Packing, the metric system, and Norwegian phrases

Packing is stressful.  First off, there's the temperature differences-at home, it's around 80 degrees Farenheit throughout the day, while it barely gets into the low 70's in Oslo.  Plus, I have to pack and prepare for 5 months, and for seasons from summer to winter.  This, of course, leads to inevitable compromises in what to take.  Luckily, though, my suitcase is a bit larger than Mr. Bean's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r0dr_juOiI (Apologies for the ads).

I've been brushing up on my understanding of degrees Celsius, since I figured that weather reports would be in the metric system.  Now, I know I'm a science major, so I should know the metric system just as well, right?  Hmmm....not really, which is weird.  In the U.S., I'm used to hearing weather reports in Farenheit, so if I hear a number I automatically know how much clothing is required to not freeze.  But in Celsius, I can't (yet) hear a temperature and instantly know what level of clothing I should wear.  All I've got memorized is that 20 degrees C is 68 degrees F.  I guess it just comes down to part of the culture shock.

Also, I have been attempting to learn a bit of Norwegian, so that I can read signs and labels.  I've been told that most people in Oslo speak English as well, but I figured that I should at least try to learn.  I have a terrible sense of direction, for example, and I need to at least be able to pronounce street names without sounding like I've had too much øl.  Norwegian is really neat: there are actually 2 official forms of Norwegian (due to the historical and geographical development of the language), and both have 3 extra letters: ø, å, and æ.  I do enjoy learning new languages: it's so interesting to learn about other slang phrases.  For example, this wonderful pick-up line: http://themoose.no/2012/02/12/illustrated-idiom-vil-du-se-frimerkesamlinga-mi/.

And finally, a picture, to test how this will look on my blog.