Random tidbits

It's been a while since I posted on here, which is weird because there has been quite a bit going on!  There's been some random things I've been meaning to post about but not gotten around here, so now y'all get a list instead of a normal post.

1)  Elections- The elections in Norway were on September 9th.  I'm still not up on the little details of the system, but I have figured out a bit.  Norway has a multiparty system; there are more than eight major parties.  These parties have formed into two major coalitions; liberal left and conservative right (bear in mind that the entire spectrum is still shifted to the left of the US).  However, many similar issues seem to be on the table; the conservatives want lower taxes and immigration, while the left (who were in power before the election) are more socially and fiscally liberal.  The multitude of parties means that voters can choose their "shade" of party more easily than they can in the US.  Anyway, the Labor Party (left) won the most votes, but their coalition was beat by the conservative coalition, meaning that Norway now has a conservative government and their coalition is the one to raise the new prime minister.  The right is now working to establish a government.  If they cannot do that, apparently the king steps in and asks the other coalition to form the government.  When I was talking to my room-mate about this stuff, he told me that this has actually happened before.  What's impressive is that the coalition that the king asked to take over actually wanted to get rid of the monarchy, and he asked them to form the government anyway.  That's some pretty good kinging, I think!  I'll let you guys know if that happens again this year.

2)  Cheese-  I told you this list was random.  I learned in Drobak that Norwegians have a surprisingly large variety of spreadable, squeezable cheese products.  These are often used for the openfaced sandwiches (smorbrod) that are popular here.  These cheeses come in little plastic containers (like cream cheese) or in tubes (like toothpaste).  There are also lots of flavors, like BaconCheese, VeggieCheese, ShrimpCheese, PepperoniCheese, and JalapenoCheese.  They taste pretty good when paired with other good stuff for those sandwiches.  In other wacky Drobak food news, I tasted horse for the first time down there too, in salami form.  It was just one of those packets of lunch meat you can get at the supermarket.  Its interesting; as soon as you start to think everything is normal in your new home, you get a new experience to remind you "Wow!  This really is a foreign place!"

3)  Classes-  Just a little update on classes; they're going well so far.  I've started my Glaciology course, and its going to be quite a challenge!  I'm keeping up though.  We have a big group presentation for Marine Benthic Ecology this week too; my first graded assignment!  I think it's going to go well.

Anyway, things have been good here.  A little homesickness is starting to kick in, but in general I feel very at home here in Oslo.  I really want some barbecue though!
Some pics from the last two weeks:
Oslo Culture Night:

We got to go to the top of City Hall.  It was a very long climb!  This is the bell cage.  They rang while we were up there.  Very loud indeed!

Here's a view of the fjord from the top of City Hall!  The tents down there are from a Food Festival.  This is the night of Yom Kippur; I got my pre-fast dinner from the festival.  It was great!

We also toured Stortinget, the Norwegian Parliament!  This is the main meeting chamber for the parliament.  There are windows to the left that looks straight to the palace; apparently its so they can keep an eye on each other (symbolically at least).  Fun fact- Stortinget translates literally to "The Big Thing", even though that's not what it really means.  Town/village councils have been called "Ting"s since the Vikings, so it really means "The Big Council", which is much more impressive sounding.

Another picture of Oslo- it's down there by the water.  This was on a walk I took along the many, many trails through the forests around the city.

A selfie in the same place as the last photo.  It was a really beautiful day!  It has been getting colder fast this week; it really looks and feels like fall now.

Drøbak

Last week my Marine Benthic Ecology class took a week to go down the university's biological station in the fjord-side town of Drøbak, about 50 km down the fjord.  It is situated right on the water, which is amazing!

We stayed in Tollbuten, an old customs station that is now owned by the university.

It is the tan building on the left of this picture, which was taken from the work boat we were on to take some of our samples.  We stayed there all week.  The first three and a half days were spent doing field work in three different habitats; we collected lots of different critters from the fjord, than identified and counted them to look at species diversity.  We were in three different groups for this work, so each habitat got three samples taken from it.  We rearranged groups at the end of the week to work on synthesizing data for one of the habitats (I am in the soft bottom group).  We have a report on it at the end of the month.

I loved being in Drøbak.  It is a really adorable town, and it was amazing being right on the water.  We got to sit out on the pier and watch fish and jellyfish and other stuff out in the water.  Here's a really bad photo of some jellyfish; they came up to the pier when the water was cold. 

And a very pretty sunset out our back door.

And the boat we worked on, Bjørn Føyn.

It was an excellent trip, and very educational!  There is an amazing amount of life down there in the fjord! I also got to know my classmates much better.  It was a lot of fun and an amazing trip!

Starting School
    I started classes two weeks ago here at the University of Oslo.  My schedule has been rearranged somewhat, but now it is all settled in.  I am taking three courses now; Marine Benthic Ecology, Marine Environmental Issues, and Glaciology.  The glaciology course does not start for a few more weeks, then has more hours of lecture per week.  That's good, because I am using the time to read up on the subject.  I have had courses in the marine biology classes, and it looks like they're going to go very well.
    Classes here are set up a little differently then they are at home; there is more of an emphasis on at home work, and not all that much lecture.  I normally have 6-8 hours of lecture in a week, with the occasional lab.  However, there is the expectation that we will do quite a bit of outside work and research.  It is not more difficult than class at home, but the emphasis is a bit different, so it may take a little getting used to.
   One of the other different things is that some courses have field components.  Last week, we went to a biological station to do field work for Marine Benthic Ecology.