Alt for Norge Daily Journal: Day 41 - June 2, 2012 (Episode 7)

Today was our first day of shooting for Episode 7. It turned out to be a really fun day/night!

We started out doing an out of sequence shot where we were to walk the streets of Oslo asking people what they thought of the Swedish people. Apparently, Norway and Sweden have a “big brother/little brother” complex, like the U.S. and Canada. They respect each other, but make a lot of fun of each other and the years of Sweden being the bigger, better country have changed, thanks to Norway finding it’s oil! Most of the locals that we talked to had decent things to say about Sweden, but you could tell there was a little resentment. (It was also interesting to see how difficult it was to convince Norwegians to speak with us, especially with a camera crew right behind! There was a couple times where the camera crew had to hang back/hide until we started our conversation with the person.)

After filming that scene we went and waited in a park for the next scene. As with everything, it takes forever to prepare a scene. Eventually, we got started and were told what our first team challenge would be. Each team would be given 15 minutes to walk the streets of Oslo and find and “collect” as many Swedes as possible! The teams would be Alf, Johnathan and I on the Red Team, with C.J., Jessica, Austin and Amy on the Blue Team. (However, Jessica would not compete because she has the troll.)

After some interviews and further prepping, it was on! Both teams started on opposite sides of the road and were instructed that we had to stay together as a group, were not allowed to run, but could talk to anyone and try to convince them to come with you. We got started!

A look at our Swedish Army as they get larger and larger!

Our team started up the West side of the designated street, with the Blue Team on the East side. We noticed a large plaza about a block up from the Blue Team that seemed to have a rather large gathering of people. We didn’t think that we would have any chance to get there before the other team did, but we gave it a shot. We walked as fast as we could towards the group, passing a few people on the way, only stopping momentarily to ask if they were Swedish. As we got closer to the plaza, we noticed that the Blue Team was spending a long time talking to one couple, which gave us a small window to get there first and fortunately, we did! Quickly, we gathered a group of Swedes that looked as though they had been there drinking for quite some time! However, their inebriated state helped us out. As we continued to walk the streets, they were chanting, singing and making all kinds of noise. This seemed to make it pretty easy to scoop up even more Swedes! We were on a roll!

When our time was up, the director asked us to make our way back to the park with our group. As we headed there, we looked back to see our large and rowdy group completely overshadowing the smaller, quieter Team Blue group. Soon, it was confirmed. Henriette announced that our team had won with 37 Swedes compared to the Blue Team’s 17! With the win, we would earn an advantage in tomorrow’s competition. (Funny note: Our team had several drunken Swedish guys, one of which we called Triple-Nipple Johnny, due to his name being Johnny and him showing off his third nipple! He and a couple of buddies were eventually persuaded to leave the park by paying them off with a six-pack of beer each!)

Shortly after the announcement of us winning, they announced that Swedes are known for their partying and are commonly referred to as “Party Swedes”, and that we should experience it first-hand! We were going to go out drinking with them! Now, this was a great idea!

Alf with Swede Jimmy drinking in the courtyard!

We finished up the announcement and headed a few blocks away to an apartment building to discover our new homes for the week. Each team would be staying in a small apartment, but they were well furnished and had great layouts for hanging out and relaxing. We were all very excited to be staying here!

Outside in the courtyard, the crew set out a bunch of pizzas, a small bar of liquor and a bunch of cases of beer and invited about 20 of the Swedes from the park to join us. Immediately, they were all boozing hard on the free stuff! I could tell it was going to be a fun night! Plus, it would be my birthday at midnight!

After filming us discovering our accommodations, the film crew headed out to the bar to get things set up. In the meantime, the cast and the Swedes finished off all the supplied beer/liquor. Then, around 9:00, we headed out to the bar. Already, everyone was feeling pretty well and the energy was amazing! Everyone was really excited about having a great night! We arrived at the bar and for the next two hours, they filmed the cast and Swedes hanging out, talking, dancing and singing! (Along with Johnathan spilling a full beer in the lap of one of the Swede girls!) It really was a lot of fun! Then, at 11:00, when the original plan was for us to have to leave, our Mama’s surprised us and gave us some money and a piece of paper with our apartment’s address and told us to have fun and get a taxi home at 1:00! They were going to let us stay to enjoy the night and celebrate the beginning of my birthday!

Getting the night started with the Swedes!

We used the next two hours to get crazy! The bar got packed, we all tore up the dance floor and at midnight, I was hoisted on some Swedes shoulders and paraded around the dance floor as Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday” was blasting out the speaker! What a night! We continued the craziness until 1:00 and then all jumped in a cab to head back to our apartments. (However, we were short one cast member. A little earlier, some police had kicked out several people for being underage. Johnathan was trying to help them out and after being unsuccessful just headed back to the apartments by himself.)

Hanging out in the courtyard!

We arrived back at our apartments a little after 1:00 and hung out in our courtyard for a while after that. A little bit later, Jessica and I decided that we were hungry and decided that we were going to run down to the 7-11 that was a few blocks down the road. While there, we started talking to some guy in his mid-20’s. He mentioned that he was drinking with a bunch of people back at his place. We said “why not”, grabbed our food, and followed him out the door.

After a short walk, we found his house with about 10 people there having some late-night drinks. We hung out with them for about two hours and had some fun times, but it was time to go. On our way out, we noticed a skateboard on the front steps and for some reason, it made sense at the time to use it on our walk back. Quickly, we realized that it would be completely idiotic to actually try to ride it in our current state, so we just brought it back with us. (This will lead to a fun time the following night.)

The after-after-party!

We ended up getting back around 4:00 a.m., which was probably not the best move, seeing that we needed to be ready to go for filming at 9:00 a.m. this morning! However, I’m glad that we did it! I think I’m getting a little stir-crazy here and need a little time to distract my mind and get away from the stress of this show! Along with that, I’ve noticed a slight change in my mindset. I’ve really enjoyed my time here, however I’ve reached a point where if I had to go home, I would be content with the time that I have had and how far I’ve gotten, but would be happy to see my family again! Because of this, I haven’t been as focused lately. Instead of studying the language and consistently working out, I would rather enjoy my time here and just have a good time hanging out in more of a social setting (aka going to the bars or something similar). I’m not sure if things will change back, but for now, I still want to win, I just don’t want to spend every waking moment stressing out over it. I’m sure my head will focus in when the next competition comes, but right now, I’m ready to be back home! I miss you, wife, and need my best friend back!