Memories of Oslo

Arriving in Oslo only 2 weeks after the tragedy that occurred on Utøya, we often sought comfort and reassurance in the beautiful landscape. Following the terrorist attack was a harsh and dark winter. Finding beauty in the wake of devastation is challenging, but Oslo has so much to offer: glittering snow in the few hours of sunlight each day, islands that transport you to a fantasy world, and breath-taking views of the fjords and the ocean are among the many treasures that surround Oslo and its inhabitants. The strength of the Norwegian people is even more inspiring than the landscape, and the combination of beauty and strength within the country grew more and more striking with each passing season.

Calling all aspiring writers!

I'm currently working with a group called Females of the World. We're looking for writers who are interested in submitting a short piece of writing to use in our online projects. It can be anything from a poem to a short story to a journalistic article. We'd love to hear from you! This is a great opportunity to brave a growing audience with a piece of your work! Any experience is good experience, right? :)

GET IN TOUCH! https://www.facebook.com/femalesoftheworld

I miss you, Oslo

Tonight I'm missing my beloved Oslo.

Autumn on the island of Hovedøya was too beautiful for words.

This island was where I was happiest. I dream of that place now. It stole my heart. 

I miss the harbour too, the smells of fresh fish lingering in the air and the cool breeze coming from the sea. I once got talking to an old fisherman who invited me and my friend for dinner, but we were a bit frightened of him! Evenings on the harbour were so peaceful and in the summer it was just beautiful.

Jeg lengter etter deg Oslo ♥♥

the little nordic cabin

x

You are welcome to use/pin my photos but please link back to me :) 

My Oslo Anniversary

Today it is a whole year since my first day living in Oslo.

One year ago today I met one of the most important people in my life, a sweet Korean girl named Eunseong. When I first met Eunseong, it was very late in the evening and she was so tired that she rushed right off to bed. I waited and waited the next morning for her to wake up so that I could get to know her - I just knew somehow that we would become friends! 

Ever since the day I met her, Eunseong has taken care of me. As some of you know, I went through some really hard times while I was away and Eunseong was always there to comfort me, to make me tea and to talk everything through with me. I'm so thankful that we met, she has taught me so much, not only about love and growing up and relationships, but she's taught me so much about myself. She's one of those special people who bring out the very best in you and I feel so lucky to have met her. 

While I was living in Oslo I often wondered if I had made the right decision in studying there. It was hard to mix with the locals so it didn't feel like I was getting any benefit from a language point of view (the reason for the year abroad). I had a sort of break down and was at a very low point in my life. I remember telling someone that I feared looking back on my time abroad and seeing it as one gigantic waste of time, emotion and money. However, now that I have left and am in a position to look back, I see it in a much more positive light. I see Oslo as the town that gave me one of the best friends that I could ever wish for, one that has influenced my life in such a way that I feel like a stronger, happier and more balanced person than I thought possible. 

And for that I'm eternally grateful. 

inspire nordic

☆

One year

It has been one whole year since the sea of roses began flooding my pretty little town, a year since Norway declared that it would be fighting hate with love.

"Legg di hand i mi hand så er vi sterke saman så er vi svake saman så er vi saman" - Åse-Marie Nesse

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17th May - Norwegian Constitution Day

Ok I'm finally, finally getting around to posting about Norway's National Day, which took place on the 17th May. 

First of all, I apologise for the lack of (good quality) photos. I'm quite short, especially in comparison to Scandinavians and as a result, I was often unable to see over the crowds! 

The Norwegian Constitution day is a national holiday and celebrates the day on which the Constitution of Norway was signed, declaring Norway's independence. It was signed on the 17th May 1814 and this date has been celebrated ever since. 

On this day, the Norwegians are all dressed very beautifully in their national dress. There is a huge parade that takes place, where children from all over Oslo walk, play music and carry flags through the town. 

Isn't this little guy the cutest? Honestly, seeing little babies and children all dressed up in their national dress is the cutest thing!

I personally loved the musicians and the dancers, they were very impressive. 

After watching the parade for a couple of hours (we managed to squeeze ourselves into a teeny tiny gap at the front so we were standing there mesmerised for quite some time), we took a short walk up to the palace, where we saw the King waving from the balcony. Naturally we waved back. 

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the city, looking for candy floss stands and watching minature music displays, before joining the crazy queues for the T-bane. 

How does your country celebrate it's national day/independence day? We don't have one in England, nor do we have a national costume, which I think is such a shame! However, we will be having a big celebration this year for the Queen's diamond jubilee. It will be fun to make an English version of this post! 

inspire nordic

♥ ♥

Photo A Day May - Part Three

From the left...

