Wow, this blog has reached double digits for posts!
Ten weeks, [insert whistle sound here].
I have exactly a month left of classes, which
applies greatly to the title of this week’s blog addition.
I definitely have to be work mode the rest of
my time here, mainly because of my ISP (Independent Study Project).
I’ve mentioned my ISP in earlier blogs I
think and I am getting into the heavy research and delivery points of my project.
I’m studying the paradox/relationship between
Norway’s reputation of gender equality and domestic violence, with the
overarching theme being the past, present, and future status of gender in the
perspectives of Norwegians.
Sounds like
fun stuff huh?
Well it is for me!
Fun, hard work that is.
Title explained, now onto another packed week
here in Oslo.
As usual I’ll start with
today.
I went to Stortinget which
is the name of Parliament for the second time (I also went on Thursday, details
on that trip below). After having class
on campus, my HECUA group and I headed over to meet the FpU, which is the youth
branch of the FrP aka the Progess Party.
The Progress Party is the second largest party in Parliament currently
after Labor, is polling at third for the upcoming election in September, and is
the party farthest to the right in Norway.
To compare the party to the US, in my opinion it is libertarian on a
good day but can act like the Tea Party.
That said, the three guys we met with, Erik, Tristian, and Chris, are
all youth members and advisors to the mother party and since they’re all
involved in politics, they know how to sell themselves. While the Progress Party isn’t one I’d likely
ever vote for if able to cast a ballot in Norway, the visit was educational and
definitely helped my understanding of the party more than only reading about it. Then we got a short tour of Parliament
including the main chambers that we missed on Thursday.
After Stortinget, I went over to the complete other side of
the Norwegian political spectrum for an interview at the Socialist Left’s youth
branch. I sat down with Ida, the
feminism leader of SU (Sosialistisk Ungdom aka Socialist Youth), to ask her
questions for my ISP. She was great to
talk to, and it was ironic to bounce from all the way right to almost all the
way left (Norway has a Red Party as well but they have no seats in Parliament
presently).
I had a pretty eventful Monday today, but now on to last
week!
Tuesday: This
was an on campus day. I went to class in
the morning then to Uglebo during café hours for waffles with some
classmates. Waffle Tuesday is turning
into a tradition; I’m going tomorrow (the 12th) as well. For 10 NOK each waffle (just under two
dollars), plus free tea and coffee for being a volunteer at Uglebo’s night
version (bar), it’s the best deal on campus I know of. After fluffy, jam covered goodness, I met up
with my professor to talk about my ISP.
And that’s when the already covered title came to be. March is a school work heavy month and this
month felt like it crept up on me. “What,
March? Already?!” was pretty much my
thought process after realizing (as opposed to having it in the back of my
mind) that the rough draft of my ISP is due at the end of the month. After I got home, work was still on my mind
as it needed to be because I had a paper to work on that was due on
Friday. Sitting at my computer and going
to sleep wrapped up my Tuesday.
Wednesday: My
sixth full shift at Queer Youth marked evaluation day. Mostly what Eirik, Ashild and I talked about
was what I’d be doing with my remaining days at QY. My main focus for the rest of my shifts will
be the office itself, launching the social space. I spent my day on Wednesday framing posters
and putting them on the wall, which took way more effort than it sounds. After QY I went home and wrote more of my
essay.
Thursday: As
mentioned above, this day marked my first time seeing Stortinget! The Politics major in me was super excited
for this class visit. We met with Peter
Skovholt Gitmark of the Conservative Party (Høyre, which literally translates
to “Right”), who was elected in 2005 at the age of 28. Entering Parliament that young isn’t abnormal
in Norway, whereas in the US it’s very rare to get into Congress that early in
life. It’s possible for the House of
Representatives, but even less likely for the Senate. Peter is on the committees of the Interior,
Finance, and Environment. And if the
election goes how the polls are looking, his party will be the largest and he
may be a minister. Peter gave us a tour,
mostly showing off the artwork on the walls of Parliament and of his
office. The man has swag from all over
the world and from being on the radio a ton of times; a mug each time he was on
air, which totals about 120 mugs… Not all of them are in his office, but wow (I
think I saw 20 or so). And the main
things I noticed were two pictures he had on his wall, one with David Cameron,
and the other with Margaret Thatcher.
