Her name is Oslo and she dances in the rain

by Mohsin Raza

Oslo for me was like Islamabad-- love at first sight.  From the moment my plane touched down I knew this time it will be different. It's always a bit disorienting to pop up from an underground station in an unfamiliar area, but the vision-obscuring pales of water definitely added an extra challenge. My hands were too full to fish out my umbrella, much less hold it over my head; and I had to put my printed directions away as they were getting soaked.

As I walked out of Oslo Central, I was greeted not just by the rain but also some of the friendliest persons I have met. From the young fellow who guided us how to buy train tickets to the receptionist who checked me into my room at Blindern.  Then the friendliest waitress served us Sandwiches at the Café across the road. The Norwegian people are very friendly, its almost unreal.

Oslo is very beautiful, it’s squeaky clean and the design and layout seems pretty much flawless. The new and the old blend seamlessly with each other.  It’s a mix of quaint and historic. I’ve never been to this part of Europe before. There isn’t much traffic, which gives the impression of a ghost town especially in the early and later hours of the day. And cars are very respectable of pedestrians. People don’t even look before they cross the street — well, I still do, haha. But, really, they’ll just step into a pedestrian walk way even if there’s a car coming and the cars will all stop, 100%.

There is a Norwegian proverb that goes something like this: “there is no such thing as bad weather, there are only bad clothes”. This is true both in letter in spirit as a normal day in Oslo can be soaky, sunny, windy, cold and warm. But, this is compensated by the fact that the day itself is for around 19 hours.  So you can say to someone: “lets meet in the afternoon around 9pm” J.

I realize that in just a few days it will be time to say goodbye to this lovely city, which will be hard. But, Im very glad that I came to Oslo and am taking back home some of my fondest memories. I wonder how the weather changed so quickly, from a bright sunny afternoon to all of a sudden misty. But this time its not the horizon that turned misty, no actually that’s just my eyes. L