Weather issues...

When people ask me, "How is it in Norway?", I usually reply something like, "A bit cold and very snowy." Ever since I arrived here, there has been a lot of snow - even for Oslo standards, I was told by several locals. That's why we were so lucky to have this great sunset at Grefsenkollen viewpoint: usually, the sky is grey with snow clouds. And as there has been a lot of snow coming down from the sky (and unlike in Mannheim and other sort of warm cities, the snow stays on the ground in Oslo!), piles of snow were built everywhere. For example, on the campus of the university (click here for my post). But also at my student accommodation:

#histudentlife, almost covered in snow

When you almost can't find the supermarket  (REMA 1000) any more...

And it was also quite entertaining to see what happened if you left your bike outside:

But at the beginning of this week, something different happened: the temperature rose to clearly above zero degrees! (I think that had only happened on one other day of my first two weeks in Oslo.) And yeah, you might be able to imagine what happened next: the snow started melting, of course. However, with such masses, the snow does not disappear within a day. So, there's currently a strange mixture of snow and water everywhere. A lot of it. Everytime I cross the street, I simultaneously cross my fingers that my boots are actually waterproof...

However, there is another problem: as removing snow from the sidewalk does not seem to be a thing here, earlier layers of snow had turned into ice some time ago. Afterwards, another layer of fresh snow had made the paths more or less safe to walk on again. I mean, yeah, there was still ice underneath, but the greater parts of the sidewalks were not particularly slippery. Just occasionally, when you didn't expect it any more... (I never actually slipped and fell, but was close enough to it several times.)

And now, with these high temperatures, the snow layers have melted. Unfortunately, the ice layers underneath are still there, at least in parts, making the paths a real adventure. This is already a struggle when the ground is even (e.g. around BI). But it becomes really exciting when you try walking up or down a hill (e.g. around my student accommodation). Unless I have a big IKEA bag or the like with me, I usually walk the way from the T-bane station to my place, as taking the bus takes basically the same time. But this week, I think I took the bus as often as in the previous two weeks combined. I really didn't feel like slipping & falling on ice at night.

The last few metres from the bus stop to my place were already nerve-racking enough:

You can never be sure if it's just snow slush or actual ice! Yeah, and as degrees below zero are somewhere in the weather forecast, I'm really hoping for more snow in the upcoming days, as walking on a solid layer of ice is not exactly my idea of a fun free-time activity, let alone a safe trip to school (or anywhere else).

Well, and if there's no snow, just ice, I can merely hope that this motivational blah blah I found at the gym on campus (yup, I finally got a membership a few days ago) is also true for the challenge of walking on ice: