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May 13th, 2007
11:29 pm - More on the past week
Let's go... Thursday - quiet day. Also a day off. Slept in, some study, hospital to see a birth and absolutely nothing happens for 5 hours (turns out I missed a birth by an hour, a deed I was to repeat on Saturday... But at least, on Saturday I got to see another C-section)
Friday was a good day - I played with the Orchestra at Oslo Convention Centre for Diabetes Research meeting. Out in front of the Centre was a square, where the King's Guard was strutting their stuff for a morning TV show - a band, rifle throwing, etc. And, the orchestra being the orchestra, we played when we were not told to be quiet. Although it was slightly worrying when so many men holding rifles are looking at you in a little funny way, the band members were cool about it, and the leader of the band even told us to keep up the good work!
In the evening, the orchestra played again, this time for a meeting of Medical Faculties around Europe. We had fun, I think the professors had fun, and we even managed to score an invitation to Krakow and Padua!!! That was really cool. And, of course, singing in Norwegian. The orchestra guys are sooooo much fun. And, they speak brilliant English, going as far as making idiomatic jokes, double entendres and puns!
Saturday is Eurovision night! Watched it with the Orchestra. Heaps of fun, surprise surprsie.
Oh, and I also managed to pick up some very controversial, potentially incendiary material - in the city near the Oslo Town Hall, European Commission Delegation to Norway and Iceland were giving away free Europe stuff - like, pins with EU flag and Norway flag side by side, for instance... I've come all the way to Norway, and I"m still scoring free stuff - nothing has changed, eh.
Sunday (today) - went to Ulleval Stadion to watch Oslo Lyn take on Aalesund FK. A scrappy 0-0 draw, but it was raining, and the ground was very slippery. It was free... I'll probably score couple more free tickets and go to few more games...
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11:24 pm - A busy week!
OK, before I get too lazy, let's start with Ball Medicorum!
It started at Legens Hus (Doctor's House) across the road from Oslo Castle, with nibbles. Then, a music performance from the choir, followed by quite a lengthy march through the streets of Oslo with the Medecisnsk Paradeorchester leading the way. Not strictly true - it was in fact led by two policemen on horseback which kept defecating as they went. Horses shall be horses...
This part isn't completely necessary, but here we are. Then, I headed back to Grava with the orchestra for a chat, a meal and few drinks. Afterwards, I met up with Lin who's been out shopping for his suit. We got there around 10 pm, and the speeches at the Ball were still going. Mostly in Norwegian, with one exception - one was in LATIN, of all things. Then, everyone got a medal commemorating the fact that they were at the Ball. The Ball had been taking place for 130-odd years, and they place a heavy emphasis on tradition, so much so that the dancing part of the night started with everyone walking around in lines, then walking under people's arms, and what not!
Oh, btw, I didn't actually pay to go to the Ball. I just walked in through the door at 11pm - but Norway being Norway, there are no security guards. My Norwegian friends tell me that we were probably the first bunch of people to sneak in. Not that we missed much - overpriced, not so fantastic food, couple of glasses of average wine, a badge and many speeches in Norwegian.
Then, around 1 am, we left the hall for the afterparty at an university professor's house!!! Who'd have thought it, eh? perhaps partly because of that, the party was a very quiet, subdued affair - no one drinking too much (but most students have grown up beyond that point) or making a fool of himself; just people sitting around chatting and smoking. (Yes, smoking; quite a few med students smoke, which would be an absolute sacrilege in Oz, eh)
This went on all night - of course, you didn't have to stay all night, but I decided I might as well. You see, there was a final item in store (or I thought it was the final thing) which was a buffet breakfast at a hotel down town. Did we need it or what....
The final thing, as it turned out, was another drinking session, as some people decided that they were still shamefully sober! I just came home and slept...
Which meant that most of the weekend was a complete write off... Except that I scheduled for a big spring clean of the kitchen (it was inspected by the landlord and was found wanting) on Sunday and only one person turned up. I just cleaned out the balcony, and we were given a week's grace. Nothing has happened in regards to further cleaning from my neighbours though, so I'm not worrying about it.
Tuesday - cooked some Korean food for friends. It worked out alright, and just went on to confirm that I'm not a great cook...
Wednesday, I saw a Caesarian section for the first time. Very quick. Also I found the whole process a little bit off-putting (this comes after I've seen orthopaedic operations)... I wouldn't be recommending caesarians to my friends, unless they really need it!
K. More to come. I'm worried this is getting a bit too long...
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May 10th, 2007
11:08 am
Well, what have we here... Um... Rather busy few days, without achieving much. Orchestra rehearsal is going into high gear - quite a few performances coming up - first one on Friday being the Ball Medicorum parade. Should be interesting - we're marching with police escort, apparently...
Weather's been real nice, and Songsvann is quite spectacular. Water bit too cold for swimming though. But a lovely place for picnic - and in fact, a lot of people do have picnic around the lake.
Gym - new routine - 30 reps x 3 with lighter weights. It really really hurts. More than previously...
The really cute Swedish girl at the Cafe Athletica is gone - she's headed to Cuba, apparently.
50 % divorce rates in Norway... Just like many other Western countries, really...
Other than that, it's all systems routine, really. Hopefully, things get a little more interesting next post - it'll be after the ball!
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April 21st, 2007
08:41 pm
We've been having an absolutely beautiful weather here... Blue sky and sun. About as good as it gets in Sydney! But the wind has little more chill to it...
There was a school shooting in Virginia Tech. Very tragic, and especially so, because, well, that could have been anyone that died! Sometimes, it seems really bleak, when there's no difference between living and dying is matter of chance - being in the wrong place at the wrong time meant that you got shot and died. Is there really no meaning to life than just that???
On more cheerful side, try this: http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=mg19426003.000 and note 'Forgotten Secret'. That says a lot about sex in modern world, does it not? or does it say a lot about pets?
And, this afternoon, we had a picnic at Vigelands Park. Still a bit of chilly wind around, but the weather wasnt' too bad. And we had fun. I demonstrated the fact that I was moving up the world very quickly by drinking champagne (the small bottle I got after playing at the wedding with the orchestra) and we had a portable bbq (charcoal in a foil tray) with sausages and meat. Eric and Karin gave me a birthday present! That was extremely nice of them: Knut Hamsun's 'Hunger', which is about as Norwegian book as it can get, I think.
Eric also had another news for me - my 160 proof alcohol from Estonia is classified as 'narcotic' in Norway, apparently... What that means is that if the Customs pulled me over and found it with me, I'd have spent 3 months in gaol! Hm... Ha... Hm...
Life in Norway is progressing at a very relaxed pace... Can't believe there's less than 2 months left!!!
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April 14th, 2007
05:44 pm - Back in Oslo
OK... I've given up on catching up with blogs... I'll try my best to get around to it... but I make no promises...
So, back in Oslo, and my parents have left. Rather tired, so haven't done much partying... but I must now - I have way too much alcohol lying around than is good for my health. And one of them is 160 proof (or 80% alcohol by volume). I still haven't decided if I should use it as a cleaning fluid - giving it to othe rpeople might land me in court charged with manslaughter!
And, what's even worse is that I've ended up with 2 more small bottles of champagne today - the medisinsk paradeorchester turned up at a former member's wedding as a 'surprise'. It wasn't really, since orchestra has played at other people's wedding in the past as a 'surprise', and he had a case of champagne for us to take with us after we finished. It was kinda fun playing, and the groom actually joined us for a tune, and people standing around taking pictures and throwing rice.
Anyway, it's good to be back home, and the computer isn't playing up any more so it's all good. My room's getting quite warm and quite light early in the morning (say 6-ish) but i'll have to live with it...
A quiet weekend - some work done, etc. Til next post!
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April 4th, 2007
09:48 pm - Tallinn, Estonia
A day trip to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and one of the latest member of EU. Estonia's not in Schengen passport free zone, which means everyone gets their passports/IDs checked (EU people don't get a stamp). As it was a day trip, I've ended up with 4 stamps in my passport today!!!
Anyway, the boat pulled into Tallinn port at 1100; and the purpose of the trip for many Finns became clear - SHOPPING! Estonian goods, with tax, is actually cheaper than many European tax free shops! This is of particular importance for cigarettes and alcohol which are taxed extremely heavily - I saw people carrying up to 4 slabs of drinks off the ship back in Helsinki.
I guess that's the dark side of these trips - buying alcohol and sex tourism.
Anyway, after disembarkation, we went to the old town of Tallinn (UNESCO World Heritage Area) which first appeared on a map in 1140s (so the town's probably much older) and had the world's tallest building/church tower b/w 1400 something and 1600 something.
The old town is a real medieval town - cobble stones worn down by centuries of usage, old stone buildings, lots of colourful and strange metal decorations, narrow streets and what not - and scrupulously clean, which probably wasn't the case during the medieval days.
They really really sel this medieval stuff - lots of shopkeepers, peole handing out stuff, etc are dressed in medieval outfit - obviously not the grubby and low quality stuff the workers wore, but high quality, elegant outfits. And the girls look absolutely fabulous in those clothes!
Actually, Estonian girls in general, look really hot. And speak fairly decent English. Then again, that's probably how they got the job in the first place. Come to think about it, most people working in the old town, for tourists, were girls... hm... Either way, I dig Estonian girls too...
So, walk around the old town, some shopping, some pictures, and yeah, it's a fairly pretty town. But also a single visit kind of place - not really enough to keep you busy for long.
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April 3rd, 2007
11:20 pm - Helsinki
OK, this is going to be horribly out of order... But I'm here, so I'm going to do this first...
We arrived in Helsinki this morning - and I must say, Helsinki is a rather boring place, not particuarly picturesque, nor does it have lot of stuff to see. According to the Lonely Planet, Suomilinna or Sveaborg, which is a fortress defending Helsinki harbour built by the Swedes (back in the days when Finland was under Swedish control) to keep out the Russians (they took it anyway after a seige when they decided they really wanted Helsinki). Very rugged, but really cool fort, but not really worth coming all the way to Helsinki for.
