Saying farewell to Oslo....

Hei Hei!!! So, the semester is over, my six hour exam is complete, and I'm mostly packed (still have to clean....yay?). We're headed to Tromso in a couple of hours, and since I'm sure it will be beautiful and wonderful and full of fantastic stories to tell, I thought I'd better get this pictures from some of my last days in Oslo up so they aren't over shadowed by dogsleds and Jenny trying to construct a tent. First, the view from my -- well, technically, Rasmus' -- window on the 10th floor of St. Hanshaugen student house:

One of our last days in Oslo, we finally braved the cold to go see the harbor. It was so surreal, and my camera couldn't do it justice, but I did my best:

And finally.....me making a pumpkin pie video.....well, sort of...





And there will soon be more of those on my youtube channel, I'll try to keep you posted.....my internet is just soooooooooo slow, it takes forever to upload. Anyway, I can't figure out how to turn off italics, and it's annoying me, so have a wonderful weekend :D

I amsterdam

 Amsterdam, thou art rainy. Well, actually, not today. I think this is the first time I've seen the city bathed in sunlight (and I've been here twice before). I just have a little break here before my tour of the city begins, so here's just a quick rundown of what I saw/did on day one in the city!

Queenie and I decided to do the big tourist stuff right off the bat. Two museums and a canal ride! It was a busy day! We went to the Rijksmuseum first, which is home to my current favorite little painting, the stone bridge by Rembrandt. Mom bought me a copy after I fell in love with it last year. Unfortunately, it's sitting in a frame in Peru, so it was wonderful to see the real thing again. The museum is under renovation now, and has been for a while, but they still have lots of good stuff to see. Obviously, I'm a little partial to Rembrandt, so here are a couple of his most popular pieces, as well. The Night Watch is probably his most famous, and it is HUGE. I keep forgetting how big it is. And, I just found out this time around that it used to be bigger, but three sides were trimmed away at one point (I'm never very good at retaining all the details :P)

Rembrandt's the stone bridge

The Jewish Bride

Rembrandt's The Night Watch

After the Rijks, we headed just down the street to the Van Gogh museum, which was very, very interesting. He has so many beautiful and different paintings, and the museum also houses works by those who influenced Van Gogh. As someone who knows basically nil about art, it was still really fascinating to see the paintings side by side. Here are some of Van Gogh's paintings:

And guess who forgot to make use of her camera? This was the only photo I managed to snap during the whole day. It was while I was on the canal tour of the city, and I thought it was humorous :p

And I leave you with a photo from Oslo, because I have nowhere better to put it.

Enjoy!

Blinky in Oslo by Rasmu

Bergen, Day II

I've been getting some whining that I haven't completed this yet (you know who you are, sweet!), so here it is: Bergen, Day II:

Really, though, it could also be called "Rosendal, Day I" since that's where we spent a large portion of our day. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. This is only the second time I've stayed at a hostel, and it was the first time I had opportunity to share a room with people I didn't know. The three of us were in a six-bed dorm. Two of the beds were filled by different people each night, but the third was occupied by the same man both nights of our stay.

Now, I know that I'm new to the whole hostel thing, but generally one would assume that if others are sleeping, you would err on the side of common courtesy and be quiet if you come home or get up while others in the room are still sleeping. Well, this many did not seem too concerned about that. He came back very late, spent a good deal of time, energy, and noise getting to bed, and, when he woke up in the morning before the rest of us, proceeded to moan an groan in bed, muttering curses in a foreign language. I was very glad that we were waking up early, as well.

We hurried out, grabbed a quick breakfast (All Bran......), and head to the dock where we would catch our boat for the two-hour ride to Rosendal. We stepped into the boat, paid our fair, and Lo!, who was sitting on port side? Loud roommate!

We chose seats on the opposite side of the boat. Oh, and we were inside, just to be clear. And, yes, it was raining steadily outside. The boat definitely moved through the sea with a purpose. I'm used to the ferry boats we used early this fall to get from mainland Oslo to the small islands dotting its harbor, and they just pud along. Not so with this one. She meant business. She also kept to schedule quite well. I was astonished at how short each stop was. There was only one time either way that we docked for more than 30 seconds besides the final stop, of course : )

On the way back, I did go up to the deck to check out the beautiful view, but en route to Rosendal, I left that to the boys (it was raining! which is considerably more annoying when you're on a high speed boat!), who proceeded to bond a little bit with our roommate who was also enjoying the view.

