Besseggen, updates & rose procession

This weekend was intense. Hiking Besseggen was probably the most intense thing I have ever done.. not even kidding; but it was SOOO worth it! By the end of the 8 hour hike my legs were shaking and my knees were sore, but I DID IT :) I also saw some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of beautiful things from traveling around the world through SAS. The views from up in the mountains in Jotunheimen National Park were just spectacular!!! There's just nothing like it. The scenery just didn't even seem real, since it was so beautiful. It looked as if a screen was set up in the background..

Saturday 23.07: The first thing we did was go to Valdres Folk Museum, which was pretty similar to the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo. We then traveled to Jutunheimen National Park where we went on a reindeer safari! As fun as it sounds, it was actually quite miserable. The entire time (approx. 3 hours) it was downpouring and there was no designated path through out the entire hike, so we were pretty much bush wacking into this wide open field in the mountains, ha ha. We had to walk through streams, over bushes; the works. Although it wasn't nice weather, the scenery was still pretty to look at! Half way through when we were about to lose hope we finally spotted a little herb of reindeer that seemed to be coming in our direction! Being drenched and cold, had suddenly all been worth it. After the safari we went to Lake Gjende where we took a short boat ride to the resort where we would be staying the night--Memurubu, which was at the base of Basseggen. It reminded me of some of the hostels that I stayed in, in different countries on SAS, but this was a lot bigger and had a MUCH better view!!


Jutunheimen National Park


On the reindeer safari!


Boat ride over Lake Gjende


View from our room!


Memurubu

Sunday 24.07: I was up bright and early at 7am to get ready for a long day over Besseggen. A little after 8am we set off for our 8 hour long hike!! Here is the route of our hike and some information about it:





The first 4.5-5 hours of hiking were pretty strenuous and when you thought that you climbed to the highest point, you were always wrong! It just kept getting gradually steeper, and steeper until it came to a point where we were literally "bouldering" or almost rock climbing up to the summit. Right before we got to this point though it started to thunder and lightning.. oh, and it started hailing too!!! Just our luck. I'm SO glad that it didn't last too long, because I was pretty freaked out. We all got SOAKED and even if you were completely prepared for the hike, you weren't at all for the weather that we were confronted with. Every step of the way brought more new and spectacular views that not even the camera could do any justice. I was in awe hiking Besseggen.. everything from the color of the sea, the glacier lakes, the glaciers themselves, or the waterfalls; it was all so breathtaking. Even though the way up the mountain was the most intense, I thought that hiking back down the other side was the most difficult for me, because of my knee. In the end though, it was all worth it. Yes, I was sore and still am today and boy was I exhausted, and still am, but I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat. I would hope for better weather though next time and perhaps a little longer recovery on my knee ;)


Start of the hike & look how sweaty I already am!


Pretty view.


It felt like I was on top of the world..


The view that Besseggen is most famous for.. when the sea meets the glacier lake.


Our final destination--Gjendesheim.

Today (or yesterday now), 25.07.2011, was the rose procession in Oslo, in memory of those who died and those who are still missing from the attacks on Friday, 22.07.2011.. it was VERY powerful. It is being reported that there were approx. 200,000 people that were present (crazy)! and I am so happy that I was able to be apart of such a special day in Norway. The death toll right now is already up to 93 and it is still expected to rise, because it still hasn't accurately been confirmed yet of the number of people who died in the Government Building and who are still missing on Utøya. The news here has been announcing every day a handful of the victims' names who passed away. Apparently, the massacre on Utøya is the largest massacre that has happened in world history, not relating to war.. this is insane!!! The bomb has now been confirmed as a car bomb, placed right outside the Government Building by Anders Behring Breivik, the man responsible; for the shootings on the island too. He had been caught on a surveillance camera, leaving the car outside. Apparently he had these events planned for 9 years! He also had written a 1,500 page manifesto stating his idealisms and motives for the events. This man makes me absolutely sick and he seems to be loving every minute of it.. in his manifesto he wrote about the different phases of such events and what will come next. He was sentenced today for 8 weeks in complete isolation until they figure out the next step with his punishment.

So, anyways.. Anders, his mother and myself, went to the city hall where the rose procession took place. The prime minister spoke, as well as the prince of Norway and other important figures and everybody was holding at least one rose, or flower. There was a sea of people that seemed to stretch beyond which the eye could see!! I have never seen so many people in one place in my entire life.. it was a crazy site to witness. Everyone was in sync with each other and when everyone held their roses up in the air, it was a moving moment--time seemed to stand still then. After the speeches and some entertainment we walked down to the church where there was a HUGE bed of flowers and candles. The whole city was being decorated though, with roses, flowers, candles and flags.. you couldn't walk down a street without them, or without the crowds of people. We laid our flowers on the sides of buildings and on a fence which marks the closest you could get to the street where the bomb had gone off. You could see broken windows and rumble.. it was devastating. The streets were all filled with love though, as the prime minister and all the other speakers said. It was definitely a day to remember.











