Trip Alone Part 2

Well I did it.  I'm back safe and sound and I even have all my fingers and toes.



Wednesday..
I woke up with all my bags packed and the clothes on the floor ready for the day.  I did a quick check of all my things then was out the door to catch a big breakfast.  Before I knew it the cars we packed and we were on our way.  The car ride was relaxing as usual and it was nice to get a look at all the scenery on the way especially since everything was covered in snow!  After a little under a hour and a little slipping and sliding in the car we arrived at a circular parking place rite next to an army base.  We all got out of the buses and instantly almost everyone was cold.   It was only going to get colder though.  Before we headed out we had a little pep-talk and then we were off, all going in separate directions into the woods.  Now you have to understand, there are no paths, its around 17 degrees and there is more than a 18inches of snow so this wasn't really a walk in the park.  I took what I thought to be the easiest route, straight.  However, that ended up with me confronting a river that was just big enough to not cross so, I turned around and walked into the army base, across a bridge and then back onto the other side of the border of the army base.  I then probably walked for not even 2 minutes before starting to really feel the strain.  My toes and nose were cold but the rest of my body was warm, hot actually.  I was excited to do the trip but at the same time was exhausted from sinking in deep snow over and over again.  I soon decided that I would pick the best and closest place I could to make camp.  After about maybe 15 minutes of trekking through the snow I found a nice little place and started to pack the down the snow to make a firm "floor" that I could sleep on.

I think it was definitely different for everyone and definitely tested a lot of people mentally because I know it did for me.  When I was out working and such I was moving around and not so much thinking about the fact that I was "alone" in the woods but as soon as I slipped into my sleeping bag (which is not as easy as you'd think it is) everything went silent.  I'm not going to lie it was a very peaceful silence but at the same time I was little uneasy.  I knew that nothing was going to happen but there was this little peace of me that would not stop thinking about all the little noises I was hearing and thinking there was something out to get me.  The cold was definitely a major contributor to my mental status as well.  It was just so cold that the only thing I could think about was getting warm so it was hard to think straight.  I'm unbelievably thankful for my sleeping bag and mat because they kept me soooo warm through the entire night.  I actually woke up with the bottom of the sleeping mat wet because I had melted the snow underneath it.

Thursday..
The plan was to head back to the parking lot when it started to get light outside.  I was torn though.  My sleeping bag was heated nice and toasty but I had to get out, put on clothes, and pack up.  That was a bit chilly lemme tell you that.  I packed up faster than I thought and the hike back to the parking lot was easy because my footsteps from yesterday had frozen slightly making a hard surface for me to walk back on if I followed my footsteps.  I was back at camp under 10 minutes and was welcomed by our teacher, Arill, with some hot drinks.  I was the first one back which was nice but I also had to wait for the others to come.  It ended up being over and hour and a half before everyone was back and we were on our way again.

Over all it was a great experience and yes it was freezing but I liked being pushed.  So would I do it again, yea I think I would and I think I will because I can definitely say it builds character faster than anything I have ever done and it shows in all the others that did it.

Trip Alone

Tomorrow morning after breakfast all the students in Frisport will do something very special.

We all have our bags packed by now, hopefully. I know I do.  And we will fill up the packs with food tomorrow morning and then head out on an overnight trip.  Now heres the thing, all of us are getting dropped off at the same place somewhere far away from here, but then we will all walk in different directions for as long as we want and make camp.  Now not to worry this is completely safe and no one is going to get lost.  There is a method to the madness.  After making camp we will make a fire and spend the day by ourselves.  When night time comes around we will all head to bed and spend the night in our own shelters.  Finally, when the sun comes up the next morning we will all head back to where we were dropped off and head back to school in time for dinner.

