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Mike Morris
John Hobday
Margit Karkela
Lynn Keillor
Alanna Simone Tyler
THE TRIP
April 22-23 - Days 1-2
April 24 - Day 3
April 25 - Day 4
April 26 - Day 5
April 27 - Day 6
April 28 - Day 7
April 29 - Day 8
April 30 - Day 9
May 1 - Day 10
May 2 - Day 11
May 3 - Day 12
May 4 - Day 13
May 5 - Day 14
May 6 - Day 15
May 7 - Day 16
May 8 - Day 17
May 9 - Day 18
May 10 - Day 19
May 11 - Day 20
May 12 - Day 21
May 13 - Day 22
May 14 - Day 23
May 15 - Day 24
May 16 - Day 25
May 17 - Day 26
May 18 - Day 27
May 19 - Day 28
May 20 - Day 29
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May 15, 2003-05-15
Oslo, Norway
By: John Hobday
We have arrived in Oslo, the final city of our five-city
exchange. In contrast to Drammen, Kongsberg, Gol, and Hønefoss, most of
us are relying on Oslo’s public transportation system to get around the
capital. There is an extensive transit system including a subway, light-rail
(trams), busses, numerous biking commuter trails, and pedestrian walking
trails. Of particular surprise was the continuous number of people biking
as a form way of commuting to work. After spending three and a half weeks
in smaller cities ranging from 4,000 people to 25,000 people, I will admit
that I had a fair amount of anxiety wondering how I would get around this
considerably larger metropolitan area of one million. In fact, I now know
how the rural Minnesota residents feel when they have to make their way
into the “cities.” But after a trip on the bus this morning and the adventure
of a missed tram station this afternoon (actually six missed stations!),
I’m feeling a bit more at ease.
 The
Oslo Rotary Club had a full day planned for us today. We started by visiting
the Christian Radich, a tall sailing ship docked in the Oslo harbor. The
ships namesake was a wealthy grocer (named Christian Radich) who donated
a large amount of money in 1937 for the construction of this ship after
the death of his ten-year-old child. This ship was featured prominently
in the 1957 movie, "Windjammer". It is used today as a training
facility for sailing, mechanics, and chefs. As opposed to many tall sailing
ships around the world which you can tour, this one actually sets sail
many times each week for short harbor cruises to trips to the British
Isles to trips across the Atlantic. The general public is welcome at what
we thought was a very reasonable price of $100 per day (that includes
lodging, meals, etc.) If you’re looking for something out of the ordinary
to do on your next trip to Norway, consider! the Christian Radich.
 (Photo
above right: Christian Radich is a fully rigged tall ship moored
in Oslo harbor. Sailing enthusiasts of all ages can participate in regularly
scheduled training trips to England, the United States and other countries.
Photo below left: GSE team members at the helm of the Christian Radich.)
We continued with a formal tour of the Oslo Rådhus
(City Hall). The Rådhus (pronounced “road-hoose”), like most city halls,
is the center for city business for Oslo. This particular city hall, though,
is also a bit of an art museum because nearly every wall in the building
is covered with large floor-to-ceiling murals representing different aspects
of Norwegian history, art, and culture. The building is centered around
a large open room about half a block long and wide. It is in this room
that the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year. It was a special experience
for a number of the group to stand in the place where such recipients
as Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter received their peace prizes. The Rådhus
is near the main harbor (the Oslo Fjord) and has a beautiful view of the
main harbor.
 At
exactly noon, we made our Group Study Exchange presentation to our sponsor
club, the Oslo Rotary Club. In contrast to the other clubs we have visited
that have had between 25 and 40 members, the Oslo club has over 200. The
club membership includes many prominent Norwegian business people, actors,
authors, ambassadors, etc. We received a very warm welcome and had a very
enjoyable time. This was our fifth presentation through our exchange.
The format is that we each introduce ourselves with a short 3-minute talk
in Norwegian followed by some information about some aspect of Minnesota
such as geography, business, culture, or agriculture. A PowerPoint presentation
runs as a back drop. At the end of our presentation, we sing a rousing
rendition of “America the Beautiful” as well as the Norwegian national
song, Ja Vi Eslker. (Photo above left: The Royal Palace in Oslo lies
at the head of the Karl Johans Gate (boulevard).)
After our presentation, we received a tour of the Norwegian
Theater (the location of the Rotary meetings). The Norwegian Theater is
a live performance theater committed to the use of New Norwegian as much
as possible. New Norwegian is one of two national languages used in Norway
and is actually based on old Norwegian dialects. It is a language that
was created after independence from Sweden in 1905 as a way of trying
to define Norwegian culture and heritage after 245 years of rule by Denmark
and Sweden. It is not as widely used as standard Norwegian (Bokmål). By
producing many of its works in New Norwegian (Ny Norsk), however, the
Norwegian Theater helps promote its acceptance, use, and understanding
in Norway. The theater is a beautiful space that can seat between 600
and 1,000 and could roughly be compared to something in between Minneapolis’
Orchestra Hall and State Theater. The theater’s Managing Director, Nina
Norenzen, was gracious enough to offer all of us (and our host families)
tickets to Musical Musikal, an entirely musical production of songs
in both New Norwegian and English.
 Our
final tour of the day was of the Storting, the Norwegian Parliament. The
building itself was dedicated in 1866 and, although too small to house
all of the parliament’s needs today, still is used for all official functions
and votes. The architectural style is designed to represent Norway and
has elements of the famous stave churches as well as Viking ships. The
Storting is divided into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting.
The normal legal process is that a bill is introduced by the government
in the form of a proposition to the Odelsting and then normally
referred to the appropriate committee. The committee considers the bill
and returns it to the Odelsting in the form of a recommendation.
The recommendation is discussed and debated in the Odelsting and, if acceptable,
sent to the Lagting in the form of a Lagting resolution. If the
Lagting approves the resolution, it is se! nt to the King and, once signed,
becomes law. If the Lagting does not approve the resolution, it is sent
back to the Odelsting with comments. If the comments are approved, it
is sent directly to the King for his approval. If the comments are not
accepted, the resolution must be revised and sent back to the Lagting.
Elections are held every four years for all 165 seats. A Storting may,
however, be dissolved and new elections called outside the normal election
years. The next general election will be in 2005. There is so much more
about the Storting that could be said, but this is a good introduction.
(Photo above right: GSE team learns about legislative organization
in the Lagting chamber of the Norwegian parliament.)
We spent the evenings with our respective hosts. Although
there was no specific vocational or business focus today, I know that
a number of us had very interesting conversations and made some excellent
contacts, particular at the Rotary meeting.
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