I realize that this post has become extremely long, so I will wrap it up now--it's almost 2:30am here and I have to wake up 8am to get ready for class, which probably wasn't the smartest thing on my part to do, but I wanted to make sure to update everyone! It is also my last week of Norwegian class before our final exam next, which means that this week I need to catch up and study A LOT!! I am also going to a friend's cabin this weekend (which we call 'hyttetur'); the same one that I went to last summer. I am looking forward to it!! :)

Off to bed now.. hopefully I'll be able to get up tomorrow morning!! Have a great week everyone! Lots of love <3

wow.. is this really happening!?

Today (22.07.2011) around 3:30pm in downtown Oslo was a bomb that went off either outside, or inside the government buildings, more so targeted near the Prime Minister's office. It has not been confirmed yet the exact location of where the blast came from, but it was sure heard miles away. At the time of the explosion I was in a cafe with my Norwegian teacher and some classmates practicing Norwegian, a few miles away, when we heard a very loud "BOOM." At first we thought it was thunder, then we were told shortly after that there had been an explosion downtown. It seemed to be targeted toward important political figures' offices, but it has been confirmed that they were not present in the building at the time of the explosion, and are safe.

I am also SAFE and OK, along with Anders and his family, so don't want any of you guys to worry!!! It's definitely a scary thing though and I am really shaken up. I just can't believe that this is happening right now.. it is a mystery at this point of who did it and why. Norway is one of the safest countries in the world.. this is a HUGE deal. Buildings are still on fire from the explosion, even hours after, and windows of buildings even miles away have been shattered from the pressure and intensity of the bomb. Anders' mother picked me up at the cafe where I was at and we are ALL safe and sound back in Rykkinn, which is a good half hour away from Oslo. We have been watching the news for hours (I can't understand a word they are saying), but I know the seriousness of the event.

All over the Norway news I can see people walking the streets, bloody and injured.. it makes me queasy. There is many people injured from the fallen glass and the explosion itself and 7 people have been confirmed dead, but there will be more to follow. They have said that they know of more dead bodies in the building, but authorities have not confirmed yet how many.. also on an island nearby called Utøya, where a political camp is held every summer, an un-identified man in a police costume open fired on the campers. We were just told that the man has been caught, but many people are wounded.

These attacks don't seem to be just a coincidence.. the government building and a political summer camp?? Someone or some group is attacking the Norwegian government; most likely a terrorist group. It is the first bomb EVER to go off in Norway since the second world war!! The man that was caught on Utøya is rumored to comment that there will be 2 more attacks to follow, but we don't know whether that's true or not.. he also is rumored to be connected to Al-Qaeda, but seems to be Norwegian himself. I really hope that nothing else will happen; it'll be way too much to handle. Here is a link to articles on CNN, being aired in the US:

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/22/norway.explosion/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

And some pictures I found on Google:


Smoke from the blast over Oslo.


View of some of the aftermath on the streets.


Casualities and injuries adding up..

I still am so shocked and can't believe that this has happened! It is going to take months, most likely, to be able to clean up the mess caused my the explosion downtown. Oslo has become one of my favorite cities in this world, but now for a while I won't be able to enjoy all that is has to offer as well as have a cloud of fear over my head until dots are connected to these tragic events, both in downtown Oslo and on Utøya :(


On a much brighter note.. my knee brace was FINALLY approved by the insurance companies back home and arrived in Norway this afternoon. Now I will be able to be more active in outdoor activities, because I will have the confidence to do more, with its support. The Besseggen hiking trip this weekend is still on, which I am still looking forward in attending.. it's supposed to be cloudy though and under 10° C (under 50° F) at the top, but could be even colder; the conditions are unpredictable, so I will have to make sure that I pack warm clothing and rain gear. We are departing from school at 7:30am tomorrow and will be returning around 11:30pm on Sunday. On Saturday we will be going to the Valdres Folk Museum as well as taking a boat ride over lake Gjende to a cabin in the mountains, called Memurubu, where we will be spending the night. Sunday is when we will hike back over Basseggen, which can take up to 8 hours.

