Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

Happy Holidays from South Dakota!

It's been a busy holiday season around the Meyer house with activities basically every day since I came home. Lots of fun relatives, gift opening, singing, talking, and even a Christmas Day 5k for the family. We needed to run off all the great food we've been eating. It's been more of a Christmas extravaganza than a Christmas vacation, but fun none-the-less. And as one of my international friends noted, just like a postcard! It's always great to see the family and friends and enjoy a postcard Christmas, but I feel this year more detached from the US than I have before. I guess I really am carving out a life in Norway.

One of the biggest changes has been worrying about weather again. It's great in Tromsø that all I have to worry about is not falling on the driveway and running to catch bus 32, but now that I'm home and have to drive everywhere, I'm glued to the tv (ok, the internet) trying to figure out if it will be icy. The colored maps appear every five minutes during the news, and I'm never quite sure if there is actually a threat or if they are just trying to get people to watch the news by selling fear. I guess either way it worked. Plans have already been altered to try to beat the storm coming tonight in order to escape to the east.

The other crazy change was going out on the town in Brookings with my brother! Now that John is 21 years old and can legally drink, we enjoyed a night in downtown Brookings together, along with about 10 of my high school friends and my college roommate Paul who surprised me and showed up for some hang out time. It felt a little strange going out with high school friends because we never really have since we grew up always being underage. Just feels different without those crazy Norwegian and international folk. Fortunately, one of my friends went to college in Brookings and was able to give us the full tour of all the desireable and undesireable night spots in Brookings. A good learning experience. We had a great time together and spent the next morning recovering with lots of water and episodes of "The Office."

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and will have a fun New Year's. Like Rachel said, if you're reading this I've probably been thinking about you, so feel loved because you are. I'll be enjoying a little more relaxation the next week and will fly back across the pond on the 8th of January. Until then, relax don't do it when you wanna go to it.

I made it back! It was a relatively smooth trip back, and as always, it feels great to be at home with the family. I spent the night last night in Amsterdam with a fellow couchsurfer who treated me to a relaxed and comfortable stay. I just hope I remembered to turn her toaster off...can't remember...

after sleeping in and seeing the sun for the first time in two months, i flew over the Atlantic and made a tight connection to arrive in Sioux Falls to see my mom, brother John, and sister Andrea all waiting. We had a great time eating Mexican food and catching up. Should be a lot of eating and catching up in the coming weeks. So fun!

So now, I've almost made it to midnight. Time to go to bed and try to find this so-called Central Time Zone. I'll believe it when I see it...or feel it.

God Jul from South Dakota.

Today was one of those days that makes you not want to leave Tromsø. It was pleasant in that it was a fairly normal day, just that everything was great.

I woke up at a decent hour, arrived at the university and spent the morning and afternoon actually producing. I enjoyed a great lunch, good conversation, a few visits with friends on campus, and beautiful northern lights on my way home. Then I ate dinner and talked with Stian, Jostein, and Maaike for two hours in the kitchen while Maaike and I tried to learn how to say fun norwegian words like omskjære and tenk i koffert. After slowly eating and enjoying some conversation with the "family," we all sat downstairs and watched a movie together, Borat at that, which provided even more for discussion. The four of us then took a nice walk to town together and sat at the comfortable and hip Verdensteatre where we enjoyed a glass of wine. Almost all of my good friends were there: Stian, Maaike, Jostein, Marjaana, Hanne Rachel, Fredrik, and Martin. We just enjoyed lively conversation and a fun evening. Then, Maaike and I walked home and enjoyed the second-most amazing northern lights i've seen this year. Somehow the entire sky was covered in a fog-like green and the white northern lights moved within the green northern lights that covered the sky, and it actually lived up to its name, somehow making the city and our walk more light. Upon our arrival home, Maaike and I rehashed the night over a plate of nachos...ok, two plates. Then internet and bed.

I think everyone can feel Christmas coming and our departures sneaking up on us, so maybe I'm recognizing the otherwise common-place, but tonight was great. Normal, but great. And that's a great feeling.

It was great walking home today at 4pm. It was a cold, crisp evening and the stars were shining brightly from the Northern sky. On top of that, the rocks that the city of Tromsø puts on the road to prevent slipping on ice has some kind of shiny rock in them, so when you walk the road glitters with each step. Since the ice has all melted now, it seems that the stars surround us. Not a bad way to walk.

I think I have finally recovered. It took me almost a week, but my body is back to its unaligned-normal state after a week of floating on air after my first ever Norwegian, well actually first ever yoga class!

Marjaana had been asking me to accompany her to the yoga class at the local gym all fall, and finally I got up the courage to do it. I was very impressed! We walked into the studio and there were candles on and nature noises from the sound system. We all grabbed a little rubber mat and found a space on the floor. Then, a very fit, good-looking Norwegian yoga instructor came in and put on her Britney Spears microphone and started our class with an amazingly soothing voice. I kept hearing all these yoga positions in Norwegian over and over "hunden, pust ut, og opp." I never knew Norwegian could be so beautiful! As we were tied up in knots trying to hold ourselves and stretch our muscles and breath out ("pust ut"), she was calmly speaking in the most relaxing Norwegian. The best part was that if I wanted to I could easily block the meaning out and just enjoy the sound. That's one of the greatest parts of living in a country with a foreign language. Of course it's a struggle to understand, but at times, it's great to just sit on the bus, or lay sprawled out at yoga class and not understand anything. happily.

The class was about an hour and a half and it ended with some relaxation on the mat. She was telling us to stretch this way and that and I think I went in between being awake and asleep, unsure exactly what she was saying, but not wanting to open my eyes to see if everyone else was doing something else. I left feeling like I was walking on air, all aligned, stretched, and sore. So great. Unfortunately, the yoga class is over and the beautiful Norwegian is moving to Oslo, but at least I had one chance to be wooed into contentment by a Norwegian.

You have to turn the light on your I-pod on to choose a song on your way to catch the noon bus.

I discovered the most densely populated place in Norway: the liquor store in Tromsø at 2:45pm on Saturday December 9th! I headed to town today, a weekly Saturday ritual, with Stian and we took the bus at 2:40pm. Our first stop was the alcohol store which closes at 3pm. We could barely walk in as people filled all the aisles in an amorphous mass of desperate alcohol seekers. We were there to get some alcohol for a Christmas party and I think everyone had the same plans! Stian had to escape and I made a mad dash for the gin aisle, which also doubled as the back of the line for one of the four cashiers. I grabbed the bottle inbetween customers and looked across the store to find the shortest line. I counted the people, 20 in the first line, 17 in my line, 22 in the third line, and 18 in the far line. It was like we were at Disney World waiting for a ride, except there was no "15 min wait from this point" sign. So, I battled the crowd and snuck out with my life in tact. I can't imagine trying to get in at 2:56pm. I'm sure the bodyguards have to come in order to close it down. Off now to enjoy the fruits of my strenous labor. God Jul.

The lights go out. And they did this morning. I woke up a bit early at 8.45am and was sitting at my computer when the lights flickered and died. As goes the power, so goes the internet, so I headed downstairs and enjoyed some yogurt and muslix by candlelight. Life on the frontier. It was actually really cozy and kind of romantic, even though I was alone. The best part was looking across the street at the big stores and seeing a few lighters as people wandered through the dark aisles trying to find their way out. Kind of tough when it's dark outside too!

