MELs' Blog

…just came back from a great day @ Oslo. Weather was good too and now you really can feel that autumn is here and winter isn’t so far away anymore… My feet are a bit tired – I’m sure you know how that feels (women do;-)…) – walking through the city the whole day, going from one store to another, trying things on… Yes, hard work;-)…

Me and Stine, a very nice danish girl who just moved into the studentshouse, went to Oslo with my car. We parked the car in the suburbs, as you just can’t afford parking in the middle of town. That would just cost tooooo much!!! I prefer spending that on clothes or other stuff…;-) …A norwegian girl told me that she once parked  in the center and spent around 40 € !!!! Just for parking for 4 hours!!! So one of Stine’s working colleagues draw a map for us where we could park for free. We didn’t find exactly the place but we got close by, took our bikes and went to the city…

Oslo is just a cool place to be, to hang out, enjoy city and nature, of course going shopping there AND it’s the most expensive city to live @ in the WHOLE world!!! It’s very clean and green… You have everything here – forrests, lakes, the ocean, sandy beaches… Really beautiful!!!

We went in nearly every shop – “should we go in there – yes of course;-)…” … It was fun to just explore the shopping malls and the big stores… We didn’t find that much variety in the stores, a lot of similar clothing in different shops but still very trendy fashion… Scandinavian people are really into fashion, when you walk along the streets, the kids are already styled and into fashion. I haven’t seen any young boy without having styled his hair;-)…

After some “quick lunj” we walked down to the Opera house. Wow, a really impressive building!!! Really pretty!!!! It opened in the year 2008 and already won some architecture awards… The whole area is soooo clean!!! But pictures say more than words…

Some more shopping needed to be done;-) and YES I spent toooo much money but NO I don’t regret what I bought….;-) I got some really cool caps and another jacket. Well I’ve got like over a hundred jackets – that was number 101;-)…

Our shopping marathon ended, as the shops were closing – we went to the Royal Palace, sat in a nearby park and enjoyed the sun… We didn’t go the famous Vigelands Park but I guess it hasn’t been the last time we’ve been there as it’s just one hour away from Horten…

p.s.: …I forgot to tell about this woman…;-) There was a Christian group, singing, dancing and talking about God… Well, that woman definetely saw him and the light;-) – she was sooooo happy and completely in a different world…;-)

…time is really flying by!!!! Another week of school is over…

Monday Ballbasis & Orienteering, Tuesday Swimming & Climbing, Wednesday American History in the morning, Ballgames in the afternoon, Thursday Orienteering – my weekly program at Vestfold College… Nice, isn’t it???!!!!

Well, in October I’m finally starting the Norwegian course… I’m still not able to speak a lot but I’m getting quite good in understanding what the people are saying. Some words in German are quite similar to Norwegian… So @ the sportscourses, I don’t need a translator anymore… I get most of it and if I don’t I just ask my colleagues… They are very helpful!!!

I do have a lot of  free time but I also have to read a lot in English. I would never have thought that American History would ever be so interesting!!! At the moment we have to read “The Autobiography” by Benjamin Franklin – pretty tough to read… (He is at the 100 US$ bill) …”I concluded at length, that the mere speculative Conviction that it was our Interest to be completely virtuous, was not sufficient to prevent our Slipping, and that the contrary Habits must be broken and good Ones acquired and established, before we can have any Dependence on a steady uniform Rectitude of Conduct.” – Did u follow???? I didn’t…;-)

Today we had our first “Orienteering lop” through the forrests… Was really cool!!! Me and Silje were a team – equipped with compass, map and a chip for the control points we had to find seven posts, stick the chip to the check-point and find our way back to the starting point. I think it’s a really fun way to run through the forrest and also get used to work with map and compass… (I don’t take pictures at school, as I think it’s not necessary and maybe some students wouldn’t like it…??)

Weekend started at noon, as we were finished by then. In the afternoon – again to Tjome, bouldering, chilling and reading there…;-)

Some impressions…

…wow, what a beautiful day!!!! I know this word (beautiful) is being stressed when you read my blog but that’s the best word to express how life is treating me up here… Got a message from Rod, (my Norwegian climbing buddy), in the morning that he’s up to join for bouldering, so we decided to go out there and make the best of the day! And it really was worth it!!!! BEAUTIFUL;-)…

After being motivated for studying in the morning, what I did and I’m really proud of myself;-)…, I picked up Rod to go further south and search for some boulder problems… After an hour drive along the coastline, we had to walk a little further to get to some boulders… On the way there, we already saw cool rocks to climb on but we didn’t stop and went further… Finally we got there… Again – BEAUTIFUL!!!! 😉 (I guess I have to expand my english horizon and find other words like maybe: wonderful or gorgeous… – I’m just being lazy, I guess;-)…)