Another site worth seeing is Boulder Church - it's made out of broken rock, in the middle of Helsinki. Clever idea and very unusual. Very sparse, like the rest of Helsinki, I guess. It doesnt' seem as busy as Stockholm or Oslo, even, although Helsinki, apparently, is bigger than Oslo, population wise.
Another thing - the locals stand and wait for the traffic light to change. Which doesn't happen in Oslo or Stockholm. And the cars don't stop for you when you're waiting to cross the road, which also happen in Oslo and Stockholm. I can't help but compare with the places I've been to, and note how different it is. And even the language is foreign too.
Helsinki - warm day today, but the wind very cold - no wonder they have such high incidence of asthma. My airways underwent bronchoconstriction even at the thought of the bitingly chilly winds in winter! Also, streets rather dusty - every door of an apartment had a shoe scrubbing brush outside.
Must say, I really really dig Finnish girls - they have this exotic air to them - possibly due to the pale eye colour with dark hair. Whatever it is, I reckon Finnish girls are cute.
Off to Estonia tomorrow!
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11:12 pm - Cruise from Stockholm - Helsinki
So much for backdating... This is gonna be a short one. Easter holiday with my parents (more on that later). On board Viking Line's Gabriella for an overnight ferry ride from Stockholm to Helsinki. A big ship, takes 2500-odd people, and you don't need to book a cabin, and the ship stops by Alands (which are a group of many many islands, territory wise under the control of Finland, culturally under Swedish influence. And they have managed to opt out of EU when Finland joined, so they're outside EU, and ergo a 'tax free zone' when you stop by) which obviously caters for young cruisers who come on board to party and drink all night!
We had a cabin, which was quite comfortable and had no window but curtains pretending to be covering the window... about as good as a 3 star hotel, I thought... Went to buffet meal for dinner, which had lots of local food - which consisted mostly of herring, herring and more herring, with octopus, shrimps, salmon, mussels, that kind of stuff. Hm... Herring...
Coming out of Swedish harbour was very pretty - lots of islands and beautiful scenery in the fjord. It was a little strange though - we were sailing in the Baltic Sea, and there was no salty tang to the air that is so characteristic of ocean in many other places I've been to (ditto in Helsinki) Watch out for pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/ythwang
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11:11 pm - A whirlwind tour of Amsterdam
Please excuse the retroactive dating... I really didnt' have a chance to write this while I was away...
Anyway, I had an extremely light week, in terms of scheduling at the university - study day on thursday and friday, and then 'independent study session' on monday to wednesday, and a thursday off as a study day! This really called for an extended trip away - and hence, the decision to go on this trip. Which nearly killed me, by the way, but more on that presently.
So, on Wed evening, I flew to Amsterdam from Sterling, a Danish low-fare airline that has its second hub at Oslo Gaardemoen airport. In posession of a bottle (500 ml) of duty free whiskey, I boarded the plane. Landed at Schiphol airport at Amsterdam - a big and new airport that's about 15 min away from the city centre by train. Went through very easily, no customs, no passport control, no luggage. Then, got to my hostel, which was about 20 metres from the red light district if you used the back door (25 if you used the front door), and also allowed smoking in the rooms, which is apparently the norm in hostels in Amsterdam. (I managed to find only one that didn't, but more on that later) Anyway, my room was already occupied by a couple of people sleeping; so I joined couple of british girls on a vacation and an american and a canadian also on a vacation for a drink (and few joints for them... but this is amsterdam).
Woke up in the morning, first person in the room (I was the last one to go to sleep), checked out and relocated to the smoke-free hostel - it was run by Christians, so it had huge writings like 'Jesus is the Lord' on the wall, which made for a very novel kind of graffiti. There was also a girl at the reception (a volunteer, apparently, and obviously from Amsterdam. In fact, most workers are American volunteers... As to why they are here, it's completely beyond me - I mean there are plenty of other places that could do with their work and enthusiasm) who made statements like 'Yes, that was a really fantastic experience, God was really with me that day'. Hm... Hm... Hm.. It was also alcohol free, not allowed in the hostel, full stop, while smoking was only limited to the open air courtyard. Isn't this kind of condoning smoking over drinking alcohol?
Oh, and this hostel was even closer to the action of the red light district - about 10 steps away from the door was a 'window' where a prostitute would stand and try to grab attentions of passers by... getting to the hostel was decidedly an 'unchristian' walk. Btw, the main street is called Ooderzijds Achterburgwal. I reckon that has couple more vowels and consonants more than it really needs at the same time - which is some achievement! (I think that's the case for Dutch in general, but hey, I didn't grow up using Dutch).
But, once you get out of the red light district, Amsterdam is a very pleasant city. Amstel canal is very cool, and the area around Remrandtplein is realy hip, with bars, cafes, etc. All the seediness has been concentrated into the red light district, while the rest of the city is like everywhere else. Kinda handy - if you want seedy stuff, you know where to go; while everyone else goes about their business in nicer parts of the town. Mind you, the red light district is a rather soulless place and made me feel like running into the nearest church (that was free... there was a big church near by, but they were charging admission fee!)