1. Something you do every day - We have a small balcony by our kitchen and I like to stand there each day and look at the view. There isn't much to see, just a few trees and a small mountain in the background, but you'll never be more thankful to see the fresh green leaves of the trees than when you've spent the winter in an icy Scandinavian town... 

2. A favourite word - One of my favourite words is 'smultronponny'. 'Smultron' are those tiny forest strawberries and 'ponny' means 'pony'. It's a kind of Swedish candy that I love, but I kind of just love saying that word.

3. Kitchen - You might have read about my amazingly disgusting kitchen that I have to share in this flat. I didn't want to gross you guys out so I took a picture of our painter's ladder instead. He painted the walls that same shade of horrid-weird yellow. I made friends with him while I was eating my toast, he seemed like a nice man. 

4. Something that makes you happy - Ice cream makes me happy. Especially when I get to eat it while I'm wandering around in the evening, chatting with a good friend, with the sun's warmth still in my skin. What makes you happy?

Thank you all for your sweet 'good luck' wishes. The exam went ok, I feel like I could have done better but that can't be helped now. Today I had a very long and tiring day sorting out paperwork, ready to leave here. I finished my essay as well, which was the last piece of work I had left to do. I'm feeling relieved but also a little overwhelmed so I think I'm going to take it easy tonight before the crazy packing and cleaning mission begins! How are you all doing? I miss you! I can't wait to get back to normality so I can spend some time here with you all! 


PS: If you have a moment, please pop over and see Gail, she's walking on Sunday for Autism Speaks, an organisation that helps families who are affected by autism. She's written a lovely post about why 'Team Isabella' are walking on Sunday and it would be great if you could show them some support :) 

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Holmenkollstafetten 2012

Today was a very warm and sunny day in Oslo and I hadn't planned to do anything but stay inside and study. However, I ended up having an unexpected day out. My friend was running in a relay race, so I went to take care of her things and give her some water at the end of her run. Since it was quite a spontaneous decision and I hadn't heard much about this race, I thought it might be a minor university event with a few small teams or something. I was so pleasantly surprised when I found out that I was wrong! This race was the Holmenkollstafett, an 18km long relay race with 15 members in each team and 40,000 people taking part!

It was really fun to watch the people running. Some of them were dressed in a special way, representing their company, university department or charity. We saw a blind man running with the help of a guide, a man in a furry gorilla cosutme and even several young, but very energetic children taking part. There were various mishaps, mainly due to crowd control - it was unbelievable to see the amount of people wandering vaguely in the middle of the street, in the way of all of those exhausted runners! There were also a couple of occasions where the person who was meant to be taking the baton was missing, which resulted me learning a lot of Norwegian swear words!

One of the fun parts of the day was hearing the Norwegian crowd cheering at people running past. In England we don't really say anything specific, (do we??) but here they shout something that sounds like "hai-ya, hai-ya"which sounded quite unusual to me. It was nice that even people just passing by stopped to cheer a few random people here and there. The race felt very inclusive and everyone who took part was given a lot of support and encouragement. 

We stayed for quite a while, watching people whizz past and sunning ourselves happily in the unusually warm weather. It was a really exciting day and it really confirmed for me how much I'd like to take part in a race someday. It must be very rewarding to train for so long and to take part in an event like this, where so many people come out to watch your hard work pay off. 

Have you ever competed in a race? I hope your Saturday was as beautifully sunny as mine turned out to be!

inspire nordic

♥

Photo A Day May - Part One

From the left...

1. Peace - It was very peaceful to live in Oslo last Semester. Last night we were thinking about our former housemates and the lovely times we had. One night we were all upset about various things and we sat together in the kitchen, cried and ate oranges. We always managed to calm each other and I miss the way that we used to live together so peacefully. 

2. Skyline - I know there should really be buildings in a skyline, but much of Norway's 'skyline' looks like this. Natural and serene. 

3. Something I wore today - I live in floral dresses and long cardigans. This outfit is kind of my comfort-wear. It's just a light cotton dress and a warm snuggly cardigan with deep pockets to keep my candy in!

4. Fun! - Fun is people-watching on the warm balcony, whilst sipping glasses of ice cold 'Fun'. Strawberry and Rhubarb flavour is the yummiest. (And pinkest!) 

How are you doing today? Is it as grey there as it is here? It's now less than two weeks until I pack my bags and move back to England. This time I will be moving into our new house, I'm so excited to get to know the new area and to decorate my new bedroom! 

I have a lot of books in storage and some are brand new. I'm thinking about having a giveaway soon because I want to find good homes for them. What do you think? Is a book giveaway something you'd be interested in? 

inspire nordic

♥

Lets cycle around the city together today

"She didn't have to pay for it-
it was growing there already, 


tall and old, by the gravel drive,
where we used to ride our scooters.


No one else was allowed to pick
the huge pale blooms that smelt like jam


It was mine all through that summer.
In October we moved again.


But even never seeing it
couldn't stop it from being mine"
A Rose Tree - Fleur Adcock

inspire nordic 

♥

T is for Tiny Capital

Somebody linked this video to me a little while ago and I've been really excited to show you ever since! It's called Tiny Capital and it was made by Eirik Evjen, who very kindly let me share it. (Links to his pages can be found below). 

I wanted to share this with you today because I've been planning on writing a post about Oslo for a while now. I wasn't sure how to show you my new city, which photographs would be appropriate to include or which stories of places I've visited would help you to travel with me around my little town. So it makes me very happy to be able to show you this video, which gives you a fascinating and beautiful insight into this 'Tiny Capital'.

Tiny Capital from Eirik Evjen on Vimeo.

(Please click here to follow him on facebook & twitter :)

PS: who was it who showed me this video in the first place, I'm sure it was one of you but my mind has gone blank. I'd like to say thank you for inspiring my post and for sharing this with me!

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B is for Botanical Gardens

When I arrived in Oslo, one of the first places I visited was the Natural History Museum. To get there you take a path through this beautiful area called the Botanical Gardens.

Founded in 1814, it contains approximately 7500 different plant species and aims to draw awareness to the importance of plant diversity.

My favourite area in the botanical gardens is Oldemors Hage (Great-granny’s Garden). It functions as a “living archive” of plants that aren’t available commercially any longer and that have been collected from old gardens. It is set in a little area of its own, surrounded by a cute little fence. There are benches to sit on, facing out towards a breathtaking view of Oslo.

One of the nicest features of the Botanical Gardens is that they have been specially tailored towards certain groups of people. For example, 'Oldemors Hage' is “particularly designed for people suffering from dementia – the familiar scents, old-fashioned benches and other traditional elements have a comforting effect and improve their memory.” Continuing with this idea, there is another area called 'The Scented Garden'. This garden has its plants built into beds set higher up, for easier access to wheelchair users and all of it’s signs are in Braille.

The gardens are best viewed in the spring and summer, when the beautiful flowers are in bloom, however, I took a trip there a couple of months ago and visited the greenhouse. A lovely and warm escape from the snow and cold air, the greenhouse is like a little summer sanctuary, filled with themed rooms, such as the Mediterranean Room and the Desert Room. Here, you can walk around a pond covered in giant waterlilies, visit rooms filled with tropical plants or just take in the warm atmosphere and pretend you are somewhere exotic for a while!

The garden is free to visit and I recommend visiting both the Natural History Museum and the Geology Museum too, if you ever go there! More information can be found here.

(pictures lovingly taken myself, for once. Help yourself if you like them, but please link back to my blog :)

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Cozy days

I'm sorry that I have been away for so long. I was in England for a week, visiting my family and then I flew back to Oslo with my best friend who stayed for almost a week. 

We had such a lovely time together. She helped me remember all of the things I liked about this place, since I had grown tired of being here for so long. We spent long evenings chatting together and drinking wine, cooking nice food and playing cards. 

On the first day we went to Sognsvann, a beautiful lake about 20 minutes walk away from my flat. It had snowed heavily the day before, so it was particularly stunning that day. 

The second day was by far my favourite. After my class we wandered into town and met Bryony's parents who had happened to be in Oslo for a conference. They took us to this lovely cafe for lunch and coffee and when we said goodbye they gave me these beautiful flowers that are currently sitting on my windowsill and making my room smell gorgeous. 

It was so lovely to have Bryony staying here with me and she made me feel a thousand times better! Thank you my beautiful twin :)

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The best hot chocolate in the whole wide world

In Oslo there is a hotel, just off of the main high street, called Hotel Bristol. 

My two flat-mates and I used to visit this hotel every so often to soothe our poorly-almost-broken hearts. The interior seems so fancy with giant glass chandeliers, a water fountain and a man who sits and plays piano, while ladies in expensive-looking fur coats sip on their coffees. There are big cozy armchairs to sink yourself into and rows upon rows of antique books lining the shelves in the corners. 

They make the hot chocolate using real, melted chocolate and there is often enough for three cups each (very good value for money, considering this is Oslo and this place seems so luxurious) and it is served with fresh cream topped with fruit. 

It is just what you need when the weather is icy and you want to forget your worries for an afternoon. 

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