Cool cold Nordic Norway

My image of Norway would always be cool and super duper cold. It was in this country that I first saw snow, lots and lots of snow. When I arrived at Oslo International Airport, the temperature was already -5. Still I traveled for another two hours to go to another city, Lillehammer, which was the site of the 1994 Winter Olympics.

We stayed at this wonderful hotel, the Lillehammer Hotel, for a week, cooped up with more than 200 other young people like me, representing their own organizations and countries. I remember as well listening to some former Prime Minister of Norway, who belongs to the Socialist Party. Of course the conference was heavily subsidized by this ruling party. But they are so cool to cover all our costs from airfare to our one week stay at this five star hotel.

Another vivid image is the visit to this open museum where they replicated old style of living in Norway and built them in an open-like museum where we were toured around. Oh and of course, it was during this museum visit that I met these cute and cool Russian men who made fun of the guide and cracked jokes in their halting English.

Another vivid image of Lillehammer is of course the visit to the Olympic Park, where they showed us the highest ski jumping arena I have seen so far (not that I have seen one before this actually). Another image is us trying to dance on snow, trying the antiquated way of skiing by sitting on this black trash bag with 3 other co-participants and someone pushing us down the highest slope. I remember having so much fun with this and laughing and screaming while we rolled down this slope. It was also there that I realized that snow is not really that cold, but rather it is the wind that carries the cold.

Then we went back to Oslo, where I stayed for 2 more days. It was there that I realized that the sun could go down at 3 in the afternoon and it is dark already by 5. And Oslo is even colder than Lillehammer as the temperature could go down to -10, with the wind blowing at its cruelest during the late evening.

Oslo would always bring to mind that postcard picture of its most famous street, the Karl Johan, who was named after its King who built the Royal Palace. I remember in order not to get lost as I could not understand their language I just walked around and around the city, passing one interesting site after another. One funny incident I can recall was when I was trying to find a place to eat for breakfast and ended up at a McDonald’s store, eating their famous Happy Value Meal for only 5 Norwegian Kroner, but when converted to my peso was about 10 times more expensive.

I was told that in some parts of this Nordic region, between 6-8 months, you would not get to see the sun. For someone who has lived with the sun always peering at me from the sky, I could not imagine living without it for even a day. Having experienced its loss for a week has made me realized that I will not be able to survive for longer than a month in this super duper cold but really beautiful country.