Jason - Ottawan in Oslo

Bratislava !

2008-08-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

On the 5th day of the trip, Murph, Erik, Annie, Taz, Yas and myself headed to Bratislava by train. The train ride was a really warm one as they forgot to turn up the AC ☹. I was in a different hostel then the rest and I was put in a room with a Swedish girls dance team!! No, I am not lying. Too bad they didn’t stay in the room more then one night :p

Once I checked in, I met up with the rest of the crew and we went to the Slovak Pub where we had a great meal. After that we walked around the beautiful small town. In the evening we went to this cool bar on a boat on the Danube river where we had a few tequila shots. The thing that was special about these shots that, instead of having them with salt and a lemon slice like normal humans, we had them with cinnamon and blood oranges. I almost puked my guts out.

The next morning I stumbled out of my hostel to meet the others to do a bit more sightseeing. We met in front to the Slovakian parliament and then walked to the castle which wasn’t that spectacular. Then the others had other travel plans so I was left alone in Bratislava :o I took this time alone to have a nice side trip to Devin Castle, which is about 20 km from the center of Bratislava. From the Castle you get a great view of the Danude River, which has Slovakia on one side, and Austria on the other. I then finished off the night watching Austria vs Poland in a local Pub with cheap beers.

The thing that I appreciated to most about Budapest and Bratislava was not only the beautiful scenery but also the cheap prices. I’m really used to paying 7-10$ CAD for A beer in Oslo, and once I saw beer prices (prices in general) I almost pinched myself because I thought I was dreaming.

Next post: Vienna w00t !

Take care,

Jason

Ps All pictures that I took could be viewed HERE

Budapest!!

2008-08-03T11:37:00.000-07:00

On June 7th I flew to Budapest, Hungary to visit Murph, a University and JDC buddy who was studying there. I was actually Murph’s frosh captain during his first week at University and he kind of blames me for his massive drinking problems… meh. Also visiting Murph was Erik (another JDC guy and another guy under my tutelage at frosh), Annie (Murph’s girlfriend), and 2 other of Murph’s friends, Taz and Yas. It was really cool to visit these guys, as I hadn’t spoke frenglish (English/French Canadian combo) in a while.

The first day in Budapest we visited St-Stephen’s cathedral and walked down Andrassy ut, which is a World Heritage site, all the way down to Heroes Square. I believe that night we ate some great Hungarian goulash which was packed with paprika, a very Hungarian spice.

The next day with had a tour of the Hungarian parliament, which is located alongside the Danube River. After that we went to the House of Terror. This museum is located on Andrassy ut and depicts the history of Nazi and communist rule in Hungary and Budapest. Then we all went to the Opera house to take in a play or a nap. Either way it cost 3$ to get in and the inside was beautiful. That night, Murph took us to Simpla, which is one of the student bars he frequented very often during the semester. After a few horrible shots and beers we went to the 24 hour pub near Murph’s place where we stayed until 6am ..ugh.

Needless to stay the next day was more of a relaxing one. We headed to one of Budapest’s famous baths to relax, swim and take a sauna. This was one of the best parts of my trip. After, we hiked up the Buda side of the city to get a nice view of the city. That night we went to this cool rooftop bar that closed at 1am.

The day after we went back up the hill to visit the Royal Palace and Fisherman’s bastion. Since the Euro cup was starting that day, we went to Marguerite Island to watch Spain (the eventual champs) vs Russia in a group match.

The next day all of us hopped on a train to Bratislava, which I will talk about more in the next post.

I was really surprised of how much there is to do in Budapest and it is truly a great city to visit. Having a tour guide that has studied there for 5 months also helps ;)

Take care,

Jason

Land of the Midnight Sun ... 2 months later :P

2008-07-20T09:22:00.000-07:00

The day after my birthday, I headed to the land of the midnight sun, the town of Tromso, Norway with some friends and Joyce. On the trip were Gautam (India), Audrey (France), Bernd (Germany), Putri (Indonesia), Alex (Romania) and Gerdina (Holland). All of them were there a day ahead since I decided to take a cheaper flight on the Friday morning. This was bad idea since I went out drinking the night before with other friends to celebrate my birthday ☺ . Once my plane landed, I headed to the campsite where we were staying. Afterwards we went into town to check out the sites. We then returned to to camp site since everyone was exhausted from the night before. We had a nice dinner and went to bed.

The next day, we took the funicular to get a birds eye view of the city of Tromso. Even though it was the end of May there was still plenty of snow and cold weather since we were so far north. The greatest thing about being above the Artic Circle in the Spring/Summer time is that the sun NEVER sets. It’s constant daylight, which really confuses you. However, I wouldn’t want to live here in the wintertime where there is no sun at all. After the funicular ride we took a fjord trip. The first part of the trip was by bus and the last part was by boat. Along the way we say some amazing scenery and drank some beers on the boat. After the fjord trip, which ended around 10:30pm, we headed to Driv, a cool bar in Tromso. The weirdest thing about this bar was that when you stepped out on the patio at 2am with a beer in your hand, it felt like it was 7pm because it was so bright out!

