Europe 1995 Part 3: Well-Fed but Munchy in Norway

September 29, 1995: I arrived in Oslo and was taken under the wing of my old friend Dag. Dag had been an exchange student in Bismarck, ND when we were both 15 or 16 years old. I called him from a gas station and he and his girlfriend came and picked me up.

9-30 Journal Excerpt: "I met his girlfriend Josephine and she had on very ugly shoes. High-heeled converse. His mom fed us hotdish with ground beef and corn in it but I ate it and I loved it. Bought some shampoo finally so my hair is clean. I slept with one of those big soft things. I am going on a DR with Dag when he gets out of school this afternoon."

Dag and I were both 18 at the time of my visit, but I had finished high school the spring before, and he had one more year to go because in Norway school goes for 13 years instead of 12. So yes, I was actually staying at his mom's house, and she took very good care of me.

I spent almost a week in Oslo with Dag, and met all of his friends and smoked in most of their living rooms. It was quite a culture shock for me, but very fun to just eat and watch movies in Norwegian and play board games. Most people were shy about speaking English even though I think they all could, but I don't remember it bothering me too much.

Dag took me to a cabin in the woods that belonged to one of his friends. It had no running water and an outhouse, but was otherwise very nice and cozy:

10-2 Journal Excerpt: "We saw moose tracks and looked at the stars from the roof (they even had a lawn chair up there). We had cake and bread with chocolate sauce and red jello with vanilla sauce and for breakfast we had hot dogs and mashed potatoes wrapped in lefsa. Mmmm. My hunger never goes away cause I'm always st****. Josephine keeps giving me gross licorice candy. She has a mini backpack. I smoked h*** out of the cold ground and drank it in tea."

10-4 Journal Excerpt: "I ate lamb yesterday and tonight Dag's mom made crab claws (with mayonnaise?) on bread. This morning after a nice driving tour of Oslo, Linda (Dag's mom) let me off at the train station and now I'm on my way to Trondheim."

After being around so many people for a week and having a lovely Norwegian mother to feed and take care of me, it felt strange to be on my own again. My biggest impression/memory of Trondheim is pain/headache. I think I had a migraine bout there. It was very picturesque, but the pain overshadowed any other specific memory. Also, the hostel I stayed at was at the top of a very steep hill, and after wandering aimlessly/lost each day it felt nearly insurmountable, as I remember.

The caption I wrote on the back of this picture:
"The view from the Old Town Bridge in Trondheim, Norway - one of the only good pictures I've ever taken."