At Rembrandtplein, there's a lifesize replica statues of Rembrandt's Civic guards - as in, someone created bronze statues in the pose as they appear in the picture and arranged as they appear in the picture as well. Pretty interesting.
Then, went to Anne Frank House. Since all the churches (bar one) were either closed or charging exorbitant entrance fee, it's about as close to you can get as a some sort of holy shrine in Amsterdam. Anne Frank House charges as well, and it's all sparse and not really much to grapple with it, but the whole meaning, implication and what the house signifies is almost religious in a way.
Then, back home to this religious hostel. And a quick trip to the supermarket - and the prices are very reasonable, even by aussie standards - 100g block of chocolate for 29 euro cents!!! Not bad, eh?
Next day: a hike to the Rijksmuseum, which is slightly disappointing. Not a huge amount of artwork, not even Rubens, Rembrandt or Vermeer (as a matter of fact, there's more Dutch paintings on display at Le Louvre, and more Rubens at the National Gallery in London). But Van Gogh museum is really good - definitely worth going. It's not just for displaying the works of Van Gogh, although that is the main purpose - they have pictures from contemporaries of Van Gogh. And Vincent was a simply amazing painter - was he really mad? were the paintings manifestations and expressions of his madness? or was he a genius that came a little bit too close to madness and crossed over the line? Not quite sure about that one yet...
Then, the weather turned crappy and started drizzling. Back to the hostel. Then, rain stopped. So, walked to the Concertgebouw for a performance of Elgar's Enigma Variations and Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony. Never heard the last work before, but I really enjoyed it. Fantastic orchestra in a rather boxy, standard concert hall. The more concert halls I visit, more I realise how special Sydney Opera House is... (and how crap Sydney Symphony is too).
Then, I caught the tram home - the concert ticket allows free travel on all Amsterdam public transport few hours before and after the concert until the last service. I thought that was kinda cool. Next morning, I boarded a Thalys train bound for Paris...
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April 1st, 2007
11:42 pm - Easter Holidays
My parents arrived 2 days ago in Oslo.
Yesterday, I took them around Oslo - took them to Frognerseteren, Holmenkollen, Vigeland Park (a really really nice place for a picnic! must do it sometime!) and Oslo Castle (also a nice place to go and drink and eat food with a small group and chill out generally). A busy day for them, obviously.
After an overnight bus ride, we're in Stockholm. It was a perfect conditions today - sunny, warm temperature, no wind and blue sky! And now, I also know where all the pretty girls in Stockholm go - shopping centres!!! either that, or they're working in cafes.
OK, let me catch up with blogging from Amsterdam, Paris and London.
Y
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March 16th, 2007
11:01 pm - Copenhagen
Well, a lot has happened since the last post... But check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/ythwang It's a shrine to megalomania, or has such great potential to be...
Let's get little things out of the way:
i would love a big english breakfast... with bacon, sausages, mushroom, tomatoes, toast, eggs and all... Hmmmm....
Water in Norway comes from Glaciers. As in, they don't have rain catchment water, they drill a hole into a glacier, and get water from that. Quite possibly explains why it's one, positively icy in coldness, and slightly yellow. But water does taste nice!!! (mind, I thought water in Copenhagen tasted good)
Wednesday last week, before Copenhagen, I performed an examination on a day old baby, which was actually novel and quite fun. Mind, the baby pooed, then, peed, and then coughed on me. In order. Baptism into paediatrics. At least, I have changed a nappy. I'm sure that'll come in useful sometime in the future.
OK, the big trip: Copenhagen.
It was very interesting - capital of Kingdom of Denmark for much longer, the place has more history, more civilization, and more culture. Also more cosmopolitan and slightly cheaper than Oslo. But it's also slightly more chaotic and dirtier...
But a very pretty town. Definitely worth a visit sometime.
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March 14th, 2007
03:19 am
Bloody &*%&^$$*$ hell, second fire alarm for the day... the most recent one at 3 am... some stupid idiot needs serious help
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March 4th, 2007
12:14 pm - La Vie en Rouge, Bleu et Blanc
Funnily enough, that's same colour as Le Tricolour...
What's been happening? um, not really much. The weather has warmed up considerably so most of this week, the temperature has been hoving just above freezing. At least, it's snowing now (although it's still above zero) - hopefully we should have some good snow cover again!
On that note, went skiing last Friday. I don't fall down any more! So, it's all good. Might have to try snowboarding sometime...
I should mention, I dont' have toaster, no electric kettle, no microwave, no gril... just hot plate and an oven... real throw back to the 70's, I think...
Oh, and 'sport shops' in Oslo sell guns. I'm contemplating taking up shooting... and must learn to skate backwards - two things to do while i'm here...
Interesting concept - I can't quite remember the name, but there is an idea in Norway that if there is something really want, you keep it inside you as a huge secret and don't tell anyone. As for the reason? are they worried about losing face when things don't happen? are they worried that someone or something will try to stop them from achieving their goal? It's certainly very different from the prevailing attitude in the States, for instance (I mention this because the Norwegian I was talking to had spent 10 years in States, and went to school there, where they encourage you to set goals and work toward it)
A slow week, this one - next week, I'm going to Copenhagen - this one should be a little more interesting!
