The Old Aula

So yesterday, Jose K and I attended a seminar- "European Legal Integration: Contemporary Challenges" conducted by the EFTA Court. It was held at the Old Aula at Domus Academica. Lovely, lovely building as you can tell by the pictures.

For those of you interested in this kind of thing, the EFTA Court (as described in their web-page)" fulfils the judicial function within the EFTA system, interpreting the Agreement on the European Economic Area with regard to the EFTA States party to the Agreement. At present those EFTA States are Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway". EFTA states are not part of the EU but have some trade agreements with the EU states. Check out their official website at http://www.eftacourt.lu/

It was all rather exciting as we were amongst esteemed members of the legal, judicial and governmental fraternity. There were many lawyers from the big Norwegian firms, Supreme Court Judges and representatives from the various Ministries ( They have a Ministry of Modernization...cool).

Well.. at least that was the case on the advance registration sheet. Anyway, the turn out was quite good and I put on my most 'intelligent' face for the occasion.

I have to confess that today was the second day of the seminar but only Jose K has manfully gone down to attend it. I, on the other hand, simply could not get out of bed at 8 am on a lovely Saturday morning...

Vikings

I have to confess that I knew very little about Norway before coming here. What I knew could be summed up thus:

1. Vikings- famously depicted in the cartoon strip "Hagar the Horrible" Can't post any pictures for fear of copyright violation but do check out http:www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/hagar/about.htm
2. Fjords
3. Salmon
   

Not a very heartening list, I know.


Well, today, Jose K and I finally got to encounter Item 1 on that limited list. (Well, sort of.) This was all due to the University of Oslo who had kindly organized a free/ "gratis" (as they say in Norwegian) busabout for the International Students. Very nice, those folks at the University of Oslo unlike the Troll Lady and her Minions.

Part of the busabout was a stop at the Viking Ship Museum at Bygdøy. There are 3 Vikings ships on display there and the pictures here are of The Oseberg Ship which was excavated in 1904. This ship was built around 815-820 A.D. and was used as a burial ship for a woman who could have been a princess or a priestess. It was quite an experience to see those ships up close. Check out the scale!


After today's experience, I feel obliged to put the record straight once and for all: There is absolutely no historical evidence that Vikings wore horned helmets. Sorry about that, Hagar.

Meet Pepe

This is Pepe, our pachira aquatica, otherwise known as a money tree.

We didn't know that Pepe was a money tree/fengshui tree when we bought him.

What are the odds of two Singaporeans in Norway getting a money tree?

Chicken soup for the soul

Yesterday marked our 1 month anniversary in Oslo. It's been an interesting ride thus far.

We have survived indifferent (and often misleading) service from the body that is responsible for our student accomodation. Let's take the most recent example. Each of our rooms including our kitchen has a radiator. This is of great importance as temperatures here even in summer can go down to 11 degrees. Unfortunately, Jose K's radiator was not working so we went to inform the housing people aka The Troll Lady and her Minions. This is how the encounter went:

Jose K: "Hello, the radiator in my room is not working. Can you help?"
Troll Lady: "It is summer and the radiators are not supposed to be working yet."
(Troll Lady shoots Jose K and me a stony unhelpful look expecting us to meekly walk back to our cold rooms and shiver until winter. However....)
Jose K: (politely) "Then why do all the other radiators in the apartment work?"
Troll Lady: (DAMN, they saw through my plot) ".... I have no idea!.... Then I suppose that something could be wrong. You will have to inform the caretakers and since it is already 4pm Friday, you can only do that on Monday."

Jose K/me:1 Troll Lady:0

Apart from those encounters, life has been falling into place slowly and surely. School has started proper, we've met our professors and we've shared a couple of beers with our respective classmates. Good beginnings.

Our first meal in Oslo was a chicken dinner so we thought it was apt to celebrate this 1st month anniversary with a pot of chicken soup.

It was warm and good for the soul.