The next morning/ afternoon, we went on a small hike where we met local kids that were playing soccer. These kids were really cool and the approached because they wanted us to play soccer with them. You can tell that these kids come from a small town and they are not used to seeing tourists in their small city. After that, Putri, Joyce and I went to the Polaria Museum where we got to see actual seals in a swimming tank. It was great and Putri and Joyce were freaking out like little kids :p After the museum we returned to the camp site where chef Bernd prepared a great meal.

The morning after I returned to catch my 7am flight ..ugh .. and actually went to work that day. Tromso was really cool as I’ve always wanted to see the midnight sun ever since I came to Norway. Maybe I’ll be able to see the same thing in Northern Canada one day…hmmmm.

Take care,

Jason

Update

2008-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Just a small update, I am alive and well :P. I have been on hoidays the past few weeks and I will post my picuteres and will describe my trip to Switzerlnd, Autria, Bratislava and Budapest in my next few posts.

Also, I will talk about my trip to Tromso Norway that I took at the end of May.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Jason

I look like a guy who looks like the guy from TOP GUN!

2008-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

As I came into work Monday morning and opened my e-mail, I noticed the subject line of one of my e-mails from my colleague Nuno was: Jason/Dragonfly. Since this e-mail was sent to a mailing list, and there is another Jason in the office, AND that Opera is releasing a product caled Dragonfly soon, I figured that this would not concern me for a few reasons.

1. I'm not working on the Dragonfly project
2. The other Jason in the office is a lawyer, so people tend to want to talk to him more then me.
3. People around here usually call me dude, you, or stupid Canadian, instead of Jason.
4. Who the HELL is Nuno?

So here is what I saw when I opened the e-mail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXeiusUdc3k

Apparently Nuno thought that this Tom Cruise impersonator looks like me! ME! Well, he wasn't the only one. A few people around the office actually thought it was me in the video :eek:

Although it isn't me, we do have a few things in common as I do fly and eat planets :yes:

I'll let you be the judge.

Other then that, nothing really exciting has been happening , haha. Just working hard and looking forward to my summer vacation :)

Have a good week, miss you all.

Jason

Back to Oslo...

2008-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a real long time since I've posted something on here and since then I've been back home to Ottawa. Before starting my new contract with Opera I had to take a break, so this was the perfect opportunity to go back home and catch up with family and friends for 3 1/2 weeks!

The trip was really amazing. Lots of cold, snow, great food and parties. It felt like I never left which, I guess , is a good thing. It was great to catch up with friends that haven't really changed. Sure most of them have either moved out, bought their own place or got engaged but for the most part everyone was the same.

Now it's back to reality. After a 14 hour journey, I arrived back here in Oslo. My flights were all real smooth and it felt like spring as I landed in Oslo. The weather has been no less then -5 compared to Ottawa's -20. I've slowly settled back in to my routine of going to work, going to the gym and all that good stuff. I'm really looking forward to an extra year here in Oslo as it will give me one more year of precious work experience and more chances to travel :)

All is good on my end so hopefully everything is well with everyone.

I leave you with pictures of a snowboarding competition I attended here at Holmenkollen in Oslo with my friend and colleague Espen. It was a really cool time. These guys are insane !!

Take care,

Jason

Paris, Gothenburg Sweden, and Bergen Norway

2007-10-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Well it's been a long time since I've wrote so here goes.

In July, my parents came to visit me and it was a great treat from home. It had been almost 6 months since I have since them (in person). They came just in time for Canada Day so it was great to celebrate with them with a BBQ in Vigeland Park here in Oslo. They also came right after that great Senators playoff run so they brought me a nice Eastern Conference Champions T-shirts :) With them enjoying Oslo for the first week of their stay I was working but I then got a week holiday so I can travel with them to Paris and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Paris:

My mom always wanted to go to Paris so it was great to be able to go with her and my dad. We visited the Eiffel Tower, the Chateau de Versaille, Le Louvre and all the other typical tourist stops in Paris. The city is truly beautiful and VERY busy compared to Oslo. It's a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. It was also nice to eat terrific food!

Gothenburg, Sweden:

I was really looking forward to this trip as I had never been to Sweden and it was a chance to visit my favorite Senator player, Daniel Alfredsson's home town. This city was very similar to Oslo and my parents and I took a boat tour of the city. Too bad it started pouring rain 10 seconds after we started the tour. NO REFUNDS . Sweet. Anyway, we had a great time getting to Gothenburg by train which is a 4 hour ride.

I had a great time with my parents as we had many laughs and great memories.

Bergen, Norway:

Well I attended an AIESEC conference last weekend that was held in Bergen Norway. As a intern myself and other interns from around the world got the chance to visit the city. We first went to Bryggen which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Bryggen is a series of very old traditional Norwegian houses that have now been turned into shops and restaurants. We then took a funicular to the top of a hill to have a view of the entire city. The next day the interns went to visit the RosenKrantz tower which is one of Norway's oldest structures. Bergen is a little smaller then Oslo, but it is a great town to visit for a weekend. I find more beautiful then Oslo.

Three great trips in one on this post. I can't wait for the next one. I am going to the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic between Xmas and New Years. I hope to catch Canada vs Sweden on December 29th . Look for me on TSN haha.

I have posted pictures of all 3 cities in my albums and Facebook.

Take care everyone!