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February 23rd, 2007
10:48 pm - Orchestra! Skiing!
That's the big topic, but more on that presently... Let's go backward in time..
When I arrived in Oslo, I had to register at the police station as a foreign visitor. When I registered, I also applied for a Norwegian resident number - an ID number that everyone living in Norway is supposed to have. When I submitted the form, I was told that it would take 4 weeks. And voila, 4 weeks and a day (for mail delivery, I guess), which is today, I find my national ID number in my mailbox!
Talking about mailbox, I found in my mailbox a letter from the Norwegian Post in Norwegian. When I've asked someone to translate it for me, apparently the letter was sent by the Norwegian Post asking me to confirm that the receiver, ie, Yun Tae Hwang, is indeed the owner of the mailbox. That's very nice of them... Having said that, I've used my mailing address as the mailbox for a couple of people, until they got settled into their accomodation. None of the mails for them arrived, because the name of the recipient was not me!
Thursday, Inger, the student rep for our class, organised a skiing trip (now, so that makes me wonder, what exactly do student reps at our uni do!?!?!) Which is absolutely fabulous of her. And to top it off, she baked some cinnamon bread rolls and brought them along to share during lunch!
So, we got on this bus to a place called Koningsberg. And Inger got us extra discount by classifying us as a 'class', with Inger as the teacher. Quite long ski slopes, and if the green run here is also rated green in australia, i'll eat my hat. Anyway, lots of falls, very stiff today! But at least, I've learnt how to stop properly now. Apparently, in Norway, children start skiing from age of 2. If you are old enough to walk without losing balance, they give you skiis!
And then, during the night, we went to Trivia night at a student pub at Sogn student residences. That was fun. And, even better, we won!!!!!
Wednesday - nothing very interesting; but I spent couple of hours in the evening at a clinic in a paediatric hospital. Little different from Rikshospitalet, which, I am constantly reminded, is a national referral centre for all the exotic, difficult to manage cases. Quiet night, so talked with the doctor on duty about medical system in Norway - and Norway's very lucky that if a problem needs to be solved, they can throw money at it: all hospitals have computerised records, wireless connections between the labs and clinics, PACS system to manage X-rays, CT, MRI over the computer, and, if your condition requires specialist care that is not available in Norway, the government will send you to a place where the expertise is available! But even here, there's constant pressure from the bureacracy to the doctors to reduce costs, so quite often, the doctor will spend more time with the paperwork than with patients... another thing that doesn't change over politics, national borders and languages...
Tuesday, we were in the hospital with this fantastic doctor. Paediatric cardiologist, with a fantastic sense of humour, and a great teacher. He took us to see his 'favourite' patient, who was a 10 year old girl from Tanzanian refugee camp who was brougth to Norway (the government has made a commitment to UN to cover the costs of treating 50 patients a year in Norway) to undergo surgical repair of severe mitral valve regurgitation. Good clinical signs, but beside that, this raised several discussion points - is it ok to have 'favourite' patients? and what do you do in cases like the above? I mean, obviously she needs monitoring and care over long term, not just a single visit to Norway for valve repair.
His stance (after all, there are no answers to such questions, is there) was that one, you are only human and therefore you will have patients whom you like more than others. Flip side of that is, you wil have patients whom you like less than others. In fact, you might actively dislike them. He went on to say that if you cannot work with the patient, it is important to inform the patient that you cannot work with the patient any more, and that you will refer them to another doctor. Which is reasonable, I guess.
Second question - there are only limited things you can do as a doctor. It's important to recognise what is under your control and what is not. In this case, granting the girl a visa so she could live in Norway for followup and monitoring, while ideal, was clearly beyond any single doctor's power (unless that doctor happened to be the immigration minister). So, as unfortnate as the circumstances are for the patient and as unsatisfied with the sub-optimal situation, as a doctor, you do your best and hope for the best.
Anyway, later at night, I went to the orchestra rehearsal. This orchestra's purpose of existence is to have fun, to crash the children's parade past the palace on Norway's national day, and to partake in 'quality control' of Carlsberg's annual Christmas brew by visiting the brewery in Copenhagen. It was really cool and awesome fun - most fun I've had in yonks! Orchestras in Oz seem to take their music waaaaay too seriously. It's a little bit hard to describe why it was so much fun - after all we played a tune, then a toast with beer, and then broke spontaneously into a song. Then, repeat. Songs were, of coure, in Norwegian, but one guy decided that we must, while we have an Aussie in midst, add to the repetoire, and went on to sing (yes, SING) Waltzing Matilda!!! Fantastic people, too. Friendly and all. And, they were so nice and actually spoke in English during the practice!
Enough of that. I'm going to sleep - need to be fresh for cross country skiing tomorrow. I think the gym sessions are paying off - I'm not as physically tired after skiing sessions.
