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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5473-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t- \n\t\t\t\tRyan and Annabel rowing out from L\u00e5g\u00f8ya\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5476-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t- \n\t\t\t\tThe cabin\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5486-225x300.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t- \n\t\t\t\tStarfish the kids scooped into a bucket\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n- \n
- The parliamentary election<\/strong> happened on September 8. The race was close, and some were predicting that there would be a shift to a “blue administration,” which is conservative in the Norwegian color code, not liberal (or socialist, as they say). But a “red” coalition ended up prevailing, even though the Progress Party (their furthest right party) received the second largest number of votes. This meant that Norway kept its previous prime minister, Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re. Probably the biggest news was how poorly the traditional Conservative Party, H\u00f8yre, performed. This has led to its leader, the former prime minister Erna Solberg, stepping down. Because people knew the race would be close, there was a lot of talk leading up to the election about voting for smaller parties further to the left in order to help them get over 4% of the vote, which gives them a “boost” in the number of seats in parliament they receive. This also gives them more influence in the future government because the Labor Party can’t govern without the support of these smaller parties. Basically, there are more choices and, especially recently, less predictability in Norwegian politics than in the US, as their society responds to new challenges. But there is also an incredible amount of agreement and frankly, I was often surprised by how minor the differences in policy were, although there are distinct differences in rhetoric. In general, I would say there is much more civility, and the voter turnout was really high–80% of eligible voters participated, with over 60% voting before election day. US turnout in 2024 was 64%.\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5505-2-300x225.jpeg\")
Lesesirkel, Fossefestivalen<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n
- I have been attending a lot of literary events<\/strong> to rediscover a sense of joy and discovery in my field and take in a lot of Norwegian language in my own discipline. Every fall, there is a festival focused on Nobel prize-winner Jon Fosse’s work, and although I couldn’t find tickets at a suitable time to any plays, I attended a “reading circle,” where notable authors discussed one of his novels,\u00a0Naustet<\/em> (the Boathouse). I hadn’t read this one before, so it was a good excuse to read it as well. Crown Princess Mette-Marit ended up being a last-minute special guest at the reading, so I’ve been saying I crossed another royal off of my bingo card. (I saw Queen Sonja at St. Olaf, but missed Prince Haakon’s visit, so Mette-Marit is my substitute.)<\/li>\n
- Ryan and I continued our quest to visit every coffee shop<\/strong> on a coffee map<\/a>\u00a0he found at his favorite spot, Supreme Roastworks. It mostly features places that roast their own coffee, or that serve coffee from local roasters. We’ve found some real gems, but no true rivals to Ryan’s favorite. Fuglen is still one of our go-to’s, but we’ve added Kuro to that list.\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5513-300x225.jpeg\")
Ryan enjoying his coffee from Fuglen<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n
- We went on several family jogs<\/strong> in the woods, either with Annabel, or just as a pair while Annabel went to soccer practice. On one of these jogs, we found a really cool park<\/strong> with a ropes course that I guess is just a neighborhood initiative, not really a project by the city government. It seems like a regular gathering spot for families, but it is kind of weird that my kid has almost outgrown parks! (Almost–this one has a zipline and is still 11-year-old approved.)
