17.8. - 21.8.: Party at Samfundet and Trip to Oslo

17.8.: After a tour around the medical campus Øya and a relaxing afternoon in the park by the river a big party at Studentersamfundet for all first-semester students was organised. At the campus tour I asked to get a first semester T-shirt and I was very happy about it in the evening, as it turned out to be a great way to get to know other medical students. I was also very proud of myself as I talked in Norwegian during about 80% of the evening and met many nice people!

18.8. - 21.8.: As I basically had nothing to do during the Orientation Week I spontaneously decided to go on a trip to Oslo and visit Philippe, a fellow student of mine from Innsbruck who is spending his Erasmus semester there. I had a good look around the city and will definitely go there again because I had too little time to see everything I wanted to. He was a very good host and we had a lot of fun together with his nice flatmates. I even met a friend from Vorarlberg (who started medical studies with me but left to go to Vienna) again at a students' party after not having met her for 3 and a half years - what a coincidence!
Who can find me on the big picture of the opera house? ;-)

(I've finally figured out how to create panorama pictures!)

Johnny and the Gang also happened to be in Oslo at that time, so we spent an afternoon together, watched the changing of the guards and visited the Vigeland Sculpture Park. It was nice to see them again!

On my way home I had to change trains twice and therefore had three hours to spend in Røros - an old mining town and now UNESCO World Heritage Site. This stop was very much worth it (even though my journey took 12 hours from door to door) as Røros is a very beautiful and interesting little town with well-preserved old buildings!

Yesterday my flatmate Andreas hosted a "Nachspiel" (after-party) in our flat which was really fun, so I finally got into bed at 7 o'clock am this morning and slept way into the afternoon. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow, the official start of the semester and my first day of lectures here in Norway!