That doesn't sound so bad does it?  Maybe if I told you we were to bring only the essentials then it mite sound a bit harder.. That means no tent, iPod, phone, saw etc.  Or even better I can give you the list of things I will be bringing.
    1. Toilet Paper
    2. Toothbrush
    3. Camera (even though this is a type of tech its ok because of course we want to have pictures!)
    3. A book
    4. Headlight
    5. Boots
    6. 1 Knife
    7. Rain Jacket and Hunting Jacket (heavy jacket, warmer)
    8. Sleeping Pad and Sleeping Bag
    9. Gloves
    10. Hat
    11. Hot Chillies Pants and Shirt (warm tights)
    12. Rain and Snow Pants
    13. 3 Shirts
    14. 3 Pairs of Socks
    15. Thermos
There are also a few things that are provided like, a plastic sheet to make a shelter with, 10meters of rope, and food.
Thats not so much but I think Ill live ;)
Well tomorrows going to be a long day!  Wish me luck!

Hadanger Folkehøgskule and Snow

On Friday Voss Folkehøgskule took a trip to visit another Folkehøgskule.  We left right after breakfast and took two buses along with a short ferry ride to cross the fjord, finally arriving in Hadanger.  If you click on "Hadanger" you will link to a map.  The blue route splits about halfway down and this is because where it splits you are supposed to go right but that is apparently an illegal u-turn so the directions have you go all the way down and to the left, turn around and go back up.  Anyways at that split there is a ferry that we took across the fjord.  From there the school was only aprox. 10 min away.

When we got the the school we had some lunch and then were given some choices on any activities we wanted to do.  Dinner wouldn't be until 7:30 so there was plenty of time.  You could choose; soccer (football), volleyball, or go on a walk into the mountains/along a river.  I chose to go on the walk and have a look around.  When we came back we hung out, played some ping pong and cards just passing the time until dinner.  And then after dinner we had a little get together with the other school in the gym.  This was probably the funniest thing I have ever been to.  Our school did a few performances and same with the other.  Now they weren't filmed so unfortunately I cant show you but that may be a good thing because some of the things that happened may not be acceptable back in the US.  I did manage to find a video on Youtube of one of the dances that a kid at the other school did.  The dance is called Hallingdans and it looks like the most tiring dance ever.  Now after all this there was a volleyball tournament.  Voss ended up winning and I don't think it was because we had more people in our school but because we were so loud.  Our crowd was cheering so loud hardly anyone could talk the next morning!  

We left the next morning right after breakfast to go to Bergen.  The school decided to take the scenic route which was nice but a bit long, only around four hours..  After arriving in Bergen the whole school went to Dolly Dimple's for all you can eat pizza.  There was a show later that night that the whole school was to attend at the Theater around 18:00 (6:00pm) so until then everyone was able to enjoy Bergen and do what they want.  I ended up joining some of my friends and walking around along with going in some shops to look around.  When 6:00 rolled around I headed up to the theater and watched the three hour comedy that was literally about stupid people.  It was a great show and I'm glad I went.

After the show Bestefar picked me up and we headed back to his house where I would spend the night.  I got my first Christmas present that night too!  Bestemor and Bestefar gave me some indoor shoes to keep me warm because the floors here in Norway can get pretty chilly!  So thank you very much to Bestemor and Bestefar for that!

I didn't take so many pictures this weekend but I will post the link to Hadanger Folkehøgskule's site where there are pictures of there school and what they do.  I have a few from the theater and then a few from this morning because I woke up today with 2in./5cm outside!

 Hadanger Folkehøgskule - http://www.hardanger.fhs.no/
   

Lys Fest i Bergen (Light party in Bergen)

Last weekend I spent the weekend in Bergen with my cousin Jorgen and man did I luck out.  Bergen had its annual "lys fest" or "light party" translated directly.  For those of you back in America or anyone else that hasn't seen it, it really is an awesome event.  Thousands of people gather in a park around a fountain in the center of Bergen and at a certain time torches are handed out.  And then of course there were fireworks to end the night!  It actually is hard to describe because it was that cool so I hope the pictures help!  There are also some videos of the fireworks so I hope you all like those as well =)

Ohh and of course we cant forget the huge Christmas tree in the middle of the fountain!

Lys Fest i Bergen

Hiking to the top of Fjell (Mountain)

Yesterday Frisport took a trip to the top of the mountain behind the school.  This also happens to be the ski resorts mountain which leads to the reason we took the trip.  We hiked up to the top to do a little scouting of tracks that we would be skiing and let me tell you something, the view was absolutely amazing.  Now, the main reason I say this is because one you can see extremely far and two because the clouds were below us.. It is actually a little hard to explain but if you take a look at the pictures Im sure you'll understand.

At the beginning of the album you will see some pictures of some houses.  These are part of the Voss FolkeMuseum.  Ill put up some information on that later though.  Later on in the album youll see a picture of a map.  We walked to the FolkeMuseum which is the lower right green "i" that says "Molstertunet" under it.  We then hiked from there, following the red path, to the top green "i".  From there we scouted the trails.  Finally you will see a picture of me on a ski-lift pole.  Me and my friend Audun went a little further and hiked an extra ~30min further into the mountains.

Fjell 10.16.2011

Frost..

Was a bit chilly the other day.. had a bit of frost.  Not snow but Im sure it wont be long until thats here!

Frost

Back to the pool!

From November 9, 2011

Today in frisport we took a trip back to Dale to go kayaking in the pool again!  The plan was the same as last time, practice the roll.  I was soon able to do it no problem and started to work on cartwheels which is what you will see my teacher doing if you look at the videos.  I wasnt able to but thats ok because I wasnt expecting to be able to the first day anyways but it was a lot of fun to try!  Besides that it was another fun day at the pool!

Just another post..

So today was another foggy in Voss and I just had to take a picture to show you guys how foggy it gets here, and its actually pretty common.  There is something in this picture that I wanted to post about as well though. There is a new building on campus!  It may not be big but its still a building. It was constructed in tops 5 days by the groundskeeper at the school.  I was amazed at how fast this went up because this man does everything at the school and never stops working, its incredible.

Random

Sheep head for dinner!

Tonight at school we had sheep head for dinner. Now as strange as that sounds it is a tradition and delicacy here in Voss. It is actually more a tradition in Voss than it is anywhere else in Norway. Here are some pictures from the meal I just ate.  And trust me, despite the look of it, it was delicious.

sheep head

Kayaking.. in a pool!

So.. kayaking in the river is officially over as Frisport is now moving onto rock-climbing and soon skiing.  However, me and two of the other guys from Frisport went kayaing just the other day by ourselves because the water level was just to irresistible.  Along with the water flowing higher than ive ever seen it, it was a sunny day and not to cold!

This is only a side note though.  Today we took a trip to the next kommune (kommune is like a municipality) to go kayaking in a pool.  The purpose of the trip today was to work on the kayak roll which by the end of the day almost everyone had done packed.  As good as it was to get to practice in nice calm, warm water it also gave us a chance to just mess around a bit and let loose =)  We had the pool all to ourselves for about 4 hours!

There are pictures and videos below be sure to take a look!

November 2, 2011

Vacation!

    This is yet another late post, dating back to the 8th which was the night of the open house at the school.  This marked the beginning of a long and amazing vacation.

    The plan for my weeks vacation.. Well it would start with a visit to my Bestmore and Bestefar's house until Monday morning where I would fly to Harstad to visit some family friends (top-most marker on the map).  I would then fly back to Bergen the following Thursday and stay the night at Bestmore and Bestefar's house again where I would catch a bus to Stavanger to visit a friend from Voss, Morten.  We would stay at his place and then drive his car back up on that Sunday and be back to Voss that night.

Back in Time

October 8th..
    This was the day that we would have open house at Voss Folkehøgskule.  Moms, dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents, and friends were all invited to attend.  I actually remember one morning a few days before the open house when I was at the morning assembly, just before all the students were about to be dismissed one of the teachers asked "does everyone here have a cellphone with them?) and of course everyone holds up their phones.  "Good, I want you all to message your friends and family that there will be a open house on the Saturday the 8th."  Now you must take into consideration that there are over 100 students here in Voss so if everyone did bring all these friends and family that we were told to then the school would be pretty full..  However like always there are always people that cant make it and other scenarios so in the end there was about 200 people here all in all.