Yesterday, Anders, his mom and myself went exploring in the woods near their home and I got to see a cave carved in the middle of this mountain--it was really neat!! Here is a picture of Kristin and I:



Earlier in the week Anders and I hiked up Solfjellstua again and FINALLY got a picture from the top! It was cloudy, but the pictures still came out nice :)





This week has been the hardest week so far in Norwegian class.. I am absolutely dreading the final exam in 2 weeks. I've had a very "off" week and today has just been a bad day.. I was a little home sick starting in the morning, followed by a really hard Norwegian test and then the attacks in Oslo in the afternoon. I hope that I will have a good time on my hiking trip this weekend and that people remain safe in Oslo..

ANOTHER UPDATE: it has been confirmed that at the moment 20-25 people have been confirmed dead on Utøya, but the news says for us to be prepared for many more. Subway stations have also been closed down because of an un-identified object found. This is sickening!!! I will update more after the weekend though, including how my trip went.. I am praying that no other attacks will occur. May all those that have died RIP <3

the long weekend has ended.

It was very nice to have a 4-day weekend off from Norwegian class.. Thursday-Sunday. Ever since I started class, I've felt like I have been a little sleep deprived and every one of the 4 days I have slept in, sometimes until after 1pm!!! I don't remember the last time I have ever done that, but I guess it was definitely needed. Now tomorrow I will need to be up again by 8am so that I can catch the bus to class.

On Wednesday I still ended up going to Vigeland Park (the one with the sculptures) and just laid out in the sun.. it was really nice!! Right before that we had our mid-term for class, which we will find out tomorrow how we did on! On Thursday, while Anders went golfing and to a soccer match, with some of his guy friends, I met up with my Columbian friend, Ana Maria, at a park nearby where she lives. It was also really nice and was right by the river. There we sun bathed, met a couple of her friends and BBQed right in the park! That seems to be a favorite pastime of Norwegians in the summertime.. buying a disposable grill and throwing some hot dogs on it! It has also become a favorite thing of mine to do too.

The culture here is sooo different.. everyone, for the most part, are more laid-back and tend to mind their own businesses more. Right when we were in the park you can see people changing from or into their bathing suits, right in clear view of everyone else (holding a towel up of course though). If an American was to do that on the beach in the US, they would get in trouble for indecent exposure. Some people even sun bathe topless too (the older crowd mostly). Here is a picture of yet another waterfall; one that was near the park where we were:



Later that night we went out for a few drinks and my Ukrainian friend Julia and Anders met up with us. People here don't "go out" until really after midnight so we didn't see many people out. Anders and I left around midnight so we could catch the last bus back to Rykkinn. There is a late bus that runs on Fridays and Saturdays, starting after 2:30am, for people to get home from the bars and clubs. On Friday the whole family (Anders, his brothers Henrik & Benjamin, his mom, his stepdad, stepbrother & myself) all went to see the last Harry Potter movie in theatres. I thought it was really good and definitely recommend to go see, if you are a fan :)

Friday night me and the boys (Anders and a few of his friends) went out in Oslo to one of their favorite spots--Fugazi. It's a pretty cool nightclub, that makes you kind of feel like you are in a back alley and usually the roof is opened up, but wasn't that night. We stayed out until around 3:30am and took a taxi home. By the time we made it home, a little after 4am, the sun was out!! It's very expensive to go out in Oslo, so it definitely won't be an every weekend thing. Between the 2 of us (Anders & I) we spent approximately $150.. it's pretty outrageous. It was worth it though! Some bars/clubs in the Oslo have age limits though (a preference on the clientele allowed in) and I was rejected at one, because I wasn't over 24--so you must be aware of where you decide to go, because you may not be able to get in everywhere!!


Inside Fugazi.



Yesterday we went to a beach, nearby in Sandvika, on an island called Kalvøya. The weather was really nice, so we stayed there for a few hours. We didn't do much after that.. I did my homework, we had dinner, I went to the gym late and then we caught up on some True Blood episodes that we've missed! Today is going to be a lazy day.. not going to Sweden anymore, but we will have a chance to go in a couple weekends when we go to a friend's cabin, which is near the border. We've been watching a lot of Tour de France, so if that's on we'll be watching that and also we'll be watching our favorite soccer team, Vålerenga, tonight on TV. Sports were always a big part of my life growing up, but I never really ever got into a professional sports' team (besides the Boston teams occassionally), but I'm finding that I enjoy watching and going to the Vålerenga games now.


The beach on Kalvøya.

