Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

I have had a great time chilling with my brothers this break, but apparently I've been spending too much time with them. Both Paul and I got sick today, so we celebrated Christmas in our pajamas nibbling on croissants and drinking water. Fortunately, we found a perfect cure, well, if it's true that laughter is the best cure, than we found the best cure: "Lazy Sunday." I highly recommend anyone with itunes to go to the music store and download this FREE short video from Saturday Night Live. It is a hilarious music video that has my brothers and I brainstorming videos that we could make. I hope everyone enjoys and enjoyed a "Lazy Sunday." Once again, Merry Christmas.

I know, I know. I'm beautiful. But seriously, this is getting old.

I arrived in Norway and one of the first songs I heard on the radio was a song called "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt. I must warn any readers: stay away from Mr. Blunt! Sure, at first it seems like an innocent, slightly catchy pop tune, but it will invade your life. Everytime we turn on the TV or radio, there he is, reminding us that he saw an angel on the subway who was "with another man." But at least he's got a plan.

I know Marjaanaa reached her limit with James in Poland. We all decided to get massages and she layed down face first ready for totally relaxation. Right underneath her head was a tiny little radio and as soon as the massage was about to begin she heard it: "My life is brilliant." Goodbye relaxation.

For me, I reached my limit this past week when I returned home to the US. I thought I could enjoy a great Christmas break with the family and away from James, but I arrived home and started talking music with my brothers and one of the first things they said was: I heard this great new singer that sings a song called beautiful or something.

Welp, apparently James has been making headway in the US and even appeared on Saturday Night Live the weekend before I came home. The holiday music is keeping him at bay for now, but I know that he will forever stalk me, even more so than the mysterious Kill Bill girl. I guess the only solution is to jump in the water.

I had quite the trip last week when I returned home for the holidays.

My journey started early as I left Tromsø at 7am. I thought it would be good to adjust early, (or maybe I decided that because I wasn't packed and ready until about 4am), so I stayed up almost all night and slept the whole way from Tromsø to Oslo and then Oslo to Amsterdam. Then the fun began. I waited for an hour and a half in Amsterdam to get through security and then talked to an American girl who worked in the UK for a year, married a Portuguese guy, and has not yet told her parents. Should be a fun Christmas for her.

I sat by a great plane partner who was a Swedish speaking Finn lady who was doing a master's programme in public health in Stockholm. We had some great conversations about feeling like an outsider, language, culture, public health, gender, and Minneapolis. Besides her, I felt surrounded by children. I guess it was time to go home and see Grandma.

I had my welcome home to the US in an ugly way. I landed after 9 hours and was waiting in line for customs and was right in front of a very large, very loud woman with two children. I was so mad at her because she was yelling at her kids for everything. First they were playing too far away then they were hanging on her too much. When one of her kids didn't want to come stand by her, she snapped, "Fine, I'll just leave you here and let someone else take you. I don't care. I'm too tired to care." Later she deftly said, "Look at mommy. Has mommy had a cigarette in 12 hours? No. Do you think that makes mommy happy? No." Oh good old USA. I then went to the gate and the first thing I heard was CNN talking about the former leader of the Crips who was executed in California, even though he became an author of children's books and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature. I was so frustrated at Wolf Blitzer constantly asking one witness of the execution questions like, "how did he look after he died?" The response the person had was, "He looked dead."

Fortunately, my frustration with the volume of Americans, both in terms of loudness and size, was relieved when I was sitting at the gate and heard something that was refreshingly familiar: Norwegian! A Norwegian family was traveling to where else but Vermillion, South Dakota to see their daughter/niece/grand daughter graduate from USD. I immediately introduced myself to them and had a great 20 minute conversation in Norwegian with them. It was a much appreciated transition between Norway and the US. I am very excited to spend some time at home and enjoy Christmas here, but I know I will be ready to go back to the increasingly familiar and comfortable Norway.

Merry Christmas to all! I will post updates from the US every once and a while to let everyone know how Christmas and New Year's is here in South Dakota!

Christmas time is here. and it certainly is tangible in Tromsø. Red curtains and candles fill most windows around town, constantly lit both day and night because, well, day is night. It makes Tromsø glow feel very koselig...cozy! As Marjaana put so well (see her blog to the right), I too recently faced the firing squad during our oral exam. I escaped with only a few limbs damaged. As the oral examinator said, "We gave you a B, but not a very solid B." Thanks. Great ego booster.

I also partook in the eXtreme Pepperkaker with most of my classmates at Silje's house (see Rachel's blog). What I thought would be a relaxing evening making gingerbread shapes and eating them turned into a gingerbread house making contest that took three days to complete. I couldn't even make it to the last day, so the house lacked my oh so honed decoration abilities. Ha, probably for the best.

Besides these Christmasy events, the highlight was definitely on Sunday when I finally broke out of a religion and participation funk. I have been missing church, music, and activity the past couple of weeks and finally took matters into my own hands. I went to the Domkirken which is the largest, oldest church in the middle of town. It felt surprisingly koselig, like First Lutheran in Brookings with a long rectangle design. It was also welcoming to see the pews somewhat full, maybe 150 people, and to partake in three traditional Norwegian baptisms. Baptism is a big deal in Norway, one of the few times Norwegians go to church, and it was great to see the parents and sponsors in their traditional Norwegian dress called bunads. Gorgeous, colorful dresses with lots of jewlery and meaning.

The service itself was good. Sang some Christmas songs in Norwegian and tried to understand the sermon with my Norwegian dictionary in hand. The best part though was the choir. A choir got up and performed, and I was so excited to listen to some music again. After the service I went up to the director and introduced myself and told him that I was interested in singing. He told me they had practice the next day and invited me to come.

I was already excited about this opportunity and was almost ready to leave when I started talking to a Norwegian man who I found out worked for the YMCA in town. I was telling him how I was hoping to get more involved in the community, and he wondered if I would want to volunteer for the YMCA working with youths there. I was pumped! I'm going to go see him after come back after Christmas to hopefully start helping. A great way to practice Norwegian and do something outside of my normal group of friends.

Well, after a great Sunday, I went back Monday to the choir rehearsal and had a blast! It is a small choir of about 12 people. They only had one tenor that day so I joined a short high school kid as the tenor section. The choir is for people aged 16-26, and I think I was definitely the oldest one there. It was great though. Everyone there loves to sing and although the quality isn't quite Luther, it is fun and definitely infused me with some Christmas spirit. We sang Coventry Choir, O Holy Night (in Norwegian), and 3 other Norwegian Christmas songs that were new to me. After a few songs the director asked me, "you're singing with us at our concert next Wednesday right?" Unfortunately I had to tell them that I would be in the US so I wouldn't be able to come, but I promised to come back in January. I am excited to start singing with the group some more. It was amazed how quickly the singing came back. I warmed up to an A and felt great singing! It's amazing how invigorating doing something familiar like that be! So, I guess I'm going to get to know a few high schoolers and some young college kids in the coming months. It will be nice to be the oldest for a change.

So yeah, Christmas is alive in Tromsø. With the snow now covering the ground, the whole Christmas package is complete. Things are going great here, although I'm excited I'll be able to spend Christmas with my family and loved ones this year.

Throughout all the travels to Poland, I am constantly having to wait in the strict NON-EU passport control line while my Norwegian and Finnish friends get to go through the EU and Schengen Zone line...even though Norway isn't in the EU they still get to move freely from the Mediterranean to Hammarfest. I finally found one benefit of not being in the EU (if you like stamps).

I went to the police station yesterday (they are open on Thursdays) and received my work permit for Norway. I had to bring my passport to get the work permit stamp in it. When I came back to pick up my permit the lady informed me that I should get a new passport because mine was full! Thanks to travels through Europe where I received stamps at every airport while my EU (and fake EU) friends walked through without a trace, my passport has quickly filled up. Combine that with 6 months in stamp happy Africa where I had to get residence permits and visas for every country I went to and the student visa I had stamped in my passport here in Norway and you have a full book. She illegally stamped my work permit on an endorsement page, but I think I will soon be visiting my friends at the post office in Brookings, SD to get some more pages. I guess it's time to come home for a while and stop traveling for a bit. Only a bit though, I think I will be anxious to fill up the new pages as soon as I can!

Off to prepare to stretch out a wool sweater I shrunk! Tips anyone? I've read hair conditioner and warm water. We'll see if I can find my 6th grade home ec. skills.

Also, photos from Poland are up if you haven't notice already. Check the cleverly labeled link on the left.

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I got a part-time job! I'm super excited about it. I am helping a professor here on campus, Tove Dahl, with research. Basically I listen to these interviews conducted in the states and type everything I hear: one of the few things I can do that most Norwegians can't! It's also fun because she is village coordinator at Skogfjorden, which is the Norwegian Language Camp run by Concordia College. Her research is about Skogfjorden so I get to listen to old campers talk about their experiences...

Why this is important you ask? Well, to get paid I have to go to the police station to get permission to work in Norway, and since I am making about $20 bucks an hour, roughly a normal wage for a part-time job I think, I am anxious to get the payments started. I went down today and after walking/slipping on ice for 15 minutes, I got to the police station to learn that they are closed on Wednesdays, but that I could come back tomorrow. What?! Who takes Wednesdays off? Just because school gets out early doesn't mean that the police office should too. Just another frustrating example of Norwegian bureacracy.

Oh yeah, I made it back safely from our "little Polish vacation" as Rachel called it. Marjaana and I left Warsaw at 6am and finally arrived back in Tromsø at 8pm. A long travel day, but now we are able to relax until the oral exam on Monday. I am loading pictures from the trip as we speak, so check back soon to get a glimpse of Poland!

well almost. we had a great day in Krakow today and left hesitantly after toying around with the idea of delaying our flights. But, now we're in Warsaw for about 12 hours. From the 10 min walk to the hostel it seems very modern with a little less of teh old, unique character of Krakow...but again, 10 minutes. We will be heading to Gdansk early tomorrow on a 6.50am train and then will be back in tromso by 8pm! Gotta love travel.

Like I said, things in Krakow were great. Well, bad word choice, sobering today. We visited Auswitchz, which I still haven't bothered spelling correctly, and it was predictably powerful. I thought the best part was actually the second concentration camp called Auswichz II or Berka...I forget. Anyways, it was massive covering 125 hectacres and it's much less rebuilt than the first Auswitch. You can see the remains of the crematoriums and the all around sick-scientific precision used in the Halocaust. A worthwhile visit.

We said goodbye to some new friends in Krakow including one girl we met named Christy. She is originally from Oklahoma and has spent the past three years teaching English in Japan with the JETT program. After she finished she decided to go home the long way so she is traveling around the world, starting in SE asia, going through Russia and East Europe before heading back in January. It was fun to talk to a fellow Midwesterner...or close enough! Christy, Marjaana, a random Australian guy we met, and I all watched Fargo two nights ago. It was great fun, but I'm not sure all the humor was noted by everyone there. They all asked me why I was going home for Christmas if snow and grissly killers awaited. I guess it's so I can see Paul Bunyan.

Off to bed now. ciao from warsaw.

the music is thumping and the din of conversation between backpackers and people who travel even more randomly than me fills the air...good times at nathan's villa hostel in krakow! that's right! marjaana and i decided to use our extra time in poland for a whirlwind tour. we took an 8 hour train ride from gdansk poland south through warsaw, to krakow, near the southern border of poland. it is truly an amazing city and the entire experience has been even better because of the great place we're staying. (you can look up the website if you want to see it!)

yesterday we got in about 5pm and we're so happy to b e somewhere alive with people. we were in the kitchen only five minutes before we were meeting new friends and hearing stories from all over the world. it really gets you excited to travel! we headed out to check the town out and had some indian food, which i have been craving for months! then back to the hostel and into the catacombs. something really cool about krakow is that it is incredibly old! one of the only cities in poland to avoid destruction during wwii. anyways, this hostel like many places has an underground catacombs where the cool stuff really is. here they have a bar and a great 'movie theatre' with a big flat screen, speakers and a choice of dvds. you get to watch it while in a brick arched room that seems like something out of an old mystery movie. anyways, we went to the bar and met some more people and got the true krakow experience, going out with locals and meeting some fun british guys who i chatted with for hours while marjaana danced with a gay brazilian guy who was dating one of the brits. random and fun!

today was even more incredible. we were just looking around downtown and asked this nice looking polish lady how to get to the schindler factory as seen in schindler's list. telling us how to get there however was not enough. this lady, her husband, and two kids drove us there, came into the museum with us, gave the security guard a 'thank you present' for specially opening the museum for us (some may call it a bribe), and translated as much as they could for us . they were truly incredible people. the type that make you glad that you travel and that give you hope for the ultimate goodness in people. after a great afternoon with them, marjaana and i walked back to the hostel and settled in for a movie in the catacombs. it was a beautiful day here with the sun shining and probably 45 degrees farenheit out! perfect. add a castle here and there and you have a great recipe for fun!

we are headed to auswitch (sorry about the spelling) tomorrow and then taking a train to warsaw where we will spend the night. then we will get up early on tuesday and take the train the rest of the way to gdansk where we will fly back from. i'm really glad we came here and feel like i have a much better feel for poland, the country-side (which is remarkably like south dakota), and the people who thus far have been extremely warm and welcoming. have to get off the computer so someone else can use it. off to read a bit before some chinese food! yum!

Have you ever been in one of those, "I want to play pool, tan in the solarium, go bowling, throw darts, and shoot guns at a shooting range all while drinking beer and listening to Top 40 hits" type moods? Well today I was. Typical. Yes, today for the first time in Poland the six of us split up with the four girls going shopping and Stian and I left to our own devices. It took us only 15 minutes to find a pool hall...or what we thought was a pool hall. Really, it was a super-fun center with young attractive women welcoming tough looking men and random Norwegian and American tourists. It all started innocently enough with an hour of pool. but no sooner had we begun to play and drink a beer that we saw it...a shooting range! First of all, it was the most random thing ever, tucked tightly behind the bowling area, which was decorated like a fourth grade classroom with planets and stars on the wall. We finished up two beers each and a few games of pool and headed over to the shooting range. Where else can you drink beer and then play with guns?!

Well, for me I think it was the first time I had held a gun since shooting bb pellets at Phil Peterson's farm in 3rd grade. Stian was more a of pro. We started with a hand gun. The old Polish man with large glasses only knew three english words. The first was "Hello" which he used whenever he wanted to get our attention. The second was "automatic" which Stian was excited about, and the third was "terrorist." That's right, after putting on the ear muffs he gave us the option of the typical target, or a mean looking guy like you would find in old cowboy arcade games that pops up out of the bushes. He quickly informed us that it was terrorist, so naturally we choose the terrorist (have to be practical you know). We each had five shots with the hand gun and I proceeded to hit the terrorist one time out of five...but the time i hit him it was in the heart, so at least i saved the world. We moved on to the rifle, which was not as fun, and then Stian threw down the money for the most expensive gun: the 9mm gun with actual gun powder and bullets (the rest were air powered). We had to have an extra safety lesson which consisted of the old Polish guy talking to a younger Polish guy who then told us "this is a very dangerous gun." With that in mind, we again tried to stop terrorism, and finally discovered that if both of us have 10 shots each, we will definitely save the world.

The rest of the trip pales in comparison to "U7," the name of the fun center we were at...but we've enjoyed great food and drink and have seen the beautifully old (yet recently reconstructed) architecture and today visited the very educational and powerful Solidarity Museum which traces the history of shipyard riots in Poland that eventually helped lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall. A lot of history in Gdansk, and I think today was our history day. Tomorrow we are all getting full body massages. Crazy. the funny part is that there is only one massuse (not sure on the spelling of that word!) so we have appointments from noon until 7pm! After that we are all going to the sauna followed later in the evening with karoke! As you can tell, we are doing well. Off to our 6 person hostel room now. And don't worry, Stian and I will be doing our part to keep this world safe!

The bags are packed, exam turned in, and the taxi is coming in 6 hours. Time for Poland! We celebrated the end of our semester with a homemade pizza party tonight accompanied with a few fun hours of catchphrase. I never realized how American that game is until I had to explain "bubbling brook" to a Norwegian! It was great though, and so fun to relax with my good friends. We will definitely have a good time in Gdansk. I will be trying to add some posts from our hostel, so stay tuned to hear updates from Northern Poland. I'll be in Gdansk from tomorrow until the 6th of December and will be chilling at the Baltic Hostel (baltichostel.com) if you want to see where we'll be. Welp. Until the next post...vi snakkes...

Sunrise: None
Sunset: None

Happy Thanksgiving all you Americans out there! Following American tradition, I too watched football today with a bunch of Serbs. Typical. Tonight was a UEFA cup football (soccer) match between Tromsø and Red Star, a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. It was a great Tromsø night for football with the temperature at freezing and light snow in the air, and home field advantage was apparent. Tromsø played well despite the fact that the Red Star players looked like giants next to the short Norwegians, and Tromsø ended up winning 3-1! Excitement.

It was a fun night, even though I ate peanut butter sandwiches and soup instead of turkey, but fortunately on Saturday Rachel and I are going to an American celebration in Tromsø where Americans are gathering to have a Thanksgiving feast. We are responsible for bringing a dessert, so I guess we'll get to experience Thanksgiving pot luck style.

And finally, on another "celebratory" note, it is official: the sun is gone. For all practical purposes the sun's been gone for a while hiding behind the mounting, but today was the first day that the sun did not come above the horizon. Now I guess I start the longest night of my life. It's been going fine though, kind of used to it now. Now, back to writing about how the concept of motherhood does not make women more peaceful. Yep. Happy T-day!

I got on the bus yesterday and noticed a strange change: suddenly, what was normally a smooth, uneventful bus ride had turned into an unwelcomed 15 minute session on a vibrating bed. The ride was incredibly bumpy, noisey, and slow. I knew it was icy out, but this was ridiculous! When I finally got off the bus I looked down to discover a change on the Tromsø buses: chains! Now, all the Tromsø buses are equiped with chains on the tires, ready to eat up the road and ice...and our stomaches.

I guess the chains are necessary, especially now as rain has turned a winter wonderland into ice. I was able, however, to capture Tromsø before the sun completely disappeared and before the snow turned to ice. In fact, I was so inspired by the short-lived beauty of winter here that I started the following blog that I never got around to posting. It seems false now, but you can take a look at the new pictures, read the old blog and see what we enjoyed for about three days. I guess it was a sign when our snowman was decapitated that troublesome weather was a-head...eh? anyone?

Incomplete (and now inaccurate!) Blog Entry from Nov. 16:
After a steady snowfall all night and this morning, Tromsø is now officially a winter wonderland, and I think it is here to stay! It is amazing to me how the trees are absolutely covered in snow. It looks very different from South Dakota because there isn't as much wind, so the trees just droop with snow. It looks like something from an old calendar's December portrait page. Not only is the snow make Tromsø looks more beautiful, it actually adds (a little) light. We need all the light we can get!

I had a long day full of artifical lighting as I studied today at the University. And, in the midst of this studying, I took a break (or a couple) to chat with a classmate...unaware of the open ink pen under my arm. Well, much to my surprise when we stopped talking, my sleeve was newly decorated with a blue ink spot. I thought that was the end of a new shirt from Spain, but no. Once again Norwegian chemicals came to the rescue. I went to the grocery store and bought Bio-Ex, the clothing equivalent of Plumbo. I sprayed my shirt and put it in the washing machine, unable to read the exact chemicals in the product (probably for the best.) And amazingly, when the shirt emerged, it looked new! God bless you chemistry nerds.

In addition to a newly found chemical product, I also have been given a new name from my Norwegian housemate Teresa. As many of my friends know, I tend to wear my socks half on my foot and half off. Well, this trait tonight earned me the nickname, (which I think is taken from a Native American language), of "Naked Foot." Catchy, huh? Although I wanted to tell them that the correct phrase was "bare foot," I decided I liked the new name better. So here's to podiatric nudity!

We have this great game we play in our kitchen. The name is kind of a working title, but it is called something to the extent of: "Dig through the pile of lids and try to find one that fits your pot." It's great. A game for the whole family. We have one cupboard with a random collection of pots spread out over two shelves, and all the lids on another shelf. A couple of days ago I took 5 different lids before I got the right one. Now, I don't know if this says something about my abstract mathematical ability or something about the difficulty of this game, but needless to say, I need to practice. Maybe by the end of two years I'll be able to get the right lid on the first try everytime! What a day that would be. Off to make some pasta...here we go again...

Tonight on the sloppy walk back from downtown, I took an unexpected turn away from the Kebab and hot dog stands that are usually visited late at night and instead went to what could be a tourist attraction: the world's northern most Burger King, and the only American fast food chain in Tromsø. They had two guards at the door who opened the doors as if they were bell boys at a hotel instead of security trying to keep unruley drunk people from coiming. I promptly ordered a hamburger and fries for 34 kroner, which is roughly $5. Sounds cheap to me! But, let me assure you, it tasted just like the 99 cent burger and fries you get in the states. I guess I had it my way, and I think I'll be done for a while.

A few weeks ago, some "peace friends" and I realized that we had a week off after our last exam. What better to do than travel together right? So, 7 of us started looking for places to go. Most places seemed to expensive so I kind of abandoned the idea. Then, I got an urgent phone call from a friend at school. She said, "We're going to Gdansk!" And I, probably much like you, said, "G-where?!" After a brief question and answe session, I learned that Gdansk is town in northern Poland on the Baltic Sea, that Gdansk has incredibly cheap food, drink, and hostels, and that it only cost about $200 round trip from Tromsø to get there (maybe a sign that it isn't the high season?). That was enough for me!

So now, Rachel, Hanne, Marjaana, Silje, Teresa, Stian, and I will be heading out on the 29th of November for a few days in Gdansk. Not sure exactly what we'll do, but apparently the girls want to go to a spa, so I think I will go with Stian to the shipyards and see the place where a rebellion against the communist rule started. I think our trip will consist mostly of relaxing, eating, drinking, talking, and maybe some karoke? Scary, I know. I am excited to travel to a random place, and pumped to see a little bit of Eastern Europe. I have my Lonely Planet in hand, but if anyone has any tips or knows anything about G-what, please let us know! Back to writing my exam and identifying the causes of war. Uplifting stuff.

I've been curious who actually reads this blog, so I found a fun solution to find out. If you look on the bottom of the right side of the page, you will see a small globe like icon. If you click on this, you will be able to see how many people have been visiting the site and where in the world they are located. Hopefully it will be interesting and not depressing! Check it out if you're curious. I know I am.

Today I walked home from the University with my eyes closed in response to the best song I have heard all year: Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek." The sun was peeking over the mountains, as if it didn't have enough energy to get to the top of the mountain, spreading an early morning light onto the the snow covered mountains, and I put my ear buds in and listened to "Hide and Seek," which I downloaded last night after listening to NPR's "All Songs Considered." The song seemed to control my head as I bent and swopped with the melody. It floats like Frou Frou, but drips with more pain and introspection. It perfectly fit the day, the cold air, and the walk among Norwegian residences. If at all possible, download the song and going for a walk. It's gorgeous, both the walk and the song.

Sunrise in Tromsø: 9.26am
Sunset in Tromsø: 1.31pm

Sunrise in Barcelona: 7.40am
Sunset in Barcelona: 5.32pm

Sunrise in Canterbury: 7.15am
Sunset in Canterbury: 4.04pm

I just flew home from a random, sun-filled holiday to Barcelona and Cercedilla, Spain and London and Cantebury, England and boy are my arms tired. It was an amzing trip filled with friends, adventures, and people. Despite all this fun, I have to admit that it feels great to return to Tromsø, which is feeling more and more like home.

My journeys started in Barcelona, Spain where I met my parents and enjoyed the sun, the food, and the people. We spent two days being tourists and two days just sitting at cafes eating, drinking, talking, and watching everyone. Gaudi architecture, conversation with the parents, and of course ultimate frisbee were all highlights.

After Barcelona, I headed to Cercedilla, Spain where our family friends, the Fernandez, live. It was great to see Cercedilla in the fall and to get a taste of the normal schedule and life of the Fernandez. I spent a lot of time eating (again), relaxing, and chatting (often in Spanish!). A visit to Madrid added a little variety to the routine, but for the most part the trip was, like my entire holiday, just time with friends. The best kind.

After Cercedilla, I headed to London where I was picked up by my friend from Luther, Sarah Frydenlund. Sarah and I immediately began the purpose-driven mission of visiting the oldest and artsiest pubs in London. We visited about 8 different pubs, the entire time carrying my three bags, two of which were full of new purchases from Barcelona. At the end of the evening, Beth Borowski, another friend from Luther, flew in to London to join us. We picked her up and chatted for awhile in another pub before heading for the bus station to get on a bus to Canterbury where Sarah studies art and lives. Little did we know that the last bus to Cantebury left at 11.30pm. When we arrived at 11.45pm, we looked around at the empty bus station and freaked out for about 5 minutes. Then, we settled down and bit the bullet, realizing we'd have to stay in London for the night. Sarah knew of a hostel near the London Bridge so we hopped on the last metro and got off about four blocks from the hostel. We hiked from the tube stop to the hostel, now with all of my bags and all of Beth's bags. We finally got a bed at about 1am and laughed for a short while before deciding to get up for the first bus to Canterbury at 7am. After 5 hours of sleep we looked desperately for a way to the bus station, finding only an unmarked cab willing to take us. We were the trusting midwesterners, got in, and miraculously arrived safetly at the bus station 2 minutes before our bus left.

After crashing for a bit at Sarah's house, we headed out to explore Canterbury. We walked around town, ate the best fish and chips I have ever had, and joined in with the movement of the city. I loved it! There is something incredible about traveling to another part of the world and just feeling the pulse of the city and the people. It reminds me of going on a college search in high school when you would visit college campuses, eat the food, talk to the people, watch everyone carefully, and in the end try to pinpoint the atmosphere of the location. But, traveling is much better because there is an infinite number of locations to explore, and I don't have to make a decision on where to stay.

At the end of our day of exploration, we headed to the historically massive Canterbury Cathedral where we attended a hauntingly moving Even Song service, complete with the all male choir with the soprano and alto sections comprised of young boys. After the service, we made a delicious meal at Sarah's house and headed to, that's right, a pub about 5 miles outside of town where Sarah works. There we had a great time chatting and meeting some of Sarah's classmates in her Master of Fine Arts contemporary art program. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a classmate from Oslo! I didn't realize how comfortable I had become in Norwegian until we started talking. It felt so great to speak Norwegian again and got me excited to get home. After an evening of talking among the many locals at the pub, we ordered a cab to come get us. After numerous phone calls, the cab finally arrived one hour late. We got home in time for me to re-zip my bags and to crash for about 4 hours before getting up to catch my 6.20am train to London where I caught the plane home.

The trip was great, the food and sun were welcomed, and the friends and family were the highlights. I have always remembered this line from a play called "Here Lies Henry" that my friend Eric Holm performed in high school. In the play, the main character informs the audience that "when you die, you enter a room covered with photographs of all the people that you have ever made eye contact with and a gentle man takes your hand and tells you the story of each person." The past week and a half dramatically increased the number of photographs I will get to see and the number of stories I will have the pleasure of hearing, and for that I am thankful.

I was struck in Barcelona but the international brotherhood of ultimate. I arrived at a field in the middle of nowhere based on information found on a website. I scanned the stadium, and based solely on looks, was able to quickly identify a few ultimate players. They were of course, very casual, hippish, and interesting people from all over the world. They all had crazy stories about how they started ultimate and how addicted they were to it. Players from Brazil, the UK, Spain, the US, Italy, and Colombia were all in Barcelona playing disc. I don't just mean playing, they were of course, hard core disc players. Laying out, running all over, and joking the entire time. I felt so welcomed at home the first night at their practice.

I quickly learned some important ultimate words in Spanish, such as "el dump," "el swing," and "con los dientos" which they said for getting low and tight on the mark. I also got a quick crash course in the European/South American "el stack horizontal." All in all, it was an incredible experience. And it got better.

The next day I traveled about a half hour on train to a beautiful, quiet beach south of Barcelona. There I had my first ever intense game of beach ultimate...the same as regular ultimate except five on five and on sand. It makes a world of difference! I felt half as fast and my arches felt twice as big after a couple of hours running barefoot. It was incredible to play as the sun set along the beach. I just looked around at the international group all laughing, sweating, and sharing a passion together and felt entirely content. I did notice however that I wasn't playing ultimate in the States when the girls started changing out of their sports bras right on the beach. I guess when you're on the coast of the Mediterranean, anything goes.

I had an awesome time with Patatas Bravas, the team in Barcelona, and I highly recommend anyone looking for them on the web because their website is incredible. My time in Barcelona just confirmed the fact that I'm addicted to ultimate, want to play it the rest of my life, and that wherever you go, ultimate players are ultimate players. The fun, interesting, crazy people that I love interacting with.

I just returned to the hotel after an afternoon in the sun, enjoying coffee, time with the parents, and the ever popular sport of people-watching. The short holiday in Barcelona has been a perfect break. My parents and I spent the first two days seeing all the sights in Barcelona, most revolving around Gaudi. La Sagrade Familia would have to be the highlight. An enormous church started by Gaudi in the late 1880's that is still being built. Incredible. After these two days, I was able to play ultimate frisbee in Barcelona! It was so great to play withi people from all over the world and to just enjoy the sun and running around playing my favorite sport was invigorating. Besides ultimate, both at a stadium and then at the beach, we have spent a lot of time sitting, eating, and watching people. Who could ask for anything more? Throw in a random night out on the town with a girl name Elisa who was a friend of a friend who I had never met, and you have a fun, random, holiday in Barcelona! Pictures are being added as we speak, so check them out on the link to the right. I'm heading to Madrid tomorrow to spend time with the Fernandez, our family friends, before heading to London and then back to Tromsø. I have to enjoy the last few moments of the sun while I can!

I am giddy today as I had the best mail day of my life! Today I received a great package from my friend Emily and a fun package from my mom. On top of that, I also received a post card from Alison and a letter from my sister. What a great mail day!

I thought that while I was thinking about it, I should use this opportunity to send out my thank yous. I have been blessed by lots of letters, e-mails, and thoughts from friends and family. Although I haven't been the best at responding individually to the kind words and thoughts, I want you to know that they are very appreciated. I have felt at home thanks to all the contact I have been able to share. I hope that everyone who has been writing to, thinking about, and praying for me can be repaid in some small way by my attempts at sharing my thoughts and experiences from Norway. I am thinking about everyone and even if I don't write back individually, the mail, e-mails, and random messenger conversations help me to continue grinning from ear to ear. Off to make lunch with the housemates! Thanks for making a great day awesome!

Sunrise: 8:07am (Our clocks 'fell back' on Saturday too)
Sunset: 2:47pm


Darkness is descending on Tromsø, but unfortunately there are not any gouls or goblins trick-or-treating to welcome it's coming. Only kids playing with bright reflective yellow safety vests and girls wearing funky, furry, high leather boots to keep their feet, (and upper calves) dry. This new darkness has come with an unexpected partner however: summer! In the matter of three hours a few days ago, Tromsø changed from a winter wonderland to a spring-like sopfest. Suddenly, the temperature hit 11 degrees (52 farenheit) and a steady rain descended on the haunted land. When the clouds parted, the snow had eerily disappeared, replaced with unusually warm temperatures. Much to my surprise, I was able to sleep with my windown open for the first time all year! I am seriously beginning to think that the weather here in Tromsø is haunted, or at least plagued by indecision. Although the warmth feels good, the lack of snow has deepened the darkness, creating the perfect Halloween mileau.

Although I won't be trick-or-treating tonight, I am happy to say that a few weeks ago I attended an Oktoberfest party with a Hollywood Costume Theme. I just pretended like this was Halloween, and I was impressed by some great costumes. I had to throw mine together however without the help of the downstairs dress-up clothes, but I managed to look something like Harry Potter. Maybe. Happy Halloween to everyone. I hope you have a dark, eery, and fun night!

The blog bug is spreading! Our class has had fun reading my blog, and I am excited to say that now a few of my classmates are also starting blogs. Marjaana, a student from Finland, started a blog at: fromtheedgeoftheearth.blogspot.com. She started it with a great profile of different people in our class. Very great to read so you know the characters in all of these stories. Rachel, also from the US, just started her blog as well and should be adding on to it soon: rachelcollin.blogspot.com. I'll be putting links to the other Tromsø blogs on the right side of the page, so check them out for another view of Tromsø.

I walked home tonight from town at about midnight and it was beautiful. The snow was sparkling and there were almost no cars driving by so my walk was accompanied by the soothing sound of the constant crunch, crunch, crunch of walking home on the snow. A crisp winter air and a clear sky filled the space around me, and I felt very content. A good feeling to have.

Behold, the power of Plumbo!

This evening Stian and I took on the pipes, and we won. For the past week or so the drain in our man bathroom has become plugged up with man hair. Sharing a shower with two other guys with thick dark hair has taken its toll on the pipes and today when I showered and the bathroom flooded with water, bringing with it floating hairballs and a submarine-like packet of chewing tobacco (called snus in Norwegian), I decided it was time to end the madness.

Stian and I went to Euro Spar and bought the miracle acid: PLUMBO! Plumbo is the Norwegian equivalent of Drain-O and comes as a blue powder that when added with water can, according to the package, "cause serious damage to aluminum." Stian asked jokingly if we needed any protective material before we used it, but little did we know that we actually did.

We walked in to the bathroom confidently with our half liter of boiling water to combine with the bottle of Plumbo. We dumped the bottle of plumbo into the drain and it started smoking in an immediate explosion of caustic power. As we poured the water in the drain, the room was suddenly filled with the smell of burning hair that we could literally taste. We were lucky to escape with our lives. The drain bubbled over, filling our floor with a grimy layer of liquified hair.



All we could do was shut the door and wait for the Plumbo to do its work. Upon seeing the effective results, Stian decided that we will now use Plumbo for everything. Instead of taking the trash out, we'll just dump on the Plumbo and let it do its work. The magic of man's conquest over nature. We'll see how long it takes for our man hair to again necessitate the fun of Plumbo!

Sunrise: 8:39 AM
Sunset: 4:16 PM

I am back in Tromsø after a long weekend in Bergen, and I have been welcomed home by snow! Tromsø is a winter wonderland.

I spent the past 4 days in Bergen in a Model United Nations. It reminded me of Student Congress or some other type of high school speech event. Basically, every person was a member of the Security Council. (My group was Argentina.) Then we spent the days debating two topics: the Darfur crisis and terrorism. We tried to pass resolutions and learned the procedure and difficulties of the United Nations. Essentially, we learned that nothing gets done unless the United States wants it, or lets it, get done. We did well though for Argentina, slipping in a few clauses here and there that we liked. I had a huge advantage being a native speaker of English so I was able to dish out the rhetoric on behalf of the great state of Argentina.

The most exciting part of the whole trip however was coming home. I got back to the house all excited to be home, but I didn't have my keys and for the first time in the history of our house no one, not even my recluse housemate Igor, was home. I looked for my keys and thought for a bit, finally deciding I should break in.

I took our garbage can from the street and dragged it to the side of our house, under my window. I stood up on the trash can and the window was at my shoulders. I pryed the window open and then jumped up and pulled myself in. I found my keys hanging right where they should be, on my key hook, and then went outside and dragged the trash can back through the snow to the end of the street, happy with my physical achievement.

Now back to reading and preparing for our oral examination on Friday. In about a week I will be headed to Barcelona to see my parents and the sun! Should be exciting!

Sunrise: 8:13 AM
Sunset: 4:44 PM

I've been told that when Norway was occupied during World War II, Norwegians would wear or carry paper clips (a Norwegian invention) as a sign of nationalism and solidarity. Well, I've found a similar item carried or worn by everyone in Tromsø: reflectors! Everywhere you go people (and dogs!) are wearing and carrying reflectors that would put school crossing guards to shame. Although this is probably a necessary safety measure considering they live one fourth of their lives devoid of the sun, it does seem like a bit of overkill.

For instance, I went and set up a bank account at Nordea bank here in Tromsø. Instead of getting a coffee mug or a nice pen as a thank you from the bank, what do I get? A reflector! Thanks Nordea. I'll have fun playing with this. The same thing happened yesterday. I had a meeting for a United Nations simulation. Basically this weekend I am going to Bergen to participate in a role playing exercise where about 100 people gather together to be the United Nations. I, along with two fellow Tromsøians, will be representing Argentina. Anyways, we got together to talk about our goals and share information about Argentina. What do we get from the sponsors of the conference? A t-shirt? No. An I-pod mini? No. A cool slap bracelet reflector? YES!

Needless to say, I am now well lit so you don't have to worry about me getting hit by a car. Maybe just worry about the fashion police now that I am wearirng a glow-in the dark slap bracelet. Remind anyone else of 3rd grade?

I know, I know, saving the environment is important and I shouldn't complain about minor annoyances while others have to deal with my wasteful lifestyle, but there is something that grosses me out here in Tromsø: Matavfall. In Tromsø there is a systematic division of garbage. First, you have your recycleables: plastic, cardboard, and aluminum. These are easy to seperate because you can cash them in at the grocery store for a pretty good rate. Thus far, this has been the best, (and only) way I've found to make money in Norway. Second, you have your regular garbage that is bagged and taken away once a week. Finally, you have matavfall which is the food waste. Instead of having a garbage disposal we shovel all the left-overs into a small plastic bag under our sink. This festering bag of disease collects rotting peels, left over noodles, and anything else that 7 college kids might cook and not eat. Needless to say, it's a smelly mess. But hey, if everything was the same easy, it wouldn't be Norway, so I dump my left over cheerios and rice in the bag while holding my breath, the whole time praying i am not the one who has to take it out!

PS- New pics up. Check the link to the right!

I am convinced that my guardian angel is in the form of a stoic, old Norwegian bus driver. Last night I took the bus to Tungveien on the far north side of the island. There I enjoyed a Spanish feast thanks to the boyfriend of one of the Spanish exchange students here who just arrived from Spain with authentic tapas materials! We had a great time eating, chatting, and drinking tea, but I realized about halfway through the night that I had left my umbrella on the bus! I was a bit frustrated since I use it almost everyday, so I was extremely surpised and excited that when I caught the last bus home it was the same bus and same driver I had earlier in the evening! He had my umbrella and I was extremely excited. But, in the midst of my excitement I set down my mittens, but of course didn't realize this until I had gotten of the bus.

This morning we called down to the downtown bus office and asked if they had red mittens. They said they had some grey and red ones so I figured that they were probably mine. Well, I went down there only to discover a shelf full of winter clothing and umbrellas, but my mittens were not a part of the collection. (now I know where to do my winter shopping though!) I was bummed out and worried that I wouldn't find them, when who should appear but my bus driver! I told him I forgot my mittens and he nodded and ask if I was also the umbrella guy. Yes. Thanks. Well, this time he didn't have the mittens but he took me close the bus office on the north side of the island, told me when to get off, and gave me directions to the office.

I walked up there and first only saw garages. I walked into one and one guy was on a cell phone and one guy was underneath a bus. Neither one seemed to care that I was there. Kind of made me want to hop in the cab of a bus and take it for a spin. Eventually, I asked someone and they pointed me up the hill a bit more to the next building. I went there and the guy at the window said, "No we don't have anything. And then said, let's look. (why not look right away?!) He took me into another garage where they have a big garbage can that they fill up with lost items before taking them downtown. My mittens must have just missed the trip because they were the only items in the can. I took them and thanked the guy and took the bus home, but this time it was a different bus and driver, so I guess there are more than one on this island! An exciting adventure, but I hope I don't have to do it again anytime soon.

Last Friday I experienced the apex of cultural miscommunication. We had a study group meeting with Marjaana from Finland, Andre from Norway, Rachel from the US, and me. We meet once a week to go over the readings and both Andrea and Marjaana speak English like natives. Quite incredible actually. Well, almost. We discovered that somethings aren't taught in English classes. We were talking going to school that morning and Marjaana was complaining because I was so slow. I said, without hesitation, "If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm an anal brusher." All of a sudden Marjaana just kind of froze in awkwardness and neither her nor Andre said anything. Rachel and I kept on talking and didn't notice anything for about 10 seconds until we looked at their faces and saw the disgusting looks of confusion. Suddenly I realized what they thought I said! Everyone started laughing when we all felt the awkwardness together and to go along with the joke, I was quick to assure Marjaana that the brush we used to wash the dishes with had been in my anus. Well, we spent the next 5 minutes discussing anal retentive and it's more common form, anal. I think that Marjaana was still convinced that I actually did brush my anus even after the explaination. Needless to say, it reminded me of the difficulty of cross cultural communication and reminded me that maybe I should stop being an anal brusher!

Just got back from a late night run with my housemate Stian. It felt great to get out and exercise! We ran to the University and back which is about 4km with a good hill towards the University. The best part was running back and stretching outside our housing, looking at the light of Tromsø on the water as the rain started to come down and cool us off. So refreshing and real.

Off to bed soon. Feel free to check out a slew of new photos finally!

Just when I was getting a little home sick and sick of the grey rain of Tromsø who should step in, but Rotary!

I just got back from an afternoon with my host counselor Peter Drecker. It was so much fun! He picked me up at home and took me downtown to my rotary contact person, Sissel. Between the two of them, they are in charge of me and are supposed to help me get situated and help plug me into rotary events. Randomly, they are both optometrists and being in Sissel’s office reminded me so much of my aunt’s office. She had funky frames and was so kind! We talked a little bit about some paper work and I received my first Rotary scholarship check…40,000 Norwegian kroner! Almost $7,000, so that feels good carrying around.

After that I started a tour with Peter who drove me all around the islands. We also went to his office and met his son who works there as well. We also ate lunch, and I found out that I was with a pretty cool guy! He is originally German and came to Norway to optometry school where he met his wife on Syttende Mai (Norwegian Independence Day) four days after arriving in the country. He was the trainer for Tromsø’s football club, which would be the equivalent of maybe the Minnesota Twins. I was very excited about this so he took me to the stadium where he still knew everyone. He showed me around and took me out to the field. It was a big day for the football club because last week they advanced to the second round of the UEFA Cup, which is an all-European football tournament. It was a big deal for Tromsø because they are pretty small and not the best by any means, but they made it through the first round. Today they drew who they will play against in their bracket and it turns out that their first game is at home against Roma, which is one of the biggest clubs in Europe from Rome, Italy. And even better, Peter told me he wanted me to be his guest to the game on October 20th! I’m so excited to go to such a big game, especially with someone who has so many connections.

Then, the day got even crazier as I learned that his daughter was “en pop sterjne,” a pop star!. And it turned out he wasn’t exaggerating. His daughter is the lead singer of Bel Canto, which is a very popular group from Norway. They have been around for quite awhile and are probably second to A-Ha for the most known and longest lasting Norwegian groups. Peter also showed me his house and told me that I am welcomed to come to their house anytime and can borrow his car if I ever need to. Finally, he told me that he would like to give me a personal tour of Germany as well! He said we can stay with his family in Germany, drive the autobahn, and go to the island where my relatives are from. I had such a great time with him and it was so great to spend a day with an adult out on the town. I also felt great because we spoke Norwegian the whole time!

Besides Peter, I have also had some other great Rotary experiences lately. Yesterday, I went to one of the Rotary club meetings where I first met Sissel, my optometrist/contact Rotary person. It was a fun meeting and I had a great time talking with a few of the people there. The speaker for the meeting was talking about an expansion to the Radisson Hotell that we were meeting at, and half way through his talk, there was a knock at the door. It was the pizza delivery boy from the pizza restaurant connected to the Radisson. It was a great presentation move and it tasted so great! I have been thinking that I need to go grocery shopping for the past three days, but Rotary keeps helping me put off the inevitable.

The other great Rotary experience was a true Norwegian fest! I got a random phone call on Thursday from the president of the Tromsø Roteract, which is Rotary for people between 18-30. They were having a nation-wide meeting for leaders of different Rotary Clubs and they wanted to invite me to the party they were having after their meeting. It was a black and white party so I finally got to wear my suit and wing tip shoes. We met at an apartment downtown that was very funky Norwegian with all wood floors and ceilings. Everyone looked great in a variety of outfits ranging from suits and dresses to funky European shirts and pants.

All I can say is that it was a proper, high-class Norwegian party. We all paid 200 kroner so I was expecting a nice meal and maybe some wine, but instead we had traditional fish soup and TONS of wine and spirits. I hadn’t tasted good wine since I arrived so it was such a shock to be in a suit, speaking in Norwegian to these young adults who had either just started working or were just finishing up school, all while drinking great wine. We even had cognac and coffee after the meal. And this was, of course, a traditional Norwegian party, so after this “forspeil” or pre-party consisting of eating and drinking and talking, as well as presentation of some Roteract awards and a series of toasts (Skål!), it was time to go out. We went across the street to a local bar with some dancing, but to be honest it didn’t compare at all to the apartment, so after about an hour there we headed back to the apartment for the beloved “nattspeil” or post party. We came back and turned on the music and danced, drank, and talked. It was a great time. Again, it was so much fun to have a night all in Norwegian and night with some new faces and new people. They were so interesting, some having started their own businesses, but most just starting their first jobs. They were from all parts of Norway and were all leaders in their Roteract clubs. It seemed almost everyone had traveled to some part of the world or had a story for every occasion. In traditional Norwegian fashion, none of the guys danced, but I cut a rug with the girls who were dancing and we had a great evening. At about 6am, 10 hours after the festivities began, it was time to walk home along the water, as the seagulls were already out looking for the fish from the morning’s catch.

So, I can officially say my Rotary experience has begun. I have met some great people associated with Rotary and they have been very warm and friendly, a welcomed change from the impression you get of the average Norwegian on the street. I am excited to learn more about Norwegian culture from my new Rotary friends and feel like I now have a “family” here in Norway that will help take care of me. As we say in Norwegian, “Spennende!” (exciting!). That’s all for now, I have to go take some notes for our first exam which is on Friday.

A couple of weeks ago, Rachel and I made the horrible mistake of telling an Ole and Lina joke to the Norwegians here. And the worst part was they loved it! They thought it was so hilarious and thought that our Ole and Lina accents were even more hilarious. Needless to say, I ran out of Ole and Lina jokes almost instantly, so at my housemates' request, I am here to ask for any Ole and Lina jokes out there. I know that everyone knows a few so post them here so my housemates and anyone reading this blog can enjoy them. Takk!

One thing that I am constantly amazed by is the Norwegian law of taking off your shoes. Everywhere we go it seems that people are just in their socks indoors. At the elementary school in Alta, at my house, sometimes in class here at the University, at parties, and basically anywhere that is not a bar ellicts some natural instinct in Norwegians to take off their shoes. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with it always being wet and sloppy here in Tromsø, or maybe because of the fact they want to enjoy this "warm" weather while they have it, but it does make life difficult, I mean, it's hard enough to find cool shoes to wear to someone's house, but when you also have to have cool socks to go with it?! Very tough. Fortunately, I think I have found my people here in Norway because white socks are supposedly only worn by hicks in Norway...so my dark green and brown smartwool socks not only keep me warm but also help me fit it! Maybe this is where the tradition of taking off our shoes in our house comes from?

I braved the wind and rain this morning to take a stop at place called "Herre Frisør" basically, a man's haircutter. I saw the sign that said walk-in earlier this weekend and needed a cut so this morning I went right away at 9am and was the first (and only) one. I sat down and was able to maintain a 45 minuter session in Norwegian and haircutting. The only problem was when she asked me how many millimeters I wanted the razor to be...well, I took a guess at 8 mm and went with it. A little short, but it looks alright. I got the full treatment with shampoo and gel totalling out to 280 kroner...about 40 dollars! Well, it was fun and it's short enough now that I won't have to go again for a while.

Today we are studying international law and tonight I have my first Norwegian test in my Norwegian class. On top of that, I've started a Spanish-English class with two Spanish girls and one Peruvian girl. They all want to improve their English and I want to improve my Spanish so it's a good trade off. Language always excites me, so it's great to mix up Norwegian and Spanish in my head and try to sort them out in my mouth!

Hello!

Back from a few days away. I posted 4 new entries so don't be afraid to scroll down and read some older posts that I just got on-line along with a few new pics. Enjoy!

I’m chilling in Alta right now, and like the past couple entries I won’t be able to post this until Friday when I go back to Tromsø, but I thought it now none-the-less because I’m having fun in Alta. That’s right Alta. I thought I couldn’t go further north from Tromsø, but I can…and did. We had a couple of classes rescheduled from Monday and Tuesday so all of a sudden we had 5 days free. I was frantically trying to find somewhere to go, when Rachel, another master’s student from the US and Luther, suggested we go to Alta, which is where she was an exchange student 6 years ago. It was easy to get to and fairly cheap, so we did it! We took a 6 hour bus ride here on Sunday that took us widing around the mountains and on two boat trips through the fjords. We arrived late Sunday at Rachel’s host families’ house. It has been great! A beautiful city and very laid back so I’ve been able to do some reading for class and been able to sleep in and get off of Tromsø island for a bit.

We have had a lot of highlights from the trip and one is our trip to Kautokeino, a Sami town on the tundra of inner, northern Norway. It was a beautiful two hour drive that I got to do! Our host family lent us their car, a fun, zippy, red Toyota Crisas?We started on the road to Kautokeino and when we began it looked like a mini Black Hills. Lots of birch and evergreen covering small mountains with the Alta river following us the whole way. It is quite funny though because the trees this far north don’t very tall, maybe 15-20 feet at most, so when I say mini Black Hills, I mean it literally. As we continued inland, the evergreens gave way to birches as far as the eye could see…it was beautiful. The birches were turning colors so we had a fall drive on a beautifully sunny day. The yellow leaves lead us as the wind got colder and colder. Even though it’s tundra, or vidda as they call it in Norwegian and probably Sami too, there was actually a lot of life. I can’t imagine it in the winter though…just empty, white and dead looking I would guess. After two hours of driving, during which I was never quite sure of the speed limit, we reached Kautokeino, a small, quaint town with typical Norwegian houses clustered together in the midst of the birches. We stopped at Juhl’s Silver Gallery which is a stunning gallery literally in the middle of nowhere. The Juhls began it before there was even a road through the tundra, but now it is a tourist attraction of its own. The Sami, the indigienous people of Norway, have a long tradition of wearing extravegeant silver jewelry in weddings and traditional celebrations, so this gallery builds on that tradition. We spent the rest of the early afternoon poking around the city, and finally headed back after exhausting basically everything Kautokeino had to offer.

I also had a great time visiting some of Rachel’s host family’s relatives where I learned the true way to eat Norwegian waffles. Basically, you make a heap of heart shaped, thin, waffles, serve them cold with strong coffee and a whip cream type concaction called trollkrem (Troll Cream) made out of berries picked from the forests outside of the town. Then, you eat and eat and eat because they go down so easily you never feel full. Besides the grea food, they also had two kids that were in fourth and first grade and we played hard core chess. I learned the Norwegian words for all the chess pieces and also learned that the best way to beat a fourth grader is to lure them with the queen and then put them in check mate. Fun stuff.

Today was also a highlight. We went to the local school and taught the 4th grade English class. Quite exciting! We sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes,” and we helped them to learn their body parents in English. I felt like I was back in Tanzania teaching! After teaching we headed to the Alta museum which is home to 6,000 year old rock carvings from my ancestors I guess. It was interesting and gave a good depiction of Norway through the ages. Now I feel like we’ve done all Alta has to offer too, but instead of taking the bus back this time, we’re flying back. 30 minutes versus 6 hours and only 588 kroner, so not a bad deal at all.

Nature has been astounding me during the past 24 hours. Last night at the birthday party I was treated to the first of mother nature’s light shows: the Northern Lights. It was amazing. Green lights danced all around the sky as the crisp wind tried to force us inside. It was especially fun because some people from Oslo were at the party and they were even more ecstatic than we were. They had never seen the Northern Lights and felt that they had now had the true Northern Norwegian experience. I thought that it was a one time show, but today I was pleasantly surprised. It was of course, a rainy day in Tromsø, and during one of the breaks in the rain, I looked outside and there, only 200 meters away in the channel of water between Tromsø island and the mainland was a nearly full rainbow. It was bright, thick, and looked as if I could almost touch it. To top it off, (for better or worse), more snow has fallen on the crest of the mountains around tromsø. It seems apparent that the snow line will continue to creep towards us…at least our fate looks beautiful as it approaches.

Went out tonight to the pool hall! Sounds like something out of The Music Man. There was bowling and pool tables and we paid 80 kroner for an hour of pool playing. And it was packed! Who would have thought that Saturday night was the big night for pool playing. The best part of the evening was learning that the bridge in pool is called a crab or shrimp in Norwegian. Funny stuff. Now we are back in the basement sitting around while Stien, Teresa, and Marjaana read my Norway and Scandinavian Europe Lonely Planet Guide books. They are having fun reading what others have to say about their homes and are amazed that their small home towns made the book. They are now laughing at how the Lonely Planet says that if Norway had a national drink it would be coffee and one must be astounded . Norway’s view of alcohol borders paranoia and is similar to prohibition in some cities. Nearly 70% of Norwegians have blue eyes. Some of the Norway’s cities do provide some semblance of nightlife. Fun to have a guide of the guide.

