Alex Brey is here now. The first night he arrived we went to a ballet called “Worlds Beyond” at the new opera house. He was a very good, if exhausted, little sport. Since then we have been whirling through the incredibly sunny streets of Oslo. We haven’t been aggressively touristy — no museums yet — but we’ve walked through campus and the sculpture park and down Karl Johans and to the docks. Today we adventured to a distant peninsula where Abbey is moving for the summer and frolicked on a charming little beach that looked back at the city. We swam in the fjord and grilled vegetables and hotdogs with my Fulbright crew. Tomorrow we will set off for Lillehammer for hiking and such. I’m so grateful that Norway Alex will be driving us because train tickets are $100 each way. Each! I haven’t packed (for Lillehammer or leaving Norway) at all and I’m still in vague denial at my imminent departure, but I have so many helpful hands surrounding me at the moment. It will work out.

First, I can’t quite describe how beautiful the opera house is. I’m not often so charmed by modern architecture, let alone architectural gimmicks. I feel like a series of slanting roofs and triangular windows that let people ascend the roof and hover in strange intermediate spaces to gaze down into the wood-paneled lobby qualifies as a gimmick, but it is also compelling and fresh. Even the jagged strangeness of the structure works in its favor, lending its white and silver framework a kind of glacial aura. The hordes of people climbing all over it look like little black specs from out on the fjord, like lost little penguins. It’s pretty now, but the whole complex will be stunning when the billion lanes of traffic surrounding it are scooped into tunnels, the industrial shipping platforms are leveled, grassy parks are installed, and the various waterfronts are united by a common pedestrian thoroughfare. That will be amazing.

The ballet was just as captivating, if a little odder, than the opera house itself. It began with a tour of the theater’s nether and backstage regions, which Alex and I explored alongside Jonathan, Lauren, and Kirsten. Interspersed with the stage equipment and random stairwells were bizarre vignettes involving children, dancers, and musicians. These interpretive manifestations suggested themes of cooperation, harmony/discord, nature…but they were mostly just strange. The coolest part was walking underneath the stage and then across it. They projected looped clips of the dancers rehearsing the pieces they would later perform onto the wall behind the stage as we wandered, awed, across it. This was actually a valuable experience that gave me a sense of continuity and expectation as the show went on, as I recognized individual dancers from the preview and was able to anticipate jumps and turns that had particularly intrigued me on screen. The show started out slowly and with unfortunately soporific music, but Alex and I were sufficiently gripped after the first piece to stop nodding off. Some of the more shocking elements included a duet in which both the man and woman danced topless (”oh yeah,” Jonathan said afterwards, “I forgot this was Europe”) and a finale in which everybody (men and women) wore hugely fluffy golden skirts. It ended in fireworks. There were about ten too many curtain calls, which some of our company took to be ironic but most of the audience just awkwardly and half-heartedly clapped at.

The picnic today out at the beach across the fjord was wonderful. The water was really refreshing, cold at first but easily acclimated to. Alex and I stuffed some small tomatoes with rice and tomato bits and curry and then grilled them, and they turned out pretty edible. I can’t claim credit for this innovation in any way shape or form as we totally ripped the idea off of Jonathan’s last potluck contribution (grilled tomatoes stuffed with onions). The weather couldn’t have been prettier and I am sunkissed but not burnt. We almost missed the bus coming back (there are only ferries leaving every hour, so this would have been dire), but instead we were all able to bond over a frenzied rush up the hill from the waterfront. Our parting was bittersweet, as I won’t see Lauren or Liz again before I leave next week. It’s really pretty close to over.

The Norwegian Alex and I had a few hours to kill a few days ago so we strolled down to Vigeland park with a tub of Haagen Dazs cookies & cream and a six-pack of Tuborg’s summer beer. Norway is a lot like Astoria in that it can be gray, but when the sun comes out everything glows. Sitting in the sun amidst the sculptures and trees and giggling little Norwegian girls was painfully ideal, and it’s moments like those that I’ll take away from Norway with me when I leave in *ten* days. I know that Alex is upset about me leaving, and the fact that I’m excited to go must be difficult. But it’s not that I’m jazzed about quitting Norway or that life in D.C. will be significantly better (cheaper and easier, yes, not necessarily better). I’m just jittery about this transition and eager to have this transcontinental flight over with. I’m looking forward to seeing my friends from Vassar and, in August, my dear loves in Oregon. All these things are true, but still, I’m not sure I’ll be able to improve on a sunny afternoon with beer and ice cream in a place like this. You never know quite how wonderful something is until you lose it. I know that I’m blessed to have so many experiences to cherish and places to love, but who doesn’t wish they could have them all and all at once?