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5533-1-276x300.jpeg\")
<\/li>\n- I went to my first loppemarked (flea market)<\/strong> in Oslo. I don’t know how I managed to avoid this tradition in the past, but it is a fall staple for especially school bands to hold flea markets as fundraisers for the year. Ryan was really hoping to buy skis at the Grorud flea market, but someone had stolen all their outdoor equipment before the flea market opened! In one of my classes, I’ve taught about differences in class, race, ethnicity, and immigrant status between different neighborhoods.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5546-300x225.jpeg\")
People lined up to peruse the housewares and antiques at the flea market<\/p><\/div>\n
Groruddalen has traditionally been viewed as working class and in more recent decades as an immigrant area. My students have watched the TV show Dalen v\u00e5<\/a>r, which features different families from the area, and we’ve read the novel Tante Ulrikkes vei<\/em>, about Stovner, which is a few subway stops away from us, so I’ve enjoyed experiencing the neighborhood firsthand. An interesting thing about Norwegian media culture is that the government provides funding for local newspapers, so Grorud even has its own newspaper, which is a good source for news on local events and businesses.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/tempImageaFLqkb-300x225.jpg\")
The local newspaper office. The sign says, “Everything for Grorud.”<\/p><\/div>\n
- \n
- There were fewer museum outings this month, but we did visit the Technical Museum with some friends. They happened to have a room dedicated to models that included a model of a hydropower plant at Rjukan, one of the most famous developments in Norway.\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5577-300x225.jpeg\")
The S\u00e5heim “opera”<\/p><\/div><\/li>\n
- Fall vacation happened over the last few days of September and the first few days of October. We really wanted to get one good backpacking trip in, so we took the train to Hallingskeid and hiked to a DNT cabin called Kaldavasshytta. We were really lucky that it didn’t rain at all, but this hike was\u00a0tough<\/em>. We tried to avoid going up the steepest route, which Annabel and Ryan had done before in 2023, so we choose a much longer route that had several smaller climbs spread out over more miles. The path took us up close to several small glaciers, a first for me, I think. We didn’t arrive at the cabin until after dark, so Annabel was a kid hero for persisting all the way there. (And I was a parent hero for having insisted that we buy proper hiking boots.) We spent a full day resting at the cabin and then hiked down to the Myrdal train station. From there, we hiked back to Hallingskeid along the Rallarvegen, a road that was built to facilitate construction of the railroad from Oslo to Bergen. This was easy hiking (but still far) along the river, which included one dam and power station owned by the railroad. (Because of my project, I always haul out my camera and read all of the signs when we come across any kind of hydropower infrastructure in the wild.) We headed back to Oslo October 2nd, so this trip rounded off a busy September and the chilly weather up in the mountains made us feel like it was truly starting to be fall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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- \n\t\t\t\t
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5681-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t- \n\t\t\t\tRailway dam built to power the train\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
- Fall vacation happened over the last few days of September and the first few days of October. We really wanted to get one good backpacking trip in, so we took the train to Hallingskeid and hiked to a DNT cabin called Kaldavasshytta. We were really lucky that it didn’t rain at all, but this hike was\u00a0tough<\/em>. We tried to avoid going up the steepest route, which Annabel and Ryan had done before in 2023, so we choose a much longer route that had several smaller climbs spread out over more miles. The path took us up close to several small glaciers, a first for me, I think. We didn’t arrive at the cabin until after dark, so Annabel was a kid hero for persisting all the way there. (And I was a parent hero for having insisted that we buy proper hiking boots.) We spent a full day resting at the cabin and then hiked down to the Myrdal train station. From there, we hiked back to Hallingskeid along the Rallarvegen, a road that was built to facilitate construction of the railroad from Oslo to Bergen. This was easy hiking (but still far) along the river, which included one dam and power station owned by the railroad. (Because of my project, I always haul out my camera and read all of the signs when we come across any kind of hydropower infrastructure in the wild.) We headed back to Oslo October 2nd, so this trip rounded off a busy September and the chilly weather up in the mountains made us feel like it was truly starting to be fall.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
- I have been attending a lot of literary events<\/strong> to rediscover a sense of joy and discovery in my field and take in a lot of Norwegian language in my own discipline. Every fall, there is a festival focused on Nobel prize-winner Jon Fosse’s work, and although I couldn’t find tickets at a suitable time to any plays, I attended a “reading circle,” where notable authors discussed one of his novels,\u00a0Naustet<\/em> (the Boathouse). I hadn’t read this one before, so it was a good excuse to read it as well. Crown Princess Mette-Marit ended up being a last-minute special guest at the reading, so I’ve been saying I crossed another royal off of my bingo card. (I saw Queen Sonja at St. Olaf, but missed Prince Haakon’s visit, so Mette-Marit is my substitute.)<\/li>\n
- \n\t\t\t\tStarfish the kids scooped into a bucket\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
- \n\t\t\t\tThe cabin\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
- \n\t\t\t\tRyan and Annabel rowing out from L\u00e5g\u00f8ya\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5638-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5633-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/coughlin\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1341\/2025\/12\/IMG_5600-300x225.jpeg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl>\n\t\t\t