Big parities and busted passport photos

Happy Saturday from Trondheim! I'm writing to the background sound of the UCLA football game - a friend told me a website where I could stream the football game, so I'm hoping the Bruins put me in the good mood before I head over to the "biggest party of the year" here in Trondheim. The cover charge is 250kr ($42)- which is just crazy- but hey, how could I miss the biggest party? I've laid pretty low the past week and have conceptualized the argument and content of the first dissertation paper. Basically, I will compare groups of adolescents using prospective (longitudinal) Norwegian data with particular interest in adolescents' reports in 1992 and (the same) young adults' reports in 1999. I will compare these findings to representative United States data; and to compare these individuals I will position Norway as a socially liberal and accepting culture (or so we usually think in the US)- yet a country where some adolescents report disparate outcomes compared to others.


I have a couple weeks of great weather (besides the intermittent rain) until it starts to become very cold and dark here in Norway. I booked a flight to Tromsø for Sept 27-30; I will visit a colleague over that weekend to see more Norwegian views. I've come to expect that I will visit the grocery store ever day, as this is customary in the Norwegian culture. Most households do not have large refrigerators like Americans do, so it makes it necessary to visit the store often. I have been cooking most meals to save money on food - it, like everything else, is very expensive here. Overall, I miss American chains like Chipotle (I can't find black beans anywhere in this town!), but at least there is good ol' McDonalds just 5 minutes from here.

Funny story: I decided I needed to get a residence permit while here; if I get caught staying the few days over the allowed amount, I could be fined or banned from coming back for a period of time (to all of Europe). Okay that wasn't the funny part... that would be the story that a requirement for this visa/permit (besides the $450 fee) is that you need a passport photo. So- I went to a self service machine to make this photo and didn't realized until after the photo printed that I left my headphones in for all 4 photos. What a dork.

I've also been riding the bus a lot here - a monthly pass is quite expensive, but it is necessary for me to get to school. The recorded message announces each stop (like most busses) - and it is so entertaining for me to listen to the complex pronunciations. I have the most difficult time making the ø sound. The name of the letter is the exact sound it makes (like most letters)- it is something like Urrhhhh. I've practiced 100 times and it doesn't even get better after a couple or beers. Maybe some day. :)

Until next time!

I took a run around the mountains and came across this lake

One of the bridges I cross when I run along the river