Finally! We're to Rosendal! We had no idea where we were going before we got here. This was the cheapest boat ride by far, so we just decided to take it. And, having no computers of our own, we had no desire to pay to use the hostel internet just to google our destination.

Oh, Little Rosendal. Wikipedia says it has a population of 944.

Rosendal, Norway: I spy a waterfall!

It's main attraction appears to be the beautiful waterfall within (relatively) short walking distance. So, we quickly bought some food, grabbed our bearings, and trekked up the left side of the river.......

In the shadow of a beautiful mountain....., and through the Barony Rosendal, part of which looked like a mystical fairy tale......

Doesn't this look like it was pulled right out of a fairy tale?

......and smack into a sign that said: Private. If you wish to hike to the waterfall you're on the wrong side of the river. Turn around and go back and cross the first bridge on your left. So much for the fairy tale. But, we did as we were told and ended up trudging through a sheep fold. A very soggy, poo-ridden sheep fold. I only complain this little bit because I had to focus so much on planting my feet that I often forgot to appreciate the view:

I was lagging behind.....trying to dodge sheep poo :S

Finally, finally, we reached the "prime spot" for picture-taking.

Rasmus and the Waterfall

Ahh, the rain looks like sparklies!! Fairy tale!

Then we kept moving up and around the mountain for some time more. It was pretty difficult going, mostly because we had to dodge a great deal of water. *sigh*

Not really me climbing, but it could have been, huh?

Luckily, as we turned back around, we encountered our fairy godmother while she was walking her ferocious beast. She led us to a bridge across the river and pointed us down the right road back to town. It was such easy going, we could actually look up from our feet! And it was wonderful (sorry, you'll just have to take my word for it, my battery camera died).

When we got back to Bergen, we met up with the other DILL students who had just come for the day, made tacos(!) - which, by the way, is apparently incredibly popular here in Norway, you can buy an off-brand taco kit with 12 shells, taco seasoning, and a salsa pack for less than $1.50 - and relaxed the night away.

The train ride home the next morning was absolutely beautiful, but, I'm afraid will just have to live on in my memory until I steal the pictures Hugo took. Oh, and I leave you with this picture, since momma seemed to like it so much:

Me and my Fairy-Tale Troll

The End

Bergen

The Bergen Train Station

Bergen, Norway's second largest city, is quite infamous here. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard the phrase "It always rains in Bergen." And yes, it did live up to its reputation. While it wasn't actually raining right when our train got in at 7 in the morning, the whole city was damp - sidewalks, benches, trees, streets - and we had to keep a keen eye on our feet, lest we step square into a puddle.

Hugo at our cafe

The heavens were at least kind enough to hold off until we made it to our hostel (YMCA Bergen :) to drop off our bags. After that, however, it sprinkled, it drizzled, it poured, it misted. Thank goodness for umbrellas....and waterproof jackets. We stopped at a cafe for a cup of coffee (yes, I drank most of mine, and yes, it was disgusting) and a light breakfast, before taking a short stroll around Bergen's city centre. 

Our walk was quite eventful. Rasmus found 100 kroner (~$17) in the street, following quickly by a discarded (but still working) umbrella. Then we saw a bunch of women doing yoga in the rain on the wet ground with their babies in tow, which, I think, is an excellent show of what "Bergenites" are like. Weather, especially rain, just does not phase them at all. I don't even like to go outside when it's raining, and if I'm going to chill in the park for an hour, it better be a nice day. Watching the yoga mommies, I realized that this probably was a nice day to them -- the rain wasn't too heavy, and it really wasn't that cold. Still, I definitely prefer sunny and dry   : D

Rasmus looking out over the rainy sea -- with his new umbrella!

Bergen mommas doing yoga in the rain

The boys during our stroll

After strolling around, stopped by the information center and then headed up to the Fløibanen Funicular, apparently Scandinavia's only cable railway. It's a short, 7-minute ride that takes you up to a panoramic view of the city:

Riding up on the Funicular

Riding up the Funicular

View of Bergen from Fløibanen

After our mini-photo shoot, we decided to go hiking along one of the many trails up in the low mountains. The hike was, well, it was wet -- very, very wet! The trails provided excellent drains for the multitude of rain water seeping down the mountain, which means we were often walking up little streams, dodging squelchy mud and attempting to keep our footing on slippery rocks. The worst part was that one misstep meant trudging along in soaking socks and shoes for the rest of the day (actually, since my shoes were incredibly absorbent, it ended up being for the rest of the trip...Drat).

