frustrations in oslo

ok, so i'm in oslo again. i didn't want to be here now. it's the most expensive city in the world, and i'd like to leave. the whole travelling on a eurail pass, staying at hostels is a bit more frustrating than i thought it would be. the trains i want to take are either not actually running or fully booked. the hostels i want are also fully booked.

i had planned to take the train this morning to stockholm, but i couldn't find anywhere to stay, so i'm staying where i am in oslo. which is really a pretty good deal - i'm staying at a woman's apt here in the city. good stuff.

i also ran into a guy i met a few days ago in voss, so i was able to tour around the city with him today which alleviated some of my lonesomeness. oslo is really a great city, if it weren't so expensive!! it's a little over 6NOK to the US dollar, and a plain hamburger at mcdonalds is 15NOK, and that is by far the cheapest lunch i'll ever find. most "cheap" restauarants run at least 75NOK a dinner. thankfully, i am able to cook at the apt i'm staying in, so i made pasta last nite. nice and cheap.

today i went to the sculpture park, which was pretty cool. and i also just took the tram around town to see the different neighborhoods. i also went over to the castle, which was closed, but that's ok, cos i didn't want to pay 60NOK to see it anyway.

yesterday i went to the munch museum, which was good. (think: the scream) it was all his stuff that he left in his will to the city of oslo when he died. i was able to catch a 50min english movie on his life, which really helped explain his work. the paintings were pretty good, too.

i also broke down and bought a book to read while waiting for trains and while on trains. i'm excited to just sit and relax tonite, i wore out my feet and legs the past few days.

on a personal note, i'm feeling pretty lonely. i was glad to share a room at this apt with a polish girl that speaks english well, and i was really excited to see my friend from voss. i didn't have any plans to go to the castle, but since he was going, i decided it would be better to hang out with him than mope around by myself, doing my own thing. i was frustrated enough to cry this morning, as i wanted to take the train tomorrow to stockholm and had already booked a hostel there (the third time i've booked a hostel i couldn't make it to, but i really don't have an option, cos then i'm stuck on the other side - not having a place to stay, which is probably worse). so... i'm thankful for the blessings (great weather, friends, being here at all), but i'm a little down overall.

i plan to go to copenhagen tomorrow, stay there tomorrow night and the next, take the overnight train to amsterdam, stay there 2 nights, and then go to bruges for 2 nights. at that point, i'll have to do more planning, but it's looking like germany. kinda depends on my friends in germany, and what they're doing.