WEEK 12 IN OSLO - ALEX

The month of December got the better of me when it came to writing. It was difficult with our traveling, but the procrastination ended up making the last two posts harder on me than they needed to be. In 2025 I hope to resume more regular writing and having shorter posts. In the spirit of the New Year I have also shared a number of our reflections and realizations in the time since we moved here.

January 1 to January 5

The year started off very similar to the way 2024 ended. After staying up to 4 AM we slept in late and had a lazy day mostly spent around the apartment. Morgan is working on a knitting project and made some proper headway. With the holiday everything was closed, so we did manage to venture out to Sognsvann to get some fresh air and shake out our legs. The much needed New Year’s snow dropped around 6 inches in the city, which made for a fun winter atmosphere while we were out. After the previous few days in Lillehammer we took a day to relax, but between the recent snowfall and upcoming forecast we are very optimistic about our future skiing opportunities. There’s almost half a meter of snow predicted for Monday night/Tuesday morning and subzero temperatures for the forecasted future. For any of our metrically challenged friends that would be 18 inches of snowfall and temps below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Morgan knitting away New Year’s Day.

On Thursday Morgan returned to the office. With most of her coworkers taking two weeks off for the holidays the office was quiet. After almost 3 weeks spending every waking moment with each other I was a little lost with what to do with myself, but quickly found my way after looking at the grooming status of the trails. With school out and the tail end of the holiday season still upon us the trails around Frognerseteren were a little more packed than they had been in mid-December when the majority of people I came across were of retirement age. Still, I was able to ski out to a new part of the woods including a hut that we will be staying at in a couple of weeks. On Friday I went to a completely new area near Sørkedalen where conditions were better. Still close to the city, but more difficult to reach via public transportation, 3 buses and 50 minutes total travel time. I’m not sure how many more times I will venture to that area.

Pictures from the trails around Frognerseteren and Sørkedalen.

When traveling for skiing, hiking, or any other type of adventure around the city the biggest barrier is not travel time, but rather the number of transfers. We would much rather sit on one bus for 45 minutes then have to take two buses that total 40 minutes. I have the time for the longer journeys, just not the patience to be stranded half way, because I missed a transfer and the next pickup isn’t for an hour, or as Morgan and I faced on Saturday, the next day.

The Skiforeningen is the local ski organization that provides grooming updates, grooming services, hosts events, runs different huts and cafeterias in the woods, and more or less sponsors cross country skiing in the area directly surrounding Oslo. They have been recommending an area around Stryken ever since the New Year’s snow, so on Saturday Morgan and I took a regional train 30 minutes outside of the city to the Stryken trailhead. Most of the riders on the train were going to one of two stops, the downhill ski resort 20 minutes from the edge of Oslo or Stryken. Our stop had no services and was only a parking lot for the trail system.

Enthused by the conditions we ended up biting off more than we could chew. Making matters worse, we still don’t have BankID, which means we don’t have Vipps, which meant that when we got to the hut along our route selling waffles and sweet treats we couldn’t buy any much needed food. Still an hour away from the train station and low on snacks we headed back down to the trailhead defeated and hoping to find a proper meal sooner than later. Matters only got worse when we got to the train station and realized that the next train wasn’t scheduled to pick up from Stryken until the following day. We learned an inopportune lesson that the trains don’t always stop at the smaller stations and in the case of Stryken, where we got off a few hours earlier, only in the morning. Since we didn’t want to wait until 7:45 the following morning we knew we would have to get ourselves to the next closest station. Feeling hungry, defeated, and cold we put our skis back on and travelled the length of the 3 mile frozen lake to the small town of Harastua where we walked the last half mile to the station to start the journey back home.

Clockwise from upper left: Morgan watching the train approach on our way to Stryken, skiing across a frozen lake early in the day, view of the lake we circumnavigated on our 30km ski day, Morgan leading the way across the frozen lake to Harastua, happy Alex.