However, we finally made it to the top, and it was definitely worth it. The fog was so dynamic; one moment we could see clear all around (except the peak of the mountain we dubbed "Mount Doom"), the next we were surrounded by a thick fog....which soon turned into a steady rain.  Here are pictures but they hardly do it justice at all:

Me in front of "Mount Doom"

Rasmus

The boys after the fog had rolled in -- Where did Mount Doom go? :P

Once the rain started, we decided to head back, caught the Funicular back down to sea level, stopped by the supermarket, and cooked frozen pizzas for dinner. MMmmmmm.

Bergen -- Day II, complete with clockwork boat trips, weird roommates, and tacos, will follow soon.

Hope all is wonderful. Missing my Huskers,
jennywren

DS, thou art heartless.....

Flitting off to Bergen on the (almost) midnight train. I won't be taking my wonderful laptop -- how will I survive? Very Man vs. Nature of me, huh?

Hope all is wonderful in Nebraska. Carve some good pumpkins for me!

jennywren

Jeg snakker engelsk, litt spansk, og litt norsk!

Yes, I fail at blogging. I keep starting new posts and giving up halfway through. So, we're going to try something new! More, shorter blogs....hopefully.

So, here's an incredibly short recap of October:

- It's cold! Not super cold, but I finally had to buy a warmer jacket. It's sporty. And red.
- It's dark! It's hard getting used to how quickly we lose sunlight up here. Each day is over 5 minutes shorter than the one before (until we get to mid-November, then it'll slow down). Yes, I looked that up. Which means we lose a whole hour in less than two weeks, if I'm doing my math right. The Winter solstice has less than 6 hours of daylight! Insane!
- I sleep a lot! Hardly surprising, given the previous two points. But, then, I've always been fond of my "z's."
- I'm going bowling tonight! Need I say more?
- Trips!!  Actually, my October was devoid of trips, but there was **much** planning going on!
              - Next week, a group of us are going to Bergen! It's a seven-hour trip across the country, said to be one of the most beautiful train rides there is!
              - The first weekend in November, we're having a group trip to the forest for a hike or something like.
              - Nov 12-15th I'm going to Amsterdam to meet up with some friends I met when I was in Helsinki for summer school in 2008.
              - Dec 11-13th we're headed to Tromsø. It's over 180 miles inside the Arctic Circle, and we're hoping we'll get lucky and see some Northern Lights.
- Oh, and I've been going to class and studying occasionally, too. ; )


I guess that's most of the important points....miss you all!

Ha det bra!
jennywren

Venice of Scandinavia

“My life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident.”
Hans Christian Andersen

Well, I'm exhausted! But definitely in a very good way. We return home from our 40 hour cruise to Copenhagen this morning, which was absolutely brilliant!


Our ship left Saturday evening at 5 pm from the Oslo harbor. The Pearl of Scandinavia was an excellent size, big enough to be exciting, but not so big that directional challenged Nebraskans get lost. And now for an amazing segue: This is a menu at one of the restaurants on the ship:

That's right, Nebraska cows found their way to Scandinavia! Smart cows ; )


On the boat I danced and slept and ate much chocolate. We arrived in Copenhagen Sunday morning. My Rasmus had beseeched his good friend Vilfred -- who knows a great deal about history and such things -- to guide us around the historical places within walking distance. He proved an exceptional tour guide, weaving us past the Royal Danish Theater, the "New" harbor (which was actually constructed before the U.S. was the U.S.-- ca 1670), the library(!) and national archives, green houses, and Tivoli (an amusement park).

I know what your thinking: did Jenny get ice cream? Yes, in fact, I did. And it was de.licio.us! On the voyage back to Oslo, I spent many, many hours in the hot top on deck. It was chilly in the morning as we neared Oslo, but the view was gorgeous -- the sun shimmering off the indigo water and the fresh green pines forests covering the fjord.


In short, the trip was a success : ) and now I need to sleep!

Jeg savner deg!