Jason

Fjords and Football (soccer)

2007-09-12T12:26:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well back home! Sorry for not posting anything for awhile. I am having internet connection problems at home and I have to do everything internet related from work (after I actually finish work of course ;) ) The last few weeks have been really cool because I got to experience few firsts in my life. In late August I went on my first Norwegian fjord tour and last weekend I went to my first ever soccer game.

Geiranger Fjord Tour

With summer coming to an end, I thought it would be a great time to experience one of Norway’s most famous attractions, the fjords. There are many fjords to choose from but I chose to see the Geiranger fjord, which, I was told, was one of the most beautiful in Norway. I made the trip with Ruben, a Dutch friend who is also on an internship in Oslo. We were the only ones who could make it that particular weekend.

Geiranger is about a 7 hour train ride Northwest from Oslo, but the town is so remote that we had to switch trains once, and then we had to take a bus into the valley where Geiranger is located. On the train/bus ride to Geiranger, you get to see some beautiful scenery along the way and it is definitely worth the trip. Once in Geiranger, the views are amazing. Beautiful mountains look like they have risen from the river. The crystal clear water is a beautiful tiel green color that I have only seen in southern beaches. Once there we took an 1 ½ hour fjord tour that explained the history and the reason why this fjord was named a World heritage site by UNESCO. Along the tour we say farms that were abandoned due to the danger of avalanches, many waterfalls and crevices in the mountains. It’s impossible to explain the beauty of the nature, that seems to be untouched in centuries, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

First Soccer game

The last time I was in Europe for my exchange in Amsterdam I didn’t get to see a soccer match. This time around I promised myself to go. Luckily enough my ex-roomate, Bjorn, asked me to go see a Norwegian soccer league match that saw Vålerenga vs. Start. Vålerenga is one of Oslo’s 2 teams that actually share a stadium! Start is a team from Kristiansand. The stadium was about ¾ full (roughly 12 000 people) because Bjorn told me that these teams were at the bottom of the standings. Now I’ve been to hockey games in Ottawa and Montreal with over 20 000 fans, but even with ¾ of the open stadium full, the fans were crazier and louder then any hockey game I’ve ever been to. They actually had chants going the ENTIRE match. The game was pretty exciting with Vålerenga winning 3-2. There were 2 penalty kicks in the match, one for each team, and it was much more exciting than watching soccer on TV. The game made me miss going to Sens games, and I can’t wait to go to one once I get back. All the normal trash talking from the fans was present but only in Norwegian. Bjorn gladly translated for me. OH! I almost forgot to mention that beer wasn’t even sold at the stadium!! WHAT THE HELL? It was still a good time though.

Take care everyone,

Jason

(Pictures will be uploaded soon)

Kuala Lumpur

2007-08-14T12:55:00.001-07:00

After a crazy bus ride, Erik and I finally reached our final destination of this trip: Kuala Lumpur. We checked into our hostel around 9pm and then when walking around town. While walking, we saw something that Seinfeld fans will appreciate. We saw a Kenny Roger’s Rosters restaurant 5 minutes away from our hostel. Of course during our stay we ate a meal there at it was delicious. We then headed back to the hostel for some beers.

The next day we ventured to the Petronas Twin Towers, which are the tallest twin towers in the world right now. We could not go up the towers because they only let 1200 people up due to security concerns. We then headed to Chinatown for some bargain shopping. All the shops seemed to be selling the same clothes and souvenirs. Some vendors even sold movies that were currently in theatres for about 5$. I needed short so I bargained to buy 2 pairs of billabongs for 10$ each, not bad at all. We then headed to the KL Tower, which is one of the tallest buildings in the world, but the tallest tower worldwide is still the CN Tower in Toronto. For some reason I felt some national pride ☺. That night we went to party in a part of the town called Bangsar which is full of bars and restaurants. There we met and partied with 2 Malays and 2 girls from Uzbekistan that were studying in KL.

The next day we visited Lake gardens, which is a beautiful park in the middle of the city. In the park we came across a group of Chinese school children. Their tour guide asked us where we were from and he translated to the kids that we were from Canada. The kids waived and enthusiastically said hello to us in English. They also looked surprised that 2 white guys from a distant country were in their part of the world. I was also very surprised that they knew what Canada was. After that, we took a cab to the airport (took 1 hour!!!) and flew back to Bangkok. After spending one more day in Bangkok with Erik, I then flew back to Oslo. My trip to South-East Asia was a great one and I’m glad I was lucky enough to experience countries and cultures that I thought I would never experience. I am hoping I get another chance to visit that part of the world.

