Selfies and Ice Bucks.......

In a little over a month I will be done with my first semester of CoMEM. Ugh, just typing that statement reminds me how much I need to study for exams on a day that I've been extremely lazy. It is so easy to find other things to do/watch on Netflix instead of studying. In fact, I just finished watching "Freaks and Geeks." How have I never watched that show before?! I'm obsessed.
Slacking aside, these last few weeks have been full of ups and downs. My grandmother died....that was a tough thing to deal with being so far away and without my family. I was able to go to the funerals of my other grand parents and it still feels a little incomplete that I couldn't go to hers....it's hard to put these feelings into words when you lose someone you love and I am certainly not very good at expressing my emotions outwardly but I will miss her. She was a great grandmother and I will forever be her "baby Kyle."

So, yeah, let's lighten the mood a little bit now. Speaking of light, there's less and less of it every day. I think it's only light outside now from 9 - 4:30ish but even when the sun is out it does not get very high in the sky. It's weird how it messes with your mood and attitude. I didn't think it would be that bad but already I can feel the short days taking their toll on me but I have to stay optimistic because it's only going to get worse. Some people say vitamin D supplements help so I'll have to give it a go. I need to force myself to work out at well and get those endorphin's pumping. I am not the best at motivating myself to go to the gym when it's cold and dark outside but hey, it's another way to procrastinate so maybe that'll give me the push I need....

I went on my last big trip of the semester last weekend to Iceland. It was a trip I'd been looking forward to for a couple months now and did not disappoint. For those of you who need a little background, my sister's boyfriend Cory spent the month of October touring around Europe with his band Spray Paint. They ended their tour in Reykjavik at the Iceland Airwaves music festival and when I heard Katy was going to Reykjavik to meet up with them I thought it would be really fun if I joined.
Interesting facts:

• Both Katy and I have traveled a lot internationally but we've never been anywhere outside of the US together (unless you count the border of Mexico which I certainly don't). 
• I'd never actually seen Cory play in ANY of his bands before. I know I know, how can that be? they've been dating for 6 six years and Cory has been a member of numerous bands with consistent gigs all over Austin. 

I don't know, I'm a bad sister (and maybe I was still holding out hope that he'd get back together with his Huey Lewis and the News cover band but I fear that's just a pipe dream). Regardless, both of those situations have now been rectified. My friend and extensive travel buddy Nadia also joined in on the trip which was just the cherry on the sundae. That trip marked the 9th country we've ever traveled to together, crazy. Anyways, the trip was fabulous though it didn't feel like I was in a foreign country. We spent most of our time in Reykjavik which Katy described as akin to a ski town in Colorado. I know it was a music festival (though, to be honest, it really just seemed like Austin on a normal weekend) and therefore filled with tourists, but it was still weird to hear so much English. Americans, Brits, they were EVERYWHERE. It was nice getting back on the plane to Norway and not understanding any of the conversations around me. We did get out of the city for one day and saw the countries major sites but to experience the full charm of Iceland's countryside I'm sure one has to spend a few days camping and hiking. Another trip for another time (in the summer). All in all, the trip was filled with:

• Geothermal hot pots. Didn't make it to the Blue Lagoon due to some technical difficulties but we did go to two of the cities many heated pools/hot pots. Very relaxing. No swim up bar but the largest one had a slide with disco lights. You've certainly got to be comfortable with nakedness though, they require you to shower without a swimsuit in the locker rooms before getting into the pools.
• Cheap beer. At least for me. In fact, everything was cheaper than Norway in general. It was great and it felt good to eat out, go to bars, and partake in good old fashioned gluttony without constantly thinking about the price.
• Music. It was nice to see some live music again, it's really been a while. Plus, I got to pull the "I'm with the band" card once and cut in line which can't help but make a person feel like a baller. I also got to witness the one and only time Spray Paint will ever rock out a hotel conference room. Awkward but priceless.
• Selfies. I don't know what it was but I was obsessed with taking selfies in Iceland. The city has a ton of statues every where and maybe it was the alliteration of the phrase "selfies with statues" that really appealed to me. A few of my favorites (most have already been put on facebook but I know I have a few readers who refrain from social media):
  
  
  

  

  Half face selfie. Tribute to my mother who is always taking this more artful form of a selfie. Really quite hard to do when you try.

  
  
  
  
  
  

And now some non selfie pictures of the scenery:

Apparently they used to drown women here back in the day. A common punishment for incest.....

Gullfoss waterfall. 

:

Nadia and I channeling our inner viking after touring the Saga Museum. A very interesting museum that has wax figure displays describing some Icelandic history. They're creepily life like and depict lovely scenes of war and beheadings.

I believe that summarizes almost everything. Enough procrastinating already, I need to study! But wait, Netflix now has all of "Gilmore Girls" available to watch.......

