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Hours slept last night: 5 – Today was an important stage win against the rampart of bureaucracy for me: I got my student photo ID, a bank account and the police seems to like me as well. A walk to the police station was scheduled for the whole group in order to apply for the residence permit. Took the car with Emily and Chris, but as I have done this already before I went there just to check my status and moved on to Nordea close-by. The bank guys sent me a mail yesterday stating that my so-called “D-Number” (a light version of the Norwegian Identity Number assigned by the Population Registry (Folkeregister) ) just arrived and I could open up the account. Been there, done that! Now I have my Norwegian bak account and can start playig transaction games soon.
Back to the Norwegian course (and 3 coffees later; I am still trying to find out if it’s the caffeine or just the bad taste which wakes you up) I was finally able to pick up my photo ID student card during the break, which was not possible before due to database issues. The photo on the card shows my face getting darker after the the sunny days here and the trip to Søvassli. On the way home (2 pm) I organized me an confirmation for the student housing needed to cancel my German phone and internet contract.
Later the day we had a barbecue at the international office with both parts of the language course (now about 180 people), got us some beers from Bunnpris at the corner and have been playing football till 10pm. The weather is just amazing.

PS: I feel like getting addicted to peanut butter. Damn, when I was a kid I couldn’t even look at it and now I could put it on everything. Seriously, do you think it could become a problem?

I saw it coming: There was no chance getting me up for the classes after the party night at the Downtown bar and 3 hours of sleep. I got up at 12am and made me a good morning watching “The Cincinnati Kid”. Sometimes you just deserved.
The bus taking us on the trip to Søvassli was scheduled at 4:10pm and I would need to go shopping soon as the (officially) not allowed beers had to be secured first. (We have been told the place is a christian youth hostel, and the guy would not like beers.. yeah, strike!) When I eventually decided to move the lazy parts of my body out of the bed, I realized some noises in front of the entrance. I opened my widow and could barely believe my eyes: A white WV wagon has been parked in front of my house; with German plates from Hamm and a guy in sunglasses standing next to it. Now I knew, the times of silence and harmony were just about to end.. Seems to be a nice guy. I still had to get me the beers so I took him to Bunnpris down the road, packed all my stuff and went on the trip.

Set up the alarm clock to 6:30, need to catch the bus at 7. After roughly 2 hours of sleep I coast off the bed, pack my remaining goods with what I would call a decent portion of good-morning-panic and take bus line 2 straight to Københavns Lufthavn, the airport.
I could have taken the metro to shorten the 45 minute bus ride, but the weather is nice, I am on schedule and the quest for a metro station would be a bit too much excitement after the prior night. I enjoy the ride, it is comfortably warm and the raising sun serves good illumination. I arrived at the airport as expected at 8, my flight would leave 9:20. Counting myself to that kind of people whom usually climb the daily evolution ladder rather slow in the morning, I need to be really careful with my early activities. I did the check-in and realized the sponge bag in my hand luggage shortly after. A good example of my good-morning-mode and a real blunder in times of Al-Qaeda. Damn, they took my toothpaste, that’s sanitary terror!
After a small conversation with the safety officer and a catnap in the airplane I arrived in Oslo-Gardermoen. The first thing I would realize outside: Small airport, lots of space and few people. It was a bit windy and dimmish with the sun hiding behind the clouds. Withdrawing 4000 kr from the ATM and getting me some pizza at Peppes Pizza (3 slices, garlic bread and a drink for roughly 17€; Chris you need to take care!). After-lunch nap in the plain.
I arrive at 2:30pm where the bus going downtown is already waiting next to the gate. It takes about 20 minutes while the airport express drives along the coast of the Trondheimfjord. It looks a bit like a small coastal city at the North Sea. The information I gathered before tells me that I should go out at Prinsens gate (marked A on the map), there I could switch either to bus line 66 or line 5, taking me straight to Moholt Studentby (B) where I could pick up my keys at the SiT Office. I get off the airport express and check the timetable at the bus station; 7 minutes.
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I wake up, this time at daylight. Seeing old industrial buildings on the left and a big city ahead I was certain about arriving in Copenhagen. After I got out of the bus and picked up my luggage I realized the American guy standing next. I forgot him completely in meantime. Since he is studying here he knew where to get on the bus 5A and took me to the stop. The bus came 7 minutes later and after another 20 I received Marie’s message: “2 Sek”. It was 5:51.
The first time I met Marie was one year ago when she was on the way back from Barcelona with her friend Lise where I hosted both at my place back in Dortmund. Both very nice. Marie is living with a friend in Copenhagen who at that time was on a trip so she could host me. Both studying design; you could see it immediately. The small apartment was located at the 2nd floor. It was functional, balanced and decorated by decent spots: Right behind the kitchen window you would find an old Jewish graveyard in the back. The bed was hidden behind a big frame which itself was hiding a door, to a 2×3m big room, the bedroom. And there was also a third door in the kitchen, connecting it to a second stairway to the backyard and the rooftop, which I would find out later.
We had a small breakfast, some coffee. We spoke about their work at the Roskilde festival, current projects, about life in Scandinavia and my further plans. Some friends would come over later the day.
I decided to take a shower and Marie wanted to sleep a while as it still was quite early. I took my MacBook and connected to the open WIFI network as it has been recommended to me. Wrote some mails, checked the final details of my arrival in Trondheim and got my papers sorted. Then decided to take some time and climbed on the bed behind the frame… the next time I would wake up was 4pm.

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So ok, that’s it, me sitting on the bus.. finally.. after teaching half of my relatives and, to my mind, whole of Dortmund twice, that it is going to be Norway instead of Sweden (or Finland), I finally made in to the bus! NOOORWWWAAAYYY, actually a big difference to SWEEEEEDDEEEENN.. isn’t it?
The bus was late for half an hour, not really an issue, although I have been a bit irritated initially as I was presuming it might go to Romania instead, despite the correct lettering. A truly international tribe over here.. but well, back to the story: Everything proved correct and I am sitting on the bus, on the bus to Copenhagen. Aye, Denmark, not Norway! As a stopover on the way up to the north as I would take my flight the day after in Copenhagen. Marie, my host in Denmark just sent me a message, telling me that I should take the bus 5A to Elmegade where she will pick me up. 23:07, alles easy. 76km to Hamburg.

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Schnitzellogbuch Eintrag 020708: Mini-Windbeutel, Mini-Berliner, Schoko-Walnusstorte und Käsekuchen

Ende, aus, vorbei! Der Drops is gelutscht, dat Schnitzel gegessen und das letzte Stück Käsekuchen verschlugen. Jawoll, der Johann hat gekündigt. Nach 4 Jahren harter Arbeit streiche ich die Segel, nachdem unser gemeinsamer Arbeitgeber seine auch gestrichen hat (inzwischen in Rumänien die Sause macht; keine Ahnung ob streichend oder stürzend), und verschwide nach Norwegen! Vittu perkele!
Es war ein schöner Tag, ja wirklich. Es schien die Sonne, ich bin um 15Uhr zur Arbeit gekommen, dann gab es Kuchen und dann fuhr ich wieder nach Hause. So stelle ich mir immer den Arbeitstag von Paris H. vor, oder dem eines Mitarbeiters der Deutschen Telekom vor ein paar Jahren.