In the process

I have been very busy lately and am finishing up a weeks vacation so I apologize for not have posting in a while. I am currently on a bus from Bergen to Stavanger and will be staying the weekend at a friends house. I will be sure to post as soon as I come back!

Ocean Kayaking

   

    There are four trips that the Frisport class takes, each lasting a week long.  The first was the river kayaking trip, the second is an ocean kayaking trip, the third a trip in the mountains during the winter, and lastly a trip to Slovania in the spring.  We have just finished the second trip and it was great.

    The journey began on 9/19/2011, last Monday of this week.  (We did however have a meeting the previous day explaining what we were to expect, what to bring, etc.)  The day started just like any other, with me slamming the snooze on the alarm clock.  But, instead of laying in bed those few extra minutes I could usually spare I had to get up to double check that I had everything packed.  So, I rolled out of bed, got into some clothes, and checked my bags.  Instead of packing everything into my hiking backpack I threw everything into heavy duty trash bags, organized of course ;)  This was because everything that we would be bringing with us would be staying in the ocean kayaks.  For those who dont know what those look like just take a a look at the pictures.  Even if you do know what ocean kayaks are though you should still take a look at the pictures not because there super cool or anything.. but because even though they look huge, there isn't as much space as you would think inside.  Well, actually there is quiet a bit of space but when your packing for a week there isn't.  A whole week doesn't sound that long, I mean I went on a week trip in 7th grade no problem.  This time was a bit different though.  Now we're adults and there is no babying or toned down anything, you get what you have and suck it up.  That sounded a bit harsh but its the truth.  

Bus Trouble

Everyone was all set to go kayaking yesterday, everyone except the bus.. The E-Brake was jammed on the back right wheel.  This was the first set back of the year, however we managed to get going anyways. Two of the students here had cars and drove everyone up. Had a great day yesterday!
I'll post some pictures later tonight.



UPDATE:

I realize these pictures are a little late and Im sorry but things are very busy over here in Voss.  Unfortunately none of these pictures are of me, however I have done all of the things everyone else is doing in the pictures so you can get an idea of what kinda of kayaking Ive been doing.  I am collaborating with some of the other Frisport kids to get some pictures and video and that will be up sooner than later I hope.

http://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/September172011

Yoga Trip

    Along with my major, Frisport, I also get to choose two electives (mini-courses).  My first one is drawing which I have on Mondays and my second is yoga, which I have on Fridays.  These mini-courses fill the whole day, from 8:30 until 3:00 in the afternoon (13:00).  Last Friday we took a trip into the mountains for yoga class.  I don't know what this had to do with yoga though.  My closest guess is that we were going to connect with the outdoors and get some fresh air.
    The train ride was only about 45 minutes and after we arrived we walked another 20 minutes to get to a hut that the school owns.  From the hut you had the choice to either stick around the area and pick berries or hike up the mountains to go pick berries and see some snow.  Now, I wasn't feeling so good that day and almost stayed behind to just relax but who can pass up the opportunity to go see some snow on the top of a mountain in September?  I pulled myself together and started hiking up the mountain.  And I wasn't one of the kids picking up the rear while hiking up, because if I was going to go I had to be in front.  I pushed myself that day not so much physically but mentally because it could have been so easy to just stay behind.

    Being in front was so tiring, but I stuck with two other guys, Robbin and Martin.  All three of us are pretty competitive and we all had to make it to the top first so we pushed each other pretty hard.  And soon we broke away from the main group and were on our own.  Every once and a while we would lose sight of them because we were so far ahead.

    You cant see the snow from the hut at the bottom of the mountain but as soon as you get about 2/3 up you start to see the it.  It looks so close but just when we thought we were close it was another 20 minutes of climbing.  After what seemed like forever and sore legs the snow was only about 100 meters from us.  All three of us looked at each other and started to run.  In the end we were all so focused on being the first ones to touch the snow that we didn't see who was first.  We didn't even argue about it though because we were the only three to do it.  The rest of the group had stopped a little more than half way up the mountain.  We had made it to the top and weren't about to start heading down rite away so we sat down, had a little to eat, and made a snowman.  And I understand that this is just three snowballs but (1.) it is pretty cold at the top of the mountain and (2.) the snow was hard to get because only the top layer was soft.  I dont care what anyone says though because its a snowman to me and I got to see snow in September!