Business As Usual

Ok, so it's been a month since my last post... oops! But to be fair, it's not like I have interesting things happening to me all the time now. It's all very normal expect that normal just happens to be in Norway. I wake up, go to school, do homework, attend lacrosse practice when I can, and sometimes, on Fridays, I eat tacos. Yes, Taco Friday is a thing here and though they aren't Torchy's, it's meat in a tortilla with avocado and cheese and therefore still pretty awesome.
It sometimes amazes me how normal things now feel. The first weeks in a new place are always exciting, your senses are constantly being simulating by new sites, smells, and people but I honestly prefer this feeling, this...calmness. After all the glitz and glamour of moving to a new country wears off and after the pressure of trying to experience everything all at once wans, you suddenly wake up and realize "hey! this is home!" I don't know if I'm describing it accurately but I think everyone who has ever lived in a different country knows the feeling. People will ask you after you get back, "how was living in Norway?!" and you'll stop and think and all you can say is "it was just living!" Of course that's not to say things aren't different but it almost hard to describe how they're different, what that old "normal" used to be...........ok, I'm rambling. It seems like my ethics class is turning me into a philosopher....
Anyways, what's happened since my last post. My parents and aunt Neva came to visit which was very nice because I had a reason to do some of the touristy things I normally put off, like visit museums and churches. Of course, eating at some of the best restaurants in Trondheim was definitely the highlight of their visit. It's inspired me to check out some of the local cafes and bars more myself and to really put the whole "it's expensive" thought on the back burners. In fact, I'm really just sick of hearing people talk about expensive everything is (and try to stop myself from doing the same) because it's just become a boring subject matter. Yes, beer costs about $15 for a pint and yes, that's ridiculous, but I refuse for that to be the reason to keep me from going out to get a beer if someone invites me. I'll just drink one beer instead of the two (or three) I would normally drink back home and not only does it come out to about the same but a healthier life for me! :)
I also made it out to a cabin for a nice little weekend trip in the forrest. Getting out of the city and going to a cabin for the weekend is a very Norwegian thing to do, every family seems to have their own cabin in the mountains. There is also a student organization here that maintains several cabins for the students and it's a really activity popular among the foreign students to hike out and spend a night or two at the cabins, The cabins are very basic but the one I went to was super cozy.  Smores over an open fire, playing cards by candle light, good times with friends, it's just the perfect evening.

Hiking up to cabin

Preparing our firewood for the evening

The views from the nearby hilltops

Smores and wine by the camp fire. Didn't do that as a girl scout!

 I also took a trip to up to Lofoten, Norway with several people from my program. It's an archipelago above the arctic circle know for it's scenery: high cliff mountain cliffs near the sea, small white beaches... it really was one of the prettiest and unique landscapes I've ever seen. The image you get in your head of the fjords in Norway is what they look like in Lofoten. The weather wasn't even that great when we went and it was still beautiful, especially with all the trees changing color.... unfortunately due to technical difficulties (my sim card locked and I couldn't remember the code to unlock it) I didn't take any picture with my camera. Oops! But if you're on Facebook you probably saw some recent tagged pictures of me and they were from Lofoten. Hopefully I'll be able to steal some of these pictures soon for my own private collection....
And finally here are a few picture from a day hike I took up a mountain about an hour outside of Trondheim with my Norwegian friend Silje:

 My next big trip will be to Reykjavik where I'll get to see Cory and Katy (and possibly Nadia)! Very excited. Until then I'll just have to satisfy myself with more hikes, good times with friends, and enjoying this lovely fall weather before it gets bitterly cold and dark.

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 :)

Student Life

I'm about to finish up with my second week of classes and I'm certain I made the right decision returning to school for a master's degree. Yes, I've been a bit skeptical ever since I got accepted into the CoMEM program, not because I was uncertain about the program, but rather that I lacked the motivation and drive to actually complete a master's. Plus, writing a thesis has always intimidated me (still does). However, now that I'm back in the swing of things (it's crazy how easy it has been to fall back into student life) I'm finally excited for the opportunities the next two years will open up for me! The past two weeks have not been without their doubts, mainly when I realized how much I've "forgotten" since school, but thanks to khanacademy.org (seriously awesome website, wish it had been around when I was in high school physics) I've been able to resurrect some of that lost knowledge.
The one thing that makes me the most nervous about this semester is the fact that while we have "exercises" due every week and we have to pass 70% of them to be allowed to take the final exam, the whole grade for the class is determined purely by the final. I don't like that, I've never thought of myself as a good test taker and come end of November, I might be freaking out slightly.
So you're all probably looking for some pictures or maybe some stories about cool events but besides my jump off a wooden tower into the freezing fjord, I got nothing. I know I put it on Facebook but I really love this picture. I'm thankful to the stranger who took the picture then found me to ask if I wanted him to email me a copy:

The jump was for an art film of some sort, they wanted people to jump into the water with their clothes on followed by other people jumping into the water bare-butt (what is art without some nudity). You can use this swimming area all year round, and I am told there are some Norwegians that Polar Bear Club it up, but like most things it costs some money so I'm thankful I got to use it for free.

I suppose I turned 28 last week too. Crazy. The other students in CoMEM made me a card which was extremely thoughtful and I did go out and have a couple beers. I actually participated in a sort of scavenger/go around the city and do silly things event put on by one of the Engineering student groups. The below photo was taken as we tried to get strangers to help us make a pyramid (the only stranger was the elderly fellow, the others were a part of my group).....silly but pretty fun. Oh! and I won the challenge for tying a bowline knot the fastest! Thank you GLDD!