Take care,

Jason

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia - 2007

2007-07-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone

After a few beautiful, relaxing days in the Perhentian Islands, Erik and I headed to the Cameron Highlands. After leaving the chalets, we boarded a boat taxi to the mainland and then took a minibus from there. On the bus, we met Helen and Melanie, two very friendly South African girls who now work as physiotherapists in London. The 6 hour drive to the Highlands seemed very short as we chatted with them the whole trip. Once there we checked in to the Cameron Inn, drank beer and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The following morning Erik and I took a trekking tour around the highlands with a tour guide that asked us to call him “Money” since is real name was too hard to pronounce. Money is 52 years old and lived his whole life in the Cameron Highlands. He’s worked several jobs all over the area and was very knowledgeable. He took us to a local tea plantation and explained how the workers pick the tea leaves. The many plantations in the area are a key source for the local economy. Money then took us trekking through the jungle where he showed us some very cool plants and we even got to climb a tree vine that looked like a gym rope. This guy knew every plants name and he had the sense of smell like a dog. He would just smell an area of the jungle and would find a particular plant that he wanted to show us. He then brought us to a strawberry farm (also a source of the local economy) where we had sundays and local jam. Our last stop on the tour was a butterfly farm where we got a chance to see thousands of butterflies, snakes, turtles, scorpions and a variety of weird insects. We then headed to back to the hostel and just relaxed and chatted the rest of the night with our new South African friends.

The next day we just relaxed and walked around to explore the town. Afterwards, we then took a bus to our next destination: Kuala Lumpur. The bus driver was a crazy person that was screaming and honking at everyone on the road. Also the road was on the edge of a cliff and not very straight. The driver was taking the corners pretty damn fast so sleeping on the way to KL was out of the question.

I’ll talk about KL in the next post.

Take care,

Jason

Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

2007-07-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

After checking out of our hostel in Singapore, Erik and I took a bus to cross the border into Malaysia. Before crossing the border, we had to get out of the bus and go through customs. We came out of customs and noticed the bus is not there anymore. We searched for it for a while but I guess the bus decided to leave without us. Luckily the Malaysian border wasn’t very far so we decided to walk to Johore, the town at the border. Once there, we took a taxi to the local bus station. We had decided to go to the Perhentian Islands but getting there was going to be a problem. The Perhentian islands are two islands off the coast of northern Malaysia and we were in the south. All busses heading there were sold out and there seemed to be no organization in the bus system. So 3 busses, one taxi, a boat taxi and 20 hours later, we finally arrived on the beautiful islands. We didn’t reserve ahead of time so we were a little lucky that there was a spot at the Moshin Chalets. The room that we got was very basic with two beds, toilet, shower and an air fan. After all that traveling we spent the rest of the day on the beach relaxing. The sand was like white powder and the water was crystal clear and very warm. The beach was great although the temperature must have reached 45 degrees Celsius.

The next day we went snorkeling around the islands. Our guide took us to a very cool spot around one of the islands where we got to see sea turtles, clown fish and even small sharks. Although they were small sharks, the guide did say that the day before his friend did get injured from a shark bite so I was a little freaked out haha. During the lunch break, we ate at a little beach side restaurant where local goats would come up to our table to get some food. After a full day of snorkeling my back was completely burnt but I really enjoyed the experience. That night at diner, one of the owners of the chalets asked if Erik and I had any experience catching snakes. Erik and I said “no” and we were a bit confused as to why he would ask us such a question. He informed us that there was a 12 foot python in his room. I thought he was joking but he actually showed us a picture of the snake. Not being a big fan of snakes I was again freaked out. We checked out the next morning to head to our next destination. While getting ready to leave, I was brushing my teeth and spotted a huge cockroach that must have been 4 inches long behind the sink. I was so tired that I really didn’t mind it being there and I think it would have taken a baseball bat to kill the thing.

The Perhentian Islands was one of the highlights of my South East Asia trip and I hope I get a chance to visit similar areas of the world in the future.

Take care,

Jason

Singapore, Singapore

2007-07-22T12:56:00.000-07:00

The morning of May 22nd , Erik, a couple of his friends and I took a short flight to Singapore from Bangkok. I was pretty excited to go to Singapore because my co-worker and friend Vyoma is from there. She gave me tips and a list of things to do while I was in her home country. We first checked into Sleepy Sam’s hostel where we slept in a huge dorm. We then ventured out in the city where we went to Clarke Quay, a very beautiful place in the city full of bars and restaurants. After that we went up to the 72nd floor of the Swiss Hotel to get a beautiful view of the city. Singapore’s city skyline is full of massive skyscrapers. Later that night we went to celebrate my 25th birthday (holy crap I’m already a quarter century... eesh) along Boat Quay where we had dinner along the river. Since Boat Quay is a strip of restaurants, each one tries to persuade you to come eat at their establishment. We finally chose the restaurant that gave us 2 free beers and a 10% discount. Not bad right? Well the prices of the meals were quite high, so we basically got screwed. To end the night we headed back to Clarke Quay for more beers.

The next day we visited the rest of the sights that were on Vyoma’s must see list. We first went to see the Merlion, which is a huge half lion half fish statue and is also a fountain. The Merlion is a very popular symbol for the city. We then walked down Orchard road, which is full of shopping malls. That evening we went back to Clarke Quay for some drinks where Erik and I were hit on by a whacked out cougar! She was pretty drunk and bought us a few shots. Good times.
I really enjoyed Singapore. It was a very clean multicultural city, with an amazing metro system but it was a little too humid though haha. Perhaps the reason Singapore is so clean is that there is a fine for everything from littering to eating on the metro. I asked Vyoma about this and she said there are fines for such infractions but they are not enforced that badly. It is mostly a joke for tourists that you can get fined for EVRYTHING in Singapore.

This is just a quick warning to those planning on bringing drugs into Singapore. The immigration card that we had to fill in before landing had this written on it in big bold red letters:

“ DRUG TRAFFICKING IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH”

LOL! Good thing I left my pound of cocaine in Bangkok… haha.

Take care,

Jason

South East Asia: Part 1 - Bangkok, Thailand

2007-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Bangkok on May 19th after the 12-hour journey with one stop over in Copenhagen, Denmark. The flight was really comfortable and I slept most of the time. The first thing I noticed was the extreme humidity. It was at least 45 Celsius with the humidity. Erik, a friend from University, met me at the airport. He was really easy to spot as I believe he was the only 6’2’ white guy amongst many Thais at the gate.

The first thing we did was head to Kao Sarn road which is a very busy tourist spot in Bangkok where there is many bars, hostels, street vendors, shops etc. We then sampled several Thai beers and then tried a bucket of booze, which is basically a huge pale of slushy (in several flavors) with the booze of your choice. When then headed to several bars in the area to finish the night.

The following day we went to the Grand Palace. Before we got there, some crazy lady with pigeons all around her harassed us with popcorn seeds to give to the pigeons. Scared out of our minds, Erik and I took the bags of popcorn seeds that this nutcase was forcing on us and fed the pigeons. Little that we knew, she was charging 5$ for these bags of seeds!!! We got screwed, damn! In retrospect, we should have ran away, but you never know in a foreign country. Lesson of the day: don’t trust crazy pigeon ladies! When we finally got the Grand Palace it was great. There is beautiful royal residences and it is home of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, which I didn’t get to see because the temple was closed for repairs unfortunately. After the Grand Palace, we crossed the river to visit another temple, which had more amazing monuments. We then headed to a temple that is host to the Reclining Buddha. I was told that this was the world's largest Buddha. This thing was huge and very beautiful, and pictures don't do it justice. We finished off day 2 by meeting up with Erik’s friends and headed to a karaoke bar. This karaoke was different from what I am used to because each group of friends had their own private room and you could make a play list of the songs you wanted to sing.

On the third day in Bangkok, we went shopping on Kao Sarn, went for a Thai message and went to see some Thai Boxing. Shopping in Thailand is quite the experience. The vendors know that you are tourist and practically drag you into their shops. All the shops sell the same things so if they try to rip you off, you can easily bargain with them to get the lowest price or go to the next shop. After the shopping we went for a Thai message. We went to a very decent place and there was NO happy ending, haha. The message was nice but the girl had hands like vice grips and at times it hurt. Afterward they served us a snack and tea. I felt pretty loose afterwards and then we went to Thai Boxing. There are matches almost every day and I think there are more than 60 000 Thai boxers in Thailand, so it’s a very popular sport. The boxers are actually pretty small (no taller then 5’8’ and not over 140 pounds) and quick, which made for some great fights. During the event we got to see 10 fights and 2 knockouts! It is illegal to gamble on boxing in Thailand but that didn’t stop the few thousands of fans that were there from doing it. I couldn’t figure out their gambling system, as it seemed very random with a lot of yelling at each other. We then went back to Erik’s place and ordered McDonald’s of all things. That’s right, McDonald’s delivers in Bangkok… I couldn’t believe it.

The best way I could explain Bangkok is that it’s organized chaos. If you walk down 10 meters down a street you will get 10 different smells. It is very crowded and hectic and is very different of what I am used to from the other cities I have traveled to. It was great to experience Bangkok and it really took me out of my comfort zone. In my next post I will talk about our next stop in our journey: Singapore.

Take care,

Jason

Liane's visit!

2007-06-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

This post is loooong over due. May was insanely busy with travel ☺ and work ☹. Things have settled down now and I am awaiting the arrival of Mom and Dad on Canada day.

Last month, my sister Liane came to visit me for a few weeks here in Oslo. It was great to see someone from home and it was great to speak our version of the French language. For those who have not heard us speak, my family and friends back home tend to speak a hybrid language that mixes French and English. We could start a sentence in English and finish it in French or vice versa. It’s quite unique to our part of the world but the most important thing is that we understand each other. Also, she brought some nice presents from home and early birthday gifts. The best gift was the ingredients for poutine that we made for my roommate Eva and my co-workers Anna and Vyoma!!!

While Liane was here we wanted to go on a small road trip and visit Gothenburg, Sweden. That did not work out because there was a city marathon on the weekend we wanted to visit and there was no hotel rooms available ANYWHERE! We visited Kristiansand, Norway instead. We took the train and it took 4 hours to get there. The train ride was quite nice with beautiful scenery. Kristiansand is a nice small town in the south of Norway. The first day we explored the town and went sightseeing. We visited the town square, the fortress and did a little shopping. On the second day we went on a mild hike and saw some old canons hidden in the forest, which were used in the war and the port where we had lunch, and some ice cream. It was a very nice, relaxing trip.

Later in the week we celebrated May 17th – Norway’s National Day. We actually starte May 17th is a very traditional holiday where the women dress in the traditional “bunads”, and most guys wear suits or semi-casual attire. My roommate Eva was having a brunch with some of her friends and all the ladies were wearing very nice trd the party a little early as we went out with a few other trainees and coworkers of mine on May 16th. The next day was a little rough but we managed to wake up in time for the festivities.aditional dresses. Each of the “bunads” were different colors. Eva told me that the color of the dress depends on which region of Norway that the lady comes from. Liane and I then ventured to the downtown area. It was a lot like Canada Day but with A LOT less alcohol and insanity. I think people partied too much the night before. It was a very civil event and a parade was held on Karl Johan’s gate (the main street) with locals waving their Norwegian flags. I was surprised of how people were calm and civil on their National Day. There weren’t any fireworks and the day finished around diner time! WHAAAAAAAA?

I’m glad Liane got a chance to come visit me. This was Liane’s first trip to Europe and I was glad I was able to experience that with her. Next up: Mom and Dad.

The next few posts I will talk about my trip to Asia … WOOO!
Take care,
Jason

Pictures !

2007-06-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone !

Sorry I have not posted in a while but May was an incredibly busy month. First Liane, my sister, came to visit me here in Oslo and then I went on a 2 week holiday to visit Erik, a friend of mine from University. Erik was studying in Bangkok for the semester so it was a great opportunity to visit Asia for the first time. We visited Bangkok, Singapore and The Perenthian Islands, the Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

I have posted the pictures of these cities and will be writing about them in the coming week. I have also posted pictures from Kristiansand, Norway which I visited with Liane and I posted pictures of the National Day in Norway which was May 17th.

Enjoy the pictures and I will be posting about all these cities very soon !

Take care, I miss you all!

Jason

Danish Boat Cruise

2007-04-12T15:40:00.000-07:00

Easter Break

Hello everyone,

I hope everyone had a very relaxing Easter break. For people in Norway Easter break started on Thursday. I’m not sure why workers in Norway get the extra day off, but with a 5-day weekend ahead I wasn’t complaining. It was really quiet around the apartment over the weekend as all my flat mates left for their hometowns to visit friends and family.

Many people here in Norway (mostly foreigners), have told me that a Norwegian experience experience the one-day cruise from Oslo to Demark and then back to Oslo. is not complete with a party on a Danish Boat Cruise. So I decided to take the leap andOther trainees that are also working in Oslo accompanied me so we were a group of nine. The boat left Oslo at 8pm and arrived in Denmark at 8am the next day, and then arrived back in Oslo at 7pm that night.

The boat was an actual cruise ship filled with families and retired couples enjoying the trip. We were probably the only ones there to party. The best part about this cruise is probably the duty free shop. Alcohol was actually NORMAL price compared to the Norwegian price of alcohol. Each of us stocked up on duty free beer and alcohol before the evening got started

After a trip to duty free, we then headed to Viktor’s cabin for a pre party. Viktor, who is a very proud Ukrainian, was celebrating his 23rd birthday and brought along Ukrainian vodka. Now I’m no expert on vodka or anything, but this was the best vodka I have ever had. In fact, I think I enjoyed it a little too much ☺. Then we headed to the bar on the ship and too be quite honest I don’t remember much after that. The next morning was a little interesting because a hang over mixed with a moving boat is not that great. The boat traveled overnight and we arrived in Denmark at 8am. The shipped docked for 2 hours to let some people off and let some people board. The original plan was to get off the boat and take a few pictures in Denmark, however, we all slept through. It was a cool thing to experience and I would surely go again.

On the way back from Denmark, I took some pretty cool pictures in the Oslo fjord so check them out. The Norwegian landscape is truly beautiful.

That’s it for now, have a great weekend everyone!

GO SENS GO!!

Jason

Holmenkollen Ski Jumping

2007-03-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Last Sunday March 18th, a few colleagues of mine and other trainees that work here in Oslo attended a World Cup Ski Jumping competition that was held at Holmenkollen, which is located just one tram ride away from Oslo. I am not a huge fan of ski jumping because it is basically the same thing over and over again, but I thought it would be a cool experience. The atmosphere was terrific with a lot of crazy ski jumping fans. Half the people there were Norwegian and the other half were Polish and I think all of them were drunk haha. It started off as a very mild day, but it turned out to be very cold and windy which cancelled the last jump of the competition. There were jumpers from over 15 countries and there was even a Canadian guy in the competition. He came in 57th of a field of 60 jumpers but I have to give him credit for even jumping. When I see this competition at Olympics on TV, the slope doesn’t seem to be that steep but in person the slope is huge and I think I would crap my pants if I had to take the jump. It was a very cool experience but I’m not sure if I would ever go to another ski jumping competition again.

I have posted some pictures of the event which you can check out here
http://picasaweb.google.ca/chartrand.jason

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Ah yes spring is in the air! The snow has almost all melted here in Oslo and the temperatures are reaching 13-15 degrees. There is that springtime smell in the air that is very familiar to all Canadians after a long winter. People are coming out of their winter hybernation and are starting to creep on patios to have a few beers. There is a very nice area here in Oslo along the waterfront called Aker Brygge. There are bars, restaurants and street vendors along this strip which makes for a very cool atmosphere. I am really looking forward to a nice summer here is Oslo.

That’s all from Oslo for now. I would love to here from you guys, so please leave your comments.

