A Week and a Half Recap

It’s been a while since my last update, so I’m just going to summarize quickly. Here’s a list of what I’ve been doing for the past week and a half in a nutshell.

- Following the hike on Friday the 4th I went on another hike with the Buddy Tromsø group on Sunday the 6th. We climbed the cable car mountain called Fløya/Fjellheisen. The climb was fairly steep but nothing compared to the six hour ordeal on Friday. It only took us a little over an hour to get to the top and about the same on the way down. It’s a nice view, I took lots of pictures of the city from above, and we even got to oooh and aaah over a group of brave paragliders who were showing off their skills.

The week was filled with just enough events to keep me busy without being too jam-packed.

- I’ve been getting back into the jogging again with a vengeance now that my cold finally cleared up. The hills are still brutal but my times are improving so I’m pleased. I still haven’t been brave enough to go to any of the Tromsø Jogging Club training sessions, but I will eventually.

- The Buddy program organized a movie night on Tuesday the 8th which I decided to attend since I skipped the last one. The movie was Slumdog Millionaire which I’ve seen before and knew that I’d like. They had some technical glitches, and the subtitles were only in Norwegian, but it was fun anyway.

- Wednesday we had a taco & chicken wings potluck party at my place. We made an attempt at making frybread but we weren’t very successful. We ended up with something that was closer to deep friend biscuits. At least Josh was prepared and brought along flour tortillas as a backup. The tacos were delicious, another fun and (mostly) successful potluck.

- On Friday I went on a shopping trip with my friend Grace. We had been invited to a housewarming party on Saturday and we needed some clothes, drinks etc. We took the opportunity to explore the mall close to the airport. There are lots of good stores, and while everything is still expensive, the clothes at H&M and Lindex aren’t too much pricier than they would be back in Finland.

Tromsdalstinden & Free Waffle Day

A blog post concerning the first International Student Coffee Hour aka Free Waffle Day as well as a hike to a 1238m (4 062 foot) mountain near the city called Tromsdalstinden. Apparently it's a Tromsø rite of passage to climb this particular mountain.

My story begins on Friday. After an early morning lecture in Sustainable Energy, 9-11 AM, I met up with Adam and headed back to the main campus from Prestvannet. We went to Cafe Bodega for free waffles and even managed to get there in time to vote in the International Student Union elections. My friend Grace was elected as Vice President, congratulations Grace!

After wolfing down my two free waffles, Bodega claims that they make the best waffles in town and it's no lie, Adam and I headed off to Tromsdalstinden. Tromsdalstinden is the tallest mountain in close vicinity to the city. We took bus 20 over the bridge and got off close to the Arctic Cathedral. From there we walked along a road until the pavement ended and a dirt road began.

Eventually we left the road and took a path that led into the forest. There was a small bridge over a river and then the path really began to veer sharply upwards. From then on it was laborious walking, not quite climbing, until we got past the tree line. At that point the landscape started to open up and the view was just gorgeous.

We followed the path as long as it was visible and then started looking for the red painted rocks which marked the easiest route to the top. At one point we both stopped and looked up at the face of the mountain in sheer awe. It wasn't easy climbing but we finally made it to the top. Once up we took lots of pictures, ate the food that we had brought along and signed the book to prove that we had been there. There were some other people up there as well and one guy even offered to take a picture of us on the very top of a large cairn that they had built at the top. All in all a very cool experience.

Climbing down was in many ways more intimidating than going up. However, everything went well and we made it up the mountain and down again in about 6 hours as predicted. I’m totally hooked to this mountain climbing thing now, it’s going to become a regular weekend habit I have a feeling.

Tired but happy I headed home, uploaded my pictures to my computer and then collapsed into bed.

The bed arrives and other random notes

Check this out, I'm quite the blogging fiend lately! Another short update with a mix of different topics.

I was woken up at 9 AM today by someone banging loudly on my door. I got up and answered the door and found a Norwegian handyman standing there with a mattress, finally my bed arrives! He came in and in about 15 minutes my sofa bed was taken apart, hauled out, and the new bed stood fully assembled. He even commented that the sofa bed must have been uncomfortable to sleep on. I just nodded and said, you bet. So without further ado, here's my new bed!



As far as the random notes go, I'm just going to write up a short list because that seems simplest.

-I've discovered the only product that is actually cheaper in Norway than in Finland, Renu contact lens solution! It came as a surprise to me when the big bottle only cost me approx. 11 Euros, back home it's a whopping 13.

-The Tromsø Buddy meetup on Sunday was fun. I met my buddies, chatted for a bit, and even snagged some free pizza. Grace and I headed home early because she had class the next day and I was just generally tired, but it was certainly worth going.

-Potluck yesterday at Josh's place. We had shepherd's pie, boiled carrots, pizza, and corn chips, with ice cream for dessert. I do enjoy the potluck evenings, so much fun and lots of good food!

-I purchased the Physics book for my course on Sustainable Energy yesterday and started doing the reading. The book is surprisingly good, makes up for the somewhat intense lectures.