A couple weeks ago my friends and I booked tickets to Norway, one of my really close friends from University lives there, little did I know it would be one of the most challenging experiences of my life.
A little back story, to help you along my ramble, so that you can keep up;
Friend from Norway (Anita); skied since she was 2 (downhill and cross country) and her family has a cabin in the mountains and a house on the side of a mountain. Both of which her parents built themselves. Already I am feeling like "... and what have you done with you're life?"
Friend from Canada (Liisa); Biathlete and has been skiing from a very young age as well, has been to Norway before, used to train for world competitions. She was pretty dang good!!
Me; Cross country skied, maybe 6 times, on a trail. I have been skating since I was 2, I can skate on both figure skates and hockey skates. Haven't really been physically active since last summer.
The night before we left for Norway was an interesting one, I am just going to leave it with, "we tried." After an interesting evening and 4 hours of sleep it was off to the airport. I was quite tired but at the same time I was really excited. Another stamp on my passport! I was excited for what Norway would look like and what the culture would be like. - It's a lot like home, in British Columbia. The mountains, they're a bit more roll-y and less big then in BC, but all the people I've met are really kind and lovely human beings. On the drive from Bergen to Voss there were 58 tunnels. Let's just say I got a little dizzy from holding my breath in each tunnel, each one was really long. I think there were about 4 that I could hold my breath the entire way. One thing that surprised me the most was how little wildlife there was. Usually on the drive from Merritt to home you see a bird or a deer or two, I didn't see anything, just people and cars. I then found out later that there are only Moose, or Elk in Norwegian, that roam around and even then there are not that many of them around Voss. The drive from Bergen to Voss took an hour and 20 minutes, it didn't really feel like we left a city or town. It was like driving in the outskirts of Kamloops or from Vernon to Kelowna, houses and towns every where. It also just felt nice to be in a car again, as much as I love the tube, there is something about car rides that I've fallen in love with. My mind wanders and I feel so relaxed.
So, when we get to Anita's house we are greeted by lovely smells. p.s Her parents built the house we stayed in. Already I am impressed, I don't think I know anyone in Canada that has built there own house. Building your home is also the normal thing to do in Voss, most of Anita's friends parents have built there houses, I'm not saying all, but most. That evening was pretty chill, homemade pizza for dinner and chatting around the living room, it was perfect. The next morning, at 10 am, was a FEAST, traditional Norwegian Sunday breakfast. There is bread that you can put an assortment of different things on like jam, smoked salmon, cheese, different veggies, liver pate, there were a multitude of different sauces but I can't spell them because they're in Norwegian, but I was stuffed. After breakfast we showered and went out and saw some of Voss and ski resorts. Once we got back from driving around we had dinner at 4. Dinner - I am going to be raving about the food I ate while in Norway - tasted SO GOOD. Sorry Grandma, sorry Mum, the food here is incredible, dinner was meatballs in brown sauce (a delicious thick gravy) with potatoes and mixed veggies. I've had something similar back home, thanks grandma, but not as flavourful and delicious, sorry grandma. Dessert was an absolutely amazing dish, but I couldn't have more then a bite or two because I was allergic to, basically, everything in it. It was whip cream and a little sour cream with fruit and chunks of chocolate. After Dinner one of Anita's little cousins came over to bring her a picture he drew for her. He didn't speak much English but we had fun translating through Anita. At 7 we went Anita's grandparents house and had a pie (in a big pie formation; crust, and the insides, but more like a soufflé with chicken and mushroom, with lots of egg) and "flattened meatballs" from Anita's translation. It was basically like a hamburger with bread instead of a bun. Then dessert, oh MY GOD, flat waffles (mum, like our heart shaped waffle iron at home) with homemade and homegrown raspberry jam, sour cream was supposed to go on them with the jam, but my poor insides were hating me from all the food that I am not supposed to eat, so I just avoided the sour cream. The waffles were still delicious though! They brought back memories of when I was little and went over to my GG's house for crepes that she had made. YUMMY! After a very, very nice evening with Anita's grandparents we left and went home to bed, we had a very packed few days ahead.
Anita's grandma was an absolute hoot! her English was some of the best I've heard, from someone that it's not their first language and didn't take it in school. She was genuinely hilarious.
So, on Monday we left for the hills, literally. We packed up the car with backpacks, food and skis because we were going up to Anita's cabin. The drive out there took about 45 mins and then we had to cross country ski the rest of the way. Looking back, I'm pretty proud of what I had accomplished but while I was doing it, I think I just really disliked the fact that I had 2 sticks growing out of my feet. I am going to leave my half hour 'extreme sport' session with. "I would have rather hiked it."
Going up the mountain in skis has probably been the most physically frustrating thing I've ever done. I am the type of person who likes to see results happen fast, let alone just see results. My expectation of myself is very high and when I perform to less then what I know I should be capable of I get really frustrated. Which was what happened on the mountain. It also didn't help that I was doing something, that someone with more experience would have found easy, adding to the frustration. Once we were up there I took a nap to quell my frustration while Anita and Liisa went and played in the snow and explored. I just needed some quiet 'me' time to put back the ugly frustration/rage monster that appears when things don't go the way I want them to. when they came back i had the cabin all nice and warm, we cooked spaghetti for dinner, which was not as delicious as our other meals, kind of like our meals for the past 3 months. Just really sad. We then spent the evening doing absolutely nothing. We listened to music, sat around and I got a deck of cards and started playing solitaire. I felt like a cat for a few hours, just without a sunbeam and no fur. The next morning we went out and played in the snow for a couple of hours, after our traditional breakfast of course. This is where we trekked to the top of the mountain, I am not kidding you, I was on top of a mountain. Unfortunately don't have any pictures, I don't think my camera would have survived that much snow. we came back down some 2 or 3 hours later to pack and eat before we had to ski back down the mountain. I walked most of the way, I just could not stand having a sore bum for the next couple of days. It was nice though, Anita's grandparents were with me for some of it, they were just checking the supplies in their cabin. So, when we drove back to Anita's house we had dinner when we got back, it was this (what I called it) "Gourmet Macaroni and Cheese." Again, DELICIOUS food. After dinner we drove Anita's brother to his girlfriends house and then we went and drove around a little bit. When we got back it was late and we had Voss to walk around the next day, plus I was leaving for London on Wednesday. Walking around Voss kind of felt like walking around downtown back home, although I think back home is slightly bigger. All the shops were really neat though, they were very different from London and Canada, it was unique! On the way from Voss to Bergen I didn't even attempt to hold m breath through any tunnels, I knew they were all too long. which was fine because I was too busy singing along to the fun party mix CDs. It reminded me of road trips in the summer with my friends. Driving to Vancouver and the Drive-In theater, going camping and the like. We get to the airport and enter the building, I have never in my life seen a security line go out the door of an airport before. HOLY moly It took a while, it wasn't long enough though, I still had an hour and a half to kill before my flight. The airport was fairly small so I wandered in in about half an hour, then got hungry and bought some food, spending he rest of the Norwegian money I had. Sorry Gavin, I was going to bring you back some Kroner but I got hungry. I got back to London and in my flat and had a really restful sleep.
Now I am planning a day trip to Brighton with one of my other school mates! It should be lots of fun!!
I think the hardest part of this break is not having any family around me. The only think I really want to do I share my experience with someone who is close to me, not being able to do that is what is making this year really hard, emotionally. Yes, I have Skype but to take and share an experience with someone is what really makes some place or something really incredible.
I hope you all have a wonderful, chocolate-y Easter!!!
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