Problems with vacation
- All routine is lost
- I eat too much and spend more money
- All of a sudden, with all my aimless free time, I’m too busy to blog, respond to emails, or get anything done
Basically, accomplishing anything is a big achievement. Unless “accomplishment” includes staying up late, catching up on sleep, having lazy yoga practices, watching films, and indulging in too much food and wine, then I think I’ve accomplished a lot. We’ve ordered an organic food box from Kolonihagen. Once a week, they deliver a variety of fruits and veggies to our doorstep. It’s been a reasonable price for our weekly surprise and offers something to look forward to every week. It has also been a great source of inspiration for me for creating a variety of meals. Buy local and organic if possible. I’m not an organic food fanatic, but I must admit that the fruits and veggies we’ve received have been so delicious. In this case, there is an obvious difference in flavor between organic and non-organic produce.
To spice up our life, my boyfriend and I have also started taking Tango lessons! It’s been really nice for us to do something social and something that we can improve on together.
In Norway, I’ve always had issues feeling a sense of belonging or like its a place that I would even want to spend my time. But, I am IN Norway and while its cold, shutting myself indoors to hide from the elements only intensifies my feelings of alienation and aloneness.
If you want to integrate into a new culture, get involved in the community
When I was in Korea, I never really felt integrated into the community until I started salsa dancing. As a result, the past month, I started taking some salsa classes with SalsaKompaniet. The instructors are incredible. Additionally, the salsa community here seems to be very tightly knit, but open. Dancers are talented and theres’a variety of ages and levels. Joining salsa has quite possibly been one of the best things I’ve done. Albeit, its latin dance, but I finally feel like I’m apart of something in Norway with Norwegians.
This past weekend was a big salsa festival in Oslo. 3 days of salsa, and 2 full days of workshops. My boyfriend has been so sweet and generous in taking care of me, but this festival was expensive. Upon reading the website, I noticed a section for volunteers. Volunteering meant 7 hours of time, but I’d also get a free full pass ($200 for foreigners) to attend all events. If I have the chance again, I’ll totally get involved. There were many people from all over Europe that came to the event, many of whom had attended other salsa festivals around Europe. It was expressed that this one was one of the best festivals because the size of attendees in the classes were much smaller and intimate, enabling more opportunity to meet others. I imagine that this festival will only get bigger and more crowded in the future, but I recommend it!
On more productive ends, I’ve finally booked my flights for the next few months. Travel plans are as follows:
- End of March – Scotland
- April & May – Taiwan
- June – California
- Mid June – Hawaii
- End of July – Stockholm
I haven’t heard back from Sweden about my visa, so perhaps it was ambitious of me to book my flight there already. However, since I had to book so many flights over the next few months, I went ahead and booked a round-the-world-fare. I think there is a great debate about whether or not those flights are worth the money. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure all the time, but after looking at how much it would cost for one-ways it was about the same or a little less for a star alliance round the world ticket. If I had booked a multiple one-way flights through star alliance carriers (my airline points), then it would’ve cost dramatically more. I was in a bit of a rush when I booked it, so I don’t feel like I maximized my ticket as much as could’ve. I should’ve flown to a few more places in between and visited some friends, but money isn’t rolling in right now. Well, let’s be frank, I’m not working so there is no money rolling in.
After writing this post, I guess I’ve been staying pretty busy and enjoying myself. Maybe there are no major problems with vacation, other than the money issue 
.
That’s an update for now…more to come sooner than later!
When we booked our around the world ticket, it definitely saved us money! I love that you are still traveling away!!!! Enjoy your last month with the honey.
So glad that it helped you on your travels!! Well, I’m happy to be traveling, not happy about not earning money at the moment
I totally understand the not earning money part! Enjoy!!!
baby baby its nice hanging out with you. i can see the difficulties on being home a lot, but whenever i am not in school. Every time i come home, i’m in heaven =)
Thanks love bug!! I love it when you come home!