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February 19th, 2007
08:58 am - Sweden
I've been away from my computer a bit - quite a busy few days... Rotaract meeting, which was really interesting, except that it was in Norwegian. They have smaller number of members, but they all turn up more regularly, it seems.
Wednesday night - cross country skiing course. Learnt not much, more or less. Then, there was a kulpils organised by Inger (Wednesday night!!!!! these norwegians are crazy! but more on that later), then off to the bus station to catch the night bus to Uppsala, Sweden.
Uppsala is a university town of 200,000 people. Quite a busy place, and shops have much more reasonable opening hours than Oslo! Also, the university in Uppsala (oldest in Scandinavia) has a fantastic university hall, and the cathedral there is the biggest in Scandinavia too, and that's where Swedish king/queen is crowned. (Admittedly, Oslo Cathedral doesn't really deserve to be called a cathedral; it's more like an oversized church...)
But talk about crazy Swedes - at Swedish universities, there's a thing called 'nation' - it's very old, some dating back to several hundred years, and essentially, it was an organisation to support the university students from a particular locality studying away from home. So, this 'nation' would provide housing, meals, social setting, etc and the costs would have been subsidized by the community the 'nation' originated from.
That was then. Now, it has more or less the same function, except that you don't have to come from a certain region to belong to a nation, for one, and for another, you don't have to be a current student to be a member. It's sufficient that you were a member once, and as long as you keep paying membership fees, they won't kick you out. And for the membership fee, you get subsidized food and cheap drinks in a student bar, which is allowed to open til 3 am every day (and they do open til that late every day) and 5 am on weekends. Quite a few failed exams there, unsurprisingly...
On that, some idisyncracies of education funding... In Oz, you pay uni fees, so you get a loan from the government in form of HECS; at the same time, if you qualify, you get Youth Allowance for free from the government!!! In Sweden, and in Norway, uni education is free. It costs next to nothing to go to uni (of course, you have to pay your nation membership) and student loans go towards your living expenses!!!
Next day, I was in Stockholm. Quite a pretty city, and the town hall is very impressive. Should be, since that's where they hold Nobel Ceremony Dinner every year. If you're a student at a Swedish university, you may be able to attend the dinner as part of a procession. Which is kinda cool...
Next up was Gamla Stan, or Old Town. That's where they have the castle inhabited by a fairy tale princess. Well, she look pretty enough to have come out straight of a fairy tale... The castle is actually impressive, though not as opulent or extravagant as Schloss Schonbrunn in Vienna.
Next day, a quick visit to Gamla Uppsala - remains of viking stuff. Not very exciting. Then, Sigtuna, which is a small town on Lake Malaren. Absolutely stunning views! and some old ruins - Sigtuna is the oldest town in Scandinavia... Also, on waterways, they have cross country skating... You can go all the way from Uppsala to Stockholm on skates!
Then, another night bus back to Oslo. Got in here at 5:30 am. The whole town was completely empty!
Then, cross country skiing course. Hard work, but I'm getting better at it. 2014 Olympics, here I come!!!
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February 11th, 2007
05:30 pm - Snow Activities
I've been very impressed with the weather last few days - it's snowed almost non stop until Saturday; and the temp never strayed above 10 below freezing either (the lowest I've experienced was -18)
Annoying thing about Norway No 1: all the shops, even the supermarkets and the ones in the city centre, are closed on Sundays. Not, open late and close early, not some shops close for Sunday, virtually every shop and grocery stores, even the ones aimed at tourists (those I've seen today anyway) are closed on Sundays. It seems very strange after the US, but you couldn't spend money on Sunday in Oslo even if you wanted to! I guess Sunday is when people go to church, spend time with family etc, but not everyone does that surely, even in Oslo - this is a modern country, which means it has all the baggages like divorce, DINKS, busy people whose only chance to shop is on weekends and many people in transit - travellers, exchange students, and people from other parts of Norway who are here for various reasons and won't be going back home for Sunday because they're too far, etc. How about them? This is a market economy - who caters for them????
Maybe there aren't enough dinks and ultra busy people to make catering for ragtags who don't have other commitments on Sundays. I can tell you, there certainly are plenty of exchange students who complain quite a lot about how boring the weekends can get!!!
Oh, there is something the locals do - go to cafes and restaurants - they open (sometimes til quite late) on Sundays too. But, we were wondering around the city today in cold looking for somewhere warm, anywhere warm to go in and get some warm food, every cafe, restaurant and pub said they open at 12 midday. Except that they weren't open when we got there well past 1 o'clock... What the blazes were they putting up that sign for saying they open at 12???
Annoying thing about Norway No 2: Not from recent experience, but - bureaucracy, and the amount of time it all takes! Seems to be quite a lot of that here (or maybe I just haven't been on exchnage). But the bureaucracy certainly moves slow (and the offices only open at limited times) compared to the US or even Australia!
