It has been a long 2 days…

I’m a mess, and life is a wreck right now. I don’t know what to do and all I want to do is curl up in a hole and die. (Die might be an exaggeration…let’s say hibernate.) Let me tell you what happened:

So a week before I am supposed to fly to Norway, I get a call saying that I am not allowed to work there because I don’t have a work permit. After all those brain cells sacrificed in worrying about setting up a Norwegian bank account and apply for a tax card, I overlooked the biggest thing of all! While I am at fault for assuming that my would-have-been employer was going to apply for the work permit, I don’t understand how the employer could have overlooked this problem. Shouldn’t it be pretty darn high on the list of things to get tick on the “Checklist for Hiring Foreign Workers!?”

I spent the most part of yesterday being sad. I spent the most part of today being mad. And ironically now I couldn’t care less in comparison to the problem I am about to tell you.

I might not have a place to live in Oslo for the fall semester. How? Well, it turns out I filed what I wasn’t suppose to file…and either did or did not file what I needed to file. (It is an online application without even an automatic confirmation to prove whether or not you indeed filed the application.) So now, a week after the housing application deadline, no response, no proof, no nada.

After sending two tax card applications, after losing a job offer a week before I was supposed to start working, after having bought a plane ticket for nothing, after realizing that I will probably have to breach my study contract, I am all but expecting to be banned entirly from Norway.

I would love for someone to tell me right now to stop being so dramatic, or that things aren’t as bad as I make them seem. But the best thing I can tell myself right now is, “if worst comes to worst…you can always go home and work for a semester.”

On Monday I will have to go to Locarno to file my residence permit for my semester at BI Oslo, which I am not sure if I will be able to attend because, oh!–I don’t have a place to stay!

This has been, without a doubt, the biggest failure of my recordable life. Can I just say FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Time for an update!

It’s funny how we keep pushing things back–I’ll do it tomorrow…I’ll do it this weekend…I’ll do it when I feel inspired…–and then plötsligt, five months go by.

So here we are, May Day, and I have exciting news! First and foremost, I have a summer job! And not just some part-time babysitting job, mind you–a legitimate, full-time summer job. In two weeks, I will be heading all the way up to Honningsvåg, Norway, where I will work in information services at Nordkapphallen. I’ve very stoked, and in a way, it still sounds too good to be true.

Being an American living in Europe, it can get very discouraging trying to find a job, especially when one doesn’t have a college degree. So imagine when I got a call from Pappa one Wednesday morning: “Greg! Jeg har blitt intervjuet av Nordkapp og jeg tror du har en god sjans til å få jobben!” Ahh, le plus beau jour de ma vie!

Nå venter jeg på skattekortet mitt. Jeg har sendt søknaden til skattkontoret i Stavanger, og nå blir det bare venting framover.

Mer info snart…forhåpventligvis!

Bah Humbug, alt handler om penger…

It’s been exactly a week since I came back, and wow, this year abroad has really opened up my eyes, and in a way–made me really critical about this place and its culture. While it’s good to be back and see old faces again, I can’t really say that it’s good to be home, because it doesn’t feel that way. (Not that I have any idea where home is whatsoever. Nineteen years spread across three continents: home doesn’t feel like a relevant term anymore.)
I miss Norway immensely: Sure, there were grim, ensom times, but there was always something to do, it seemed. I could take my bike out and cycle around town, or take the bus to Tønsberg–finding things to do was never a problem. But now I am sitting at “home” finishing off my hunk of Jarlsberg cheese, trying to be content with my life here in Union City in this doldrummy, disconnected interim. While everyone’s taking summer courses. What is up with that?

Anyway, here’s a thought I’ve been entertaining myself with i det siste: If I had a lot of money, I wouldn’t work (duh). I don’t even think I’d go with my old dream and make a record anymore. (That’s a lie. I’d still make a record.) I think I’d just use that money to travel and wander the world. That’s what I’m really feeling right now: an insurmountable feeling of wanderlust. And the shining star on top of the Christmas tree: a month backpacking across Iceland. And I just found out today Icelandair opened up a new route directly from Seattle to Reykjavik. Ohhh…

But with me not having money, and needing money, that would be a problem. In fact, I’ve been so opptatt by these fanciful images of me frolicking across the Icelandic landscape that I’ve totally been disregarding the fact that I am fucking blakk! So it doesn’t look like Iceland will be materializing itself this year. I really need to be focusing on the more important stuff, like trying to get a job in Switzerland (impossible? Well let a fool have his hopes) and applying for a summer position up in Nordkapp. The thing that’s most bothersom is that I have no working experience, which makes me think back: what the hell have I done in the years that I was in high school besides…school? Slik ting…gah!