Maybe I was too cool to participate back in the day but I do not remember having as many "getting to know people" programs/games back when I started college. Norwegians love this stuff! In fact there are just so many groups in general that a student can join here that I find it pretty inspiring. A lot of stuff is run/taken care of by the students (cabins, the student society which hosts a lot of parties, the sports groups/facilities). Again, I don't remember there being so much when I started school at UT but I think I just knew I was going to play lacrosse and didn't look around so much at anything else.  Speaking of lacrosse, there's a team here that plays other Norwegian teams and I believe travels to some European tournaments. It's a young team, only three years old and most people have played only one or two years. I'm a bit on the fence about joining mainly for that reason (it might be like high school all over again) but I know they want me because of my experience. We'll see, there are "Try Outs" tomorrow so it'll give me a chance to check things out and besides, it'll be nice to do something besides school that involves exercise.  

This weekend I'm going away for some sightseeing so hopefully my next post will have more scenic pictures and involve more actual traveling! 

And I would walk 500 miles........

I'm exhausted. I wish I had a fit bit to tell me how much I've actually walked this week though I don't think a fit bit knows when you're walking up hill which is primarily how I've justified the fact that I haven't "worked out" since I've been here. But really, all my natural resources are dwindling, my brain, my body, my social skills... I need to take some time and recharge...maybe sleep for 12 hours.
I don't even know where to start because this week has been filled with so much new information, people, and experiences. I have to give the International Office some credit, they've put together a pretty good orientation week. This week I went on two hiking trips, a boat tour, learned
how to play "kubb," a viking lawn game, and tonight the final activity is watching the Norwegian movie "The Troll Hunter." It feels like I've been going to camp all week rather than preparing to return to school....

Maybe some pictures will help break the ice? I am experiencing some major writers block.
The below picture is part of my walk to campus. There are several ways to get to campus but my favorite (and fortunately the shortest) is a path through a a really pretty wooded area. I love taking this walk and plan to use it for as long as I can before the weather forces me to take the bus more. Just in case you were wondering, I've vetoed the bike idea and got a bus pass instead. There are just too many steep hills....

The next two pictures are from my first hike which was up in the hills on the western side of the city I believe. We hiked for a few hours and stopped at a few really nice view points and a lake on the way back down to the city. I'm getting better at taking selfies I think!

The second hike was yesterday along the fjord and ending at Korsvika Beach (the bottom picture) where people could swim if they felt so inclined. I feel like a bit of a wimp but I just couldn't bring myself to take the plunge, though I did wade out a bit. BRRRRRRRRRR.... If there had been a place to jump in and get it over with all at once I think I might have summoned the couraged...

It really is very beautiful around here and I think I've been lucky this first week because the weather was pretty nice the whole week. Today it's grey and rainy and it looks like the forecast for the week is much of the same so I'm very thankful I was able to take advantage of the nice weather while I had it the chance!

My fourth roommate finally showed up late this week and we (my other roommates) and I were very excited when she turned out to be Norwegian! It seems like they tried to keep exchange students together so I feel like we won the lottery to get our very own Norwegian. I think she'll be a valuable information source.
I also met all the other people in the same program as me. There's 11 of us total I believe from many different places, Canada, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, India, Spain, Serbia, and there's even a guy from Gaza though I haven't met him yet. Not surprisingly, he had some technical difficulties getting here but I do believe he has arrived. It seems like a good group and I look forward to getting to know them better. In fact, I look forward to getting to know several of the people that I met this week better over the semester. It's always overwhelming meeting so many new people knowing that most of them will just become a familiar face to smile at when you pass them on the path to school but every once in a while you meet a person where the conversation flows a bit easier, more naturally, and you think "hey, I can see myself really getting to know this person."  I've met a few of those this week; let's just hope the feeling was mutual :).

Hmmm, what else...maybe some people are wondering if Norway really is that expensive and the answer is yes, yes it is indeed. I paid $10 for a beer the other day, the cheapest option in that bar (totally worth it though, it was a really nice day and the outside seating at the place was on the water). I'm lucky, I have a scholarship and I have been able to save money for the past 5 years so while I'm trying to be cheap, I think I have a bigger budget than most of the other students. Plus, things (like food) just aren't going to get any cheaper so there's really no point on dwelling on the prices. I do hate though that going out to restaurants for meals isn't a way that people really socialize. I love that about the US, you're always going out to dinner or lunch to catch up with friends. Here, I think it is just too expensive (especially for students) and I don't think it's a big part of the culture anyways. I haven't even been in a restaurant yet because people keep warning me about the prices! Potlucks it is then!

School starts tomorrow. Crazy. It feels like I have been talking about going back to school and this program for forever and now it's finally here. Hopefully going back to school is like riding a bike. Not going to lie, I'm worried about all the things I've forgotten. Our adviser brought up Matlab programming during our first meeting together, eek!!! It's been years!! Deep breathes.