back in the USA!

Last night I touched down in Boston, after a long and a little bit uncomfortable journey from Oslo. I've become accostumed to flying by now, but the close quaters always seem to get the best of me. My knee cramps up like no tomorrow and whenever I had to get up to use the bathroom, I found it hard to walk. Good thing I will be going to see one of the my old physical trainers today, so that he can review my recovery of my knee. Tomorrow it will be exactly 1 year since I had surgery on it... it still isn't 100% recovered yet, and maybe it never will be, but I'm hoping I can get some good advice on how to improve it faster. Last night instead of taking a bus back up to New Hampshire, I stayed overnight at my best friend Lauren's appointment in the city. I was glad I did, because the last thing I wanted was another hour and a half plus trip back to NH. I was pooped. It felt pretty awesome to finally stretch my legs, relax, and eat some quality American food :P Now I'm sitting on the Concord Coach bus right now, heading back up to Concord!!! I am super excited for the next couple weeks and to spend Christmas and New Years home with my family and friends. It really is the best Christmas gift I could ever asked for! It feels a little bizarre to be back after 6 months though, especially filling out my US Costums Form on the plane when I had to write down that my permenant residence was actually Norway, not the US. Ha ha, that brought up a question or 2 from the officers. It's pretty cool though I think... I definitely can say that I have the best of 2 worlds; Norway and the US. I feel really thankful and blessed. The next couple days I will be going to appointments, doing errands, and enjoying being at my house my family and pets! I'm so pumped. I will write again later in the week. Happy Holidays everybody :)

Winter Wonderland

There is finally snow here in Norway!!! :) Although I don't like the cold weather, in particular, having snow makes it all worth while, I think. I'd rather it be cold with snow, then without it... it doesn't hurt that it makes the landscape pretty to look at either! I saw the snow for the first time as I walked out of work last night. One negative thing about the shop's location is that it's inside another store so there's no windows to the outside. It definitely put a smile on my face when I saw snowflakes falling from the sky though! My first snow in Norway; how cute. I hear it's been almost pushing 70 degrees back home these days, which is insane for December, but then again I'm not all that surprised because weather in New England can be very unpredictable. I hope there will be snow in NH when I come home! Christmas is not complete without it! There is now 11 days left on the countdown 'til I'm home! Every day that passes I get a little more excited. Not so much looking forward to the long day of traveling (approx. 13-15 hours from the moment I leave my apartment until I get into Boston, ugh. Oh well! It'll be worse when I return to Norway, because then I'll have to deal with major jet lag! Hoping both ways I'll be able to squeeze some sleep time, but not really likely, ha ha.

I finally have completed all the steps in order to get my first pay check soon: I think tomorrow actually!? Once I had gotten my Norwegian social security number, I had to apply for a tax card, which all Norwegians have if they are employed. As most of you all know, we all pay A LOT of tax every year to the state so that we can have the benefits of a social welfare society. You don't need to pay tax though if you make under a certain amount of money in a year, so I lucked out of paying tax this year, because I only started in November. I will need to renew my tax card by the New Year though, but will only be paying a minimum amount of tax, because I'm only working up to 20 hours/week and not making so much money. I calculated though if I work at least 15 hours a week, every week, then I'll be able to make around 8,000 kroner or a little over 10,500 if I work a steady 20 hours/week. This means that every month I can earn around $1,500-$1,900/week, which is GREAT. Doesn't seem like so much money here in Norway, compared to the USA, but it will pay for my student loans every month which I begin paying this month, and for my new Norwegian course. Then I will still have a little extra left over to finally start helping Anders pay the bills, or to put into savings!

That is all for now. Here are some pictures I took yesterday and today of the snow. Enjoy!


First snowfall! (at Vinderen, waiting for the subway after work).


Outside the Oppsal shopping center on my walk home from the subway stop.


View of the snow from outside our apartment on the third floor.


The same view only a few hours later!


Pretty picture of the scenery behind school today.


Along the path on my way to the train station after school.


My school!