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

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"

Good News

I came home today from the last day of classes (technically the last day ever but it's hard to say so because I have a whole year left of student teaching) and on my bed was a letter. This happens occasionally, because my roommate loves to check the mail and she is nice enough to leave my letters on my bed. I really enjoy coming home to a letter surprise on my bed. Some letters are obviously much more delightful to get than others. I am much more excited to get a letter from a missionary friend than I am getting a letter from, let's say, my bank. However, when I get letters from my school? It's an ambiguous kind of feeling.
On one hand it could be really great news!
On the other hand, it could be some disciplinary measure. (You never know, I could have broken a rule without being aware of it or something.)
So today, I found a letter on my bed from my university.
With some trepidation, I opened it.
Inside was....
...
(can you imagine if I left the post there? I don't know about you, but the suspense would have killed me.)
Inside was a letter from the History department offering me a scholarship for new semester. A real scholarship!
I was so happy, I cried, a little. (Let's be honest though, I can cry at almost anything.)
...
And then I told everyone about it.
And now, I blogged about it.
Good news, eh?
P.S. Turned in my capstone paper today. IT'S DONE. 25 whole pages, the stupid beast. But, it's over now. WOOHOO!

How 'bout one of these puppies?!

source

Just another story from our strange, beautiful world.

If only I had an extra $1.5 million lying around....

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, $1.5 million. 

This lil puppy sold for that amount in China recently, officially becoming the most expensive dog in the world.

It's a shame that they are so expensive, otherwise, I'd be more compelled to get one. I mean, THEY ARE SO FLUFFY!

So fluffy. 

I got it!

If you haven't already heard, it's official!
I am going to be an intern at Springville Junior High next year.
This means, I am going to be like, a real teacher!
I will have my own classroom.
With students. Real students.
While I will be student teaching, it's more autonomous that just normal student teaching.
If I don't think much about it then I don't freak out too much.
It's going to be a learning experience for sure!
Here is the school website.
http://sjhs.nebo.edu/
Did I mention that I am terribly excited too?!

Interview #1

Woo! I'm glad that's over.
It's stressful applying for jobs.
At least, I didn't have classes today. I looked nice: professional and classy.
I will hopefully hear back by next week.
What's next?

Cleverly Funny

Source

This is just another reason why the world in which we live in is a beautiful place. And funny. It's a funny place too, don't forget. This story caught my eye when I was on my way to my email.

Apparently a 16 year old budding artist, Nicholas Harrington, decided to put a burnt out baby grand piano in the middle of Miami bay, purely for arts' sake. Can you imagine, just puttering along in your boat and you see a piano, just sitting out there. It's so extraordinary! Anyway, since he is an artistic young man, he's hoping to get into a clever art college in Boston somewhere. I hope this little adventure helps him accomplish his future dreams!

If you want to know the full story, here is the AP release. Here.