Not much time to write, am still dripping from a shower and when Alex is finished with his he’ll expect me to be ready to go. We’re off to Versailles this morning, which I’m very excited about as I’ve never been. The past few days have been up and down but mostly good. The weather has been almost too nice, and my shoulders burned within 20 minutes of going outside on Sunday. We’ve done a ton of walking, and my feet have taken a beating in every combination of shoes and socks I’ve tried. Shopping was pretty much a failure yesterday; we neglected to eat lunch ahead of time, which is always a mistake and usually results in my throwing a temper tantrum mid-shop. This was no exception. L’arc de Triomphe (yesterday post-shopping) was awesome, I hadn’t climbed before and it was so need to stand at the center of the roundabout with boulevards radiating out in all directions. We’ve also eaten a fair amount of good affordable food (2 drinks and a dessert in Oslo before we left was $50, and that’s a fine dinner here). And we’ve still got a million fun things on the list of things to do!
Sunday was pleasant, even though we were both exhausted. Our hotel, the Hotel de Tour Maubourg, is right next to Invalides so it is super easy to walk places. We walked down the Seine to the Louvre and then south through the Latin Quarter and past St. Germaine des Pres and back to the hotel. We stopped for lunch at some random place and also at Pierre Hermé for macarons. PH was a zoo, but I squeezed out with 7 of the little delicate hamburger-shaped little sugar things. For dinner we ate at Breizh, a crepe place that Alex recommended. So good. I had a smoked salmon crepe followed by a strawberry-rhubarb crepe with ice cream, and we shared a bottle of cider. They had a hard cider list that took up an entire page; I didn’t realize there was such an array of cider makers and vintages.

Yesterday was a little less put together. We tried to go to the flea market in Clignancourt but I didn’t write down the directions well and we ended up walking the wrong direction out of the metro. By the time we realized our mistake we decided to just keep walking, and came up on Sacre Coeur from behind. We took a quick sweep of the cathedral and then wound our way down the hill the front way, which involved huge crowds of people and the requisite beggars and everything. We weren’t quite hungry yet, so we skipped over the lunch place I had chosen (which, in retrospect, was a mistake) and headed straight downtown to check out Le Printemps and Galleries Lafayette.

Speaking of zoos, these would both qualify. LP was terrible. The women’s sections were all divided between different floors by designer and all the dresses were wacky colors and abstract shapes. I just wanted a plain summer dress. GL was more interesting; at least it had the pretty central dome. I found the l’Artisan Parfumeur booth and sprayed myself with the lovely scent that I fell in love with last year (this clung to my wrist throughout the day and served to cheer me up). They had some Asian theme going on, and they had all these garishly dressed Asian-eyed mannequins wearing giant pink wigs with chop sticks in their hair. While it was amusing, I felt really bad for the Asian tourists who had to brave an entire sea of these things just to escape the building. While we were there they did some show in the middle on a big platform, with glittered and hyper-made-up Asian models spinning paper umbrellas and flipping about and swishing their gaudy dresses. Totally bizarre. I didn’t end up buying anything, as the dresses here were also kind of ugly. I think this must be the season of “floral in shades of puke” so I might try to find a retailer with stock a little further from the cutting edge. Maybe a used clothing store.

The lady at the front desk of the hotel chose a restaurant for us for dinner, and it was a nice enough place just down the street. We ate out in a courtyard. I picked something randomly from the menu and ended up with veal tongue, which was really good as long as I pretended it was real meat. I had to stop when I got to the pointy part at the end. I’ve been speaking a lot of French; there is less English going on than I remembered, maybe because Alex Brey was on translator duty last time around. I know I must have a terrible accent and I forget all kinds of simple words, but nobody has said “what?” in that slightly disdainful tone that my attempts at Norwegian seem to dredge up. Everybody I’ve spoken French with has actually been very supportive, and the majority of the time people seem to prefer my broken French to their own broken English. And even more often than I expected English is not an option at all.