    The walk down was so much easier and it took us less than half the time to get down than up.  And at the bottom of the mountain waiting for us was hot chocolate!  That was so good after the long hike up the mountain.  The sun started to come out more and more as the day went on and the lake was just calling out to us to go swimming.  Me, Robbin, and Martin raced down to the lake and went swimming.  Actually, I don't know if you can call what we did swimming because as soon as we were in, we were on our way out.  We cant take all the credit though, 2 girls went swimming as well.  That was a refreshing little dip in a lake in the mountains.  This proves how much fun we have at Voss Folkehøgskule and these are only some of the things we do here..

Heres the link for the pictures =D
http://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/YogaTrip

Frisport Trip

   https://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/FirstFrisportTrip

I realize its been a while since my last post but I have been very busy/tired so I hope everyone understands that.  Lets start by saying that my three day camping/kayaking trip was amazing.  We packed our bags, filled the bus with food, the car with kayaks, and headed up river on Tuesday.

    I jumped the gun a little on this post actually.  Before packing the bags and heading out on our trip the 10 students in Frisport all got together in our classroom to have a little pep talk about the trip.  This was an important meeting because we discussed what our 3 days would consist of as well as some pointers for kayaking.  After the meeting we all took a trip to the kitchen to pick up some food.  And now we can continue from where we started at the beginning of the post.

    Because we have 10 people in Frisport, plus the teacher, 5 kayaks, and gear we had to take two cars to get around.  One was a bus which had everyones backpacks, food and everyone except for me and my friend Audun.  We took another bus that had all the kayaks in it.  It was nice to get our own bus.  We listened to the radio and got a little more leg room ;)  Pretty soon we would be at our first stop which was only about 10 minutes away from the school.  Now because we have 10 people in Frisport we split the class into two groups of 5.  I was in the first group to go kayaking.  The main subject for that first day was learning how to go in and out of the currents or eddies as theyre called in kayaking terms.  And as we worked on some more paddling the other group walked down the river where they would meet us later on.  After about 2 hours of kayaking and going about a mile down stream we met up with the other group and drove the kayaks back up the river.  Now it was the other groups turn and just like they had waited for the first group I had to now wait with the second group, but that was nice because I got to rest and talk with the people in my group a little and get to know them more.  Soon enough the second group was done and we packed everything up again and headed to the camp ground that we would be staying at for the next three days.

   Now im not the biggest fan when it comes to camping but I got used to it those three days.  Setting up the tents wasnt a problem at all.  The trouble was making a fire when it was raining...  That was difficult but after a while we got a small fire going.  And after some stories by the cam fire we went to bed.

    Day 2 was a good day.
We practiced swimming in the river so if we ever fell out of our kayaks in the river we would know what to do.  Jumping into a ice-cold, fast moving river took a second to sink in as practice but after the first jump in I only wanted to do it more and more.  And that was good because I got very used to swimming in the river, even with fast currents.  We also practiced throwing safety lines from land into the water.  And rite as we all thought we were done, our teacher jumped in without any warning.  I threw threw him a line, except... I didnt have such a great hold on the end of the line and lost it.  He got out no problem without the line though and when he got out he was happy that I didnt grab the end of the line so that he could prove a point that under stressful situations you need to remain calm so that you dont make stupid mistakes.. like not holdin the end of the line...  I didnt get in trouble because of it or anything though, we just all laughed over it, but it was still a good lesson.  We grabbed some lunch after swimming to warm up because even with wetsuits you get a little cold after swimming in ice cold water for a few hours.  That felt really good, to eat.  It doesnt just fill you up but it also helps you get warm.  And as soon as we were warmed up it was back into the water, except this time with our kayaks, and instead of our normal groups of 5 we split into boys and girls.  Of course the boys went first, even after a fair game of rock, paper, scissors ;)  We practiced rolling the kayaks.  That is deffinately the hardest thing to do in my opinion.  Not only is it physically hard but just the fact of having your exposed head under freezing cold water is extremely unpleseant.  Major brain freeze...  Unfortunately no one was able to do the complete flip but im sure after a little more practice everyone will have it soon.  When the guys were done the girls suited up and got into the kayaks as the guys stripped down and started dinner.  We ate on the rocks and watched the girls kayak.  It was a great day!  Lots of sun and warm air.  All the guys were laying out on the rocks soaking up the sun and when the girls got out they did the same.  Everyone got to know each other pretty well that day.  After a long rest on the rocks we headed back to camp where me and Audun made a huge fire on the side of the river.  We made hotdogs and told some stories then it was off to bed again.