I’m in my pajamas and just enjoyed a TV show that typifies the Norway that I have experienced: 71 Degrees Nord. This is Norway’s most popular reality TV show and it is an interesting mix of Survivor and Amazing Race. There are 15 contestants and they start in the Southern tip of Norway and their goal is to go to the Northern most point of Norway: Hammerfest, which appropriately enough is located at 71 Degrees North. Today was the first episode when they start their adventure, and in line with the soscialist/help everyone nature of Norwegian culture, the contestants do not compete against each other. Instead, as a group, they must get to their destination in a certain amount in order to receive their food money. It makes it interesting as everyone is trying to hurry but has to wait for the slower people. Today they started by hiking 80 km and then rowing a boat around the Southeast of Norway towards Oslo. Then they took a train to a town a little bit South of Oslo, from which they had to kayak into the waterfront in Oslo. A very fitness oriented/outdoorsy show much like most Norwegians! When in Oslo, the show finally turned competitive when they did a small challenge to determine who had immunity. Maybe showing that deep down Norwegians too ultimately want to look out for themselves. Then, when it was time to vote, they did not have a vote like in most American reality shows when people had to choose one person to kick off; instead, they kept with the Norwegian way of voting by having a list of all 15 candidates. They then make a list with the people they want to keep most on top and the people they want to kick off the most on the bottom. Then the person with the least number of points is kicked off. It reminded me so much of the Norwegian way of voting for a party instead of a person during the elections and then every party getting the percentage of their votes in seats.

My girlfriend Alison (standing in front of my new house in this picture) came to visit me for 9 days, and we had a great time together! There are lots of pictures of our adventures (see link to the right), and she just forwarded me a copy of an e-mail she sent to my mom describing Tromsø. So, I thought it would be fun for you to hear about Tromsø from a different point of view. Here's Alison:

The first thing we did when Scott picked me up from the airport was drop off most of my stuff in his old room, where he had collected many many shells from the beaches near Tromso and used them to spell out the world "Vilkommen" on his desk, a gesture that really did make me feel so warm and welcomed there. As soon as I unpacked and repacked to head to Finnkroken, we took the bus down to the Sentrum of Tromso and picked up some groceries for the weekend... our big experiment was Norway's frozen pizza, "Grandiosa," which is only about 20 kroner for a large pizza, and according to Scott's housemate Teresa, is a major staple in the diets of college students in Norway. But when we got to Finnkroken, we discovered that we had a stove, but no oven in which to cook the pizza! So we ended up cutting the frozen pizza in quarters, folding the pieces, and then frying them on a burner to eat them panini-style! It actually was pretty good, I thought, if not a little bit silly.

I think Finnkroken has a lot of my favorite memories from the trip. It was just so peaceful, and we had so much time to talk and cook and sing together (Scott brought his guitar), and just enjoy each other's company. We took a walk on Saturday (the berry pictures on his blog site are from the walk), and found a swing back behind our cabin, which was really fun--I jumped on immediately and began to swing--there are pictures of that on his site too. You'll notice, however, that there aren't any pictures of Scott swinging--that's because when he tried to jump on he never quite made it, and ended up holding on to the rope and sliding to the ground with a yell instead! He was fine of course, but I was too busy chuckling with him at the mishap to snap a picture. :)

All of Scott's housemates are incredibly lively, fun, and interesting people. Teresa, who is Norwegian, but whose parents are from India, and whose English is very fast and British because she studied in England for three years, caught my attention very fast. She's incredibly funny with a quick tongue and opinionated political sentiments. She had a lot of questions about the United States and the Midwest in general, and it was fun for me and Scott to try to explain the differences between the states and regions of our country. Stian, another norwegian Scott is living with, is also very political oriented, and had a lot of questions too. He's kind of quiet, but has a pretty distinct quirkiness to his personality; has a pretty dry humor but is a warm and caring person. I don't know if he's Paul Myklebust material for Scott but they get along really well, and I think the house as a whole will be a great family-like community for Scott to spend his time with. I think it was a really good decision for him to move to the house. It's just such a warmer atmosphere. I think it will help him in stressful times, and when it gets so much darker there, too, to have people around all the time.

Wednesday night, since Scott wouldn't let me help to pay for our Finnkroken excursion, I insisted on treating him out to a meal at a fancy restaurant in downtown Tromso. We went to a biffhausen (Beef House) and the food was absolutely delicious (when you go back, I definitely recommend it). We both had steak and potatoes, but Scott had a kabob with a stuffed baked potato, and I had peppersteak with cheesy scalloped potatoes. We each also had a glass of wine, and the meal lasted a good two hours, with good conversation and a lovely atmosphere. It's definitely one of my favorite memories of the week.

In addition to having good meals out, we also cooked a lot in the house, and I taught Scott my big cooking "secret"--that I pretty much put garlic in onion in everything that it will taste good. So we had spaghetti with tomato sauce (which had garlic and onion in it), and when we made chicken curry for the rest of the house, we started by frying up some onions and garlic, of course! I also taught him how to make my favorite potato dish, which is just potatos fried in butter or oil with garlic and onion! *chuckle* It's really simple of course but Scott really liked them, and I was happy to pass on my "wisdom" and help him discover another easy meal to make for himself.

* * * *

Take care! All the best,
Alison

I'm sitting in class right now during a break...we are talking with Roy Bhaskar about critical realism, basically a lot of philosophy about how we can look at the social world and problems of peace, conflict, being, and other fun stuff.

I don't really know where to start. I don't have internet yet in my new house so the posts have been sporadic, but Alison left yesterday, the rain is coming down hard today, and I watched TV for four hours yesterday late morning which included, in this order: Bonanza, Will and Grace, Lassie, and the Bachelor. Wow, what a line up! I have to admit it's my first time actually watching an entire episode of Bonanza or Lassie. It's funny though because we just have the basic channels which is quite typical in Norway...so it is a new experience to just sit and watch one of four channels...and since our tv doesn't have a remote we pretty much keep it on one channel. A lot like prison actually!

The other funny phenomena is the varmeskap. It is literally translated as a warm closet and is a large closet where clothes are hung and when the door is shut, warm air is supposed to circulate in the oven-like closet and dry the clothes. Well, Alison and I tried this, but after 8 hours of waiting for the clothes to dry, we realized that the clothes just hanging on the drying rack in the middle of the basement were actually dryer. Good idea, bad performance.

Speaking of bad performance, Alison and I were all psyched to go on a brewery tour of the Mack brewery, the self-proclaimed "Northern Most Brewery in the World." But, as we found out, they must only have one guide because when we arrived, we were informed that the guide was sick and there wouldn't be any tours the rest of the week. So, instead we headed to Polaria, the polar museum where we saw bearded seals and got to dress up like arctic explorers. Exciting stuff.

Well, off now for a lecture from a professor from England named Rob Walker. We'll be learning about early modern state building. Good stuff. Seinere (later) fra Norge.

New pics are up! If you want to check them out click the link on the right. enjoy!

One of the first things I noticed, and continue to notice, is the inward somewhat cold disposition of Norwegians on the street or busses. They never look at you, say hi, or do any of the utopic Luther salutations I am used. But, yesterday I tried my best to work through the disposition and just made myself laugh outloud.

I walked by an older, nice looking gentleman walking a dog. I said a formal greeting meaning "good day" which is "God Dag" (pronounced good dog) in norwegian. he of course said nothing, but I laughed non-stop. From now on, anyone with a dog is a possible target. Look out Norway!

I just walked to school from my new apartment! Yesterday Alison and I moved my stuff via a crazy cab driver to my new apartment at: Stakkevollveien 60. I dropped all the stuff and immediately had to go to class, but when I returned Alison had magically turned the pile into a cozy room! It looks great and pictures will be coming soon. We ate a tasty pasta dish with homemade sauce to celebrate and watched "Lost in Translation" with three of my housemates before crashing in the new room.

Alison and I had a great time at Finnkroken. It was rainy most of the time, but fortunately the sun came out enough for us to eat outside, pick blueberries, and stick stones on the water. Most of the time however was spent reading, sleeping, playing guitar, talking, and making chicken curry. It was a great weekend of relaxation and jet lag recovery for Alison.

I also had my first norwegian course here last night. I think I`m in a lower level than maybe I should be because it was quite easy, but I think it`s good to go back and correct what I might have learned wrong.

The rest of the week should be pretty chill. Tomorrow if it is nice we are going to go up the fjellheis which is a cable car that takes you to the top of the highest peak around tromsø. I have heard good things so we shall see. Hope all is well back in the States and all the Luther folk are settling in as well as I am!

I officially started the move to my new house today. I took two bags of clothes there, and I am definitely getting a taxi on Monday when I move the rest! It will be a great spot though. I put my clothes away and had a few friends come over to eat our first meal there...rommegrøt! It's like Cream of Wheat with sugar, cinnamon, raisins, etc. It tasted great considering it's basically justporridgee, but I walked home and walking up hill for 30 min made me realize why you need to let your food digest before exercising.

I'm excited and am in a cleaning frenzy because tomorrow my girlfriend Alison will be coming to visit! She will be here for 9 days, so she will get a great taste of Tromsø¸ life. She'll arrive tomorrow at 3.30pm and then we are going to go to Finnkroken, the small island North of Tromsø where I went with my Peace Studies class during orientation. The picture above is from Finnkroken. Pray for sun!

