Uff-da! We're Not in Kansas, But We Might Be in the Pacific Northwest

Well, my last full weekend in Europe, I took a super cheap flight to Oslo Rygge airport and spent the weekend in Oslo, Norway with Corrine. The weekend flew by extremely quickly, as we spent copious amounts of time in airports trying to catch up on sleep. However, it was fun, even if Oslo is extremely expensive!

Before Oslo, however, we went to see a traveling production of A Midsummer Night's Dream on Thursday at The Globe. This show was absolutely incredible! I had a standing ticket, and I managed to snag a spot front and center, where I could lean against the stage and stare up in awe at the actors. I love the dream, it is probably my favorite Shakespeare play ever. It is certainly much deeper and more entertaining than that droll Romeo and Juliet, and this production was so much more fabulous than the production of Macbeth we had the misfortune of standing through last Tuesday at the Globe. That show was reminiscent of an extremely cheesy haunted house; not something Shakespeare had in mind, I dare say.

The cast of this fabulous production consisted of 8 actors total; 4 men and 4 women. 8 actors meant there was double-casting, which was a riot to watch, as Shakespeare frequently double-cast parts in his day. Whenever there was a scene change and the actors had to switch characters, they incorporated an impressively choreographed dance number, where they would change each others' costumes. Puck was a sexy little vixen (a woman dressed like a cabaret dancer, basically), Helena and Hermia were bratty little teenagers, Bottom was a complete and utter ass, and the entire show was just fabulous! I cannot stop raving about it, and I am so glad that my final theatre production in London got to be such a fantastic experience!

After the show, Corinne and I made our way to Stansted Airport, where we spent the night on the floor. Friday morning, we flew to Oslo and spent the day exploring the city. We saw the Royal Palace, Parliament, and went to see the fjord. We found a statue of FDR, which was strange, and we walked over by a castle and fortress. We also went to have a beer at the Hard Rock Cafe, where I payed $12 for a Guinness, making that the most expensive beer I have had in my life. Admittedly, that's not saying much, as I haven't been drinking beer very long. After exploring Oslo, we went back to our hostel where we got some sleep in real beds for one night.

On Saturday, we got up around 10:00, checked out of the hostel, and then made our way to the open-air Norwegian Folk Museum. To get there, we caught a ferry. By sheer accident, we somehow managed to take the ferry for free. We walked around the museum, and I introduced Corrine to fresh, traditional lefse, which a couple ladies were making in one of the huts in the park. After exploring the museum, we took the ferry back to the city, and we managed through more dumb luck to meet up with Even.

So Even took us around the city a little bit; he couldn't quite show us around as a local, as he doesn't know Oslo very well himself. But Even took us to the opera house, which is a new building and it's built in such a way that you can walk right up the roof of the opera house and look over Oslo. We went to a souvenir shop so that I could buy a souvenir spoon for Grandma Simpson (something Even says he keeps meaning to do, but always forgets. So he helped me pick out the perfect Norway spoon for her), and I commented to Even that everything in the souvenir shop is something I could easily find in Parkland. I had never quite realized before visiting Norway just how similar Norway and the Pacific Northwest are.

Next on the agenda, we caught a tram across the city to the sculpture park, where we wandered around for a little while looking at all the sculptures. Many of the sculptures were tangles of bodies, which I found amusing. We sat up by a column constructed entirely of human figures, and we just chatted. Then we made our way back to Oslo, and eventually Corinne and I caught a bus back to the airport, where we spent the night once again. Due to limited time and money, we didn't see a lot of Oslo, but we enjoyed the time spent there, and it was nice visiting with Even again.

Sunday morning, we arrived back in London at 7:30 AM, and I eventually walked back in to my homestay at 10:30, where I promptly climbed in to bed and slept for five hours. Now that I am back on a regular sleep pattern and my final homework assignments are completed, the only things standing between me and home are 4 finals and a teaparty. I got a taste of home last weekend in Oslo; and in four days I'll be back in my real home!