Annoying thing about Norway No 3: bottle shops, or lack thereof. YOu can buy alcohol in supermarkets, but only beer and mixers. You see, legal age to drink is, oh I don't know. But legal age to drink spirits with higher alcohol content is 20. So, you can't actually buy anything beside beer at the supermarkets (which are closed on Sundays). Very different from Oz, where some bottle shops open well past midnight, and the US, where supermarkets sell all kinds of alcohol, and stay open all night. And, I went past a wine shop yesterday in Oslo City shopping centre, and it was closed. Time? 3:30 pm. Seemingly, to drink in this country, you have to be mature enough to actually plan ahead when and what you'd drink...
OK, enough garbling. What have I been up to? I went skiing on Thursday (really good deal - 2 hour lift pass + ski hire for 20 aussie dollars!) and I didn't manage a single run without falling down... It was quite painful, and I have a lot of bruises, this time on the lower legs, to show for it. According to Rosie (one of the girls from Belfast; we went skiing together), during one fall, I flipped and then disappeared in a puff of snow. Few seconds later, I was face down in snow, one ski was a few feet behind me, the other one was a few feet ahead, and the poles were all over the place... Rather sore... Still...
Friday - some uni, then a party at Ruben and Christine's place. Cute couple, and they're heading to Sydney for obs and paeds (ie, they're the other party of the student swap deal between UiO and UNSW). Ruben's also a champion cross country skiier (has a silver medal from Norwegian national championships) and a fabulous bloke. Wish them all the best in Sydney, and a fantastic time in Oz.
Saturday - not much happened, really. Quiet, rest day. Oh, yeah, went to the Edvard Munch Museum. No Scream (being restored after recovery) and really cool security barriers (presumably installed after the theft of Scream) but it's a really really small gallery. And the tour took almost 2 hours. Lin was saying, if you did a tour at this rate at the National Gallery, London, it'd take a week to get through the whole thing! Probably true - but Munch is THE ART in Norway; there isn't much else, really, beside Munch. But he's an iconic figure in art history, and The Scream, one of the most famous paintings ever. Which is more than what you can say about Australia - we have some intriguing painters, but no one really has 'iconic' status, do they...
Having said that, Norwegians have told me there are 4 Norwegians that are really famous - Edvard Munch, Edvard Grieg, Henrik Ibsen and Roald Amundsen. I'll take their word for it. An iconic artist, a charming composer (which is more than AUstralia can claim; there are some really interesting composers - eg Carl Vine, Ross Edwards, Graeme Koehne, but you wouldn't call most of their works charming), a significant playwright and an intrepid explorer.
Today, tried out the cross country skiis in the morning - ouch. That was painful... And somehow, I managed to fall several times, and run into the bridge and drop my pole into the small creek... Not a very auspicious start to my Olympic career, is it... The scenery was very beautiful though. Then, went to the tour of Old Christiania in freezing cold (didn't realise how cold it was during skiing). I must say, I could have given a tour of our university that was more interesting - the tour mostly consisted of 'this building was built in so and so and was first used as blah, then blah, but is now used as blah blah blah'. Exciting? hardly... and many students are from non-English background, but if you're going to mention Harald Hadrada (who ended up doing more good for William the Conqueror than himself when he decided to invade England in 1066) surely you can say more than 'he was the last viking king of norway'? (does that mean much to anyone anyway?)
Or, Napoleonic Wars affecting Norway and not mention Battle of Copenhagen? (Norway was part of Denmark back then) and what a good job Nelson did on the Danish?
Some more English smugness from Lin. England did win the One day series finals after all that debacle over last few months...
Be in touch! Some interesting things happening next week (cross country ski lessons, trip to Uppsala, Rotaract Club meeting in Norwegian and three engagements, at least, for Valentine's day... it's going to be a busy day!)
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February 8th, 2007
10:53 am - Snow
The winter is finally here - well, it's been here for a while, but the Nordic winter I was led to expect is finally here - it's been snowing all day today, and the temperature is 10 below freezing, Celsius. And the locals have been telling me that this is colder than average! so we step right from unseasonably warm into unusually cold!
A moment of confusion - in Norway, pre-drinks is called vorspiel. In German, there's an exactly same word which means 'foreplay', apparently. It was quite amusing to see a Norwegian guy and a German girl talking about 'vorspiel' on their own bandwidth for about 10 minutes... ok, they've had a few drinks before this point, but you can imagine - 'are you coming to the vorspiel on friday? everyone's invited' 'oh, really? you have invitations for vorspiel?' Germans probably have a set schedule for their vorspiel, they just don't want to admit it...
Anyway, last night was a party at Wei's place for exchange students. Good food, and a fantastic fun all round. Then, we went to Norwegian folk music jamming session, which was realy really really cool. Then, walked back home in snow. Strangely serene and beautiful...
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February 4th, 2007
12:14 pm - Few tidbits about Norway
Some stuff about Norway that I've picked up here and there...
Norwegian mobile phones have messages (eg can't connect to the person) that come out first in Norwegian, then followed by English. Not quite sure whether that's just my company (I got free sim card from a new start up company called Teletopia - so new in fact that they don't have their own network outside Oslo) but I've been told that other people's phone companies do the same thing... So, one, they get a lot of foreigners... that's the only explanation i can think of right now...
