Shopping Trip!

This pic has nothing to do with the shopping trip, but it's a cute pic of the street I live on and how its lit up at night.  I have several random pics like this so I'm squeezing them in when I can.  

Yesterday was a big day.  I had an adventure with two cohorts Brittney and Tyler.  Brittney is a PhD student at UND and teaching the English comp classes at ACN this semester.  She lives downstairs from me and is great.  It's nice to have a buddy around.  She also has a blog about her Norwegian adventures - you should check it out! Tyler also was with us. He is a theatre student at UND and is studying abroad at ACN this semester.  We all set out at 11:30 to run to the grocery store and get a new SIM card for our phones and promptly returned back five hours later!  Learning the ropes takes some time.

We went to the mall, but this mall has a grocery store, a convenience store, liquor store, and clothes, etc.  We looked around and Tyler and I got a new SIM card for our phones so if anyone is in Norway I have a phone number now.  Call me! 

Then we decided to have lunch. We ate at the convenience store.  We had been told that the food there is actually good and it was a common place for people to eat...not just a place out of desperation.  

See we all got food.  Brittney and I went for the hot dog, but Tyler trying to stick to his vegetarian diet went for the pepperoni pizza...obvi! Stay tuned for details on his ice cream...it was a good choice.

I need to spend some time talking about the hot dog.  It was amazing!  It was the best hot dog I've ever had.  It was what all hot dogs SHOULD aspire to be! It was not filled with the crap that most American hot dogs are filled with, it was real meat!  Let's take a closer look at the hot dog shall we?

Ok I am not a food photographer and I am not doing this hot dog justice, but trust me here.  Also they had hot dog sauces available.  So I went for half ketchup (safe choice) and half "hot dog sauce."  The hot dog sauce did not honor that hot dog very well.  It kind of tasted like sugary miracle whip...so it was gross, but the hot dog was so good it didn't matter!  Also take a look at the bun.  It looked like an American hot dog bun, but less bread.  It was thinner and therefore could encase the hot dog with a better bun to dog ratio.  Oh and I'm sorry I forgot to mention....it was wrapped in BACON!!!  I'm told there are bacon wrapped cheese filled hot dogs so do not worry I will try those too and report back. 

I guess I'll move on from hot dogs.  Remember Tyler's ice cream?  Well he could have the soft serve ice cream with sprinkles or nuts or his choice, and in my opinion the best choice, streusel.  Yes that's write they rolled the ice cream in streusel.  Good job Norwegian convenience store good job!

After that we went into a store called TGR. I think it has another name or that stands for something, but who knows.  The store is kind of like IKEA knick knacks, the dollar store, Spencer's gifts, and a candy store all rolled into one.  They had things like this:

Why didn't I buy those glasses - no one knows.  BIG mistake...HUGE! Some things that I did buy are:

They are delicious and I might have a problem.  I see myself hoarding them and bringing back a suitcase just filled with sour strawberry marshmallows. They were almost as good as the hot dog...almost.  I also bought one of the five things Tyler is modeling below. 

What are they? Why they are octopus arms that you put on the end of your fingers of course! They were 10 kronner (roughly $1) who wouldn't buy them!  My plan is to just have one on my finger during class and see if I can freak out the students.  

My final purchase from TGR was my first souvenir gift to bring back to the US.  It is for Karri and Megan, my cousin John's little girls.  They are the best to shop for since they like crazy things and when I saw this I knew they had to have them.  Since I assume they aren't blog readers I think the surprise is safe!

Yes that's right it's a glow in the dark glove.  Why doesn't everyone have one of those!  Friends and family if you play your cards right YOU TOO could receive and octopus arm for your finger and/or a glow in the dark glove.  

We did eventually make it to the grocery store.  I was attempting to just learn the ropes so I didn't go with a list.  I knew I needed toilet paper and some food, but I was open to just checking things out.  Here is some of what I bought.

I have smoked salmon because DUH.  On the top right is what I'm calling a yogurt surprise.  Last time I thought I was buying yogurt I ended up with a delicious rice pudding so I'm not sure what this is, but in the yogurt/pudding family.  Going clockwise I have Norwegian Nutella.  It was delicious because it's Nutella and it has a nuttier flavor.  Below that is a box of frozen cranberries because I LOVE cranberries.  I wish they were available all year long...maybe they are in Norway.  That would be another reason to love this place.  Oh I should note - I assume they are cranberries.  I didn't actually look up the words on the food.  That would have been wise and when you're just throwing things in your cart you don't look things up!

At the bottom is some cheese because again DUH.  Then on the left is a box of what I think are fish cakes.  My plan is to have them for dinner tonight.  They look like they are fish cakes surrounded by a thin bread?  I'm assuming I can warm then in a pan.  Not sure. I'll report back.  And in the middle you will find the infamous Norwegian brown cheese.  Brittney and I split that block because it is huge.  We had it and it was such an adventure it deserves its own blog post.  Spoiler alert - the brown cheese was good!

Also at the grocery Tyler found a cronut...so we he to get that and split it.

A cronut is a donut and a croissant that had a baby.  It is not Norwegian. It was invented in New York, but it is delicious and when you get the opportunity everyone should eat one.  

That is all for now.  I promised myself I wouldn't blog until I have my syllabi done.  I'm mostly done.  I will finish completely and then I'll need to blog about ice skating at the ACN welcome weekend and my lovely walk today.  Tomorrow I'm off to Sarpsborg to get my VISA card so I can be official.  I'm sure that will be an adventure to report on as well! And school starts on Tuesday! 

Sending much love back home!