This got me thinking more of one of the recent observations about Norway: its use of electricity. It seems that everywhere people leave lights on all the time. I don't know if it's because of the darkness or because of Norway's historical excess of electricity supply, a lot of which comes from hydro power, but it seems so contradictory. I mean, we seperate our trash, recycle our cans, use public transportation, and there are always political discussions about the environment, but somehow the use of electricity is seperate from this debate. So, maybe this morning was just a wake up call: remember to shut off your lights!

I just got home from a great show: Thomas Dybdahl! About four years ago my good friend Emily gave me a CD of an artist called Thomas Dybdahl, but it wasn't until a year later that I found out that he was Norwegian (he sings in English). Tonight, the musical connection came full circle as I got to see him in concert in Tromsø. It was a great show complete with sing-a-longs, trumpets, accordians, and a girl playing a Mack beer bottle. What culture. It was great to hear him between songs giving shout outs in Norwegian, and the music was predictably gorgeous. So fun!

Despite Thomas' great show, Rachel and I gave him a run for his money for the best show in Tromsø. Last Thursday we performed at the monthly open mic night called Hugin's Report. (Hugin being the bird of knowledge in Norse mythology if I remember what Silje told me!) After an hour of painfully slow and slightly boring acts, Rachel and I finally got up to bring the house down. We weaved a smooth version of the song "Silver Rider" by Low. It was great! Very beautiful.

Just moments after we finished, I was again called back to the stage where I shocked the audience with a little Caucasian rap! That's right, bringing back the memories of fourth grade, I got up on stage, put on the dog tags, and was ready to drop some phat beats. I had used some geeky computer knowledge to make a back-beat for one of my favorite rap songs that one my freshman roommates, Matt Curry, introduced me to: Reverse Psychology. It's a very witty rap song all talking in reverse psychology with the chorus being "put your hands down." I thoroughly confused the audience, but they all understood the language of the thumping bass and head nods. I had a great time, and even when the music cut out prematurely, Rachel came up and beat boxed and I finished the rap a capella. Good stuff! And even better is that it was video taped!

You can check out the madness known as Hugin's Report here: Rachel and Scott and Caucasian rap.

You can also check out clips from the Thomas Dybdahl concert here: Dybdahl 1, Dybdahl 2, Dybdahl 3, Dybdahl 4, Dybdahl 5

Enjoy the music of Tromsø!

The past three days a 37 year old Australian has been sleeping on my couch. Noel, better known as "the couch guy" in our house, has been traveling for seven months, from Singapore to Tromsø. He found me thanks to the greatest tool for travel since AAA: couchsurfing! It is an amazingly simple concept that makes me think of the rules of Greek hospitality I learned in Paideia. Basically, you create a profile on couchsurfing.com. Then, if you travel somewhere you look online to see what couchsurfers live there, and they let you stay for free on their couch, and often take you out, show you a local view of the city, and introduce you to fascinating people...like Noel, who worked in the mines of Australia for two years to get money to travel. Now he is traveling Norway for almost nothing. Plus, thanks to my housemate Jostein, Noel is looking into getting work unloading fishing boats. What a world. So pack up your bags and open up your couch. You never know who you will meet, but if the experience of thousands of people on couchsurfing is any indicator, it will be an adventure!

Although Thanksgiving was totally missing from my life this year, I think I had the next best thing: an early Julebord! Julebord is the traditional Christmas feast, and although Christmas is about a month away, Stian and 19 other friends have an annual tradition of having a Julebord in late November. They figure that they never get to celebrate Christmas with friends because everyone is always at home, so they get together and do the whole shabang, and this year they even invited an American!

The night was very cozy and Christmasy. I felt like it seriously was the 24th of December with a coat hanger decorated as a tree complete with gifts underneath and a Christmas star hanging in the window. We arrived at a girl named Sara's house and enjoyed great conversation while smelling amazing smells coming out of the kitchen. After what seemed like an eternity. The food was ready and we sat down for a traditional meal of ribbe (rib meat), potatoes, sauerkraut, plums, cooked apples, sausage, little cabbages (not sure what they were), and of course, aquavit to help clean the heavy food out of the stomach. There were lots of "Skål!" and a loud din of conversation and passing of food the entire time. At the end of the meal, it was me and the other skinniest guy still working on picking off the last remaining slabs of meat and taking the last of the sauce. So good! It felt great to eat a big meal with friends and to see everyone so happy and dressed up.

After eating and drinking, we began the present opening. We all had the mission to buy 5 useful gifts, each for less than 20 kroner. I went with the hygiene theme and bought toothpaste, dish washing supplies, soap, axe body wash, and soap. We passed around the gifts and everyone showed extreme excitement for each gift that was open. I got a muffin making kit that I already used this morning as well as candles, a small snow globe, English Premiere football cards, and some chocolate. Not a bad haul. I think I'm putting up the Michael Owen star player sticker as soon as possible. Might even be guitar case worthy.

We then cleaned up and enjoing more conversation and some games. Fredick busted out balloon animals from his balloon kit he got as a gift and soon the Yatzee game was out to the approval of all the men at the party.

Finally at about 1am Stian and I headed home with the Christmas spirit. On top of all the Christmas fun, earlier in the day I bought myself the new Sufjan Stevens Christmas album, so now Christmas songs and Christmas joy fill the top of Stakkevollveien 60. It's been a great Christmas already, and to think I have another month of it. How exciting!

God Jul alle sammen.

Today is Rachel's birthday! Marjaana and I helped her celebrate by getting up early and surprising her at a breakfast place this morning. Great fun! The funniest part was getting on the bus at 7.34am. It's been awhile since I've done that, so to get up in the middle of the dark and see all the people half asleep on the bus was quite hilarious. Marjaana and I had way to much energy for bus 42 at that time of the morning.

Also tonight is an open mic at the student bar, so Rachel and I are going to bust out a tune and I'm going to make my rap comeback. My first performance since the smash hit "Sacajawea" rang through the halls of BHS. We'll see how the folks in Tromsø like "Reverse Psychology," a cover of a Bullfrogs song with instrumentation done by me and my mac. Pics and reviews will surely appear online soon.

Happy Thursday!

Two weeks ago I was walking home from the center and I heard this music from an old building and found over 50 Norwegians swing dancing...tonight I joined in the madness!

I called up Elisa, a Spanish friend who is a great dancer, and we both dressed up in appropriate swing attire, me with pinstrip pants and a white shirt and Elisa with a funky skirt with Ché, Elvis, and Marilyn Monroe and a black top. We matched quite well. We walked in and just had to laugh...they were basically swing dancing to country music. I felt like I should be back in SD. We joined in the fun though and after about 15 minutes Elisa had learned all the moves I had to offer. We danced alongside mostly older Norwegians who could shake it surprisingly well. We took a break halfway through of course for coffee and cake, and then we were back at it...almost 2 and a half hours of dancing! By the end of the night we were doing lifts and having a great time trying to dodge the dancing Norwegians. It was great to dance up a sweat and find a hidden, random building hiding such a crazy secret...some Norwegians can dance!

I have returned to the dark, and unusually warm metropolis of Tromsø. I had a great few days of travel, but I came home with an unexpected present...a cold! Somewhere between London, Madrid, and Tromsø I found a cold and have been fighting it off alongside Stian who has been going through the same. Friday, I tried the traditional Norwegian cure: tran!

Tran is cod liver oil and is supposed to be taken by Norwegians in every month that has an "R." That's right, add it up. September until April. Tran is very high in omega 3 and vitamins which helps counteract a life without sun and is supposed to give you energy! So, I took a spoonful with a glass of red wine and sudafed. It seemed like the right combination...and I must say, I think I'm recovering quite well, both from the cold and the taste of tran.

