lol @ cloaked Patrick

ich weiß dass du das bist - du kannst dich nicht verstecken ;) Spielst du Romulaner?

@everybody else: ignore

Do I look like a local?

Funny, I can't say that I am here quite long and I have been addressed at least three times by strangers. The first ones were tourists downtown (ok that was on my first visit in Oslo) they wanted to go to the National Gallery so it wasn't too hard to tell them how to get there. The second one was a woman she talked in Norwegian and I still have some problems to understand that ;) so she tried in English but she was looking for a certain street ...well I was lost. Third one was an older guy with his wife and I was just passing by and he suddenly talked to me in Norwegian - well he must have realized that I didn't really understand so he said (in really good English) oh you are English speaking sorry I thought you were Norwegian.
But I am starting to make a list of thing you would never see in Germany (it's not very long right now but still the details are funny):
1) Two fathers with baby carriages - ok sometimes they are also alone ;)
2) People running around with skis downtown (and often with their complete ski outfit)
3)A Porsche with roof racks.
4)A whole T-bane full of kindergarden kids and some still in pushchairs.

In addition I always thought that Germans are cellular phone freaks but Norwegians are worse - you cannot be anywhere without at least one Norwegian around you hanging on a phone for hours ;)

finally...

...I had the chance to hike again. Beautiful weather and nice temperatures (not as hot as it is in Germany right now ;))made it hard to resist. 15 minutes walking and one has the chance to be away from all the people - it almost feels like being the only person on earth and this just so close to Oslo - amazing. The snow is almost gone and spring flowers are coming out:

I did something like a many-lakes tour - there are so many that I probably need the whole three years to explore them all.

No hike without animals - this time I met a very funny blackbird - didn't want to move and posed nicely for a picture:

The last picture is an evening impression of Sognsvann(the lake close to my home):

new week, new luck

very well - where should I start? Yesterday I moved to another room - actually it is right next door to my former room but now I have a bathroom for myself which was really really necessary. The guy living next to me was from Hongkong - at the beginning it worked quite fine but last Saturday he arrived with a friend at 7 am and they made a lot of noise. Well I guess it is really hard to IMAGINE that other people would like to sleep on a Saturday at 7 in the morning and espcially when working the whole week. In addition they always left the door of their room open and talked loudly (seems to be the Asian culture they cannot keep the volume down), they slammed the doors (also in the middle of the night when I really wanted to sleep since I was woken up in the morning)and took showers twice a day (which is nice but they didn't clean up the bathroom). I am not really the person to believe in stereotypes and who has prejudice against special cultures but to be honest - 97% of the Chinese are just the same dirty, reckless pack.
To cut a long story short: I couldn't stand that state anymore so I tried to get a room with my own bathroom and I succeeded so now it is less noisy and clean. Besides I got curtains.
In addition I got my contract and temporarily a bike from Nina until I have enough money to buy one myself which I will do as soon as possible because here it is definitely worth it.

true, so true and great song btw

Dead Roses
Music / lyrics: L. Tuohimaa

All the things you said to him
They came deep from your heart
The land was frozen and the cold wind was so hard
You still remember the last touch

It was the most beautiful time
The most beautiful time in your life
If you won´t ever see him again
Remember he still has got the place for you
In his heart

All the Beautiful dies when time passes by
If you won´t close your heart
Time will heal your every scar

I had dreams when I was child but they never came true
Where is the child I used to be, where is the hope and my dreams

It is time when all flowers are dead
Eternal longing fills my heart
She reminds me of the autumn nights
When stars are the bridge in the sky

She walks alone on this empty street
Along this street of dead leaves
Dead roses in her hand
They remind me that nothing lasts forever

All the beautiful dies when time passes by
If you won´t close your heart
Time will heal your every scar

I had dreams when I was child but they never came true
Where is the child I used to be, where is the hope and my dreams

Eternal flame in my heart
Longing for somewhere
Missing one beside me

I had dreams when I was child but they never came true
Where is the child I used to be, where is the hope and my dreams

stormy Oslo

yesterday evening I almost thought that the whole dorm would be blown away ;)
It is quite chilly but still: blue sky with a few clouds.
Finally my application process seems to make some progress ...
In addition I can borrow a bike from Nina quite soon :-)
It just needs some time to get used to all the new things at work but everybody has the same problem at the beginning so most people do understand the situation I am in and slowly I am catching up.

maybe I am too stupid....

... for this PhD. Anyway I don't even have a contract yet - theoretically I don't even have to work but here I am working 7 hours a day without lunch break. I am here for just a week and my desk is full of things to read (1000 page book about basin analysis, pile of 25 papers about the geology of the Barents Sea) and I have to get used to at least 3 complex computer programs .... well it is ok if you have time for everything but then I am already expected to have a model ready for basin formation and eager participation in a class I attend in the middle of the semester without the basic knowledge I think I need to actually follow properly.
I know that every start is hard and I knew it was a new topic and people who know me can say that I am trying to catch up with things as soon as I am able to but why can't I do it at my pace?
Sorry just pissed a little bit right now... but it will go away

Playing along ....

as Fritz suggested: exhibition of your desktop. Here's mine but I have to admit that I changed it recently because the old picture was there far too long ;)

Unfortunately I didn't find a toyota as winamp skin so the Ford must do.

En frosk - fint. Ikke da hører du!

... these were the two first sentences I actually understood today. I went on a hike starting from my dorm and within a few minutes the path looks like this:

However, there is still some snow there and I slipped on a steeper slope and scratched my arm. Stupid!

There are thousands of lakes in that reagion some of them still covered with ice.

I also crossed the 60th latitude.
Finally I met a funny guy and shortly after about 20 of them in a small pond ;)

velkommen alle sammen

ok the second try. I was trying to put in Norwegian letters and of course the stupid text vanished. I am trying to learn Norwegian but I don't make as much progress as I would like to but I know that I should have some patience since I am not even here for a whole week.
The last few days I met really cool and nice people from all over the world. There are also many Germans staying here. Tomorrow I am planning to go for a hike so there will be more pics soon.
Hopefully I will get my contract next week - apparently nobody applied for the second announcement of the position (For those who don't know what I am talking about: I had to apply twice because the first position didn't have a Norwegian reference number and the dean of the university didn't want to sign the contract so the whole position had to be announced a second time and consequently I had to apply a second time - the deadline was last week so NOW I can probably get my contract).
It's a little bit loud here in the dorm (not the people on my floor they are all quite nice and considerate) and I still don't have curtains so the sun shines in almost directly and even I cannot sleep longer. I think about applying for an appartment on my own (still in the dorms but I don't have to share the bathroom). There will be a waiting list anyway so I should try this out quite soon.
I met the guy who got the position in Tromsø (the same I applied for but didn't get because I didn't have my degree in time). He actually wanted a position in Oslo but didn't get it. So he is in Tromsø and wanted to be in Oslo and I am in Oslo and wanted to be in Tromsø ;) He doesn't seem to like it there - it snows every day (but isn't that actually really cool??????). In retrospect I am really happy that I am in Oslo now because there are really nice and competent people here and although Tromø would have been nice with respect to the lanscape the university would have been quite small and I have much better chances at the PGP.
I didn't believe it in the beginning but everything worked out perfectly and I am so happy to be here.