I just got word that Tromsø's team won a big football (soccer) match tonight in UEFA qualifying so the rowdy fans are out! Fun stuff. A beautiful night up North. Hope all is well down South.

Today I learned the meaning of that word, leiekontrakt...it means, impulse buying of a new rental spot! That's right, after only being here two weeks, I am already moving.

It all happened so quickly, but I think it will be a great place to be. Four other students in my program were looking for a place to live and I decided it would be fun to live with them, so I told them that if a spot opened up I would like to join them. Well, today they got a lead so we all went to check it out. It is a 15 min walk from the University and from the town center. The landlord came and picked us up at the University. We got to the house and there were two people waiting outside to look at it. He said they had to wait, as we had made an appointment. Anyways, he talks to us a bit outside showing us the bike/storage shed and the yard/driveway with weeds and rocks, making it a little unclear what its purpose is. He's speaking Norwegian the whole time, way too fast for me, so I just look interested and nodded a lot. He opened up the door and showed us the mud room, laundry room, bathroom and living room downstairs which were all very nice. We then walked up a spiraling staircase and he showed us a few of the room. They were very kurslig as we say in Norwegian...very cozy! Wood floors, windows, fully furnished. We walked up another stairway to the third level to a few more rooms and a kitchen with two refrigerators, freezers, another full bath, and even a little porch outside. Well, we all looked at each other and knew that it was a great spot, especially for the price...only 2400 Norwegian Kroners which is about $365 a month. We knew that if we told him we'd tell him later that the next guys would probably snatch two of the rooms, so on the spot I'm handed a rental contract, leiekontrakt, and was signing my name and agreeing to...who knows what?! Three pages of Norwegian with all the rules and regs. I was assured by the others that everything was good, so I signed up and took room number 1, a room with wood floors, white walls, one window, a desk, wood shelves, and a white closet. So kurslig! So, just like that, I'm moving I guess! It happened so fast and I can move in starting tomorrow. Crazy.

The rental agreement lasts from now until 1.July, and I think it would be very welcoming for guests! The only downsides are that I have to pay for next month still on my old place which is another 3,000 NOK and have to pay a deposit of 2400 NOK...but hey, my new place is actually 600 NOK cheaper than my current place and as my mom said on the phone, it will probably save me the money I would have spent on a psychiatrist while living alone during the "dark period." I will be living with 6 other people, four of them are in the peace program with me, and two of them (one boy and one girl) have already been living there...so that will be a surprise. My friends who will be living with me are two Norwegian girls, Kjersti and Teresa, one Finnish girl, Marjaana, and one Norwegian guy named Stien. It will be very exciting and lively, and I hope it will help me learn more Norwegian and better experience Norwegian culture. I'm just looking at it as a return to the "cluster life" that I lived and loved while at Luther.

Well, after our quick purchase, Kjersti, Teresa, and I headed down to Sentrum and celebrated our future roommateness together with a hamburger and a coke while sitting on the water at the base of the mountains. My first rental and my first Norwegian hamburger, what a monumental day!

I'll post pictures from my new house as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is my new mailing address:

Scott Meyer
Stakkevollveien 60
9010 Tromsø, Norway

I now am the not so proud owner of a cell phone. After four years of abstinence, I needed one, especially here. Everyone uses them to communicate, and I learned that Norway is the country that supposedly sends the most SMS text messages. Don't know who researches that, but that's what the rumors tell me. But, not only do they use them to communicate, they use them habitually as cameras! I know this is probably common in the US too, but it strikes me that whenever anything happens people bust out their cell phones and start taking pictures.

The only thing crazier than this is the amount of smokers in Norway. Seriously, everyone is smoking all the time. They passed a law in Norway, thanks to our graduation speaker Dagfinn, that you cannot smoke indoors in Norway, so maybe this has something to do with the overwhelming number of people smoking outside...but I think there are just a lot as well, despite the warning labels that say Smoking Kills. The worst part about it is the kids. I see girls that look like 10 year olds dressed like 21 year olds smoking with their younger brother. Quite shocking to me, but apparently normal to everyone else. For a culture that is extremely healthy with diet and exercise, it's sad to see so many cigs.

Speaking of craziness, or lack there of, there is a big election in Norway in a couple weeks. They vote for their parliament...but unlike the US where we vote for a candidate, they vote for a party. Then the percentage of votes for each party is then the percentage of seats that party gets. Right now the conservative (for Norway) party is in power so it will be interesting to see if their coalition of parties looses their power. It is funny to me though because there aren't big posters promoting parties or big rallies or anything. I've only seen ads on tv telling people to vote (something they can do by mail before the actual election) and not for parties. The only look at the parties that I've had was in the streets of Tromsø during a city wide week of parties and events celebrating Norway's 100th Anniversary of becoming anindependentt country. I took a few pictures of the small promo tents for the political parties and the youths of Tromsø, as well as a few "peace parties" with my classmates if you want to check them out on the link to the left.

Hi All!

I'm guessing, or maybe hoping, that you have stopped by after receiving the massive e-mail from me today...if so, welcome! I realized after sending the e-mail that I forgot one of my favorite ways to communicate: mail! (the old kind) If you would like to mail me, here's my address in Norway:

Scott Meyer
14/216 Olastien
9012 Tromsø, Norway

Small country, small address. It's another beautiful cloudy day here...seriously. I'm getting into this Norwegian mindset of enjoying the dry, overcast days. Very calm, relaxed, and best of all: dry! It's now time to make a little supper. I have a kitchen in my hall, but unfortunately, EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays in Tromsø, so I will be digging deep in the cupboard today. I think rice and beans with some crackers for me. More stories to come. Just a reminder, check out photos at: scottmeyer.shutterfly.com or by clicking on the link on the right of this page. Ha Det!

I just came inside after going for a run around a lake next to the dorm where I live. I saw a break in the rain and thought I should take my chance. While going for a run, I experienced first hand one of three cultural phenomena I have noticed in the past couple of days: Self-Imposed Guilt. I don't like to stereotype, but based on observations and conversations I have noticed that Norwegians feel compelled to be outside whenever possible, and especially when the weather is somewhat decent. Everyone was outside either walking their dog or kid, running, practicing XC skiing on wheels, or just sitting by the lake. It must be a sign that I should seize the opportunities of light that I have!

The second phenomena is something we talked about in our orientation meeting on Friday, something called Janteloven. This is the unwritten law in Norway that no one is allowed to be better than anyone else. No one is supposed to be proud or self-promoting. It is very true too! In class the Norwegians are always very hesitant to speak, afriad that they will either stand out or be seen as arrogant. It has been frustrating to me because I want to hear what they think, but talking to a Norwegian girl from our class about it, she says that it will take sometime (if ever) for the Norwegians to get past it. Maybe it's a trait passed on from Norwegian immigrants?

Finally, and most importantly, the phenomenon of rock, paper, scissors. Seriously, this is insane! Yesterday at a pub in town there was the Tromsø Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament. Apparently, they bracket and play a rock, paper, scissors tournament...and according to the Norwegians I was talking to, it involves a lot of skill! They said that every year the same people are in the finals. They supposedly read the oppenent and can tell what object they are more likely to pick. They also note that it is almost unheard of to pick paper first. Yeah...the best part is that the winner of the tournament gets a free trip to Las Vegas to compete in the International Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament! Look out ESPN, right after the spelling bee and poker, I think Rock, Paper, Scissors is the fastest growing sport. So look out for a Norwegian National Champ to be coming to the US soon to seek gold and glory. In the meantime, practice. Maybe you can be a national champ too!

Off to a food festival in town in celebration of 100 years of Norway being a country. Should be fun and wet!

Hello again!

I just got back from watching Norway lose a football friendly to Switzerland 2-0. Fortunately there was a celebration in town because Norway is celebrating its 100th Anniversary as a country. We listened to Bel Canto, a Norwegian band and watched the people. So great. All week there are bands, movies, and activities in celebration. A good first week to be a student in town.

I also am excited because I have now have pictures to share. I have set up a webpage on shutterfly that will keep the same address, but will be updated often with pictures from Norway. I invite you to check out the first installment at: scottmeyer.shutterfly.com. Keep checking this address periodically if you want to see a bit of the Arctic.

Also, I recently purchased a cell phone, so if anyone wants to call and chat, I will be available! My number is (47) 92 25 20 47. I don't know of any phone cards or anything yet, but in general it is cheaper to call to me from the US, probably with a phone card. Feel free to call anytime!

Now off to bed, an early 9am start! Enjoy the pics and leave your comments.

Hallo alle sammen!

Welcome to my new blog site. This site will chronicle my adventures over the next two years in Norway while I pursue a Master's degree in Peace and Conflict Transformation. I am very excited to share the good, the bad, and the fishy about Norway, so I hope you will check back periodically for stories, pictures, videos, and more. Feel free to spread the word about my website and leave any comments or questions you have. I am excited and nervous about this opportunity, and knowing that you will be joining me on this adventure gives me support and a motivation to share the latest happenings in the Mother Land. Stay tuned for news from Norway: the land of peace, love, and (fortunately) no lutefisk.