Norge

Oh my god people, I survived.  Not sure how I made it through this semester alive with all the reading and writing, but I did it.  It's over.  Papers turned in, reading finished, book reviews graded.. we're... done.  It's an exciting feeling to know it's now summer break, but then I stop and realize that it's technically just the end.  The end of it all.  Crap.  Ok before we get to a downer note, lets go to what I have had no time to tell you all about..

NORWAY!

Ahhhh.  I swear.  They say god kissed the earth, and Norway had to be where.  Honestly people; it's spectacular.  The mountains line each other and dip into lakes, streams and cascading waterfalls.  I've never seen a more beautiful country in my life.  Granted, I still have a hundred or so to see, but man.  This has to be it.  Everywhere you look there is beauty; it's so overwhelming I felt myself blinking about 50 times more than the average just to keep my eyes from overloading.  Unfortunately the weather was less than par when I was there; about 50-60 degrees and raining all day every day.. but maybe that's a good thing.  If I came away with such a beautiful impression of Norway in such terrible weather, I'm not sure I could handle the beauty in it's full mode.
Norway has the highest living standard in the world, making everything ungodly expensive (although when you have such an awesome country, why wouldn't you put a price tag on it?).  Drinks at the gas stations are about 10 dollars for a tiny little bottle of juice, 12 for a soda, 12 for a little ice cream.. pretty bad.  You really have to mentally prepare yourself for it, but if you go in with this knowledge its not so bad.  I prepared myself (and it was my last trip) so endulging was not too scary.  Well, not much, anyway.  When I was there I actually stayed with a previous exchange student friend from high school, Kristine, who is just awesome.  And her family is so funny and adorable.. so I lucked out.  I had excellent hosts in an excellent country with excellent experiences.. yep.  Be jealous.

When I arrived on Wednesday night to Bergen, I flew in over all the little island cities around 11 pm at night, all lit up like little paint drops on a really dark canvas.  The whole country looks like a big paint stroke which flicked little paint spatters off at the end.  I love it.  Flying over was already an astonishing sight, so landing was even better.  I would also like to put on the record that I believe I saw a whale jump while flying in.. so cool.  Norway is actually one of the last countries which still go whale hunting.. big issues with the EU.  But anyways.
Kristine picked me up at the airport (I almost missed my flight in Frankfurt due to confusing ticket counters, security lines and far distance gates.. then had my baggage put on the wrong plane but managed to somehow arrive in one piece) and then we drove with her dad through the city at night.  The whole city is lit up unlike sweden (oh my god, you can actually see the highway infront of you! Fantastic!) and perches up and down the mountain sides and the bay.. so cool.  I'd love to live in one of the nice homes on the sides of the mountains overlooking a lake but I guess they're like 4 million dollars or something.  So I guess dream big or marry norwegian (which is so on my to-do list). 
Once we arrived at Kristine's totally scandinavian and totally adorable house we basically just caught up and then passed out.  I met her norwegian cat... can't say i've ever met a norwegian cat before.  Pretty surreal. 

Aww.  Anyway.  The next morning we headed out in Kristine's mini cooper and headed into the city to see the sights (and her brother).  The events included checking out her job at a shoe store, going to a bunch of souvenier shops, checking out the huge shipping docks (Bergen is the number one shipping port in Norway I do believe..), going to the top of one of the mountains for an over view and then getting the most amazing cinnamon bun and hot chocolate in my life.  The hot chocolate was literally little pieces of milk chocolate melted into hot milk... oh god it was outstanding.  I may have to go back just for that alone.  Then again, I guess in such a cold and hard winter country it can't be too surprising that they are experts at comfort food. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that is a basic overview of the first day.  It was pretty relaxed but full of fun.  Kristine and I get along so great, so it was great just hanging out and being able to talk for hours again.  She is literally one of the funniest people I've ever met, hands down.  After we finished shopping and what not we met her dad for pizza at their favorite pizza place (or at least their favorite in that moment?) and had a mexican type pizza.  It was the first american type pizza I've had in months and trust me, I endulged.  Oh it was beautiful.

Yep yep.  The next day Kristine and I ventured out for a roadtrip east from Bergen to the city of Voss with her mini.  Her brother has a cabin near voss in a city I can't spell (which is SO cool) and we spent the night there with Kristine and her friends.  It was a pretty chill and fun time.  The roads up to Voss were all right along the sides of the mountains and lakes with tiny little guard rails.  I know a variety of members from my dad's side ofor a roadtrip east from Bergen to the city of Voss with her mini.  Her brother has a cabin near voss in a city I can't spell (which is SO cool) and we spent the night there with Kristine and her friends.  It was a pretty chill and fun time.  The roads up to Voss were all right along the sides of the mountains and lakes with tiny little guard rails.  I know a variety of members from my dad's side of the family who would not be fans of this, but the Norwegians are just used to it and it no longer phases them.  The drive was so beautiful minus the really long tunnels through the mountains.  Apparently not many Norwegians actually die in the lakes, its usually Germans and other foreigners.  But yeah.  Interesting fact, if you know the VOSS Water brand (long glass tube bottles, sold at world market..?) well it is supposedly made in Voss, Norway.  But according to Kristine, it's made in some guys pond in his back yard.  But eh.  Minor difference I suppose. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our brief little stop in Voss we headed up to Kristine's brother's cabin in the mountains.  It was so scandinavian looking, I loved it.  And the views were just unreal.  It was like something you only see in a Lands End catalouge or something as a backdrop outside the windows, but oh hey! they do exist.  Sorry for ever doubting you Lands End, my bad.  A few of her other friends also made the drive up and we spent the night just hanging out and having a good time.  Wooo for Norwegian cabin life!  Oh and Norwegian cabins? Flat screen Tvs.  Totally the norm.  Infact, Kristine was appaled with I told her that "upnorth" time usually required going back into oneself and reinventing the imagination or self entertainment.  I believe the sentance was "how could you survive upnorth without a cable tv?!"  Dear Wisconsin cabin life, upgrade yourself.  K thanks.

 

 The next day we drove back, went shopping and chilled with her family.  Their English in Norway is amazing due to a variety of reasons.  1, their school systems apparently are quite adequate at teaching it.  2, all their movies, tv shows, whatever are played in their original languages.  Their country is too small to have everything translated other than subtitles, resulting in a large amount of english in their every day lives.  It is quite fascinating actually, since most of them could fly under the radar as Americans due to their lack of an accent.  But Norwegian as a language is actually also extremely beautiful.  I want to learn it soooo bad.  It kind of sounds like their singing, and is a softer version of German and english in one.  It's really awesome.  Kind of depressing that more people don't know it, or recognize it as a romance language since many, such as myself, would find themselves quite easily wooed by a Norwegian speaking to them in whispers just as an Italian man whispering sweet whatevers in a girls ear would result in love.  Same effect people, same effect.  I think I should start a petition to have Norwegian at my university.  Then again.. well.. hmm.  Again, dream big.  Here are some final photos from my trip: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that is a basic overview of my Norwegian trip.  Yes, I'm about 4 weeks late on posting this but hey.  The craziness in the last weeks here has been unbelievable.  I finished University and received an A in my literature class (thank the holy gods above) and am still waiting on my European Union class.  I said good bye to a ton of friends here already, but still have a ton of good byes to go.  My mom flew in last Friday and we spent the week traveling around Germany, then back here to pack and now she leaves tomorrow (which that travel will be a whoooole new blog).  So yes.  Crazy, crazy times.  And now I'm off to bed so I can get her to the airport starting at 5 am tomorrow.  Ahhh.  Until next time people, or maybe until I'm state-side again.  8 days and counting.  Dear lord.

Lübeck

Last weekend I embarked on my last trip with my program group to a northern German beach city named Luebeck.  It really is a quaint little city filled with lots of fish speciality restaurants, canals, river boats and quite the intriguing shopping district.  We had a lot of free time to wander the city this time compared to the last few trips, so Carissa and I took the time and indulged in some much needed shopping adventures.  Ok, they weren't really needed.. but a ton of fun?  After all, there are only about 5 weeks left to my travels here, so I guess I might as well get the most out of my favorite European shops as I can (which is nothing because I'm still a broke college student.. but anyways..).  Here are my lovely shopping results.

Isn't Nemo Lovely?!  I'm quite fond of him.  He even moves back and forth like a real fish.  I thought it was an adequate souvenier for a beach/fishing town.  As for European fashion these days, leggings with jean shirts or long shirts are definitely in.  Oh and tank tops with light summery scarves.  I swear, if I tried keeping up with the fashion changes as accurately as Germans would like, I'd be more broke than a door nail.  They always have the newest fashions, trends, etc.  and its almost fascinating how fast things come and go into their stores.  I love it, not going to lie, but dang do I wish I had a job here which could afford my shopping lust.  Oh well, another day I suppose.  I'll just have to alternate between my couple cute outfits which I've acquired over the year.  Should do the trick.  Oh, just another note.  The German culture tends to prefer the darker color tones of the blues, blacks, greys, browns and whites.  Ok white isn't dark, but it definitely fits into their preferred color scheme.  It isn't a bad thing- they do tend to usually look classy.  Granted there are shirts which are pink, yellow, bright green, whatever.  But if you walk through a crowd of people you're most likely to find blues and greys.  Tis the way it is!  But I kind of like it.  At lest you usually only have 3 different types of laundry loads.. the blues, the whites and the small load of other colors, whereas back  home its the pinks and reds, the blues, the blacks, the whites, the other random brights.. yeah.  Woooo laundry day.  I should probably get on that.  But anyway. 

Note to self: Get your butt to the grocery store.  You've successfully eaten everything possible out of your house and have pushed back going to the store for the last 2 weeks.  Your mother would not be proud of you.

Back to the point.

So Luebeck.  What a cute little town!  Here are some photos from miandering around the city before our shopping adventures..

 

 

 

So there is a small glimpse of Luebeck for ya.  The last two photos were in a Marzipan shop which Luebeck is famous for, called Niederegger.  If you want a better idea of what they offer there or what Marzipan is exactly, check out their site..

http://www.niederegger.de/

It's in German, but on the upper right hand corner you can switch it to english :)  They can make the most realistic shapes out of Marzipan, such as the little lobsters in the photo above.  Personally I'm not a huge fan of the taste of Marzipan, but I am definitely a fan of the cute things they can create!  I was so close to bringing home one of those little lobsters (they practically never go bad..) but eh.  A photo will do.  If you're ever in Luebeck though, I definitely recommend stopping into one of the shops.  Even if you're like me and don't particularly fancy the taste of Marzipan, the designs and creations are worth a glance.

The main planned event for the group was a walking tour of Luebeck and then a boat tour of the canals.  Unforuntely, due to misunderstandings, our tour guide never showed up for the walking tour, leaving us with only the boat tour.  Since Luebeck was such a small city and I didn't feel like I was missing out on too much, the disappointment was kept at a low regarding the tour by foot.  Oh well.  Carissa and I went back to the city center so she could get a dress/shirt she wanted and then we both indulged in fruit smoothies.  It really wasn't a waste of an afternoon after all.  The boat tour was pretty sweet and short, but I got some nice pictures of the riverboats and such.  Ch-ch-check it out!

 

 

So those are some of the sights from the tour.  Not too shabby.  The only downside to the tour was the guide's speech, which was all in German, and he kept saying "well of course the Americans won't know this.." as though we couldn't understand him.  Helloooo some of us know exactly what you're saying all the time.  Oh well.  A day in the life I suppose. 

After the tour, a few friends and myself headed out for Hamburg which was only a 40 minute train ride south of Luebeck.  I went to dinner with the Hamburgers, hung out at a friends apartment and then Chris, Patrick, Thorben and myself went to join up with my program on the beach the next morning.  The beach was in Travemuende.  I didn't realize it, but I had actually been to that exact beach with my first host family back in 2007 on a weekend day trip.  It was kind of an odd feeling being back there, like walking into a foggy, sandy memory.  But the beach was nice (minus the intense wind) and I managed to receive some new tan lines.  There is this one main hotel in Travemuende, and oh my god is it ugly.  It's like the one sky scraper in the middle of a small village, just like, standing there.  So out of place.  Apparently the hotel is supposed to be super nice, but they could have made it more horizontal than vertical in my opinion.

 

 

Yep.  Welcome to the beach.  The baby is also in our program; we have a married couple with their 5 month old here with us.  She is so adorable!  And has an odd but cute obsession with bottles.  Ohhh babies.

In other news, the reading is almost to a close.  I'm halfway through Reading Lolita in Tehran, and then the final book is The Shaking Woman  by Siri Hustvedt.  I've heard from others that the Shaking Woman book is supposedly terrible, so I can't say I'm all that thrilled to be moving onto that book.  Oh well.  After that, I only have one essay and I'm done with that course! AHHH! I'm so excited.  Well actually, that course did teach me a lot about literature that I really would never have figured out on my own, and has improved my writing by making me think more in deapth behind what I'm writing.. if that makes sense.  Whatever.  In short, I guess the course was helpful in the long run and not a waste of effort and time, which is always a relief.  My other European Union course has a lot of work to be done in the next week, so I should probably wrap up this blog and get on that.  Next stop on the list, Norway!  I'm excited since it's been my dream vacation since what feels like forever, and I finally get to meet up with my friend from high school who was an exchange student in my grade.  She's probably one of the funniest people I've ever met, so I'm pretty pumped.  I'm not pumped to deal with the prices of Norway (similar yet worse than those in Sweden which I already spent enough time in this blog whining about) but it should be ok.  You only live one right?  Well, I'm off to do homework for class and then off to class!  Until next time ladies and gents.