I hope everything is well back home. Take care and have a great week everybody,

Jason

Hemsedal Ski Weekend

2007-03-11T06:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Last weekend I joined my roommates Bjorn, Hanne and their friends on a ski trip to Hemsedal, Norway. Hemsedal is considered the Alps of Scandinavia, so I was pretty excited that my first time trying snowboarding and downhill skiing would be at one of the biggest ski resorts in Norway.

I took last Friday off work because we had to take the bus 10 am to get to the resort. It was a nice 3 hour bus ride with plenty of beautiful scenery along the way. Once we got there we settled into the 10-person chalet and headed for the slopes for some night skiing/snowboarding. I tried snowboarding first, and to be quit honest, I didn’t enjoy myself too much. Having never tried it before, having no lessons, not being that coordinated, and having no one to really teach me the basics, I spent the night falling on my ass haha. Before I go snowboarding again I will have to get some lessons. After snowboarding we headed back to the chalet for a few beers.

Since I wasn’t too successful with the snowboarding, the next day I thought I would try downhill skiing. I have to say that I really enjoyed skiing even though, like snowboarding, I have never tried it before. I think the big difference was that I could actually control both of my feet when I was skiing as opposed to snowboarding. I still fell a bunch of times and was sore all week, but I can really see myself going skiing a few times every winter.

After a skiing, we went to the sports bar at the resort the watch the Man U vs Liverpool football game. It was a pretty good game with Man U scoring at the 90th minute and winning 1-0. Norwegians really love their football! After that we went to an after ski party at the Hemsedal Café and partied all night.

All in all it was a pretty cool weekend hanging out with all Norwegians. Also, I’m glad I did try both snowboarding and skiing because I got a chance to see which one I enjoyed the most. I would like to go skiing again, but I would like to take a few lessons before hand. Even though I fell a ton I really enjoyed the experience and I’m looking forward to the next ski trip.

Have a good week everybody.

Take care

Jason

Pictures of Oslo

2007-02-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been quite busy with work but that's a good thing. I'm learning more and more everyday at work and I am getting more responsibilities. This week I got a clear vision of what I will be doing at work and I will mostly be tracking various Opera ad campaigns on various websites to see which ones work and which ones don't. It's pretty cool for me since I studied this kind of
stuff, and to actually put it into practice is very interesting.

It was pretty mild last wekend so I got the chance to take a nice long walk in downtown Oslo and I brought my camera with me. So here are some pictures of Oslo.
The picture above is of two of my colleagues. We share the same office and they are really fun to work with. Vyoma, on the left, is from Singapore and Anna is from Poland. Vyoma has been here since August 2006 and Anna has been here since September 2005 I believe. They both got there jobs through the same program as I did : AIESEC.

Enjoy the pictures everyone and have a great week !

Go Sens!

Jason

Hockey Day in Norway

2007-02-07T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

I hope everything is well in Ottawa. I heard there was a winter cold warning for the past few days! That’s a shame … hahaha. Here in Oslo it was a very mild over the weekend.

Last week I started my Norwegian course offered by the company. I have class twice a week for 1 ½ hour each class. The teacher is really cool and funny. Right off the bat she was speaking Norwegian to us. I was completely lost and clueless to what was going on because I did not buy the textbooks yet (but I since bought them). After about 30 minutes I started to get it. The language will be a little difficult to learn because the pronunciation of words is completely different from French or English. The reading of the language wont be that bad, but it will take me awhile before I feel comfortable speaking it. Luckily I live with 3 Norwegians that are more willing to help me out.Sunday was a very cool day sports wise for me. As I mentioned before, my roommate Bjorn and I bought the sports pack for our TV. With that we get lots of English Premiership soccer games and quite a bit of NHL games. I say Sunday was special because I got a chance to see the Sens vs the Leafs and the Flames vs the Canucks. The games were on tape delay so they started at noon. We got the Hockey Night in Canada feed and I had the extreme pleasure and joy of hearing Bob Cole and Don Cherry on a Sunday afternoon ugh… Oh well, I can’t complain, I got to see the Sens (even though it was in a loss) After the hockey I watched Manchester United (Bjorn is a big fan) beat the crap out of Tottenham 4-0. After being on the couch and being completely useless for the entire day I took a walk. Then I waited until midnight for the Superbowl to start. After the first half I was way too tired to watch the rest of the game (it was around 2am) so I just went to bed.

All in all, not an eventful week but I’m really happy I’ll get to see hockey, and the Senators while I’m here. It’s a nice touch of home.

Also, my cell phone is fully functional now!!! WOOO!

Have a Good week everyone,

Jason

Julebord !!!

2007-01-29T05:46:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

I hope everybody had a great week and weekend. This week I was given more of an idea of what I will be doing for Opera. Basically I will be split between, business development, marketing and analyzing stats. I’m not sure how much details I can give about the projects I will be working on because I signed this confidentiality policy. So in fear of them breaking my legs, if you have any questions about what I do exactly just ask me and I’ll send you a more personal e-mail. On Friday, we had our traditionally Friday beers. After a few pints a few colleagues and I went back to one of the offices and played Nintendo Wii for a few hours. The reason why this guy has a Wii in his office is because Opera provides the web browser for the Wii. It was the first time I tried the Wii and it was pretty damn fun ( the beer helped haha).

