Home Again, Home Again

From fjords and lefse to puddles and pudding, I have returned to jolly old England. Actually, I was anything but jolly at 2AM on Monday morning when I finally collapsed into bed in Northampton following a (delayed) flight and (delayed) coach ride. School was a tough reality I had to face Monday morning.

I had an amazing visit in Norway, yet again. I am quickly falling in love with the country. I'm starting to think that Norway will be my "happy place." A decent runner-up to my current happy place, which is home.

Throughout the rest of my break, I went for walks and did absolutely no schoolwork while Sarah & Kristian were at work and then spent some good time with them in the evenings. On my last weekend there, we spent it re-organizing the new kitchen, visiting with Sarah's colleague and her adorable new baby boy, visiting Kristian's family and doing some more sight-seeing around Stavanger.

The 2 most beautiful places that we went to visit were:

Brutte Lenke (The Broken Chain Memorial)

The memorial is located along the coast to mark the sinking of an oil rig in 1980, killing almost all crew members on board. It is a huge monument and located overlooking the sea. The walk to the monument took about 20 minutes along the gorgeous Norwegian coast and the view was spectacular. Along the way, we passed a small beach where there were hundreds of jellyfish congregating…gross. I was maturely poking at one with a stick when Kristian decided to put his funny pants on and scare the living hell out of me and I screamed loud enough to probably wake the dead jellyfish I had just been poking.

and


The 3 viking longhouses.

On the way back from Brutte Lenke, we stopped at a site where there once was a Viking longhouse settlement dating back from the Iron Age (around 350-550AD)! It was so neat to see them…I had to imagine how the country must have looked thousands of years ago to those trying to make a living and survive off of the land. The entire thing was made even more “realistic” (or funnier…) by the presence of 4 or 5 young men doing real-life role-playing…kind of like real-life Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously. Complete with costumes, shields and swords. I have my suspicions though that if these guys were to meet actual Vikings, they would be on the losing side of the battle. Big time.


So, another wonderful trip has come and gone and I find myself back at school and back into the same routine. However, it makes me happy to think that there are only 47 more days until I am back in Canada for Christmas. The countdown is on!