Song Contest

Last night was my introduction to a program similar to American Idol, but also different in many ways. The Eurovision Song Contest is a competition between 24 European countries but it is a special that lasts only 1 night. We were invited to a party to celebrate the viewing of the show. The first 2 hours showed all of the performances, and then there was 10 minutes where people could call and vote. Then the countries of Europe (even the ones without performers in the show) had an announcer who announced how many votes each performer recieved from that country. The winner was Finland, and the second place winner was Russia. Let me tell you-these were some different performances. The Finland group was called Lordi, and they were a heavy metal group wearing crazy monster costumes. The Russian group was called Dima and it was a strange performance-the singer was a man with an extreme mullet who was wearing a tight white tanktop. There was a grand piano as a prop and at one point the singer stood on the piano and suddenly a woman painted white emerged from the piano! It was bizarre, but they ended up finishing 2nd! It was a fun night-the show was pretty entertaining. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if I had bought off-sale-it's not sold anywhere after 6 pm. I was 10 minutes too late!

This is Lordi

This is Christine Gulbrandson-the Norwegian singer. I thought she was pretty good.

Yesterday I went shopping-I was in heaven! It is fun to go to stores that we don't have at home. I played it safe so I wouldn't get lost (I was by myslef) so I stayed on a main street called Karl Johan's Gate. (Gate=street) I wish I knew some Norwegian so I would't have to tell eveyone that I only speak English constantly! Of course, it was raining the whole time. I can't wait for the day when it doesn't rain here. I also went and saw an old Cathedral. I believe it was wear the crown prince and princess were married. It was impressive, with ornamental, painted benches and a mosaic-like ceiling. In this picture I am standing in front of the main entrance. Like my new jeans??

Oslo is filled with statues. Many of them are of naked people! There is a whole park with sculptures of nudes by a famous artist-we are waiting for a nice day to see that. There are also many statutes around the city. I like this one because she's actually wearing clothes!

I don't know too much about art, but there is a famous artist named Munch from Norway. Most people would recongize his painting "The Scream".

Munch experienced tragedy in his life, and many of his paintings are melancholy and even morbid. Also, some are really bright and beautiful. Honestly, I like many other ones I saw better than I like "The Scream".

Today is Sunday, and I spent a great day and 2 museums. ( I know, it sounds boring-but it was really a great day!) I will make another post later with pictures and details. The battery of my camera ran out right when we got there, so I can't upload the photos i have, and I need to get many more from a classmate! It's hard to describe what it was like without showing the pictures!