So, while I'm sure anyone who actually read my blog previously has since 'jumped ship' for lack of activity, I thought I should probably attempt to, you know, actually keep up with this thing. I have about 50 pages to read for class, packing to do for a minicruise to Copenhagen tomorrow, and a room that resembles the back patio after one of those crazy Nebraska thunderstorms -- what better time to catch up on my blog, right? ; )

The gist of the last four weeks or so: busy, fun, a-mazing weather (though, it is admittedly dreary today, drat!), buying a plant, eating chocolate, visiting fortresses, oh, and going to class occasionally.

Last night was the autumnal equinox, and Oslo certainly celebrates it in style. Around 8 o'clock in the evening, masses of people headed down to the river. Candles lit either side of the walkway long the water. Spotlights of green, blue, purple, yellow cast a magical glow along the route and on the waterfalls. Bands played and choirs sang along the way. And to top it all off, there was a very light mist falling -- very mystical!

It was a gorgeous night to get out and enjoy both nature and the city, and celebrate one last time before night begins to overtake day.

Tomorrow, a group of us are traveling to Copenhagen on a mini-cruise. It's my first time on a real ship, and I'm extremely excited. Don't worry, Momma, I won't lean over the railing. It should be very fun, and we get to go to an amusement park, too! Woo!

I miss you all, and keep you in my heart!


~your rambling jennywren

"and in your heart I find one silver raindrop"

Look what I saw last night :) It's supposed to be a peacock, but it reminds me of a dandelion. I just wanted to blow on it and send its seeds soaring off to far off lands...preferably not to Mama's well-manicured lawn :p

Cinque!!!

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." ~ Groucho Marx

 

 I. love. Oslo. I hope that is sufficient explanation for my complete neglect of my blog :p

I spent the last two weeks in summer school and exploring Oslo, and today I officially start my semester classes with Digital Documents and Norwegian languages classes : ) I live within walking distance of the university, city centre and harbor. Even better, a 20 minute ride on the metro takes me out of the city into the forest, where their are miles and miles of trails winding around rocky terrain, woods, and lakes! I even went swimming in one of them (yes, it was *very* cold!)!

I am doing a ton of walking, sleeping, cleaning (I swear, my room becomes a mess every 5 minutes), dancing, and singing. No, I haven't been karaoke-ing yet, though, I taught my group 'Rain, Rain, Go Away' and am determined to turn us into an a cappella group before the next two years are over. I don't know if they'll go for it, but I like to think if there is anyone who can force others to sing and dance against their will, it's me.

The weather here is even more spaz-tastic than Nebraska. Twice in one day, I went outside in sunshine and, much to my dismay, five minutes later, it was raining. Apparently, the Norse gods are a little moody this month.

Yesterday, however, was absolutely gorgeous. Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow! Of course, I spent a large portion of my day in IKEA testing out couches and beds and debating whether or not to buy a plant and name it Stew. No, I did not buy one. Perhaps next time ;)

 

Woot, this morning was incredibly productive. I rearranged and cleaned my room, attempted to decorate it a bit so it doesn't look quite as much like an institution for crazy people, and here I am updating my blog! Don't act like you're not impressed. And now, I must get ready to go to class. Wish me luck (I'm going to need it, I don't even know where my classroom is....slacking already ;)!

Loving, missing, dreaming, adventuring, learning,

JennyWren

P.S. I can now count to 10 in Italian :p can't spell them, but I can say them. I will show it off the next time I Skype, so be prepared to be AMAZED!~j.w.

Travel...and karaoke, o'course (well, lack there of...)

I have a vendetta out against West Drayton. It seems to have conspired against me and my karaoke aspirations! This evening I saw a sign that said: "Karaoke Friday" and I thought NOOOOOO!!!! I missed my shot at showing off my karaoke prowess in jolly ole London. But Lo!, I got online and searched for West Drayton karaoke, and what do you know? There it was, Saturday night karaoke at The Fox and Pheasant. Brilliant.

An hour and one wrong turn later, I arrived at F&P, and was very pleased by what met me. *Excellent* dancing music, and yes, very cute accent-speaking boys. Unfortunately for me, that is where the wonders stopped. Having been outside the EU for over a year, I forgot to specify that I wanted water water, not carbonated water. And then, the worst, most appalling thing in the world: the lovely waitress informed me that the karaoke machine....was not working properly this evening. Oh, how did my plans to sing some Pat Benatar sink into the muddy Thames. So, I completed the Sudoku puzzle on my phone (Level: easy, Time: longer than I'm willing to admit), forced down the remainder of my gas-y water, took a stop by the loo and danced along to the rockin' music, before fixing my hair and reluctantly exiting the bar. Maybe one day I will be able to, you know, strike up a random conversation with a random person. Tonight was not that night.