Second, University of Oslo has a rugby team - and they're called Oslo Whalekillers. You'd get lynched for that name in Australia...
Third, on Sundays, a lot of things are closed - supermarkets are all closed - so it's a little difficult to buy food on sundays. or anything else for that matter - most clothes shops are closed, bookshops are closed, etc. Only expensive shops in the cities are open and most are obviously targetting tourists...
For this reason, I went grocery shopping yesterday, at a place called Gronland - that's where a lot of immigrants go to shop. It's also very cheap. This means that there are lengthy queues everywhere. Particularly in a shop called Lidl - supposedly the cheapest supermarket in Norway. And after standing in the queue for a while, I can believe that.
Now, onto something interesting - maternity leave in Norway consists of 6 weeks (compulsory minimum - 2 weeks before expected birth date and 4 weeks after) for man, and 43 weeks for women. This 43 weeks, however, can be divided up between husband and wife, if they so wish. And it's fully paid. No wonder Norway has one of the highest birth rates in Europe! This is still below replacement rates, but the rate is not as dire as it is in Italy or Spain (where a woman manages less than 1.5 births). Combine that with free healthcare for children, free childcare and free education up to tertiary level, and now, there's not as many reason to not have children - children does not blow a huge hole in your budget, and the disadvantages a woman may experience by having a child is minimized. So, surprise, surprise, women have children. The declining birth rate in Australia has absolutely nothing to do with this so called 'selfishness' of women, it's because they get short end of the deal when they do have kids. And the government's 'baby bonus' smacks of vote buying and condescension - think about it, if you're well-educated professional woman, $3000 is nothing - some people would make this in less than a week! And then, there's health care, child care, education, incidental expenses. And of course, children require a lot of attention, which a busy pair of parents may not be able to provide constantly. Let's just say that if the Australian government wants people to have more children, and if Peter Costello has a gall to say 'have one for the father, one for the mother and one for the country', he should make sure that there's fund for the country to provide free healthcare for children, free childcare and free, quality education for all children in Australia. Once that's in place, see what happens to birthrate in Australia.
So, the question is, why do I feel so strongly about maternity leave?
Final point - there are a log of girls, lot more than boys, seemingly. Only catch is, it's too difficult to pick one out of so many... ah, choices...
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February 1st, 2007
09:50 pm - The week so far...
Been quite busy... The lectures have been mostly about anatomy, and I never was a huge fan of anatomy... But free pizzas on wednesday and thursday (international student thing) were fantastic - they're as big as the pizzas you get in the States, but have lots and lots of toppings. Fabulous works...
I have a new goal in my life - I'm going to try to become a member of Australia's Winter Olympics contingent for 2014. To that end, I have hired a cross country ski set and bought a pair of ice skates. Some training, and physical conditioning with Lin's help, I feel that I'm on the right track. Lin's going to go for a spot in the British team in biathlon.
Today, we went sledding, and when I say we, I mean, 3 of us from Sydney - me, Nick and Guang,and 3 from Melbourne - Alex, Mary and Darren, and 4 from Belfast, Ireland - Pam, Rosie, Ashleigh and David. Stacked it a couple of times, got a bit wet, but had fantastic time. And yeah, now, I'm tired and very sore... particularly my bum... i hit a few bumps on the way down... ok, a lot of bumps on the way down...
But yeah, I'm having heaps of fun and meeting new people. It's very exciting. I'm happy to be here! One catch is, I am spending money faster than I'd like; but I just got here, and I'm trying to set up with gym membership, etc...
Signing off, I'm off to bed.
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January 30th, 2007
09:30 pm - Resumption of Business
That's right everyone, I'm back at uni. And surprise, surprise, it's not too different from what's happening around back home. Smaller class, lots of girls, some of them very very pretty, but otherwise, nothing too different. Just lectures for now... so the cycle begins once more...
What is different - the hospital provides you with a hospital outfit - white pants, white top, and a white coat to top it off. Australians are really missing out on the white coat - 3 extra pockets it provides can hold a lot of stuff - like, a complete medical exam equipment, books and notes on patients.
And I've been allocated to Rikshospitalet, which is a new, tertiary referral centre for whole of Norway. Looks splendid inside, and promises all sorts of interesting cases. Not that I don't get to see interesting cases at POW... Oh, and did I say that this is the designated royal hospital? that means a member of the Norwegian royal family, should they require a hospital visit, come to this hospital...
Anyway, have met more exchange students - and Australians must be the biggest contingent! There's, what, 8 from UNSW, 2 from Newcastle and 4 from Melbourne... And more girls than guys... Nice people... And then there are few Irish around, an Englishman from Nottingham called Len. Really nice bloke, quite possibly because he's read a lot of books I've read, listened to a lot of music I've listened to, travelled extensively, has a colourful past history and is an all round good bloke. Good company.
And of course, I've managed to meet some Norwegians. Mostly girls - there are more of them around!!! Some of them are gorgeous too... And friendly and helpful, as a general rule of the thumb. Finally, my stereotypes of Norwegian women are being met... isn't that exciting!
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