I am having trouble with my cell phone. I can receive and send text messages but I cannot receive or make calls. It’s the weirdest thing. When I first tried to call someone it gave me a long message in Norwegian. My roommate helped me out saying that I need to register my phone … no problem right? Well, in Norway, with some service providers you need a social insurance number to register your phone. I applied for my social insurance number last week and was informed that it would take about 4 weeks to get it. I am working to getting my phone to work faster. Here is my number and address for those who are interested:

Cell: +47 94 42 73 16

Address:
Asaveien 20
0362, Oslo
Norway

On Saturday night I attended a Julebord party that is normally held at Christmas time. A Julebord is the Norwegian equivalent to our Christmas. This was held by AIESEC and the reason it was held this late is because a lot of people went home for the holidays and were unable to attend it at the regular time. Julebord is basically the same as Christmas, there is a lot of eating and drinking! One thing that I found pretty cool was that in Norway, whenever there is a formal dinner, there are two toasts during supper; one for the men and one for the women. The way this works is that during the meal one guy holds a speech and toasts the women. After he is done the other men at the dinner stand up and sing a song in Norwegian that toasts the women. After that the same thing is done but it’s the women toasting the men. It’s pretty interesting because most of the speech is centered on bashing the other sex and the last few lines of the toast are to honor the other sex.

After the julebord celebrations, we went downtown to the bars. Downtown Oslo on a Saturday night is insane! Every single club or Pub had a line of at least 50 people! I’ve never seen a downtown area so busy. The club was ok, I only had one beer because it’s so freaking expensive. After that we went outside to get a cab. In Oslo, public transport stops at 12:30 … so all those people at every club needed a cab. There is something pretty weird in Oslo for cab services. Since it is so busy and impossible to get a cab by phone, there is an actual line to get a cab ! There are certain street signs in the downtown area with a taxi logo. So people wait in line next to these signs for the next cab to arrive. A friend and I waited 45 minutes in the freezing cold to get a cab! It wasn’t the best first night out in downtown Oslo, but now I know what to expect.

Tomorrow I start my Norwegian classes paid for by the company. I’m pretty pumped to start learning a new language.

Feel free to leave comments. I would like to hear from you guys!

Have a good week! I have posted some apartment pictures for those interested.

Miss you guys a lot!

Go Sens Go!

Jason

P.S. The picture is of our doormat. Welcoming ...no?

My First 2 weeks in Oslo

2007-01-21T14:07:00.000-08:00

Hi All!!!

Well, I arrived safe and sound in Oslo about 2 weeks ago. I was seriously jet lagged for the first 5 days but have now fully recovered and I’m settling into a routine in my new hometown for the next year.Two days after I arrived in Oslo I attended a conference in Trondheim, Norway that was held by the organization that set up my international internship: AIESEC. If any of you want more info on AIESEC and want to know what they are all about go to www.aiesec.ca. The conference was pretty cool and I met a lot of people from many different countries. I met other trainees but none that worked at the same place that I do. I missed my plane to come back to Oslo, so I had to buy another one that left one hour later. I thought the shuttle bus for airport was supposed to be fast, the bus stopped every 2 minutes so I was late. So I got a great experience at the conference and come back with 800 kroner less in my pocket…. Oh well!

My new apartment is really cool. My room is a bit bigger then the one I had in Amsterdam (so slightly bigger then a broom closet). The kitchen, the living room and the washroom are all very big. The kitchen has everything you need and there is a washing machine in the bathroom. In addition to my bedroom, I have an extra living room of my own that I can put anything I want (maybe I’ll cover the room in porn ..hahaha), so there is plenty of place if anybody wants to come visit. I found out that I will have to move out at the END of July so it gives me plenty of time to find another place. The reason is because the apartment was promised to another guy for the month of August. I live with a guy, Bjorn, and two girls, Eva and Hanne (pronounced Hanna). They are very nice and helpful. All three are Norwegians studying in Oslo. Bjorn helped me out buying a cell (which is a must in Europe) and the same day we bought the sports pack for our TV so we now get soccer games and even the NHL!! WOOOO!

After my first week of work, I think I will like it here. I work at Opera Software (www.opera.com) as a marketing intern. I haven’t been given any tasks because there was a sales and marketing seminar all week. Basically the sales and marketing reps from all over the world reunited at the head office in Oslo for some info sessions and team building. I got an idea of what the company will be doing strategy wise for the upcoming year. Also, for the team building we had a dinner last Thursday night and on the Friday we went Go-Karting and went for beers after. I will get more of an idea of what my tasks are this week. There is a canteen at work that is completely paid for. Each employee pays 200 NOK (kroner) (around 37$) each month and we get breakfast, snacks and lunch for free. That will save on the groceries !!!To give you an idea of what kind of atmosphere the company has, I got pretty drunk with the current COO of the company at the dinner and he used me to pick up girls! On Friday the CFO of the company was on my go-kart team! So the company seems pretty cool and it should be a fun working environment. I’m looking forward to the next year.

That’s it for now my friends, I will post pictures of my apartment soon! I have posted pictures of the beautiful town of Trondheim, Norway. Enjoy!

Oh by the way, the girls here are absolutely gorgeous!!!

Take care everyone, I miss you all.

Go SENS Go!!

Jason