After dinner last night we walked to the Eiffel Tower, and my feet took an even greater beating since I was wearing those heeled brown shoes with the flowers. Cute shoes I never get to wear. Anyway, we missed the last ascent by about 5 minutes, which was disappointing, but the tower was pretty as per usual and periodically burst into sparkles. I need to prep for another day of walking as we’re off to Versailles, and I’m without the pretty sun dress I wanted to buy and wear. Sigh. At any rate, it’s beautiful here and we’re having a great time, but I’m excited to actually buy some souvenirs (perhaps that perfume? a not-ugly dress?) and haul my loot back to Oslo. The soles of my feet miss my lazy Norwegian ways.

We landed safely in Paris this morning and were immediately confronted by crowds and confusing queues for train tickets and other things. I was in my normal resigned-to-delay travel mode, but I think Alex was a little anxious. We were both exhausted. Getting up at 4am for a 6:30 flight was really difficult when we both have a habit of going to sleep around that time. Alex was again anxious about navigating the metro, but I’m a pro at this crowded, smelly, poorly marked business. We landed at 9am and it was already warm. It’s a gorgeous day. Our hotel room is small, but it’s lovely by Paris standards. The walls are a warm red red color, there’s nice art on the walls, a full bathroom, and a pretty view of a park. It’s right across from Invalides, which is a great location. Plus there’s free wireless! What more could I ask for?!

Unfortunately I’m not done with my paper. I’ve filled in most of the gaps by hand, but I still need to type up the new draft and stamp it with my seal of approval. There will be plenty of time for that during afternoon nap time as well as after we get home Wednesday afternoon. I’m more concerned about a traumatic experience I had two days ago at the mall. I spontaneously decided to get my hair cut, and while the results were not terrible — it’s a pretty, natural blonde color and the cut, although short, isn’t wacky — the price was about twice as much as the girl predicted. I just had more hair than she expected and it took extra time and…I’m not even going to say how much it was because it disturbs me just to think about it. I just keep telling myself that it’s nice to have short hair in the sunshine and I’ll cut out some of the items from my Paris shopping list.

Alex hasn’t been here since he was a kid, so I made up an itinerary that includes the best of the touristy stuff (stuff I haven’t done + the stuff I enjoy) as well as the best of the foody / shopping / walking around stuff. I’m pretty excited, although Alex has been poking fun at my detailed itinerary. I don’t have to do any of the things on there, but it’s nice to have plans and contingency plans and to know where some of the good food is hiding. Ok, enough of this Internet business, I’m going to go enjoy the afternoon!

It’s another stunningly sunny day in Norway and I’m in my room writing again. I’m seriously considering moving my bed to the other side of the room so that I can sit in the sunlight while I work. I have to finish everything before Sunday because I just booked a flight to Paris and I want it to be a work-free vacation. “Why Paris?” you may ask. “Haven’t you already been there four times? Aren’t there dozens of new places in Europe you want to see? Haven’t you neglected to visit your friends in Spain and Amsterdam and doesn’t that bug you?” Why yes, that’s all true. But traveling new places is hard work, and I just want to go shopping and eat some good food and enjoy the sunshine. Paris fits the bill, and it’ll probably never be this close again. When in my life will I be able to jaunt over to Paris for a few days? Never. This is a once-in-a-lifetime month. On that note, let me share my agenda for the rest of Norway-time and the summer with you all.

May 11-14: Paris
My goals include buying at least one summer dress, touring Versailles, eating all the wonderful things Robyn and Alex Brey introduced me to last time (must look back in the blog archives, re-trace steps to gelato and falafel and macarons), speaking a bit of French, taking pictures, strolling through parks…basically treating myself to a lovely time.

May 17th: Syttende Mai
Norway’s Constitution day! Just imagine how cool 4th of July would be if it involved a royal family and bunads in addition to all the booze and barbeques! Yeah, that’s what this is.

May 18-27: Undecided
What am I going to do? I have a whole unscheduled week! I could visit the family up north or putter around Oslo or visit the friends in Spain or read a few good books or go somewhere totally random. Man, it’s going to be hard being unemployed and done with school and research and without any commitments.

May 28-June 11: Alex Brey!!!
This is like the grand finale of the whole European year. My dear Vassar Alex — not to be confused with Norway Alex, we need new names for these people — is coming to visit little old Norway for two whole weeks! I still haven’t decided exactly what to do with him. I thought maybe going up to the west coast somewhere and scoping fjords would be nice, since he’s such a talented photographer and I haven’t really done that this year. We’ll of course have to seek out Medieval stuff, since that’s his area of expertise. We’ll probably both be interested in saving money, but that pretty much means a) sitting in my room or b) leaving the country. So we’ll see. We could do a short trip to Stockholm, or maybe the Baltic countries, or maybe even up to Røros to bid the distant family goodbye. I’m really not sure, and I’m just waiting until he survives theses and final exams so that he’ll have time to update me on his thoughts and expectations. It’ll be super fun anyway, doesn’t matter so much what we end up doing.