    Day 3 was the day we would go off a 2-meter waterfall.
After breaking down camp in the morning and packing the busses we headed out for our final kayaking destination of our trip.  This time the girls went first and that was nice because it gave the guys time to check out the river and what we would be kayaking through.   The start wasnt that bad at all, we did have on girl flip and bang her bead a little but nothing serious, just a little black eye.  But when we got to the end there was a 2-3meter waterfall (6-9foot).  Both groups got to go over it twice and as intimidating as that was.. it was probably my favorite part of the trip.  We got some great pictures and ill be sure to collect some from the other people in frisport but until then ill put up my pictures.

First week done =D

 Before I get into today, the picture to the right was the view from our first hike as a school a few days ago.

Now, its Sunday and I've finished my first year here in Voss!  Its been a great week and so much has happened already.  The first day I had dedicated to my major, frisport, we had some class time explaining what we would do this year and then went down town to do this..
I definitely didnt think that this was possible, but by the end of the day I could make it to the end and almost back.  Some of the the others did as well, maybe 2 or 3 of them so me and my friend Audun had to do better.  We did handstands.  Ill be sure to put pictures of that up later!

The next day we spent the day dancing.  Now I was a little skeptical about that, but it turned out being my favorite day.  The school was split into 4 groups and sent to different rooms where they would learn a dance.  After 45 minutes we would switch rooms and move onto the next. The first dance, strip the willow, was a group dance that one of the students from Scotland taught us.  The next was a series of traditional folk dances that I dont know the name of..  Then we moved onto the next room and did waltz which was one of my favorites and probably the hardest.  Got to dance and get to know some great girls here.  Finally, we did another traditional folk dance, which again I cant remember the name of.  After dinner the entire school got together in the gym and did all the dances we had learned during the day while the teachers sang and played music.  That has been my favorite day so far.

Along with your major you choose a minor, or elective.  I chose drawing and yoga.  Now, as good as yoga made me feel I was so sore afterwards.  Its a good thing to have though because I am doing a lot of training up here (lifting).

Finally today was our day of, Sunday, so I took advantage and slept until around 11:30.  I got some training in and then went to dinner which was at 3:00.... Its going to take a while to get used to that.  After dinner Me and some guys went to town where we went swimming and saw a huge fire.  Apparently a gas station had caught on fire in town.. not the best thing to happen.  It turned out to be ok though, the response time was very good and it got put out very quickly.

And now its Sunday night and my second week starts tomorrow.  We're going to test out the kyyacks tomorrow and then will be on a trip from Fednsday to Friday.  Im very exited to do that and will be taking plenty of pictures.

Quick Post

I have to do this quick post about yesterday because it was just that good and because I heard from my dad the other day that my two little brothers have been checking my blog every day so this ones for you guys ;)

Hope you like it! And i think the video will be able to do all the explaining.

First Day

Woke up at a little before 7:00 this morning.. Man it's been a long day.  I left the hut at around 8:00 after having waffles with the family to head off to Voss.

We arrived at 10:30 and we warmly greeted by the staff of the school.  They were extremely nice and after saying hi we were giving a quick tour of the campus.  Simply put, the place is amazing.  My room is great and the room mate couldnt be better.  6:00 was our first official meeting and it came up very fast.. I said bye to the fam.  That was a sad moment and I'll miss my bros...

But, this is the start of a great year and im very much looking forward to it!

