First Snow

“What the hell is that…?”

That is basically what was going through my head this morning when I woke up. I was told that Norway would not really get snow until maybe as late as February. But here we are, the 3rd of October, and there lies a thin layer of snow on the ground. My only consolation was that a steady downpour of rain was slowly melting the snow.

The snow took several hours to actually melt, but the rain is still falling. Having talked to a few other people, it is going to be like this quite often now until the actual snow starts in earnest. Snow during the chilly nights; thawing during the day. I guess I can live with that. I am from Wisconsin, after all. I was just a bit shocked to see this today – the leaves just started really falling two or three days ago.

After getting over the fact that I would be cooped up in my room all day, it was actually kind of nice to sit on the balcony and watch the rain. It is not often that you get a chance to witness three kinds of condensation in work at once. It was foggy, snowy and rainy. Perhaps it happens more often than we think, but it was nice to notice it.

I am becoming increasingly surprised with how much of a day I can waste and how quickly, at that. A nap, a meal and a few episodes of MythBusters, and eight hours have already passed since I woke up. Without being able to really do anything out side of my dorm, I am finding it a bit difficult to get anything done inside my dorm. And it surprises me that I feel so much “cabin fever” today. Normally, I have no problem being alone. But lately, I have wanted less and less to be by myself.

I guess lately I have been feeling an exceeding amount of loneliness. I feel a blatantly unfounded sense of being left out. And it bothers me a bit, not so much because I know that I am wrong, but more because of these angsty teenage feelings. I am better than that kid stuff… I have friends both here and back home, so why would I feel this?

Perhaps the worst is that these feelings manifest themselves in strange ways. I can sometimes get an odd feeling in groups, which is the exact opposite of how I am used to being. Even worse are the dreams / nightmares. Always of things I can not have, in an emotional sense more than material; they usually start off amazing, with a sense of elation, only to end in a deafening sense of rationality. It is a sinking feeling waking up to that.

But enough of that unwarranted depression….

There are a lot of things I can occupy my time with, even if I have difficulty doing so. I have this next week off. Unfortunately, my trip to Amsterdam fell through – we could not get tickets soon enough to make the trip very affordable. I will instead maybe take the train or bus out to some place in Norway that I have not visited (which would be any place in Norway, basically). Probably, I will end up sitting in my room or taking a walk, though. Hope and some of the other American girls are off to Ireland and other cool places like that, and later in the week, Marco and Jesus are going to London. Money is tight, though, so I am actually not too upset about not going anywhere – just a bit bummed. I am planning to save as much as I can for now, and instead, take some nice trips next semester when I have a better idea of where my money sits.

Thanks in large to conversations with Kelsey, I have started to pick up writing again. I am making my first true attempt at writing a book of some sort. A real book, not the things I have done in the past. It is going to be based a lot on my experiences here, but in a sort of bizzaro way. I can not imagine what people will think of my personal experiences here if they read what I have in store.

I am also working on more music, as always. I had a really great talk with Corey the other day, and we are finally going to try some true collaborative stuff now. We have some ideas and some sketches to go on. In the end, I do not know what we will have. But Corey is great at what he does – I have no doubts about his ability and drive. I am fairly confident that we will come up with something respectable.

I have been picking the tempo up with my label lately. The other day, we were approved for a Content Distributor account at mininova.org. We have had 480-some downloads in about a day with our first two torrents. I think it is already starting to lure in some new artists for the label.

And whenever all of the above fails, I guess I have this blog to turn to.

Close Your Eyes & You’ll Burst Into Flames

I’ve always liked the idea of closeups. Not in an “I need attention – I’m a movie star” sort of way, but from an artistic point of view. Maybe that is why the first image I took with my new mini SLR was a closeup of sorts.

When one looks for a pattern, it is usually on a grand scale, but a close look on a smaller reveals rigid patterns and rhythms there too.

It is almost as if we are stuck in a rut between the big and the small – in a place where patterns do not appear unless you look outside. The prize is not in front of you, but rather below and above.

Of course this is not an absolute – just a generalization itself. I believe in a sort of patterned randomization of objects. What happens when something is patterned in a random way? That is, when it is perhaps made to seem random, when in fact it is completely fixed. Someone designed the piece of art below to appear random. What would one even begin to call that?

Rhythm and entropy: both patterned by design. How much randomness is there really? According to my astronomy studies, not much. Even galaxies drifting apart in seemingly random directions form distinctive patterns. This image below represents galaxies held together by gravity. It may seem rather random, but if you look at a flat representation of this or similar data, you see a very definite pattern of filaments and voids.

(Image courtesy cseph10.phys.udk.edu.)

