back in the bay

i arrived in bsl for the fourth in time for the bay idol competition where karaoke contestants regaled the crowd with everything from violent femmes to whitney houston. instead of voting, the crowd put money down to support a singer and all the proceeds went to a pack of americorps kids project in waveland. then it was off to a beach bonfire at the foot of de montluzin where i met up with some buddies (all over the age of 40 mind you) and ended up crabbing with lantern, net, and friend. the next day some friends and i hit up the newly rebuilt dunbar pier and fished for a while until we couldn't take the crabs eating our bait anymore and quit to go to gabbie's downtown for some mint juleps. i had dinner with at a beach bar with a friend and his parents and then sluggishly bar crawled before crashing and burning. a lazy sunday with a few sweaty visits to the beach crabfest to hear some live music and watch people buy silly things with expensive tokens. tomorrow my mom lands in new orleans so i'll get some quality time with the city and my grandmother before picking up the continental wonder at louis armstrong airport.

texas? okay.

just arrived in texas for my step-sister's wedding this weekend. no dress, no shoes, no toiletries? no problem.

wacky world wide web part deux.

so, after flying from oslo to stockholm and then getting bumped from a delta flight out of there, i'm on a train from stockholm to malmo which is just across the river from copenhagen. i'm on this train that goes like 120 mph. no kidding. and its got wireless internet. sometimes i wonder...what's taking america so long? but anyways beautiful country side, last minute change of plans can be frustrating but it keeps you on your travel toes...so a couchsurfing host is going to meet up with me at the train station in copenahagen and then its off for another round of standby! wish me luck, all you who want me back in the home of the free. or i may be stuck here forever. whahahaha.

trip cut shor...

the perils of le stand by travel have reared they're hydra heads once again. and my friend who planned to meet me in oslo is still sitting in her apartment in san francisco. boo hiss. several bits of good news though: i bought cancellation insurance on our tickets to zurich, and i can still escape europe unscathed. so i'm wrapping things up in oslo and i leave in the morning for stockholm and then head back to the home of the braves...atl. and i'll get to catch a step sisters wedding, oh how i love those. its sunny and warm here and i'm at the youth internet cafe where everything including printing things is free for anyone under the age of 27. haha! i make the cut. i'm going over to the roof of the opera house now to take in some good views of the city and take advantage of the clear day. i don't want to leave, but i have to go back before coming back so i'll get over it. i'm very ready to dig in some roots here....

Sleep apnea, sverige, and other hostel tales...

a double whammy struck the tiny city of oslo last night: a bon jovi concert with 30,000 ticket holders and Sweden's appearance in another EuroCup game. Insane. So two gals from southern norway took the day off of their university cleaning jobs, packed bookbags, some cigarettes and high heels, all in the hopes of touching their american idol...bon jovi. who was cool when i was like 13. they also love aerosmith, kiss, foo fighters, and any other arcahic american institution they can get their big norwegian hands on. so they were fun. i met a turkish girl who just wrapped up her masters in sweden. she was cool too. but the best, the absolute best, was the guy who stayed in the lower bunk next to mine in the six bed room. i didn't meet him till 3 am, after sweden won the game and he had downed probably two hundred dollars worth of booze. he and his girlfriend came stumbling in, and he collapsed on the bed. at first i thought he was dying, and he might have if the sound of his gasping for air hadn't woken him up. but it did. and as his girlfriend haphazardly climbed into the top bunk he flipped on his side and began the loudest stint of snoring i have ever heard. ever. for hours. i wanted to warn him about the perils and cures of sleep apnea in the morning but i was too cranky for lack of sleep. and when he came out of the bathroom in his tighty whitey (or yellow and blue) swedish underwear i couldn't not laugh in his face. oops.

so i'm waiting for ingrid and waiting for the rain to go away. i'm headed to the contemporary art museum when it does. not only is it free, but it has a statue of michael jackson that i'm dying to see.

and on to another euro cup game tonight when the lobby of the hostel will be choked with people from ten different countries all stretching their necks to see the tv and oohing and ahhing and hemming and hawwing. (sorry, rhyming proves too tempting)

score one for scandanavia!

okay. so norway has quite possibly the coolest government i've ever seen in action. the people are taken care of, there is little to no poverty, everyone speaks english, and though the cost of living is high the minimum wage is...19 US dollars an hour!!!! someone told me i would have to try really hard to make less than 25 dollars an hour. which is good seeing as beers are ten dollars a piece, a cup of coffee is 5 dollars, and a big mac is 4. i met a really cool guy who i have been staying with and he is going to let me use his address for my resident visa application and said i could stay with him when i come back until i find a place. i met another guy who is friends with the vp of the largest media company in norway, passed along my email, and am hoping for some help getting my resume passed along. my norwegian is coming along and my host terje has been really good about teaching me the phrases that matter ('i'm going to go pee in the bushes' & 'cool t-shirt' specifically) but he says i am gifted in the accents and that i am coming along quite nicely. he lets me repeat things over and over until i get it right and will bring it back up an hour or so later so i can reaffirm my memory.

the city itself reminds me of a european new orleans and a lush maine wrapped into a culturally open, interesting, and diverse group of people. i saw edward munch's scream yesterday which was impressive to say the least, sat outside in the largest statue park in the world for a few hours listening to an outdoor concert and hanging with a pack of six oslosians. saw the castle today that runs at about a thousand years old, saw the king's yacht sail into the harbor, rode the tube (normally 8 dollars one way) for free because its on the honor system...consider me dishonorable.

i'm getting excited to settle down and seeing as i've already met so many cool people i don't forsee adjusting and laying down roots as a problem. i also just learned about a website...www.finn.no...where people give stuff away for free. like real big stuff. tables, chairs, etc. terje's apartment is furnished mostly with free things. its strangely utopian.

its the beginning of something fantastic.

oslo shmozlo (or happy birthday meg)

alright alright. so few people who arrange to move somewhere before visiting it end up loving it...but AHA! its amazing. i love it. its expensive. its dirty by scandanavian standards. but its beautiful. old. the people are fantastic.

i might have found a connection to get a job. i'm visiting the school tomorrow and am staying in a hostel tonight. ugg. even hostels are expensive but i've arranged to stay with a couchsurfing host through the weekend so i'll get to hang with a journalism student for two days. he just emailed to say we missed out on a festival today...gay marriage is legal in norway as of today. so i might move here for good. or not.

i also found out that not only does the government pay for people attending their universities they pay for any university internationally that citizens are accepted to. ridiculous.

so its off to the fjords on saturday, some raucous fun tomorrow that may or may not include a spinning class (we were invited to one in the morning by a guy we met at a bar), a few norwegian lessons, a tube ride, a bike rental, apartment hunting, and oh yes...mom's birthday!!!!

i may not have the forsight to get a birthday card in the mail...but HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! I love you and miss you and think of you pretty consistently and wish i could hug you and say happy birthday but i'm too busy taking advantage of everything you have encouraged and supported me in doing.

so anyone reading this call the sing sing and give that woman what she's due.