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oslo : getting there

10.03.2012






























































the first day is always a blur, and, of course, this first day came faster than i could prepare for.

i started talking with marte about coming out to visit her a year ago when she came to visit me, and we had lots of lovely fall picnics. as we talked about traveling the world together i tried to really believe that we would actually do it, and i made a promise to myself to find absolutely no excuses...

a month went by and i started to panic about the cost of a plane ticket. so i went around applying for holiday retail jobs that i really didn't have any time for. luckily, i didn't get hired; but that meant that i didn't have any extra cash either. boo. no excuses...so i just kept talking about the trip like it was really going to happen.

meanwhile, i met britt for tea one morning. i'd only met her once before, but she was easy to talk to, and tea sounded great. as we were talking i mentioned our trip, and she was in. no hesitation. oh man. now it was getting real. i had to get that plane ticket somehow.

i had so many good excuses: no extra money, life was getting busier at home, and i really didn't want to take a full three weeks off of work. that was just too much. but, i kept "pretending" it was really going to happen. so my brain decided to finally kick in, and i resolved to work hard to overcome some annoying inconveniences.

lucky for me, i was able to use some of cj's frequent flyer miles. plane ticket problem solved. i bought the ticket. i was committed. which meant i had to let all of my students and their parents know i was going to be gone an extra three weeks in the spring. lucky again! no one complained.

then, the inevitable hit. what was i doing planning a trip where i would be away from cj for two weeks when i already had to be away from him all summer long. dummy. that's what i thought. but i was in.

thank goodness.

oh ya. and by the way, we decided to move right before my trip. so things got insanely busy, and i really knew i was crazy trying to go on this trip. absolutely looney.

and the final complication: i got incredibly sick days before my departure and had to stay in bed. nothing got done. packing was a joke. ceej definitely packed for me. bless his heart.

we got to the airport. i cried. a lot. it's so hard for me to be away. but off i went.

i had a pretty eventless flight, and an easy layover in amsterdam. but no sleep on the plane for me.

i found britt at the baggage claim in oslo, and we ventured out into a completely foreign world together...luckily we weren't alone for long. marte was almost immediately by our sides.

we locked up our luggage at the train station, and went straight into the heart of the city.
we admired architecture, the port, and a lovely state building (or was it a church? jetlag.).

after roaming the city for a few hours we rode the train out to marte's country home
where we were greeted by her generous family who took us out to the bay to watch the sunset.
we were there. we made it. exhausted. but happy.

i was so relieved to be in a new place with familiar people. what a beautiful combination.

4 comments:

Urška J. said...

These photos are amazing, because they really give a feeling of a great city and having a great time.

You probably get a lot of these questions, but I'm gonna ask anyway.:) Which photo equipement do you normaly use and how much postprocessing is involved? because I really like your photography style. Thanks for the answer ;)

Anonymous said...

what a fascinating city. on my ever-growing list of places to visit some day.

sweet harvest moon said...

I would love to go there someday!

Love Marte's blog/instagram, I have been following her for some time now

Lucent Imagery said...

I love Marte's photography! What a wonderful adventure and I'm so glad everything aligned for you to have it. We spent 6 days in Oslo last year. I very much look forward to returning to explore more of the country. I am enjoying catching up on your gorgeous images.