By the way, if you have not noticed, much of this may seem like a rant. In fact, it is a collection of some thoughts from the last few days – so take it however you wish. I do not claim to be a brilliant philosopher. I only claim to think.

I find it particularly curious that the abstract can be both patterned and random. Perhaps that is the answer to it all. It isn’t that the world has spots of patterned space and places where entropy rules, but rather that space can be both. Perhaps it is wrong to look at space as one or the other, but necessarily both.

Whatever the truth is, I think it is an interesting thing to ponder. Even if it means nothing in actuality. Sometimes it is important to think in circles to yourself. But maybe the most important thing is just to look.

The sun will always be beautiful – from any distance.

<3 JOHN

Fall Saddles

I thought I had caught up with my sleep pretty well.  The first night here, I slept a solid 13.5 hours.  It was definitely necessary.  I thought that going to be tired would be enough, but last night I slept less than 4 hours before waking up.  I was up at about 4:30 AM here, and ended up sitting on the computer for a while until the events started.  Tonight, I am very tired, so I’m hoping for a nice rest.

The only events planned for yesterday where an informational meeting with all international students followed by a walking tour of Bø and free pizza.  After that, I sat around with a Frenchman in the Norwegian language program named Pierick and a California guy named Brian.  We watched music videos and listened to music until it started getting late.  I like these guys.  I haven’t met anyone here that I haven’t liked yet.  The problem I’m having now is that I feel there are just too many people I’m expected to know – but that’s no different than summer camp, so I’m all set.

Today I took a scenic walk to the school, which features a bubbling stream, woods, bridges, and a half-pipe.  Yes, a half-pipe in the most random of places.  I don’t even think you could successfully ride a skateboard to this half-pipe.  Pictures coming soon.

We met with the leader of our study program later in the day.  She’s a very nice woman who has been in Norway for 40 years now – Judy Torvik.  It was nice to know exactly who else is in this program (a total of 6 or 7 of us).  I think we’re all US students in this group.

After losing our group more than once with Anjuli, I eventually went back to Grivi, skipping the hour-long Norwegian speech by the dean.  None of us were really into the idea of sitting through a long, boring speech that we couldn’t understand while sitting on rough stone steps outside the school.

Instead, we met up at Kroa for some information on various student clubs, some free food and gear (including lots of coffee stuff from the folks at Nestlé’s Nescafé.no).  The only problem was that I showed up about 45 minutes earlier than the rest of the students.  I awkwardly took a seat inside Kroa while the volunteer students finished setting up the student club fair.

Luckily, relatively early into the sitting, I met a Norwegian student starting her first semester of studies in Bø.  She’s a freshman just starting here, named Silja (pronounced like the end of our Cecelia).  She was pretty outgoing for a Norwegian, and seemed to have a lot of interests in different areas.  So we were able to talk about Japanese and Norwegian and lost of other fun stuff while we waited for everyone else to show up.

Part of the even included a rather poorly-attended 5 PM show by the melodic hip-hop group Ess I Ermet. I cannot at all say that it’s my kind of music, or that I even like it.  But I did think they had some good energy on stage (well, the woman just stood there, but the rappers were having fun despite the small crowd).  This band is moderately well known, meaning somebody knows, but you probably don’t.  Here’s their “breakout hit single”.

I think it’s also important to add that today I got in contact with people working the student radio station.  Stay tuned for the possibility of Bridges and Balloons coming all the way from Bø, Norway!.

At the moment, there are a number of parties going on, including the opening disco at Kroa (which in Norway means a dance party that probably has zero disco music).  My friends are going, but since my debit card might have a lock on it now and I still haven’t gotten groceries, I’ve decided to stay away from buying any alcohol for the night.  There’s also the fact that I desperately want to catch up on sleep.

Tomorrow, we start getting lectures about Norwegian culture, free lunch and a trip to the police station to tell them we’re in Bø (and that my residence visa is coming).  I’ll also spend some time with Hope, maybe playing cards.  With no active cell phone, our contact has been limited.  Maybe a free concert at Kroa.  Sorry this entry’s been a bit long.

Ha det! <3 John

These Are My Twisted Words

A few hours ago, a train from Oslo pulled into the small town of Bø.  Hope and I, along with several other students from the US and around the world, stepped out of that train and into the cars of Telemark University College students.

Hope and I parted ways within minutes of stepping off the train, and I haven’t seen her since.  That was about 7:30 PM local time (12:30 PM for those back home) – if my memory serves me right.  One of the hardest things about this trip has been not having a readily available source of telling time.