This week will be my 4th week of Norwegian class--I can't believe it!! Time is flying by.. I still haven't figured out any more on the Visa stuff and finding a job though, but will continue to look into it this week. Next weekend is my big hiking trip to Besseggen! I'm really excited for it.. and will need to go on a couple hikes this week to get ready for it. My ACL knee brace has FINALLY been approved by my insurance companies, so my mom sent it to me and it should arrive by Friday at the latest, just in time for the trip! I still don't know anybody elso who is going on it, but I'm sure that I will find someone to hang out with.. regardless though, I'm looking forward to it though. Anders and some of his friends haven't even been there so now I, the American, can be their tour guides when they do, ha ha ;)

Livet er bra ☮

This week of class will be cut short tomorrow for a long weekend! YAHOO!! My brain needs a break and I need to catch up on some sleep, ha ha. Just in 2 more days we are crusing through chapter 9; a chapter per day we have been learning! Chapter 8 is all about traveling and vacation vocab and chapter 9 is basically about what you like to do in your free time; different activities and how to use them in context. We have a test tomorrow on chapters 6 & 7. So far I've gotten a 91% on chapters 1 & 2 and a 90% on chapters 3-5. Hoping to stay within the same range for this time around too.

So, I've been working out at that new gym, Fitness Room, and I love it! I've been going after class and it has been really nice. Last night we took a little trip to this lake in "Pocket Valley" where we went fishing!! We didn't have any worms though, so we only used lures, which isn't as fun! I didn't catch anything, but Anders caught a small fish. There was also this gorgeous waterfall in the area, so I had to take a picture of it.. it came out very nicely!!


Anders' little fish!


So beautiful.

Tomorrow I will be going to the famous Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo, which is a lot of fun and will be my first time there this summer (I went last summer). I'm going with my two friends from class after our test to relax. Here is a couple pictures of some of the sculptures that are there (that I took last summer):





Thursday I will be hanging out with my two friends from class again as well, not sure what we are doing though, depends on the weather!! Maybe some shopping, going to the beach, the park.. whatever! Also going to go to my first bar in Oslo that night, so it should be fun!! My friends are Anna Maria, from Columbia, and Julia, from Ukraine. They are both going back to their countries in August, after our class is over, but they both want to come back to Norway too. Who knows; maybe I'll be able to even go and visit them someday too!

I don't have any set plans for the rest of the weekend, but I'm sure it will be eventful. We may go to Sweden on Sunday, just because it's right next door, but very exciting for me, since I've never been!! Right now I am drinking one of my new favorite, relaxing, beverages; Indian chai tea with soy milk. It's very delicious. I'm addicted. I need to study for my test too and hopefully will be going to bed a little earlier tonight. It's 10pm and it's still light outside.. so bizarre. Definitely something I won't get used to for a while.

Livet er bra = Life is good :)

recap.

2 weeks down and 4 more to go.. I can't believe that I have cruised through 2 weeks of Norwegian class already!! The lessons are beginning to get harder and if you don't have good time management skills then it's easy to get behind. I am a little behind, but this weekend I have been working hard to not only do the homework that is due on Monday, but also the optional homework, so that I can get lots of practice! Before, when I always had to get Anders or someone else to help me with my homework, I am now beginning to be able to do it/and figuring it out all by myself! That is a pretty big step for me, because now I am recognizing words and phrases without even thinking twice about it and without having to ask Anders, his friends, or family. We had another test on Friday and we'll find out tomorrow how we did.. granted I think that the test was a lot more difficult than the first one, I think I did okay on it! I have my fingers crossed.

We are now completely through Chapter 7 in the book, which is crazy. Here is a little recap on the stuff that I have learned so far:

Chapter 1: Hva heter du?
-How to introduce yourself to others
-How to tell where you are from & where you live
-Hva gjør de? (What are they doing?) Examples: learning basic/daily verbs used most often
-Pronouns, question words (the words that usually begin a question, if not a verb), & sentence order
-Alphabet

Chapter 2: Snakker du norsk?
-Land og språk (Land of language) or basically; nationalities & how to correctly write & pronouce them
-Different professions/careers you can have
-More vocab expressions
-How to make a sentence negative (adding no & not)

Chaper 3: Familien
-Numbers
-Letter vocab (what's included with sending one)
-Some store vocab (what you can buy in one)
-Family vocab (including titles just as mother, father, sister, brother, etc.)
-Kitchen vocab (what's generally in one)
-Meal & food vocab (especially what you eat for breakfast; frokost)
-Grammar: ubestemet & bestemet forms of nouns (singular & prural)
-Pronouns for nouns
-More question words

Chapter 4: En vanlig dag
-Normal daily living vocab (such as showering, brushes teeth/hair, etc.)
-Some home vocab (such as, living room vocab--what's in it)
-Fruits & vegetables
-Pronouns (subject & object forms)
-Prepositions (up, down, under, etc.)