In terms of my travels, it's hard to summarize, maybe the photos do a better job. I felt a bit like a blur as I spent only a few days in each place. I had a great time in Spain with friends in the Northwest and with my family in Madrid, both my brother and my Spanish family the Fernandez. It's so great to be able to travel to a new place and be treated just like another kid in the family or another friend. After Spain, i was quite exhausted and my time in Netherlands were enjoyable, but I was quite content to wander, drink coffee, and read the paper at the bagel store. I stayed with a friend from Latvia who I didn't know that well, so that also made it awkward at times, especially after being a part of a family in Spain. I took a trip to Belgium which was a great, unexpected leg of the journey. I was able to meet up with two friends from Luther who work as teachers at an international school, and they were great hosts! I not only had a true Belgian waffle and French fries (which come from Belgium), but also was able to see the town and catch up with some other lutherites. Plus I got to see their int'l school. So interesting. Hundreds of kids from all over the world speaking a variety of languages, but all just being kids. I love the linguistic diversity and hate the lack of socio-economic diversity, but it really makes me want to somehow expose any kids I may someday have to a variety of cultures and languages as young as possible.

And just like that, back to Tromsø and tran. I'm trying to get back in the work mode after a day watching the latest episodes of "Lost" and "Heroes" (a ridiculous show that my Spanish brother Patrick got me into in Spain), so it's time to rest up, drink some tran, and start using that magic fish energy.

A sign is hanging over the stairway asking me: zin in 'n fiesta tlidens je siesta? Of course I had to answer yes. (and I got this great nacho bagel after answering correctly.) Thus is life in the Netherlands.

Yeah, the Netherlands. Craziness huh? I'm currently sitting in a bagel shop called Bagels and Beans looking out over a plaza in The Hague. I've been traveling for a week now, friend hopping, and it's going to continue this afternoon when I head to Brussels to see a few Luther friends. It's great to have friends who love to do crazy, random things like me and not surprisingly, the more I travel, the more people I want to go visit. It really is the only way to travel...so whether it is staying out all night in Santiago, inhaling caulk fumes in a flat in Cambridge, or listening to Grandpa Fernandez read the paper out loud to himself in between naps, adventure always is right around the corner.

So, time to turn the corner and hop on a train to Belgium...the heart of Europe. I'll be back in Tromsø Thursday with more photos and stories i'm sure.

you want to go to a movie, and it's not playing because it didn't make it to town due to bad weather.

That's right! I was very excited to see the new movie "Babel" which was coming for a special premiere in Tromsø, two weeks ahead of the Norwegian opening. I've watched the preview probably 5 times trying to convince other people to share my excitement, but this morning, when Rachel went to get tickets they told her that bad weather prevented the movie from arriving. Apparently the boat from the New World with the movie is lost somewhere in the North Sea. Or maybe it was eaten by one of those dragons on the edge of the world. Either way, no movie today. Just another day of surviving on the frontier.

I got a Euro haircut today from my friend Vibeke. It looks like this:



While at the Nikita salon, I started talking with the woman sitting next to me reading magazines. It turns out that she is an occupational psychologist who helps people deal with stresses in their life. Apparently she has mediation sessions and works on getting in touch with these thoughts in order to overcome them. It was one of the most intense conversations I've had in a long time, and I guess if the thesis gets the best of me, I can go to the free meditation session on Monday evenings. Happy Friday.

Nothing brings out the important metaphysical questions like Halloween...how does a fork end up on a washing machine? How does an apple explode in a varmeskap? How long does it take to use 200 cups? How many people can sing Botan Anna at the same time?

These and many other important questions were brought up following the Peace House's Halloween Party on Saturday. We had over 50 people occupying all three floors of our house in a ridiculous collection of crazy and creative costumes. To understand the full extent of the Halloween Party, we have to start at the beginning...

I had my first guest come last week as Beth Borowski who went to Luther with me came for a short visit from the UK. We had a great week doing all Tromsø had to offer including bargain shopping, eating rømmegrøt, climbing a mountain, and getting ready for Halloween! Beth brought with her incredible expertise and we bought two pumpkins and Thursday night had a kørselig little party with a few friends. We did the whole works: carving the pumpkins, cooking the seeds, and even making pumpkin pie out of the left overs. It was so much fun! You can check out the pics here!

After a great night of halloween fun, Beth and I spent Friday climbing a mountain near Tromsø. We had a great view of the city, and we brought sleds with us so on the way down we were able to sled on some fast, bumpy, virgin trails. After a short night out with some random Norwegian course friends, Beth and I got ready for Saturday, the big day!

We spent the morning getting the house ready. Beth did a little more shopping with Marjaana while I got my costume from Silje. We decided to meet up at where else, but the Tromsø storm basketball game! We had a great time at the game laughing and enjoying the entertainment that is professional basketball in Tromsø. We walked home and Beth was getting frustrated that after being in Tromsø for multiple days that she had not seen the Northern Lights.

She didn't have to wait too long. We cooked a little dinner and finished up preparing. We had a game room complete with bobbing for apples, a jail, a feel this gross stuff that we're going to label as scary, and a seven minutes in heaven booth. We also had great American decorations all over with spider webs across the ceiling, Halloween candy throughout the house, our pumpkins out front and candles spread everywhere, and Ipods playing on all three floors. Beth threw together a good boyscout costume with Stian's clothes (which always seem to be picked when costumes are needed). The Dutch girls were the first to arrive to get their costumes ready and soon Rachel, Hanne, and Eleonor came to prepare. Finally, the clock struck 9pm and the party began with the Mosjøen Men, the guys from Stian's home town. The party continued to grow and I was truly amazed by the great costumes. I know I've said this before, but I always feel like Norwegians are not big on putting themselves out there, but on Saturday everyone did! It was great. I think the prize for the best costume would have to go to Line who was a hunchback, Silje who was a great witch, or maybe Eivind for his homemade robot costume!

In addition to the well decorated house, mother nature helped us by providing some amazing northern lights! It was such a beautiful night, but cold enough that everyone wanted to stay at our house instead of going out. The party lasted until 6am when I walked downstairs with a group of Spanish girls and was treated to a Saami Joik circle. There were four Saami people singing, which sounded somewhat similar to traditional Lakota singing. So I was hearing people talking in Spanish, people singing in Saami, and the whole time wondering how the night ended at this point. It was great!

Well, unfortunately the night didn't end there. There was one person who was asleep on our kitchen floor when I went to bed. I figured he would wake up and think, I gotta get home. Instead he thought, I gotta get up and take of my clothes. So he did. I got a call from my roommate Ida and had to go help the guy get dressed and get out the door. Then, I got to crash.

Beth and I enjoyed a quiet breakfast amidst empty bottles and trash. Along with Stian and Maaike, we managed to clean the house in two hours! We all picked up trash, and then I vacuumed while Stian washed the floor behind. At the same time, Maaike was washing dishes...every cup in our house (which has a lot of cups!) had been used. But now, the house looks better than before the party. Beth left Sunday afternoon, and I enjoyed a Tromsø football game in the snow.

So Halloween has already come and gone here in Tromsø...and it was great! I hope that anyone celebrating today has as much fun as we did here. Happy Halloween!

I had a great weekend complete with Rachel styling my hair into a new hairdo (not pictured), making my first ever home-made batch of guacamole (a messy, tasty creation), and winter! That's right. Winter has arrived with about half a foot of snow covering the island. It now looks beautifully wintery! Along with the arrival of snow came one of the best parts of Tromsø: the Northern Lights! For the first time, I was able to get out my tripod and capture the beauty on film. Check out some of the best pictures I've taken in Tromsø...hopefully it will make you want to come visit!

I made a great discovery this morning as I was stretching in the sun after a run. The houses in Tromsø talk! I was slowly stretching trying to suck in as much Vitamin D as I could when I started hearing noises. My guess is that as the frost melted off the old wooden houses in the sun, the houses started to creak and moan. Kind of reminds me of myself trying to wake up during mørketid! I guess it's just part of living here in Tromsø, for both houses and people.

It's been a late night studio session her at Meyer Productions, but I am proud to announce that the first Dutch release of "Noodles" is now ready. Click here for all the details and the audio download.

I didn't see it coming this year. All of a sudden this morning I woke up and realized that mørketid (the "dark time" when the sun doesn't come up) was quickly approaching. I had an unusually difficult time falling asleep last night and waking up this morning, and I think I must have started to think about it yesterday when, for the first time this fall, I had a conversation about mørketid. Fortunately, it started to snow today which will help lighten things up. With my new warm socks from home and lots of candles, I'll hopefully be able to survive! Off to send in the absentee ballot...if I can vote, so can you!

It was a crazy weekend here in Tromsø with the unusual combination of Swedish hip-hop, American rap, and Norwegian pirates.

It all started Friday when I joined Rachel, Collin, and Jeremiah for the Insomnia Festival. It was a four day festival of electronica, hip hop, and rap music. I just checked out Friday because there was the awesome line-up of the Swedish hip-hop group Snook and the historic US rap group Public Enemy! Both lived up to the billing in my eyes. We were in a cozy venue with maybe 400 people, and Snook came out in white fraks like you would wear in middle school art class. Their music was very danceable and I took the opportunity to bust a move to the incessant, rhythmic stream of Swedish lyrics. The funniest part to me was when they would speak to the audience. It usually went something like this: (in Swedish) "All the ladies in the house" (in English) "Say ho. That's right." It was such a fun mix of Swedish with American slang. I especially loved the song "Längst fram i taxin" when they ask the philosophical question, if women make the same amount of money as men, (remember this is a Swedish group so maybe they can actually say that), why can't they pay for their own cab.

Following Snook was Public Enemy with Flava Flav and Chuck D. They put on quite a show. Over two hours of high energy performance. The highlight was the MC who had a scratch solo. He was unbelieveable making this 5 second sound clip into an amazing solo. Flava Flav was pretty ridiculous too with his gold teeth and huge watch hanging from his neck. I even got to give him a high five because we were so close to the stage. It was pretty funny and sad to see this 98% white crowd holding their fists up in the air singing "Fight the Power." Also hilarious to here Flava Flav yell, "Tromsø!" If you want to enjoy that one for yourself, check out the video on my webpage.

There was no time for rest following the concert because Saturday night was the Oktoberfest party! It was basically like an early Halloween party with a theme, which this year was a Pirate's Life. Rachel and I decided to try to be creative and we dressed as Royal Navy officers out to catch the pirates! We made our costumes, and I even hand sawed batons for us, and also made capirininhas! We ran and caught the bus and headed first to a pre-party at Tim's house, a friend from Germany. There we had a great time talking to some other pirates and after a while we headed out to catch the last bus. The northern lights were filling the sky and it was the best bus entrance ever to walk on and in the back of the bus see 30 pirates all singing, drinking, yelling, and being rowdy. It was one of the most fun bus rides I've had in Tromsø.

I felt the same effect walking into the party. We walked through the entrance and then the stairwell in the medicine building where the party was leads down into a huge open area. As you entered you saw down into the open area and it was packed with over 800 people all dressed as pirates! It's my impression that Norwegians rarely get dressed up or really into something, but they sure did for this party! It was great to walk around and see the costumes, dance to the loud music accompanied by lots of flashing lights, and live the pirate's life.

Now back to school for a while. I have an exam due Friday and part of my thesis due on the 10th of November, so it will be back to work for me. Arrr.

It's been a week now since I flew to Latvia where I took part in my first ever election observation mission! It all started last spring when I took a course called Election Observation where we learned about democracy and about how to watch elections and discourage, identify, and report election fraud. Well, our class was fortunate enough to get a chance to practice this new skill for real in Latvia last weekend.

My friend Andre and I flew down from Oslo on Thursday and spent the next two days learning about Latvia, their electoral system, and dividing into groups that would look at different aspects of the Latvian democracy. Some groups talked with the media, others with NGO's working with democracy, and my group was supposed to look into voter education. Unfortunately, we didn't have a translator before the election day, so we spent most of the time walking around the beautiful city of Riga and performing hand motions at the election centers were voters could go to get information about the candidates.

The city of Riga truly was beautiful. Parks and rivers leading to the nearby coast filled the city, and a beautiful mixture of colorful buildings, orthodox churches, and art nouveau lined the cobblestone streets. Riga, and Latvia in general, has a fascinating history as well. It was not an actual country until after World War I. Then when Hitler and Stalin signed their secret non-aggression pact, the Soviet Union was "given" Latvia. Thus, when the Germans later invaded Latvia, Latvians greeted them as liberators. They soon realized however that the Germans weren't much better. The Soviets then came back at the end of the war and occupied Latvia until the end of the Cold War. During the Soviet occupation, Latvia was dramatically changed as 40,000 Latvians disappeared to Siberia the first week of occupation and Russian became the official language. Now, Latvia is in an interesting process of rewriting their history and identity, explaining that Latvians have been a nation occupied for hundreds of years. There is a tension between Latvian speakers who make up about 60% of the population and Russian speakers, about 40%, who are often unfairly association with the past occupiers. That also is one of the only issues in politics in Latvia. Most Latvians were quick to agree to join the EU and NATO (to which they now belong), and the main issue in the election seemed to be who was more Latvian and who hated Russia more. Interestingly enough though, the President visited Russia in the spring and after that happened the official historical view of Russia was softened...crazy how history can be changed to reflect the present.

This was one of the things for us to watch for: to make sure that minorities, like Russian speakers and the Roma (gypsy) population were not discriminated against and to make sure that everyone had a chance to freely vote. To do this, we woke up early Saturday and watched the polls open at 7am. We watched them unlock the polling station and seal the ballot box. We then watched about 20 different polling stations in a Russian majority town about 50km northwest of Riga and kept track of any problems we saw. The most common problems were family voting, when a bunch of people would go into a booth at the same time, and lack of privacy when voting booths were easy to see into. Both are technically violations of the election laws, but it also is partly a cultural aspect. That was one of the challenges for me. Often I felt we were culturally observing instead of election observing, so it was difficult to say "this is wrong," when essentially you are saying "your culture is wrong." After a day of watching the polls and staying up until 2am while they counted the ballots by hand, we met with the other 10 groups and compared our results for a report that will be giving to the election commission for recommendations for the next Latvian election.

Following our days of hard work, we were able to celebrate Sunday night with a few of the other observers and some of the translators who helped the different groups. We had a great time enjoying the colorful nightlife of Riga, even on a Sunday night. The only downside is that Riga is considered a weekend holiday spot, especially for British men, so there is an excessive amount of escort women and drunk foreigners. Fortunately, there are also a lot of great people and places! I was wiped out after the quick trip to Riga, but thankful for the experience, even if I really didn't do too much to "protect" (impose?) democracy. Now I'm resting up for a fun weekend of concerts and costumes. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, check out the pictures from Riga.

I am currently sitting in Andre's apartment in Oslo on my first stop on the way to Latvia where I'll take part in an election observation mission. I'll be with about 20 other Norwegians who studied election observation with me last spring, as we take part in a training mission. We'll go around to different voting locations and hopefully deter any cheating. I'm not sure if I'll be the most intimidating observer, but I'm excited to learn more about it and to experience a place I know very little about.

I had two great experiences before leaving the sunny island of Tromsø. First, I went for a run this morning as the frost was melting under the sun's rays. I came home after a quick run and realized that I looked like one of those big football players playing at Lambeau Field as my sweat was evaporating and creating the illusion that I was on fire. I had fun pretending that I ran so fast that I was smoking!

The second cool discovery was on the outside of our laundry room. There were over 20 tiny snails clinging to the wall, presumably to stay warm during the night. Well, it didn't work. They were all dead and as soon as I touched one it would fall off. Maybe a sad reminder of what might be on the way...

Time to cheer on the twins via gameday. They need it now! Keep your eye on Latvia on Saturday!

Last night I enjoyed a great pizza party at Rachel's apartment as we tried to re-create the magic from last spring. There was good wine, great pizza, and of course, lots of conversation. By the end of the night, however, this conversation had taken its toll on me. I've been getting over a cold and after a night of talking over music I sounded like a 13 year old singing the national anthem. I decided to head home a little early as everyone else hit the town. When I arrived home though, I realized that I didn't have my keys and that everyone was out on the town. Since I didn't know when my roomies would get home, I decided the only solution was to break in.

I, quite obviously, pulled one of our garbage cans to the side of the house underneath Maaike's window. I carefully climbed on top of the garbage can and slipped my fingers in the small opening between Maaike's window and the window frame. I heaved the window open and with a deep breath jumped and pulled myself up and into her room. I felt quite accomplished having made it without injury. I tried not to get too much mud in her room, and as I tip-toed across the floor I grabbed the door handle and pushed. Nothing happened. I turned the light on and realized that she had locked her room door. Who does that?! I tried to pick the lock for a few moments and finally just sat down at her computer and surfed the internet.

About 15 minutes later I heard someone come home, so I again got to play spy, except this time I had to climb out the window, jump on the trash can, drag the can back to the street and then ring the doorbell. I then realized that I left my coat in Maaike's room and left the light on, so I had to text her and admit that I had successfully broken in and out of her room. She later admitted that she had locked her room because everyone was gone and she didn't want her computer to get stolen. Now she learned her lesson: don't lock the bad guys in. Leave your room open so when the bad guys break in, at least everyone will get their stuff stolen. Oh yeah, and don't forget your keys.

Stian recently asked a friend: "Why do you live in Tromsø?" He responded, "because it's like giving Mother Nature the finger." Yesterday, I tried to give Mother Nature the finger, and Mother Nature won.

It all started at 8.36am. At exactly that moment, the sun peers over the mountain, through my window, and into my eyes. It's great though because it is not every day that you get to see the sun, so you have to enjoy it while you can, even if it wakes you up. Well, for some reason on this particular morning, I decided that Mother Nature had something to offer me, so I texted Maaike and woke her up, and we decided it was finally time to tackle Tromsdaltiden, the tallest mountain near Tromsø, and the mountain I look at every day outside of my window. We packed food, hot chocolate, and plenty of layers of clothes, ready for the snow and wind that awaited us...or so we thought.

The hike started innocently enough. We started at about 10.30am and made it to the tree line by 12.30pm. There we were treated to a sighting of reindeer! There were over 20 reindeer wandering around the area where the snow began and the trees ended, drinking water and finding the last remaining blueberries. We were only 20 feet away and just watched the awkward creatures stumble around. We even got some great photos of the reindeer and the hike if you want to check them out.

This is the point in the mountain tour (fjelltur in Norwegian) that we should have gone home happy, but we were determined to go to the top. So we continued as the snow began to increase in depth. Soon, the trail we were following disappeared and we just started going up the mountain. Literally up. There were quite a few big rocks and I would kicked my feet in the snow, dig my hands in, and pull myself up as if I had ice pick shoes and was climbing a glacier. After I would move up a few feet, I would then turn around and give Maaike my hand and would help pull her up. It was after a few minutes of doing this that we realized we were not on the trail and were climbing an incline that was about 130 degrees in 3 feet of snow. Well, at this point we thought about turning around, but it seemed almost safer to continue going up and walking around the top to try to find a less steep way down. So we continued, slowly scaling the mountain and trying not to slip and fall through the drifts of snow, and trying to stay positive.

We finally arrived to the crest of the mountain. It wasn't the official peak, but about 800 meter from it. We didn't even think about going to the very top because we couldn't even see it through the snow that was falling and blowing in the wind. We were however treated to a nice view of water all around us. The ocean on the far side of Kvaløya (the island protecting Tromsøya from the ocean), and water cutting into mainland Norway where we were standing. It was also very impressive and depressing to look down and realize how far we had come and how far we had to go, but it was beautiful to see the streams cutting black lines through the snow and to watch as the snow eventually turned into yellow and gold birch trees which in turn became a small city clinging at the water for survival.

We didn't linger too long at the top as the snow continued to fall, so after a few moments we decided to head back down and to get out of the cold and blustery wind. We thought we had found a safer way down, but after about 20 minutes, it was impossible to walk.
Maaike and I sat on our butts and would literally slide for 50 yards hoping that we would not discover a rock underneath the snow. Snow went up the pants, down the shoes, and in the face, but looking back, it was quite fun! The only scary part was when Maaike started sliding and couldn't stop. She even took a little jump while sliding, but got up with just a sore wrist. We slowly traveled down the mountain in this way, falling, sliding, and tasting snow the whole way down. The whole time I kept thinking that the yellow luftambulanse, or air ambulance helicopter, that I see almost every day fly by our house towards the mountain might soon be coming to rescue us!

Fortunately, we smoothly slid to safety. We sat on a rock when we again found the trail and ate our matpakke and hot chocolate out of relief more than enjoyment. We walked down into the valley and got to the bus stop just in time to catch the 5:30pm bus home. We stopped and bought frozen pizza and refused to move once we got inside and stripped off the five layers of wet clothes. I must say though, that my Great Outdoors clothes did very well and kept me warm the whole time!

So, when the snow settled, we walked for 7 hours and roughly 26km (16 miles) according to my podometer. Crazy. Needless to say, I felt it this morning as I woke up with sore legs and a runny nose. Now I'm laying bed, taking Aleve, blowing my nose, and shaking my first: I'll get you next time Mother Nature.

The proud mountains and the valley that was so green and welcoming only days ago, like the Great Valley in The Land Before Time, have now become a sign of the impending winter. It's fun to watch as the snow moves lower and lower until finally we are inundated by it! Looks like it's making an early attack this year. Fortunately my long underwear and I are ready!

And, I got to test out the long underwear for the first time last night. Petter, my Rotary contact in Tromsø, called me up and invited me to go to a huge football game as Tromsø played against Bergen's team: Braunn. The match was very important for both teams, but for very different reasons. Tromsø was in last place of the league when the game started, and in the Norwegian football league, if you finish in the bottom two places you are automatically relegated to the lower division where there is less money, less TV deals, and worse teams. So basically, Tromsø was playing to stay alive in the major leagues instead of being demoted to AAA. Braunn was in first place and was playing to move a game in front of the second place Trondheim team.