After his office, Peter sat down with us for a Q&A. Then I headed back home to finish off my
essay to turn in the next day.
Friday: International
Women’s Day! One of the fullest days I’ve
had in Oslo means bullet points:
- Had the first interview for my ISP at noon at
the police academy with Geir Aas, a researcher of police conduct who did his
PhD on family violence. A surprisingly
pleasant hour talking about “tragedy” to borrow his word.
- Went home to put the finishing touches on my
essay then sent it off/
- Popped some very quick tags at UFF, a thrift
store right across from Oslo Central Station.
I’ll definitely be making another, longer trip there in the near future.
- Then the most awesome series of events: My friend Cassie has mentioned an event at
the Norwegian Peace Council earlier in the day and I’m so glad I went. At the organization’s location downtown, they
held a screening of “The Whistleblower” starring Rachel Weisz. The film is about the true story of an
American police officer who goes to post-war Bosnia as a UN peacekeeper and
discovers a scandal of human trafficking with international police, UN, and
diplomatic involvement as clientele.
Kathryn Bolkovac, the real life woman of the movie is based on, was
present at the event as well for Q&A after the screening which was really
cool. Then there was a band to finish
off the line up. The entire event was
free including food, beer, and wine.
Like I said, pretty much the most awesome thing I’ve attended, thanks
Cassie! I bought a signed copy of
Kathryn’s book and made a donation to the NPC but like I said, otherwise the
event was essentially free.
- After the NPC, Erica and I went to Uglebo. It was a nice change to be a customer rather
than a bartender. Apparently it’s a
tradition at the pub that no girls can work on Women’s Day, so, when you can’t
volunteer, go for fun! The pub was
great: got some drinks, the boys made sandwiches at the entry (see what they
did there), and Erica and I stayed until about closing. Afterwards we went to our friend Alex’s place
with Silje for a kick back.
- All in all a good day. And lastly, happy 100 years of female
suffrage in Norway!
Saturday:
Erica and I kept up the free peace theme by going to one of the very few
days of free entry, which I luckily happened upon when looking up its hours, at
the Nobel Peace Center. A new exhibit
had just opened up the day before: European Identity through Photography. It was a good visit, and for what we didn’t
pay at the door we spent at the gift shop, ha.
After the Peace Center we had a taco night with a couple other friends
and then headed out to Amatøren for “Western” Night. I put that in quotes because there was no
country music at all. A few people
dressed up, I was clad in plaid for the occasion, but that was all that matched
the advertised event. The music that was
played was mostly American and Latin pop.
So I guess western night turned into “any songs produced west of Norway”
instead of a cowboy kind of night.
Sunday: Sunday
Funday? Not quite, I holed myself up in
my apartment for the day with the intention of getting a lot of work done. The blog title mindset was the plan, but didn’t
come to be. I occupied my time by being
productive on things other than my ISP: sleeping, Skyping, and the assigned readings
for class the next day (today). So, at
least I did the work that demanded my immediate attention right? Anyways, this is my first time being out of
America for daylight savings, so I got to see all over Facebook how people were
feeling about springing forward and also made sure I was online an hour early
than planned for Skyping because of the now eight hour difference instead of
nine.
Long entry, wow! I’ll
pass on a conclusion, here are photos!
Posing with Peter (he’s in the suit to the
left)
Outside Stortinget
Proud new book owners: Erica and me
Kathryn Bolkovac
Peace for free!
Pretty day on the waterfront with city hall in the
background
The lush voting chamber I saw today