Chapter 5: Hva er klokka?
-How to tell time (how to read, write & say it)
-More daily activities (getting out of bed, eating breakfast, going to work, etc.)
-Some cafe vocab
-Infinitive & present forms of verbs
-Modalverbs
-The difference between words with movement & no movement (Example: Han skal ut = He shall go out vs. Han er ute = He is out.)
-Days of the week

Chapter 6: På kjøpesenteret
-Shopping center/bakery vocab
-Colors
-Clothing vocab
-TONS more grammar, question words, adjectives & phrases

Chapter 7: Vær og årstider
-Weather & seasons vocab
-The different months of the year
-More clothing vocab (associated with winter)
-Some climate & temperature vocab
-Reflexsive pronouns
-Indirect & direct speech and more prepositions

This is just what we learn, in a nutshell, in each of the chapters. It doesn't include the SLEW of vocab and verbs that we learn every class from discussions, or dialogs in the text. Tomorrow we will begin to dive right into Chapter 8 which is about traveling. As you can probably imagine, I am a little overwhelmed with the amount of information that I've learned in just a 2 week span!!!

Other than classes last week, I was doing homework a lot of the days when I returned home from school, but was also able to be a little more active. Anders' mother bought me new hiking boots as a late birthday present (because I seemed to have misplaced mine back in the US), so I have been breaking those in from time to time! There is a mountain, a rather small one, right in Anders' backyard (for the most part) and it is a lovely hour hike with a beautiful view of all of Rykkinn at the top. I've been meaning to take my camera up there so that I can take a picture. Here is a picture I found on the internet though which isn't that bad. I'm trying to break the hiking boots in, so that I can be ready for the Basseggen hiking trip, which is only a short 2 weekends away!! I'm really looking forward to it. Some of the most beautiful views of fjords can be seen up there (you can also see where the water is two different colors, which is something it's famous for). Here is also a picture I found from the internet of what I can expect.


Solfjellstua


Basseggen.. gorgeous, no? :)

Yesterday Anders took me to the Norwegian Folk Museum which was a lot of fun!! It is this outdoor museum which shows what a lot of the buildings used to look like hundreds of years ago as well as showing some of the Native Sami peoples ways of living. Here are some more pictures!! I know you guys have been expecting some.


Anders standing in front of an old farmhouse


US :)


Me standing in front of an old wooden church

There was also some traditional music and dance that was preformed, so if you're interested, take a look:


I understand that this post is beginning to become too long, so I'm going to wrap it up! I have finally signed up for a gym membership in a city near by called Sandvika, which is at most only a 20 minute bus ride from Rykkinn. What's really cool about this particular gym is that there isn't official people that work there and in order to enter you punch in the code that was given to you when you signed up online. It's open Mon-Sun 6am-midnight, so I'm really looking forward to that!! I also signed up on this au pair/nannying site, maybe I'll be able to find some work in the area, but who knows! I will be going into the restuarant, that I may have mentioned before, where there is a possibility that I may have some work available for me! We'll see. I'm going to have to find a job either way for August, because that's when my class will be over. I also need to begin to finalize which visa I am going to apply for, which I would like to do before the first of August. There are just sooo many different options to choose from, so I need to make sure that I choose the correct one, because once my application is processing, I am not allowed to leave Norway until it's done processing, which I came to find out might take 9 months. Which means I won't be able to come home probably until next spring :( but I have to do it, so it's important!

I'll keep everything updated on that information though as time goes on! Have a good week everyone!! <3 Goodbye for now.

Happy Birthday USA!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY to all my friends and family back home! I wore my red, white and blue today, but it's not like I stuck out like a sore thumb or anything, because Norway's colors are also the same.

I've now had 1 full week of Norwegian classes and I have learned A TON!!! It's amazing how much I have soaked up and how much I will continue to learn everyday.. my vocabulary is growing very rapidly. I am now able to pick up words, here and there, when I'm out and about and have even been able to communicate a little at home with Anders and his family. I have even been able to exchange a few words with Anders' grandmother who can only count to 10 in english. She was very proud of me!! :)

We had our first test on Friday, on the first couple chapters and I got a 91% (out of 100%)!! Pretty good, right!? We have been tacking a lot of grammar lately, which is by far the hardest part of learning any language and we are learning several new words a day!

Since my last post I have met a lot of Anders' family, whom I hadn't met before, I've done a little hiking, some running, a little shopping, hanging out with friends and just enjoying this beautiful country <3 I cannot wait for people to come visit me at some point so that I can show them how much I love it here!

This week will probably be similar to last week.. as for the next 5 weeks to follow. The weather has been very unpredictable, similar to NH weather, so I'm hoping that this week the sun will come out some more. That would be nice!

XOXO