead us to a scheduled meeting with the State Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. WOAH now. I don't think I've ever felt more journalistic then I did sitting there, pouring a complimetary glass of sparkling water, listening to the state secretary talk about the state pension fund and foreign policy issues of yore. (What?)

The secretary wanted to pose in this picture as well, but he had to run.

The rest of the afternoon consisted of Hugo and I wandering the streets simply filming the city. I think I enjoyed those few hours the most. The sun was so perfectly angled. I didn't feel stressed, despite our search for the perfect shot. The two of us just enjoyed the atmosphere and laughed abuot nothing, shooting a story in Norway like it's our day job.


So, yes, Oslo is mad expensive, but the vibe is so jazzy!!! Unlike Berlin, the city feels really "European." The streets are all cobblestoned, and each building looks unique! It's really looks like genuine creativity was put into their design. There was this one moment today when Hugo and I walked by skyscraper that looked exactly like it got shipped here from Toronto...it looked like painfully out of place in the middle of such a regal setting.




HMMMMMM ok, so, here's the thing.

It was my plan to make this blogpost a lovely flowing narrative of thought, since the day was a lovely flowing entourage of European lovin'. But my brain just can not create one such post as of right now.

I blame the musky mood.

Bah. Someone get me another 50 dollar chocolate croissant.