First Weekend Trips

Norway is stunning. I've been on some road trips these past weekends and the scenery never ceases to impress. Unfortunately my camera (i.e. my Android, probably should have bought a new camera before I left....) never seems to capture exactly what I want but hopefully some of the below pictures are still able to impress....(and possibly inspire some people to travel to Norway :) )

View from a rest stop:

On a ferry ride:

View from the "Sky Bar" in Molde:

The "Atlantic Road". Sadly (not really) the weather was too nice and didn't get to experience waves pounding away at the low bridges along the road (apparently quite the site to see). I'll take the amazing weather while I can!

Portable/Disposable "BBQs." You can buy these foil bad boys all over the place and they're perfect for grilling on the go/spontaneous BBQs:

View at Kristiansund:

Kristiansund "beach." The water is so clear and clean, I love it. I even went for another brief swim...for a minute.

View from Kristiansund tower followed by what may be my best travel selfie to date:

Boat building workshop where some old sail boat replicas are handmade:

Rest stop by a lake:

Proof that I'm taking selfies of my own free will, not because I'm alone and have no one willing to take a picture of me.... CoMEM class of 2016 (most of them):

It hasn't been only all about traveling and fun and scenery these past two weeks, I have also been going to school and making important life decisions. This past week I decided (with a 70% confidence rate) to switch my master's track from a more technical environmental coastal engineering degree to a track more geared towards marine management. I will still be moving to Barcelona next semester to take some more technical courses but next year instead of attending school in Southampton, England I will be taking some management courses and completing my thesis in London. While living in London for a year is obviously a major draw over Southampton (I'd be lying if I claimed it didn't influence my change of heart ever so slightly), it's not the primary reason for the change. I do believe getting a masters that has both a technological and business background plays to my strengths the best. Besides, if I come back to work in the US after I finish school, I can always get my PE to give me more pure engineering cred. I'm still not completely certain but no need to delve to deeply into my indecisive mind and I have some time before a final decision needs to be made so...to be continued!

I think I mentioned in the last post about lacrosse? Well, I've been to a few practices now and I have to say it is so much fun to be able to play again and any worries I had about the inexperience of the team were completely unfounded. These girls are athletes, all of them and lets face it, I am NOT in my lacrosse prime anymore (nor will I ever get back to that point, not in a semester). But more importantly, it is so much fun just to pick up a stick and run around again! I don't know if I'll be able to play in any games but even if I can't, I'm happy to just participate in some line drills :).

Mr and Mrs Sparky McElroy will be in town tomorrow and I'm excited to finally be able to go out and enjoy some of the restaurants here (also excited to them of course). I'm sure Sparky McElroy will provide regular updates and photos on Facebook for everyone's enjoyment :)