New Years;

We were invited to Frank’s house for a new years party. Frank does not work for Trolltech, but is friends with many of the people who work there. When we arrived Marius, Simon and Jason had already arrived. Also present was another friend of Frank, his sister, and two of her friends. At about eight o’clock there was a buffet style dinner. There was an assortment of cold trays with pasta, shrimp, and meat entrées. We ate in the living room, talked and listened to music. Mostly we talked about our Christmas’s and the different cultural experiences that goes with every ones respective holiday. While talking the group broke up in to two sub groups. Those that can speak Norwegian, and those that cannot.

After dinner, a cheese and fruit platter was served to go with the wine that had been consumed all night. At this point Jason was a little tipsy, but was having more fun for it. An assortment of chips and sweets were also at hand to wait out the clock till midnight. At about ten till midnight we bundled up, retrieved some plastic glasses and champagne and headed out side.

There was no ball dropping on any of the buildings, and there was no count down to the moment of midnight. Instead the sky over Oslo was on fire. We walked to the closest park to watch the fire works. The displays were not put on by the government, but by hundreds of regular citizens. People were set up all over the park with all kids of fire works. They ranged from small sparklers to huge multi colored rockets. It looked like the types of displays you would see on the fourth of July in the US, only multiplied by ten. The rockets were going off about ten feet from where we were standing. A few rockets exploded on the ground and although we all new that it was dangerous; the effect was still pretty cool.

Our group each had a sparkler, and champagne as we watched the spectacle. We walked up the hill for a better view, and we could see more fire works in all the different parks through out the city. The noise was immense and reminiscence of thunder. The smoke in the air seemed to magnify the brightness of the explosions. The seen was amazing and can just not be described short of it was the most amazing thing we have yet seen.

On the walk home, the men in the group amused themselves with sliding down the hills, which were ice slicks. Back at the apartment, we continued to eat and talk. Then there was the “cheese shots”. One of the cheeses served had a funky taste so the boys decided to mix the cheese with alcohol and grapes in a blender to make shots. Simon and Frank had the idea and only they partook of the creation. Surprisingly Simon found the concoction palatable.

We had a fantastic time at our first Norwegian New Year. We are thinking that next year we will either join in the setting off of fireworks, or travel to the fordge to watch from the cliffs.