The most embarassing German

I cannot decide if it is the Pope Benedikt something (aka Ratzinger)or our great Bundeskanzlerin Merkel. Now we are not even allowed to believe in the evolution. Let's just all become Creationists (for those who don't know: believe that the Earth was created within 7 days) then we believe that the whole earth is 6000 years old and we can just abolish geoscience. So everything I studied was just crap ;)
Why should the pope have the right to tell scientists what they are allowed to believe and what not. Besides there is proof for evolution - more proof then there is for God. Wouldn't it be much more helpful to proclaim a church with true Christian values - trying to prevent wars (I mean really being engaged in something useful not just saying: war is wrong). And for me religion would also mean: accepting other ideas and beliefs and not condemning them (as long as they are not completely radical and endagering other people's lifes). So Mr. Ratzinger what happend to charity - are you giving away all the money the Vatican has? Are you helping the people living in Africa when you tell them condoms shouldn't be used and they all die of Aids? Do you really think that you are directly appointed by God?
This institution called the Catholic Church is just built up of so many human-made rules and regulations that there is nothing left of the original ideas of charity and love.

Swabian in Oslo

When leaving my dorm I actually heard people speak in Swabian - I was shocked ;)
Today we had a cloudless sky here so most of the last few day's snow has melted.
I met a few of the people living with me - a French girl and a guy from Slovakia. In addition there should be two people from Hongkong (or Ongkong as the French girl said, another girl from France and a guy from Africa living here, too. Most of them are exchange students and leaving in June so we will see what happens - maybe I will already live somewhere else by that time.
There is a lake just a few minutes away from my appartment and today I walked around it. Partly it is still covered with ice and the path around it seems to be quite frequented. Nice for running and consequently there are many sportive people around.

Not much happening at university: I am still waiting for the second application process to be completed so I guess I will have a contract soon. In addition the main aims and goals are not formulated yet so I am trying to get familiar with my topic by reading papers.

P.S.
Thanks guys for writing in English but you don't have to. For the comments German is ok, too. I just have many friends who are not speaking German so I try to keep the blog in English. French comments would be ok, too but please don't try to write in Russian ;)

Driving to Oslo

Well ... yesterday I arrived in Oslo and early this morning I moved into my new home. It is a student dorm so what can I say ... not too much comfort but the kitchen seems to be quite clean and I have to share the bathroom with one more person who I don't know yet. I'm living on the ground floor and I forgot to take curtains so everybody can look in ;) Well, not for long: I will get some curtains from Marcus at the PGP soon.
Driving up to Norway was quite an experience but it was not as bad as I expected - I had not a single traffic jam.
The first day Tobi's yellow paseo joined my clio driving north to Denmark. There is nothing more to tell about Northern Germany except for the fact that it is flat and that Hamburg is ugly (sorry Northerners but that is not really to my taste ;)).
Denmark is flat, too but at least there are nice farm buildings and some forests in between with rabbits and pheasants. Unfortunately they were too fast so it was impossible to take pics. We found a place very close to the shore where free camping is allowed. At the shore the wind was blowing quite hard and it was really icy. However, the spot had a special athmosphere:

On Easter sunday it started to rain and with time passing the rain grew heavier. We wanted to see the World heritage rune stones in Jelling .. one of them was nice with all the ornaments but we had expected a little more.

In addition the museum was closed at the time and I had to continue driving so we couldn't wait longer.
While Tobi drove to his parents I continued my journey through Denmark, crossing the two bridges and then through Sweden. The weather deteriorated from hour to hour so in the end I was driving through snow. My final destination for the day was Tanumshede another site of World Heritage. There were a few cm of snow on the ground by then and I had a hard time finding a place to stay for the night since it is not quite the tourist season. That you believe me - here a picture of the snow:

The next day I had a lot of time since I was only 150 km away of Oslo so I looked at all the major petroglyphs in the region ... some of them are really great. Unfortunately some are permanently covered since there is so much damage to the rock by acid rain and other pollution that they would be destroyed completely if they were exposed to the air. I took a few hundred pictures but the rocks were still wet from the melting snow so some petroglyphs are hard to see on the pictures. Just for an impression see here:

After arriving in Oslo I had to find a place to stay one more time since it was a holiday and the student dorms were not open. I stayed in a youth hostel and had to share the room with another girl. I don't know what she did all night but she came in between 2 and 3 am and woke me up of course.
So that was the whole story in short. More about Oslo later.