I would hate for you to believe that the entirety of my trip to date can be summed up in the half-hour of mild disappointment I experienced when my perfect plans came to naught. What follows is a semi-short sum-up of my life since flying out of Omaha's Eppley Airport.

Flight 1: To Chicago O'Hare
Yes, O'Hare, we've met before, but last time you were far nicer to me! I got massively lost while visiting. Thank goodness for a long layover! I finally found the transport to Terminal 5, waited in line forever to go through security again, and off I went on Aer Lingus 124!

Flight 2: To Dublin
Long flights are definitely not my cup o' tea, but I was well rewarded when I arrived in Dublin (where, ps, it was about 55 degrees) and found basically the easiest airport ever. Though, I did have to go through a passport check and security.....again. I got to board my next plane on the tarmac :o, which is always fun. Makes me feel like a star. And off I was to London!

Flight 3: To London Heathrow
I was warned that Heathrow is the busiest, most chaotic airport I will ever see. Thankfully, I was completely misinformed, at least it certainly wasn't the most difficult leg of my long journey. Not by a long shot. Signs pointed me precisely where I needed to go. I found my luggage, a place to exchange money, and the taxi que, where there was absolutely no one in line. I'm pretty sure it took longer to check in to my bed and breakfast than it did to make it out of the airport. I imagine there are times when Heathrow can be very chaotic, but I was lucky enough to miss out on that!

I am staying in the Oakwood Bed & Breakfast in West Drayton. It is certainly not the Hilton, but has cheap rooms and wifi.

Alright, I know that what everyone really wants to read about is my trip to London. It's really just a lot of me getting lost, but I will detail it better later on. Right now, I think I should probably attempt to sleep -- only in Europe could I ever stay up until 3 am....

Loves and laughs and thoughts and dreams,
your rambling jennywren

The Ties that Bind

"Though the breezes through trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now"


It can hardly come as a surprise that my most-heard phrase since receiving a full ride scholarship to study in Europe for two years has been "You are so lucky!" (followed closely by "Be safe" and "Don't do drugs!"). I certainly don't disagree. The serendipitous events that led me to apply; the prospect of meeting new places and faces at nearly no monetary cost to me; and the fact that I am, as yet, sufficiently untethered to career or relationship to allow me to make life choices 'purely selfishly' in my own self-interest, fully support the notion of my very good luck.


Yet, last night, as the karaoke blared under the Fairy-twinkle lights and hazy Nebraska sky, Miss Megan looked me in the eye and said wonderingly, 'You are so lucky!' and it took me far more than a moment to realize she meant my trip.  I could hardly think of it all night. I smiled back and said "Yeah, I am," my thoughts on magical surprises, excellent food (shrimp and chocolate chip cookies!), the crazy, comforting company of family and friends, and, of course, karaoke. I could barely contain the joy (both peaceful and exuberant) of each moment and had none to spare for tomorrow, let alone Europe.


It was a brilliant party, and I send a thousand virtual thanks to my family for their planning of the whole affair -- absolutely inspired. Thank you to everyone who shared in my night and to everyone who was there in spirit. And a shout out to Uncle Jerry (I think you know why :). Don't worry, this does not replace the very real 'thank you' cards I will be sending.

As the Boss says:
"Now you can't break the ties that bind,
You can't forsake the ties that bind."


I am lucky, so very lucky, but not because I get to go adventuring. Because I am surrounded by such an amazing, incomparable love; a love that supports, encourages, teases; a love that can transform the dull pang of impending separation into a bright smile and a hearty laugh. These are the ties that bind me. These are the threads that hold tight my heart. These are the lines that anchor me when I travel far from home.

The ties that bind are long and strong, and very malleable - a bungee cord that will stretch and will not break, and will protect me as I enjoy a wild, wondrous ride before tugging me safely home.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You sit and wonder just who's gonna stop the rain
Who'll ease the sadness, who's gonna quiet the pain
It's a long dark highway and a thin white line
Connecting baby, your heart to mine
We're runnin' now but darlin' we will stand in time
To face the ties that bind"