10, 9, 8, and I'm breaking away. I'm all dressed up and I'm ready to play.

So I guess I need to tell about Norway. This ought to be a long one.

Friday:

Travelling was a huge pain in the ass. We got up at 6 am, hopped the tube, took a 1.5 hour bus to London Stansted, flew for 2 hours in Oslo Torp, then took a 2 hour bus into Oslo proper. THEN we were walking to our hostel and we got sorta lost. It was a mess. But finally, about 12 hours after we left our dorm, we arrived in our rooms. That night we walked around and took pictures. The city is BEAUTIFUL but so motherfucking cold. I know what youre thinking- it's Norway. And youre right. But Ive never even been in anything anywhere near this cold. I was surprised. Also, Norway is freakin expensive. We got pizza and it was almost $50 a person. Ripoff.

We wanted to go out but we were just so tired and gross looking, so we ended up going to this weird empty piano bar where the guy in charge of music decided to play only American songs. You havent lived until youve heard "Play That Funky Music White Boy" in a piano bar in Oslo. The drinks were SO amazing though, he used only top shelf alcohol. Then he ended up giving us all free drinks, which was super nice.

Saturday:

We got up early again for the train to Lillehammer. It was SO beautiful. It was everything you would expect of a small Norwegian village. The snow was gently falling the entire time. We walked up and down main street then went up to the Olympic Park. I made my first snow angel there. Unfortunately, I totally bit it on a patch of ice on the way back to the train station. I bruised my knee, but what really hurts is my hip. I feel like Im 95 and I broke it or something. We spent all day in beautiful, freezing cold Lillehammer and took the train back to Oslo in the evening.

Back in Oslo we went to dinner at this Italian restaurant. As if it wasnt weird enough eating Italian food in Norway, we were served by a very friendly Swedish man and his boss was a jolly Spanish man. Actually, he was sort of strange. He came over at one point and was just going on and on about how I look like I could come from Seville- "This hair, these eyes. Let me look at you. You could be Spanish." I was SO embarassed. By the time we finished we were so tired that we just laid down and went to sleep. Boring, right? But it was SUCH an incredible day.

Sunday:

We checked out of the hostel and stored our crap at the bus station... then went exploring Oslo. First we went to the Viking Ship Museum, which was pretty sweet. Those boats were SO old and impressive. Our second stop was Vigeland Park, which was completely amazing. Its this huge parked filled with hundreds of statues made by the same guy. Each one is supposed to represent part of the life cycle. I just walked through it all in awe, it was incredible. I wished Sara was there though, she wouldve died. After that we wanted to go shopping, but for some reason everything is closed in Norway on Sunday, so we went to the Munch museum instead. I REALLY wanted to see this other exhibit though, at the museum across the street, so I went to that alone instead. Unfortunately, it was closed by the time I got there, but it wouldve been so cool. It was called "Against Nature?" and it was about animal homosexuality. Im sad that I missed it. It was nice to take a little break by myself though. I walked around alone taking pictures and appreciating the area. Then I bought a journal in the museum gift shop and sat there writing in it until my friends were done. Im pretty sure they thought I was weird, but whatever.

Then it was time to go home, so we began the travelling process again. Bus-plane-bus-taxi. Got home around 1 am, which meant that I skipped my classes in the morning and slept till 1:30.

I completely fell in love with Norway, but it was nice to come home. I missed talking to J. Bo. and Adam more than is healthy. And speaking of friends- Sara is going to be here in FOUR DAYS!!!!!!! I could not possibly be more excited!

Funny story: last night I went out with some friends to the Greyhound, the pub Im always at. Got pretty drunk, had an amazing time. But one weird thing did happen. I went outside to make a phone call and when I came back in this weird black guy walks up to me and says "I thought you left." Ummmm.... ok.... he then proceeds to ask me out for Valentines day and give me his number, insisting that I call him. SO WEIRD. That sort of thing has never happened to me before. But why couldnt it be from someone cute, instead of a strange man with a weird accent? Sigh.

Ok, this novel is getting obscene. Time to work on my paper. Argh.