First Day!

My flight over here was long and boring. Although Iceland was a little stressful. The customs/security personnel were difficult about letting me through because I do not have a Visa. However, American's studying in Norway do not need a visa. Dealing with that after 13 hrs of travel combined with poor English was not fun at all. When I finally arrived in Oslo I slept for 5 hours, was up for a bit and then slept again. Quite an exciting day

The room I'm staying in is the "apartment" because it is the only bedroom downstairs. Down the hall is an office and a TV/rec/gaming room but I have a soundproof door between that and a basically private bathroom, so I am pretty secluded like in my own place. My room is very Norwegian & Ikea style. I have a bed, a sofa/futon, large TV and large desk. It's quite roomy and nice. The TV will be set up on Friday. (there are a surprising amount of American shows aired here, all with Norwegian subtitles of course) There is also an entrance/door that leads outside from down here which is very handy and kind of like my private entrance.

Even though I slept until 1pm today I was only the second person in the house awake!
The people I am living with are: Hans Tage (my grandma's cousin) his wife Jarva and her two kids Charletta (18yrs) & Johnson (22). Everyone speaks English very well especially Tage & John. Even so, everyone has said some pretty funny things to me, like: "do not remember" when reminded that I had mail from the University.

Today I got a "tour" of the neighborhood I'm living in, there is a Tram station right behind the house. Down the street is a market, bank, cafe and some shops. I bought a Transportation pass that is pretty handy, it gives me unlimited use of the Tram, Subway, Bus & Ferry systems which can get me anywhere in Oslo like: campus & the ski resort. I briefly visited the city as well. It's pretty small compared to Denver & Seattle. In 1 hour we got to the city, went through downtown, up to the ski resort, to campus and then back home.

Things I Have So Far Learned about Norwegians & Norway:
1) Crazy drivers - Tage drives down the middle of the two lanes
2) They are NOT morning people - the possibility of catching the Tram at 10am was considered very early (could just be this family though, I do not know yet)
3) Very sensitive to the cold - It was -5 C (about 23 F) and I was warm in a softshell and everyone else was in puffy jackets.
4) They eat very salty & rich food
5) Drink nasty coffee - they think Americans have bad coffee. The grinds labels here says "darkly burnt" and it is very strong
6) They have good portion control - glasses/cups are small and bottles of pop are only 250mL (8.5 oz)
7) No diet soda