I entered the car with a student from another country.  In about five minutes we saw almost the entirety of the town (which is rather small for boasting ~5000 inhabitants).  Biggie Smalls thumped as we pulled into Grivi Studentheim.  This is the dorm I will be spending the next four to ten months at.  The dorms here are different than most of the dorms I’ve had experience with in the past.  Each person has their own room and bathroom, while six rooms share a kitchen and the whole dorm shares things like living rooms.  I must say that even without the separated closet, bathroom and entryway, this room is easily twice the size of the one I paid $456 a month for in Madison this last year.  Once tomorrow has come and I’ve gotten some rest, I’ll take pictures of Grivi to share with all of you.

I thought that traveling with Hope for many – many – hours, cramped together in too-small seats, would easily drive us crazy.  Surprisingly – from my perspective at least – there was little animosity between us at the end of the trip.  We were both grumpy after a cumulative 10-or-so hours of sleep combined over the last 48 hours, but I definitely did not feel like ripping her appendix out or otherwise tearing her a new one.  She may tell you different, but as far as I know, the trip was a real success.  I was very lucky to be able to travel with someone I could talk to for hours and have company during this incredibly long journey.  The seven hour layover in Stockholm went amazingly fast thanks to some epic games of WAR.

But the real fun has just begun.  Tomorrow we have group activities for international students to learn about the school, the campus and each other.  The schedule seems rather full for the next week, but thankfully it doesn’t start until 3 PM tomorrow afternoon.

There has been lots of rain tonight, but the foggy train ride through the Norwegian countryside was beautiful.  I believe I need sleep now more than  any other time in my life.  Goodnight, my friends.

P.S. Only one thing that I know of broke in transit – my shaver.

P.P.S. Myles Coyne: I have a gift for you.

This Side Of The Blue

Hope and I are in a little place known as Stockholm, Sweden.  I just exchanged USD for my first SEK (Swedish Kroner) and NOK (Norwegian Kroner).  I”ve got $20 in SEK and $180 in NOK (minus fees, of course).  We bought 30 minutes of internet time for 40 SEK (~$5.54) and we’re splitting the time, so I’ll be breif.

The flight here was really long – even longer so since I have had no more than 4-5 hours of cumulative sleep in the last day.  So far, I’ve endured a 3+ hour drive to Chicago, ~2 hours waiting to leave, and ~8.5 hours in the air.  Luckily, Hope and I were able to work out seating together.  I don’t think I would have made this trip sanely without her.

Unfortunately, there was a little trouble getting my passport stamped here in Stockholm.  Hope was never asked a thing about her time here.  The lady that talked to me was rather shocked to not see a study visa in my passport.  I don’t even think it works the way she said it does, because Hope was never given anything to put in her passport at all.  We both have to go visit the local police when we get to our town to finish the process.  But in the end, I got it stamped, and have three months to work out the study visa (Hope’s only took 3 weeks to get in the mail, so I should be fine).

Time’s running out here.  I’m in desperate need of some strong coffee, which is about $4 for a 6-8 oz cup.  The temperature here is roughly 10 degrees Celsius.  It’s a beautiful day on this side of the blue.

This Blackest Purse

The day is coming. On Friday, August 14th, I will set out for Norway. I’ll be studying Norwegian and the culture of Bø, Telemark for the next five to ten months. At the moment, it’s unsure if I’ll be staying for the semester or academic year. It’s a long story, but if I can graduate by coming back this year, I’ll be staying for only a semester. If I can not graduate this year, then I’ll hold on to my time in Norway for the academic year.

The trip will not be an easy one. Here is a rough itinerary of my travel.

3 hr drive to Chicago
2 hr wait
8 hr flight to Stockholm
7 hr layover
1 hr flight to Oslo
2 hr wait
2 hr train to Bø

Luckily, I will have my good friend Hope along for the journey. I’ve known Hope since freshman year here at UW – Madison. She lived on the floor above me and studied in the same Norwegian class. We are very different people, but that has never hindered things. There are some things we can definitely agree on. Joanna Newsom is one of them.

We’ll be leaving Chicago at 4:35 PM on Friday if all goes to plan. Over a day later, we’ll find ourselves in our respective dorm rooms in Bø, Norway.

For now, I must pack what I can. Then a list of remaining things to pick up must be made. I aim to take as little to Norway as possible. Can I get everything that matters to me in a suitcase?

Tomorrow night will be Happy Garden night. In the afternoon I’m off to Green Bay to pick up whatever I still need (including a digital camera). My father says I’m dragging my feet. I say I’m trying to forget that my life is changing. Let’s see how many days it takes for me to wake up without wondering where I am.

Vi snakkes snart!