Banking Update

It’s really just because I want to fit in, but I’d love to have Vipps. I’d love to be able to order waffles at every hut when we’re out skiing or buy some preowned gear from the DNT store or Finn.no. In order to do this we need to open an account at another bank, because after establishing relations for 7 plus weeks our bank, DNB, is unable to properly identify us and issue us BankID. After some more research I learned that either one bank (DNB), some banks, or most banks, the internet is divided on the answer, won’t issue BankID to people with our visa type and residency status. We are trying our hand at another bank that says they support BankID for our visa status and I will report back when I have a more definitive answer, likely in March. Without BankID our DNB bank account is more or less useless. Without the identity verification we can’t pay our rent via direct deposit or make any purchases online. All we are doing is storing a little bit of Norwegian Kroner that, to add insult to injury, only seems to get weaker in comparison to the dollar every day.

January Reflections

Now that we are in the New Year it is a good time to reflect on the past few months, so I’ve taken the time to collect some thoughts, observations, and feelings, organized here in no particular order. Please note that these are written by Alex, but on most items co-signed by Morgan. Some of them are serious and some more tongue in cheek. 

• Living and moving to a new place is more difficult than visiting. Morgan had previously experienced this when she moved to Ireland for a semester in college. She would say this has been easier because there has been more support, but more difficult because the length of time, and not being in a traditional “study abroad” program, makes it more of a real life transition.

• A lot happened over the course of the first 2 weeks here and time seemed to stand still. When I think back to it I could be convinced that it happened over a month long stretch.

• We have done a lot in the short amount of time since we moved. In general, Norwegians tend to be surprised at how much we know about the local outdoor recreation, DNT, and Skiforeningen. Other ex-pats tend to be surprised at how much we have done and how much travelling throughout Norway we have done so far. Despite this we have felt like we haven’t done enough and go stir crazy when there is extended down time, i.e. the week between Christmas and New Year’s, which is what prompted our short trip to Lillehammer.

• I have never been as interested in having children and becoming a father as I am right now. A big part of that is that I’m not working and have more time now than I have ever had in my adult life. Another part is the envy I have of the toddlers I see running carefree and largely unsupervised through the woods. I don’t know what this means for us when we move back to the US, but it is interesting how my perspective has changed since being here.

• It’s easier to learn a language in an immersive environment. Based on our accent, slight trepidation, or being overheard talking to each other, the transition of conversations to English is so quick that we have had very few Norwegian-only interactions. We’d like to get better at the language, but need to force the issue a little more when ordering out or asking for help, which seems rude considering our current proficiency. We have resumed learning in earnest and look to make more of an effort in the coming months.

• Since October we have spent time in Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Between this time and our previous European travelers the Nordic countries are the best fit for both of us.

• The strength of the US dollar has afforded us more opportunities then we otherwise would have had. Only 3 years ago, this entire experience would have been much more difficult to financially pull off.

• I have abstained from tobacco/nicotine products since we have moved, which is one of my longest stretches over the last 12 years. I hope to use the next 7 months to break my dependence for good.

• Tap water is scalding hot here for no particular reason.

• Don’t get me wrong, I am excited for more sunlight and the midnight sun, but I have enjoyed the novelty of having the sun rise at 9:00 AM and set at 3:00 PM.

• Norwegian pet owners are more likely to have their dog off leash than on. I typically see at least one dog running wild with no owner in sight or earshot each time I go out into the woods. In general, the dogs are very well-behaved, with some very notable exceptions.

• In the US we have become accustomed to the convenience of online shopping and having everything delivered to our door. We have broken that habit here, mostly due to not knowing how to receive packages. We are starting to get over that fear and have begun to receive mail, but still haven’t tried to receive a package yet. I have also been frustrated with the postal service since they told me that any packages received from abroad, even my own personal belongings, would be subject to an import tax up to 25%.

• We would much rather have one queen size duvet for a queen sized bed then two twin size duvets for a queen sized bed. Our apartment, hotel, and Airbnb experiences combined with what’s available at the home goods stores near our apartment tell us that the Nordic countries have a different opinion than us on this matter.

• While I appreciate the sentiment for having most stores closed on Sunday, I wish they weren’t.

• I’ve complained about the food selection at grocery stores enough. It could be worse and I’m over it. Having a guest helped us see through that, so thank you Hannah. Although, there is a reason so many Norwegians shop in Sweden…

• We had our first visitor in December, Hannah, which was very special and something that we deeply appreciated. We look forward to hosting more friends and family including some more Seattle friends in a couple of weeks!