Since I was with Petter who used to be a trainer for the TIL (the Tromsø team), we were treated to the VIP treatment. Pre-game meat and potatoes as well as coffee and fruit for dessert. We also got to sit inside while it started to dump snow outside...perfect for the home field advantage! TIL scored quickly and the crowd was into it the whole first half. Starting the second half, Braunn scored a goal and it looked like the wheels were going to fall off. Then, with about 20 min left, Tromsø had a free kick at about the 18 yd. box. The Norwegian kick taker took a perfect curving shot around the wall, over the defender's head, and into the corner of the goal. Just like something out of "Bend it Like Beckham!" The crowd went nuts and the Bergen players looked ready to escape the North. TIL then added another goal late in the game just to rub it in and to move out of last place! They now have four games left to get another win and hopefully avoid relegation. Exciting. The game was the headlines of the morning papers with the title: Winter War! I guess there are some benefits to having September snow.

I have been adamently studying lately on an important Norwegian skill: opening a bottle with random implements such as a lighter, a box of snuss, or a spade. On Friday I had class with Stian, Martin, and Eric. After three tries, I was pretty smooth at opening a beer bottle with a lighter. Unfortunately I think I got a little cocky. Last night I was at a student house and wanted to open a bottle. There was no lighter in sight, but there was a huge knife. Now, I had seen Stian do it a hundred times so I figured that I could as well. So I had a firm grip on the neck of the bottle as instructed and put the flat end of the knife under my knuckle and pushed upwards. And pushed upwards. And pushed upwards. Finally, the cap flew off, beer sprayed over the counter, and the knife drilled me above my left pectoral. It must have been the flat end that hit me (otherwise I might not be writing this), but I still got a nice cut to help remind me that I continue to fail at being truly Norwegian. I'll get it someday...but maybe I'll just work my way up to the knife.

and it's hailing out right now...what a weird weekend.

and again I have to edit the post. The hail has now changed into snow, so this afternoon, as the green tree with bright red berries stands defiantly outside my window, I can say we've had our first snowfall. September 24th. Not bad. I'll eat a snowflake for all of those missing out on the unique opportunity for tasting September snow. Yummy, my favorite.

It's been a few exciting days here as we are quickly transitioning into winter. The first big moment came last night when we looked outside at our thermometer and for the first time this fall it was at 0 degrees Celsius. That's right, freezing time! Maaike, Stian, Tsvetan, and I decided to celebrate the end of green-ness by walking on our new road to Bobo's at 11pm. That's right, the street in front of our house that has been under construction since last March is now newly paved. Just in time for a nice layer of snow (which is slowly creeping in from the mountains).

The other big event was tonight while walking home from a great international seminar about Israel and Palestine. While walking back with Stian and Tsvetan, a small green line began to show in the sky. By the time we were halfway home the northern lights were out in full force, dancing and guiding our way home. They were a very Tinker Bell-like green and served as a reminder for the beauty and cripness of the coming winter. I guess we're losing one green and replacing it with another. That's alright with me.

I wanted to give you a look at the new peace house!



On my right is Ida from Trondheim who is studying to be a X-ray reader. She's very energetic and kind, and she adds a little energy and pop to our house by turning the radio to the pop music station in the morning. Great morning music! She has a Mac iBook.

On my left is Anders who is from Molde and studies art. He is a friend to all the ladies and likes to display his sentimental side with his blue finger nails and love for classical music. He has a Mac PowerBook.

Maaike in the bottom center is writing her master's thesis on fishing, oil, and the culture surrounding it in Finnmark. She is from the Netherlands and likes to share great music with me and learn American slang. She has a MacBook Pro.

Next to her of course is Stian, the proleteriat-loving, revolutionary that studies peace with me and keeps me entertained on the top floor. He bought a laptop for a six pack of beer from a friend, but it has to be plugged in to work, so I think it's called a walltop?

In the picture we're missing Andre, who is a gym rat and a quiet Norwegian from Lofoten and Marjaana who just left the coup-ridden nation of Thailand. Tsvetan, from Bulgaria who is studying peace is a soon-to-be father, is currently living in Marjaana's room, giving the peaceful men the majority! It's been a great house thus far, and how could it not be with so many fun looking people!

It's day four of the rain, only 36 more to go. Saturday we had a brief view of the sun, and we should have left immediately for the mountain, but instead we stuck to our plan to climb on Sunday...well, that didn't work too well as we couldn't even see it behind a wall of rain clouds. So, life continues on Stakkevollveien. Rain, construction, and fun indoors. We continued our tradition of playing Diplomacy on Sunday and this time I extracted revenge for last week's defeat. Otherwise, it's been mostly hanging out, working, and working out as Stian and I have been running sprints over the fjord. Not something I got to do at BHS. Finally this week my indigenous law class kicks off, which I'm excited about. Maybe this weekend the clouds will part so we can conquer the mountain. We'll see...

I'm hoping to avoid snow Sunday as I head to the top of the mountain, where winter has already begun.

I learned last night that one of the birds on the University of Tromsø's logo is named Hugin. In honor of Hugin, they have a monthly open mic night at the local student pub called Driv. Last night Rachel and I went and knocked him dead. We were the first act and sang "Killing the Blues." She hung on the blue notes while I ripped on the harmonica. It was a great show, and we had great support. Nearly all the Mosjøen men were there and all but one of my new housemates were there. It was awesome! (You can check out new photos posted to see all the action.)

The show progressed and since it was the first one, they didn't have many acts. They asked if we would be willing to do antoher song, so I decided to cover one of my favorite bands: the OC All-Stars! In honor of Dain and Nick, I busted out a little Careless Whisper, just like the old days. So if you guys are out there, know that you are well loved in Tromsø. Unfortunately the dance moves were not as crisp as they once were and it is higher than I remember, but I wailed it out and they seemed to like it. It was fun night either way.

Now the weekend has arrived. Tonight I'm playing some poker here with teh Mosjøen Men (Stian and his hometown friends) and tomorrow I think I'm going to Driv for a four floor party they're having. I'm not sure about the mountain top though because as of yesterday, I can now see snow outside my window on the top of the mountain! Yikes. I hope it melts away before Sunday, otherwise we're doomed to watch as it slowly creeps towards the city. Enjoy the fall weather. I'm bundling up!

It's back to the real world this week, and I'm realizing though that my "real world" here is pretty cool!

Saturday I kicked off my second year of peace studies by meeting the Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai (in the bright dress). She is a Kenyan woman who focuses on the connection between the environment and peace and she talked in the Peace Center to crowd of students and talked later in town to a huge audience of Norwegians. It was pretty crazy to just sit in this tiny auditorium in Tromsø, Norway with such an important difference-maker. Inspiring to see that you doing your thing and working hard sometimes equals big results.

Saturday night was also a blast as we had a double-header of birthday parties. Maaike (housemate from the Netherlands) bought toliet paper with me (at the request of the birthday girl) and we joined a group of peace students met to celebrate Silje's birthday. After some lively conversation, we eventually migrated to a birthday party for an American living in Tromsø named Jeremiah. Just when I was about to head home at a decent hour, Stian called and I joined him and his hometown boys for a nattspeil. I had a great time seeing everyone again and seeing the sun rise on Sunday morning!

Sunday was intense because it was Diplomacy Day! Stian and I now have playmates in the house who will play conquer the world games with us, so Mostopha joined Maaike, Stian, and I as we meticulously began dividing up Europe. Just when it looked like I might be able to assert my dominance, Maaike stabbed me in the back and won the game. Needless to say, there is no more trust in this house. We had a great time though, and have already played some Yahtzee and Settlers of Catan since. It was also a good activity for Stian. He had a little accident when his bike hit a rock in our driveway and went head first over his bike. He was left with a nice beauty mark and was definitely ready to hide in the house behind a boardgame instead of showing his battle scar!

The rest of this week has been diving into the thesis project. I'm now focusing a little more on if and why people give charity/aid to places that are far away rather than locally. We'll see how it goes! Besides transcribing and talking with my advisor, I also had the opportunity to meet the mayor of Hiroshima. He gave a lecture at the Peace Center as well talking about a movement he started in which cities basically request that their city be removed as targets for nuclear weapons. The hope is that with enough pressure from the local level that national governments will be forced to reduce and hopefully eliminate nuclear weapons. It was a little idealistic for me, but interesting and just refreshing to be thinking and learning on a daily basis again.

So life is back in motion. I'm having a great time with everyone here and although the weather is pretty gloomy, I'm finding plenty to do. The next big event is tomorrow night when Rachel (the other American in the peace program) and I make our musical debut singing "Killing the Blues" at an open mic concert in Driv. Off to play a bit and get ready to take Norway by storm!

I just got back to the university after taking a break to go for a run, and I literally felt like the guy in the Nike commercial who is stunned by a crazy new place, only able to say "I've never run this far." Today I got on the lighted ski trail and ran north on Tromsø island. Now I have rarely gone north, but I might have to do it more often after my exciting discoveries. Five minutes into the run I saw a big fenced off area and as I jogged by an albino raindeer raised its awkward head and just stared at me. I felt like I was on another planet. I didn't know there were raindeer on Tromsø island, let alone albino raindeer. I keep running, and heard a quack and looked to my right to discover a lake that I didn't know existed! A little further up the hill was a water/radio tower that looked like something used to contact the supernatural. I reached the top of a hill after burning my calves into the group, and had a beautiful view of Kvalsøya which is a big island between the ocean and Tromsø island. I had a beautiful view and just had to laugh. The only explaination was: I've never run this far.

More on the past couple of days soon...

It has only been two days and already I feel at home back in Tromsø! I hardly missed a beat upon arrival Wednesday night, and Tromsø didn't disappoint. I landed about 8.30pm Wednesday night after a delay in Oslo where I got to talk in Norwegian with a Norwegian about hunting in Finmark and how water affects the taste of beer. After that enlightenment, I sleptt almost the whole way to Tromsø and got by massive bag without a hitch. I hopped in a cab and started asking about how the weather was this summer, and started talking about how it was raining. Then the taxi driver turned to me and asked if I had a reflector on. How perfect! I, unfortunately, was not prepared with a reflector so he opened up his glove compartment where he had about 100 extra reflectors ripe for the taking. He gave me one and told me to put it on my coat immediately. So I safely returned to my house and took a big breath in a smelled the fish scented air. It's funny that I don't notice it when I live here, but when I've been gone and come back, it has such a distinct smell.

I was literally home for 30 minutes, just enough time to read a pile of rotting mail, before I headed down to the student pub Driv to meet up with old and new classmates. We had a great time talking and meeting everyone. We stayed until it closed and enjoyed the cold walk home in the rain. Perfect Tromsø weather!

Yesterday I headed to the university and saw a few more international friends and claimed a new desk in the reading room and dropped off some books. I did the monster shopping trip getting a hundred dollars worth of groceries and finally getting back to the house. When I came back, I finally met a few of my new housemates and they are great! Very fun and social. If we can figure out the dish washing we'll be great. So, now in the house we have 3 Norwegian guys: Stian who was here and two new guys named Andre and Andreas. I haven't talked to much to them. We also have two new girls in addition to Marjaana: Maaika from the Netherlands who is working on a master's thesis in fishery management and sociology and Ida who is studying to be the person who reads X-rays. Ida is very perky and happy with stereotypical Norwegian blonde hair and blue eyes. Plus, she has the unenviable task of living in Igor's old room! Maaika is very chill and is willing to sit in the kitchen with Stian and I and keep up with our ridiculous banter. Plus, she likes board games so I think we are busting out Diplomacy this weekend!

It should be a great year and a great house. I'm excited to get started, and no better way than doing some laundry! Ha det fra Norge!

I finally have a moment with internet so I am excited to write and say hi and that I made it to Switzerland! It was an eventful trip but it ended up working pretty well.

A friend from Oslo, Richard, picked me up from the airport in Oslo and I spent the night at their house which was beautiful. Lots of trees, Norwegian food and cheese, and a bed to crash on. They even took me to the airport the next morning for my flight. And, when I got on the plane I recognized this guy and girl. After we hit 30,000 ft. I walked back in the plane and sat down by them and started talking, and it turned out that it was the guy in charge of Bergen ultimate frisbee whom i had met when I went to an indoor frisbee tournament in Oslo last spring. He and his wife were going to an ultimate frisbee wedding of an ultimate player from italy in italy. pretty cool! so we talked a long time and we started sharing some ideas about ultimate in Tromsø. Basically, he is in the Norwegian sports organization which can give me a bunch of money if I can get a group of people playing. I might try to start a team at least once a week and go down to Oslo for one tournament in Dec and the one we went to. So, we'll see!

But I landed in Milano and John and I walked around there for the afternoon which was alright. Kind of just a big city. But we did see the fashion district with a ton of high class stores all along this huge block. There were men and women all in black waiting at every door to open the door for you. Pretty posh! We took the hour and a half train back to Lugano and went out that night to a city concert that was in the plaza downtown. We heard some good blues music and had some great wine and pasta!

Yesterday was fun. We got up and went to a town about an hour north in the mountains. There they were having a beach ultimate frisbee tournament! There is a river and next to one part of the river is a beach area where there is enough room for one field. It was gorgeous. You could see vineyards on the mountains surrounding us and a little swimming hole with lots of beautiful Swiss people jumping off of rocks into the water and sunning on the rocks. There were even a few topless Swiss women tanning unbashfully. We didn't get to play, but we met a lot of people that will be good contacts for John and will hopefully find him a team he can play with.

Today we've been chilling in town. I helped John move in a little more and we did a major grocery run so he has some food. Lugano is a beautiful town that reminds me a lot of Bergen, Norway with green mountains with houses dotting the slopes and a big body of water cutting through the mountains. Plus, it's pretty small and quaint and it feels safe, so I think John feels comfortable here. A good place to study and enjoy a new culture. And that's one thing that has surprised me, is the amount of Italian John will have to know to get by. Since English is the fourth language here after Italian, German, and French, very few people speak it. So I think John will be doing a lot of pointing and hopefully a lot of learning throughout his time in Lugano.

It's been good to be here with him a little bit. Now he's at class so I'm at his library finally checking the internet. He is supposed to have wireless access in his common room of his dorm, but it's pretty spotty. i'd say it works maybe 10% of the time, and i get way to click happy to actually read anything. But I think it's good because it will force him to get off the internet and out into the culture (I should work on that too).

Tonight he is having a meeting with a few of his study abroad compatriots who are also keen on traveling. They are getting together to try to gather information on the best places to travel and hopefully plan trips together. They are already planning on perhaps going to Amsterdam this weekend, so John has the opportunity to do that, and he also was asked to play at the Swiss Ultimate Frisbee National Championship game this weekend in Bern, Swtizerland. Pretty cool choices! I'll be sticking around until Wednesday morning when I head back to Norway and back to the academic life. In the meantime, I'm going to soak up this Southern European weather (in the 90's today with a ton of sun) and eat as much food and drink as much wine as possible!

Ciao from Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland!

I am now comfortably sitting in the typically beautiful Norwegian apartment of my friends Kjersti and Richard. It's covered with wood from floor to ceiling and it is so korselig! I am very fortunate to have such great friends. Richard came and picked me up at the Oslo airport and brought me back to his house before he had to go back to work so I've been able to clean up, brush my teeth (with that mysterious liquid called toothpaste that i can't take on the plane), and have a little time away from a herd of frustrated travelers. Not a bad ending. Plus it's so great to be back in Norway. I stepped off the plane into cool, crisp Norwegian air and Richard and Kjersti's apartment is next to his father's farm where they grow wheat and oats and a rolling forest. So beautiful! It's also great just to get off the airplane and feel comfortable. Even though I'm far from being at home in Norway, it definitely is a comfortable place, both the people and the environment. After spending a few days in NYC, Oslo just feels like being in Brookings. Chill, comfortable, clean, safe, and a place I really enjoy being. I even sat outside on the porch for over an hour just reading and sitting the late hanging sun. It felt so great to be chilly and tranquil. I guess I'll shake the tranquility tomorrow when I hop on a 9.40am flight from Oslo to Italy and will catch up with my brother only about 12 hours late....

Even though it will work out fine, I feel like I failed a little bit. After the mechanical problems in Iceland, I went on the internet and tried to find a way to get to Switzerland before nightfall. I had a host of options, including flying from iceland to copenhagen instead of norway, then flying to zurich and taking the last train to arrive in lugano by 2am. Despite myriad of options, the Icelandic air people just weren't very creative. They said that since I had luggage they couldn't go into the luggage and get it to put it on a different flight. Come on people, we can't win the race with that attitude! So in the end, a new ticket from Oslo, but it's probably best that I get some rest and take a break from hectic travel.

I uploaded my photos so you can see my awesome time in Iceland. Just click on photos at the top of the page. Signing off from continental Europe. *sigh*

Oh travel. I am currently sitting in a place I have always wanted to visit: Reykjavik, Iceland. Unfortunately, all I can see is a vast expanse of emptiness surrounding the airport. That's right, I'm stuck at the gateway to Europe. I took a flight from New York last night to Oslo through Iceland. Unfortunately, when we got on the plane this morning in Iceland to take the short two hour flight to Oslo, our plane had technical difficulties and since we are at 66 degrees North in the middle of nowhere, the next flight out isn't until 4pm. Plus, the airport shuts down because they basically have two waves of flights, so all the stores are locked up and i'm just listening to a large group of Asian tourists playing an intense round of cards. It's actually kind of funny in a Ze Frank sort of way. Also, they keep giving us information like, "it might leave in two hours" so I can't even go to the Blue Lagoon to soak in a hot geyser. Well, on the plus side, Iceland's airport is the first one I have found that has FREE WIRELESS! Or as the sign above me is informing me: ϸrá∂laust net. It came it really handy to finally change my flight to Italy. That's also correct. I should be on a plane to Italy in about 20 minutes, but instead I got to bust out my dusty Norwegian cell phone and go through my phone book looking for someone to stay with. Fortunately, my friend and classmate Kjersti is in Oslo and is willing to help me out, so I'll crash at her place tonight and for $250 dollars head to Italy tomorrow at 9am. So, free ham sandwiches instead of pasta and pizza i guess.

But, it's all part of the amazing race and of course I've gotten to meet some interesting people b/c of the delay like a college kid from macalaster who worked for two summers at the Mack beer brewary in Tromsø and the Norwegian guy sitting next to me who works with metal smelting. I have to admit i wasn't quite brushed up on my norwegian words having to deal with minerals, but i was able to hold my own. So, as I withstand a weird mix of jet-lag and fatigue thanks to some homopathic pills called no-jet lag, i'm left to do the last sane thing i can do: take weird pictures. Enjoy. and I hope to see you on the continent soon.

Every year around this time, people of all walks of life (but mostly rural, middle class, white walks) take the religious-like journey to Parker to take part in one of South Dakota's great traditions: The Turner County Fair. The fair is a mix of agriculture, entertainment, food, family, political campaigning, photo taking, and good ole South Dakota fun. Personally, the Turner County Fair is a huge family reunion. Every year I walk to the old picnic table next to the chislic stand (chislic=cooked lamb on a stick). There at the table, my Grandpa Johnson holds court like the Don himself. All of the family on my mom's side comes so I get to see all the uncles and aunts and cousins, as well as family friends and other more distant relatives like the chislic owners themselves! It is a great chance to catch up and have some summer time fun. This year, like most years, started by throwing down as much chislic as possible. I took down 18 sticks before chasing them with a pork sandwich from the Lutheran Church food booth. While eating, we all do our best to sound knowledgable about agriculture. We talk about the drought or the flooding (it's never perfect you know) and the corn and the beans, and fortunately, Uncle Paul is kind enough not to make fun of my own lack of knowledge and to help me know what's going on at the family farm.

After a lot of great conversation, the young cousins finally drag us to the carnival area where we have close encounters with lots of scary looking Carnies and random rides and games. Although it seems like we do fewer and fewer rides each year, I had fun watching the cousins almost puke on the Octopus ride, and did my best to display my weak abilities at Ski-Ball and Ski-Ball Horse-Racing. Fortunately, I think that all of our hard earned play eventually helps one of the cousins to win a huge stuffed tiger, or something that resembles a wild cat of some kind.

After the games and Carnies, it's time to grab some homemade ice cream, made by the Mennonites. Always large because it goes down like applesauce. Usually the ice cream is half-way gone by the time we finally squeeze onto a wooden bench for the night's true activity: VFW bingo.

VFW bingo is an amazing experience. Wood benches surround a rectangular area where members of the local VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars) stand around and collect 25 cents for each bingo card someone is playing. The head honcho VFW member is the caller, while the "younger" more "inexperienced" VFW members continue their training for the glorious day when they can be a caller. Everyone squeezes onto these benches in hopes of getting bingo and winning the 10 dollar prize! Of course, the Johnson clan takes up about 1/4th of the bench space and usually turns the relatively tame game of bingo into a competative sport that far exceeds the World Series of Poker. People are shouting "YESSSSS!" every time they hit a number and everyone gets really angry if someone finally screams "Bingo!" and forces the game to start over again.

This year the Johnson clan, (which can be subsequently split into sub-clans such as the Blues, the Browns, the Paul Johnsons, the Meyers, and even the honorary Thompsons), cleaned up at the bingo table. Elliot, Jennifer, and I all won Bingo rounds, bringing in 10 dollars each. I was especially lucky because I won bingo at the same time as two other people. Usually, they would split the prize among the winner, but the VFW old boys club thought that dividing 10 three ways was difficult, so they let us all get the full award. After the regular bingo rounds finally draw to a close, the VFW ends the night with a bang: blackout! This is the variant of bingo in which every number on the card must be called to win. It not only requires luck, but also stamina. This year Brian demonstrated those characteristics. He perservered through over 5 minutes of numbers to come out victorious with the the $50 prize. On top of the that, the VFW men either miscounted or thought that Brian really needed the money because he was handed four 20 dollar bills! Boo yeah! We left the bingo table very satisfied having supported our troops in the best way I know how.

The Turner County Fair is a great summertime tradition, and I am happy I was attend this year. It's so much fun! It's interesting that when I take photos or stop and look at the fair objectively, how absolutely strange it really is. It looks like something from a generation gone-by where people gather together, (for free), to take time to eat unhealthy food without feeling guilty, to walk around looking at animals and 4-H awards, to play bingo with at least 3 and probably 4 different generations, to ride ridiculous rides run by even more ridiculous people, to spend wads of cash to win simple prizes that represent hurculean efforts, and to just enjoy time together. Parker's city slogan is "A Great Place to Live," but I think that on the week of the fair it should be "A Great Place to Lose Yourself" because that's what we do, and it's great.