Oslo used to be a place I went on weekend trips with my family. I’ve seen the castle, I’ve walked Karl Johan’s street a number of times, I’ve been to the Frogner Park on several occasions and I’ve been to the Munch Museum and the Bothanical garden. And whereas all of these attractions are great, and I wouldn’t mind going again, this is no longer why I go to Oslo in the first place. I go to Oslo to see friends I see way too rarely, and when I come from London, I go to feel a little bit more at home. Where they speak my language, and they’ll know approximately where along the northern coastline my hometown is, I can see mountains and forests and the sea, and I can feel the running rivers flowing through my veins.
I went to see my best friend Marthe. She’s a lifelong Oslo-girl, and my personal guide to the capital, I would say. She’s probably also the main reason Oslo feels so much like home. She was my roommate when I spent nine months at Ringerike Folkehøgskole (read more about it here), and we’ve been best friends since. Though Marthe likes to point out she was annoyed quite a lot (idk why, I’m perfect), I’ve always liked/loved her, and I think she realised she loved me more than she hated my mess. If that isn’t #friendshipgoals, I don’t know what is. I once said to her that I don’t really believe in fate, but there’s no way we weren’t bound to meet. If not there, somewhere else, because our friendship is too good to miss.
Anyway, we did mostly what we do best – chill, watch youtube videos and eat sweets. However, we did meet up with as much as three people, consumed three beers each, and went for an hour of hiking, I guess you can call it. Marthe insisted Grefsenkollen would have a great view over the whole city. I wouldn’t be able to confirm as it was super cloudy and it snowed, but I’ll take her word for it. The snow did cause us to sing a few jolly Christmas tunes on our way up, so I guess it was worth it.
We met up with one friend from my hometown for lunch. We stayed in the cafe for like six hours, and they probably wanted to throw us out, but what can you do when you’re in the middle of planning your imaginary wedding?
Then we met Åshild who did musical theatre with me at Ringerike. She’s in her final year at NSKI studying acting, and I can’t wait to be her plus one, hehe. You know when you haven’t seen people for ages, but then you meet and it’s like you saw each other yesterday? That’s what it was like. I hope it won’t be more than a year until next time.
And then there’s Mie. The person from my exchange year in 2013/14 I see and talk to the most. We were traveling with the same organisation and lived in the same town, but didn’t really get to know each other until a few months in. We met at the gym and we were only supposed to have a quick chat, but one hour later we were still there, chatting, Mie holding on to a dumbbell as if she was doing something. Then I invited her to come to Canterbury the following weekend, and, as they say, the rest is history. Any Harry Potter images I want to share or any bullshit in politics, Mie is there. 
I’m sorry I’m not providing you with my personal tourist guide to Oslo (maybe I should?), but this is what Oslo is to me. It’s staying with a person that makes me feel unconditionally loved, it’s ugly-laughing every evening, it’s remembering back to when we first met and we bonded over our deceased love for boybands, it’s meeting people you like so much you forget the time, it’s being surprised by how expensive everything is (literally like £13 for soup of the day???), it’s missing home a little bit more because you’re so close but still so far away, and it’s being sad whenever my visit comes to an end.
Oslo used to be a place I went on holiday, but not anymore. It’s a place I can come home to.
me. 