June 9th: Washington DC
You’ll notice this is 2 days before Alex Brey leaves. This is seriously unfortunate, but I actually start work on the 11th (it was going to be the 10th, but I thought I should have at least 1 day to adjust). I’ll set him up with places to stay and people to hang out with, and I’m sure it’ll be fine. Brendan has already committed himself to coming out to the airport to meet me, which is pretty seriously far out of his way but also pretty adorable. My living situation is all figured out, with a deposit paid and a contract signed. I’ll be subletting an apartment in Columbia Heights along with two other girls, friends from Connecticut who sound very laid back and nice. One of them even studied Norwegian in school, so maybe we can practice together.

So that’s my next month in a nutshell. The writing up of my Fulbright research is going swimmingly. I never imagined that I would glean so much interesting data from just a handful of interviews and a few months of book reading. Academia is really redeeming itself now that I get to create the academic material myself. I may even be ready to go back to school and finish up this degree business after a year or two.

The past 24 hours have been bad. It’s my own fault. I didn’t go grocery shopping when we got back on Saturday, so I had nothing to eat yesterday. Our weekly Fulbright potluck didn’t happen. Nobody even sent out emails about it, probably because nobody could host. I ate a bag of chips around lunch time and sipped on a liter of old, flat Coke. It was pretty much disgusting. I didn’t leave my bed, I just alternated working on a draft of my phone research with checking all the web comics and RSS feeds and blog spam that had built up after a week without Internet. That’s the problem with vacations, they pile up such a mess on the tail end. I never went to sleep, I just kept doing that until well after the sun came up. I hate it when the East Coasties go to sleep before me. You’d think after a day and night of no sleep or food I’d be in a terrible mood, but that’s not the case. It’s a beautiful sunny day! I’m actually really enjoying it.

I did finally get something to eat around 8am. Alex was up early to drive Amanda and Karianne to the airport (they’re off to Rome) and then catch some super sale on a new computer. Unfortunately by the time he got back from the airport, the sale, a grand opening or something, had clogged traffic for miles and miles. He gave up and went home, but he brought me a sandwich on the way. It quite possibly saved my life. And while I probably looked and smelled disgusting enough to scare him away forever, I think it was a pretty great thing for him to do.

I emailed in the paper I was working on (hence the all nighter) soon thereafter and indulged in a power nap. I had to be up and showered for a 3pm meeting to talk about the paper, during which I’m sure I was totally loopy. Even so, it was a good meeting. My adviser is so positive and supportive. In the past I have had trouble receiving critiques, but I have no illusions about the quality of my last minute insomnia products, and furthermore I really respect her opinion. She always comes up with thoughtful observations and helpful insights, and she always seems so optimistic about my work. At the end of this meeting she even suggested I meet with some Telenor researchers to discuss my findings, which sounded pretty cool.

So despite the past 24 hours I walked out of my meeting feeling pretty cheerful. Then there’s the weather. It’s one of those pretty spring days where the sun seems to sparkle. The sky isn’t all blue, there are some clouds and a light breeze, but the sunlight warms your shoulders. The trees are starting to bud and blossom, and there are tulips and bluebells popping up everywhere. Norwegians, as I mentioned before, are sunshine addicts, so there are kids spread out all over the campus lawns, reading books and eating popsicles. I bought a couple bananas and a multivitamin fresh squeezed fruit/vegetable juice concoction and lay down in the grass for a while, just soaking it up. Days like this make you forget all about the dreary winter. They make Norway into some surreal paradise.

I’m kind of surprised by how happy I am all the time these days. It doesn’t make sense that I should be so gleeful without food or sleep. I’m happy with the way things are going here in Norway. I’m even more excited by my research now that I get to focus on the writing part. I’m excited for Alex Brey to get here so I can show him around, and I am itching for Washington D.C. with, the way I imagine it, its affordable beer and delicious American milkshakes and cute summer dresses. I’m even excited to see all my family at Beach Week, even though August is a million years away. I hope we keep having weather like this.

Oh, also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN