Bergen Trip!

So looking over my blog, I seem to be more than a little remiss in keeping it updated while I was in Norway. I had such plans!
However, I still have pictures, so I thought that I'd share some with you today.

These come from a little side trip we took to Norway's west coast towards the end of July. We took a train from Oslo to Bergen and saw some of the most stunning scenery that you can imagine. Truly! The ride has been described as one of the most scenic in the world! See here if you want to learn more.

See?? Isn't it beautiful?! These are taken from the Hardangervidda, the highest mountain plateau in Europe. I thought it had a soulful, Wuthering Heights kind of feel to the landscape. But there were lots of waterfalls, glaciers, mountains, and forests.

Welcome to Bergen

This was the sight we saw when our train pulled into Bergen. The city is absolutely ADORABLE. It reminds me of a smaller, Norwegian San Francisco. It has the hills, the sea food and the colorful houses.

Scene from the top of a mountain, Bergen in the background

We dropped off our stuff at our hostel (more on that later) and took the funicular. The funicular is like a tram that you ride up the mountain. It was a pretty view. Our professor took us on a hike even further up the mountain. Again, it was a pretty view. I didn't really understand why we had to put that much work into seeing the same sight just at a higher altitude, but apparently, there is a hidden joy to hiking and nature that I have yet to find...

After our adventure on the mountain, we had dinner at Peppe's Pizza! Hurrah! And it was Dr. Kramer's birthday, double hurrah! He threatened to walk out and leave us with the check if we had the servers come to sing him happy birthday.

We disregarded his warning and had the servers sing happy birthday anyways. Secretly, I think he really enjoyed it...
The next day was our Norway in a Nutshell. We saw Norway via train, bus and boat. It was, stunning, as usual.

Experiencing the scenery really helped me to better understand where the mythology and folklore comes from. I mean, who wouldn't see trolls in the mountains when you are surrounded by them?
It also explains why Norwegian mythology ends so violently. Looking at the dramatic landscape, the world just has to end in fire and ice.

The next day, our last day in Bergen, was our visit out to Troldhaugen, or Edvard Grieg's museum/home.

This is the concert hall that they built just a little ways from his house.

We were fortunate enough to attend a concert of some of his piano pieces in that very, grass-covered, concert hall and it was AWESOME.

After the concert, we went back to Bergen to check out of our hostel and explore the city before our train ride back to Oslo that night.

This is Bryggen, the old wharf area of Bergen.

Yes, this is probably the most recognizable part of Bergen. It's on all the tourist things. These buildings are hundreds of years old from the old Hanseatic league traders that made Bergen an important part of Northern Europe economics. They are also a part of UNESCO's world heritage sites, so they are all sorts of famous. It's really neat to walk past them and peer down the alleyways between buildings and see how much they lean. When I say lean, I mean lean. It's practically a miracle that they are still standing! Bergen is cosy like that. They have lots of curvy cobble-stoned streets and alleys and old buildings. Lots of charm, lots of personality.

Besides Bryggen, I wandered all of the city with my professor. We looked at the theater building with all these crazy carvings; St. John's Church (very big and very red); the Bergen Cathedral; this old medieval fortress called Håkons hall and Rosenkrantz tower; AND the fish market.

Since Bergen is by the coast, they have a pretty vibrant fresh fish market. There are all these different languages being spoken because of so many tourists and there were crabs literally jumping out of their containers! Live produce, man! It was freakin me out. I wasn't into the whole seafood thing, so I opted for a kebab instead. (SO GOOD. So much meat for so little money.) The other girls got plateloads of seafood. I even tried a little whale from one of the girls' plates... It was interesting.  I just had to try it because where else in the world would I have the same opportunity, hmmm? Norway is one of the few countries that still participates in whaling, which is so odd considering how pro-environment they are...

After the fish market, we went to our hostel to collect our things and meet back at the train station. Unfortunately, when we got to the hostel, I discovered that someone made off with my backpack. Sad day, I know. I was most distressed about loosing my journal that I had just finished. Two years of my life, sporadically recorded, gone forever.

Bergen YMCA, beware of your luggage...

After a brief mourning period, I got over it. I am glad that it was my backpack instead of the others. Besides my journal, packed with sentimental value, all I had in there was some clothes and some chargers; so nothing that cannot be replaced. (All the good stuff was with me the whole time.) I will just be more careful about my items in the future.

When we met up with our professor again at the train station, that is when we heard about the bombing and the shootings. We were shocked and stunned. We quickly contacted our family and our host families. Everyone was ok and safe and we just read the news as it came online as we waited for our train. It was unbelievable that something like that could have happened to a country that we had come to love so dearly, but bad things do happen to good people, so we had to deal with the tragedy the best way that we knew how. And even though it was a truly sorrowful experience, I thought Norway's reaction was one of the most beautiful and heartfelt that I've ever seen. The rose memorial has been burned into my heart forever and I will always, always remember it.

Jeg elsker dette landet. <3

Bygdøy: Picture Post (Words will have to come later...)

Jeg er her!

My luggage. Yes, it's quite impressive, I know.

Elegant Lutheran Church we walked by

Norwegian Palace and statue

Norwegian Hotdog. First official meal in Norway. De-lish!

The girls by the Oslo fjord. WOOO! Left to Right: Steph, Me, Carolyn, Holly

So, I finally made it! I am in Norway and loving every minute of it. It certainly has taken some getting used to. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Probably the biggest adjustment for me is the time difference. It's like half a day's difference from here to back home. Which means, when I'm awake, my family and friends are asleep and when I am asleep, they are awake and doing things. So it just requires a little more thinking then I am used to. Also, it's really weird not having a phone. Like, really weird. I am so used to having a constant connection with the world, that it's perfectly strange to actually try to coordinate things  before I actually get there. Also! Public transportation. It's really a new world for me here. Back home, things are just a lot further apart that public transportation is really awful. But here, it's like, everyone does it. And I can't imagine driving on my own here. It looks like mayhem! There aren't many lane lines on the roads, so I guess technically there can be as many lanes as you want. No, no, I'm sure Norway has it's own rules. 

What has been really neat is seeing how much of it I actually understand. It's true that everyone here speaks English, which is kind of a bummer but also, super helpful. I can read signs and talk to people. It's really amazing.

So we flew into the Gardemoen airport around 10:30 Saturday morning after flying all day Friday. Seriously, I mean ALL day. We got to the SLC airport around 5:30 am. Then to Houston and then to Newark. Talk about turbulence! I was a quite queasy in Newark and was NOT looking forward to another, longer flight if it was going to be as bumpy as it was. Miracles of all miracles, it wasn't! The flight from Newark to Oslo was probably one of the best ever. Seriously. Even though I didn't get the best sleep of my life, it was pretty nice for what it was. Flying into Oslo was like a story out of LOTR or something. It was just so green and mystical with the lingering clouds. A perfect picture of beauty.

Once we got our luggage and stuff, we met up with our Professor, took a train from the airport into the city and met up with another girl from our group who got there a couple of days before us. We got our public transportation passes and went to her place and crashed. (Let me tell you, hauling luggage onto a crowded tram during rush hour is NOT fun.) She let us sleep for a couple of hours, but thankfully, got us up so when it was actually nighttime, we could sleep again.*

After Saturday was come and gone (seriously, that day lasted forever...) it was Sunday! Which meant we got to see the ward and meet our host families. It was fun to see some of the missionaries from the MTC. I doubt they recognized me much, but it was still fun. After church, our host families took us home with them and we got settled in. The two girls I came with left with one family and I was on my own with another. Carolyn was invited by my family to come to Sunday dinner so we hung out for a couple hours. My host family has two daughters my age living at home right now, and the parents were out of town over the weekend for a business meeting, so it was quite the girls night that first night. We watched a whole slew of movies, including The Legend of Johnny Lingo (church revamped classic), North and South (yes, all four hours) and then some episodes of Dr. Who (which, I've never seen before but I'm slowly becoming a believer).

Monday, I put on my big-girl pants and tried this whole public transportation business by myself. And I made it! We got together with our professor and walked around the city for hours! It was amazing. And then I came back to my house, safe and sound. Later that night, we went back into the city to meet with the young single adults of the ward for family home evening. It was strange, though because as we drove past a street downtown, we saw the Norwegian police all decked out in riot gear. Extremely unusual. Back home for more Dr. Who. Every episode ended with me on the edge of my seat! It was getting hard to handle. 

Tuesday was a little more relaxed. I have some papers that I need to get finished graded and turned in, but I decided to update my blog instead. 

I have my priorities. :)

Anyways, more to come, per usual.

*BTW when I saw "us" and "we" I am not referring to myself in the third person. There were literally three of us girls flying out together. Hence, the "we"

This fairly indicative of my familial relations...

Guess which one just had their wisdom teeth out...

Puhleeeze.

Yes, this is usually their attitudes.

Flashback: Spring 2009

I found this picture when I was wasting time on FB. I just love our faces and my super cool aviators. It's funny to see how much time has changed in only two short years. Those glasses have been broken for a long time now and both these lovely girls are married and graduated.
My how time flies!
Apparently, it doesn't stop rushing on either.
Well, here's to the next two years and beyond!

Before We Begin...

Who can guess which national landmark this is?! Anyone, anyone? GOOD! The Golden Gate Bridge! To get this picture, guess where in the USA, I had to be? YES! IN SAN FRANCISCO, BABY!

hmmm...yes. I took off on a fantastic roadtrip across the wastes of Nevada to the Bay Area the week before school started...

We saw "Wicked" the musical! "I am defying graaaavvvviiittyy!!!" We saw the Oakland Temple and the Jelly Belly Factory! (Wed)

Then we went jet skiing...I fell off and basically ripped my shoulder off... And then got back on and jetted off at 50 mph! Now, that is zoomin for me! (Thurs)

Then we went white-water rafting. Level 3 rapids, so nothing too bad...except the bottom of our boat completely deflated and almost fell apart. No worries though, we made it back alive. I saw the place where they first discovered gold in California!! (Fri)

Then we went ATV-ing. Learned a clutch, kinda. Stalled on every freakin hill I came to. Drove back in the dark. Still supa fun! (Sat)

Then we drove back Sunday. Completely trashed. As you can see...

*note: these are real people, not actors.

Then school the next day...gahh...who decided to come back?!

Memories of Birthday's Past

Hello All:
On the eve of my twentieth birthday (its a big deal ok? I realize that people have birthdays every day and everyone has been twenty before but I haven't, which makes this birthday pretty neat.) I have decided to sit down for a moment and share a couple thoughts of birthdays past.
Birthday on the Island
So this is probably one of my bestest birthday memories ever. So the summer after I graduated high school, I flew to Catalina, California and lived on the island there for three months. I worked at a boy scout camp (i'm sorry that i tend to talk about it a lot...its basically the only cool thing i can remember doing *shrug*) anyways...this was my first birthday away from home, and this was only a couple weeks into the summer. So we lived only a couple of yards away from the ocean. (mahvalous!!!) Between meals, we would have free time and of course we would go to the ocean to relax. The girls in the kitchen, we tended to ignore the scouts. And it was a monday and so the staffers were strategically placed in stations to teach the scouts about water safety and various other lessons. So as me and my friend, Haylee, walked to the beach, we passed each station and said hello to the boy-staffer there. Well, at each station, they sang happy birthday to me, personally! And it wasn't like these stations were very far apart from each other. It was like one long, beautiful chain of personal attention. That, and the beautiful sun and weather, and just all the great people I worked with...sigh, yes indeed that was a wonderful birthday. Oh...haha, I just remembered...it wasn't all sunshine and happiness. Like I said before, it was my first birthday away from home, so I got really homesick...and called one of my best friends, Ben. And basically bawled to him, gee. I feel bad for the kid. I have put him through a lot. Ha, but I guess that is what good friends are for right? All in all, good day.
Antelope Crush
This one makes the record books because this was one of the first times I remember having a crush. Haha, oh silly elementary school crushes. Anyways, my mother planned this big excursion to Antelope Island (Utah's readily accessible island in the Great Salt Lake) and we had a picnic and played in the sad, and my crush came! Aw!
Birthday in the Park
Summer birthdays are a trial sometimes...The weather is almost always nice and therefore, the usual activity is almost always water oriented. Blah! After several years of water activities, it gets a little redundant. So this birthday (during high school) I planned a picnic in the park. We had a BBQ and food and games. It was delicious. The reason this one is memorable is because we had a watermelon and nothing to cut it with, except for this huge knife that we used to check the meat...so this kid (scott kershaw) really was brilliant, decided to santize the knife by sticking it in the fire. Good plan, except he tried to use it while it was still hot. And burned long knife mark in his hand. Poor kid. Still. In school, he was a smartie.....
Enough memories.
This year is going to rock too!
Love birthdays.

p.s. Did you know that eskimos don't celebrate birthdays?

Good Times, Good Times

This morning at work, I was just thinking of happy memories. I happened to have a little Michael Buble on and it got me thinking about dancing, real dancing, like waltzing (my fav) and other "social dances" (which I don't understand that title exactly, as when you are dancing these dances you are only dancing with one other person. which isn't the epitome of socialness...however, this could be debated further) AnYwAyS, I was thinking about waltzing and I remembered one of the coolest things ever that happened in my dancing career.
Once Upon A Time... (last fall semester) I took a beginning social dance class. They made you attend a dance lab to show everyone else in dance classes that you actually knew what you were doing...since it was required, I attended. Not expecting to know anyone I meandered around, said hello to acquaintences from my class, and tried to not get crushed to death by the huge mass of people. Lo and behold, I ran into a kid from my ward, who goes by the name AJ who also happened to dance, quite a bit actually. He is on the back-up ballroom tour team and had taught me earlier how to cha-cha properly. So, nice guy. As we were chatting, again avoiding death from five million other people dancing in the room, other girls from our ward joined us and we had a little mini 2nd ward reunion. All of a sudden, AJ turns to me and asks, "Would you like to dance?" Uh...hold on a minute, i have to think about this one...HECK YES. Ladies, this was the waltz! And he actually knew how to dance! And it was a beautiful memory.
So I thought I should share that one with you. I was thinking of others, but that is the problem when you are busy with memories and there is no pen or paper around. Next time, though, next time...I'll remember.
Perhaps its a good thing that I couldn't remember, that way I don't overwhelm you with memory lane. It's a pleasant thing to enjoy the past, just not all at once. A little goes a long way, don't cha know. Kinda like the time I substituted a handful of salt instead of sugar in my sister's cream-o-wheat...
p.s. salt goes a loooooooooonnnnnnng way.