So.. I see why they cal it a "folk" highschool now.  During the first meeting/gathering where we were given all the instructions and rules (in Norwegian) we sang.. at least 3 songs,  and the teachers sang, and they introduced themselves and then they called us by name and had us stand up and say a quick hello so everyone could see us real quick.  It was definitely a new experience.. and then after that a spread of bread and toppings for dinner.  The whole thing is just so different then America, but that being sad its pretty sweet =D

Im going to end it here tonight though because its been a long day and im tiered but ill be sure to write more next time and through some pictures in as well.

Wednsday

As usual, Norway is awesome.  Thats the way its always been.  Even the one year that it rained everyday , I can still remember having the best time.  That is when the fishing is the best anyways ;)  This year however, has been sunny almost everyday and the past few days have been so full I have hardly had time to sleep.  
Saturday we left the hut for the Solstrand Hotel to celebrate my grandparents aniversery.  I cant even find the words to descibe how amazing this place was.  Over all the hotels I have stayed at this is deffinatley the best one and I would highly recommend even visiting if you're ever in Norway.  The view, rooms, food, pool, and location were just unreal.  And on top of staying at the Solstrand, I had all my Norwegian cousins, aunts and uncles, and of course my grandarents.  That makes for a p-r-e-t-t-y cool weekend.  I'll post some pictures but keep in mind you can't experience the entierty of the place unless you go.
Monday I went on a trip with my mum and bestefare to find a backpack.  We stopped by three or four stores before we came to the Norwegian version of Dicks Sporting Goods, XXL.  We got some help from one of the employees and found a great pack.  The guy helping us had used a similar one in his training for the millitary and said it lasted him the whole year.  That sounds pretty good considering he ran with 55lbs. everyday during his training.  There was no problem desiding on this pack.  Thank you so much to my bestefare for the not only the pack but also finding finding the best one for this year!
Tuesday we borrowed my cousin Jorgen's boat and went out to the "big blue" as my little brother quoted from Nemo.  It only took us about a hour, not too long at all.  And after passing the last little island there was nothing but water.  There was a cool breeze and huge rollers but thankfully there was a clear blue sky that warmed us up enough to stay.  We ate some lunch and dropped a line.  The fishing was alright, a few fish here and there, nothing compared to our favorite spot though.  Ohh but thats a secrect, only people who come and visit get to know ;)  And speaking of that spot, we caught a 18 pounder the other day!
And now we are at today, Wednsday.



(Pictures https://picasaweb.google.com/norsyn/20110812)

Day Two

It was a quick flight over to Norway.  The trip to Iceland was only 4hr 20min and then only another 1hr 50min to Norway.   However, I only got 1 hout the whole trip
...  I fell asleep sooo fast that night.  Even running on no sleep I still managed to get a new phone, a adress and visit my grandparents.  Of course with the help of my mum and Jorgen.
And now its the 9th.  I will be here at my summer house for the next week and a half, after which I will start school.  The internet over here at my summer house is very poor so
bare with my for the next few days on posts and relpys.  As soon as I am at school I will have high-speed internet and will be on top of posting, relpying and skyping.

Im outside trying to get a good signal and its freezing because of all the wind. So on that note, im heading in.

The Trip Begins

Leaving my house in 8 hours..

    So the one thing everyone asks me when I tell them about Norway is are you nervous.  Well, even though I'm heading across the pond to go to school in a Norway for a year.. no not really.  I mean maybe a little but the thing is I already have so much in Norway.  I have visited almost every year and even though I can only speak some of the language I can understand just about everything everyone says.  I have the best grandparents anyone could ask for and the rest of the family over there is just as great.  There's one person in-particular in my family over there however.  My older cousin Jorgen.  If he says I'm going to have a good time then I'm sure I will.  I think you'll come to see what I mean if you follow my trip through Norway because I'll hopefully get to work with him a lot =D

    I don't start school for another 2 weeks however, I will be in Norway tomorrow so I thought I'd start the blog now on my last day in America.  But I'll be back no worries!  I have so many great friends and family over here and I'm going to miss all of you!