So there we were, right next to the ocean, climbing rocks and enjoying the beautiful day… Thxxx Rod 4 joinin’…!!!! Was really cool and I’m looking forward to the next trip… 

Norway is a DREAM for bouldering!!!! So many options, virgin rocks all over the place and great grip…

…I guess I have update my blog;-)…

The rain has stopped and today we actually had a quite sunny day with temperatures around 16°… wow, summer is back;-) Party with the sportsgirls yesterday, bike-tour today, shopping in the afternoon… It never gets boring and YES I’m also studying…

The Friluftsliv (Outdoor) days with the other students were quite “adventurous”. B-Boy picked me up Wednesday morning, together with Bjaerne and Henrik we went near Kongsberg and met the other students there… It was a very funny journey as the guys were making a lot of  nonsense;-) Greeting the cows, waving and honking the horn to strangers and cows, speeding up-slowing down,… It didn’t get boring;-)

The weather was not good and it didn’t seem to get better through the day… We got to Skrim Nationalpark @ around noon, had to find a place to set up the tents and had to be ready by one to go for a long hike…  Well, that was quite challenging, as it had been pooring down for hours and the ground was completely moody and wet… but we found something…

After a nearly 20 km hike in muddy and wet conditions, having soaking wet feet, we were happy to be back… Preparing dinner, sitting @ the bonfire, eating dinner, having fun, enjoying the company, listening and trying to understand Norwegian rounded up the evening…

Didn’t sleep well @ night – oh wonder;-)… 9 girls in a tepee, one girl was snoring, one turned around throughout the night, the tent and my sleeping bag got wet and it got pretty freezing in the night… Not the best circumstances to have my beauty sleep;-)… (just joking, I knew what to expect sleeping outdoors…)

Got up early in the morning – wow, the lake was sooo clear, the landscape was mirroring in the lake… 1h later it started raining again;-(… It was pooring, however, we had some orienteering (Trine my sportsteacher was so kind and translated for me… although I already get a lot of meanings and know what the people are talking about…) and we had to present examples with branches how to set up different kinds of bonfires… In the early afternoon everybody was glad to leave, being soaking wet… Although the weather was not tooo good – beautiful place…

…since I’ve got Internet access in my little home, I’m definetely spending tooo much time on the web;-) checking out so many things about this beautiful country, have to find a cheap flight to Tromsö to visit my friend Nikki and of course keeping in touch with friends @ home… But the internet is for sure a great invention!!! Listening to fm4 and sometimes watching “Tirol heute” makes me feel like being back home;-)…

Actually we were supposed to be up in the mountains, starting our Friluftsliv-days (Hiking and camping in the mountains with the sportsstudents…) but I got a message from B. in the morning via Skype (thxxx to the Internet;-) because I don’t have a mobile phone here…) that one of our teachers got ill and had to stay in hospital, so the trip is postponed and will start tomorrow… (very long sentence;-)…) Looking forward to that!!!! I’m sure it’s gonna be fun… I will take my slackline with me and will introduce that to the others, as they are not really into climbing and mountaineering… Nearly all of the sportstudents have soccer as their main sport…

So today was no exciting day during the day;-) wow 3 times day in the sentence;-) I’m sure my english teachers will/would love that sentence;-)… Organizing some things and summing up my knowledge about American History… Well, I’ve never been a fan of history but it’s actually quite interesting how America became what it is today…

In the late afternoon I packed my backpack to bike to Bakkenteigen Campus. It’s already quite cool here, max. 15 ° day temperature… But I like it – it’s not tooooo hot… Biking along the coastline makes me feel like being on holidays;-)… wow, it’s just sooooo beautiful here!!!! By the time I started, it began to rain;-) I guess that’s normal and the norwegian people would say the famous sentence: “There is no bad weather, just bad clothes…”;-) It’s just a matter of seeing things… Like the glas – it’s either half full oder half empty;-)…

It took me nearly an hour to get to the Campus and I didn’t get soaked up as the rain stopped just after a few minutes being on the bike… So on Tuesdays and Thursdays the students have organized climbing @ the Campus. The wall is just 12m and there are 3 pitches (3 people are able to climb at one time…) but it’s perfect to stay in shape…  and I’ve met already really cool people!!!! Spiderman, Kristin, Rod,… very nice!!! Bouldering-trips are going to be planned… Looking forward to that!!!

This definetely approves one important thing: SPORT CONNECTS PEOPLE!!!!I’m loving it!!!! I’m here for not even 3 weeks and have met already great people…

That was my day… I’m out for the next couple of days enjoying NATURE:-)… Enjoy life!