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.

Flickr Update

I wanted to post a quick note here to let you all know that I have now uploaded more of my photos to the Flickr set dedicated to my Tromsø photos. Check them out!

Life in Tromsø

The Laundry Party and Døgnvill

Here's another update to my continuing series on the strange but fun happenings in Tromsø, Norway. This is another multiple day summary post, because I'm lazy like that.

I'm going to breeze over Monday-Thursday because they were on the whole uneventful. On Wednesday I had my first lecture in Sustainable Energy. The course isn't anywhere near as interesting as I had hoped but I guess that's how it goes. It's much more about theoretical energy physics rather than personal research projects like I had hoped.

Things really got started on Friday when I had my first volunteer shift at the Døgnvill music festival. The tickets were crazy expensive so I volunteered to get in for free. I ended up working the cotton candy and popcorn booth, it was sticky, salty, and sweet! I had a lot of fun though and the girls that I worked with were all really nice. It was just girls in our group so we started calling ourselves The Sugar Babes.

On Friday the music was calmer and the whole mood was more family oriented. Alexander Rybak, the 2009 winner of the Eurovision song contest opened the event and he was a big hit with all the girls. He even walked past our tent and we all screamed when he gave us that charming smile of his.

After my shift I headed out with one of the Sugar Babes named Rose. She was really friendly and invited me back to her place for some red wine. She wanted me to come out on the town with her but I ended up heading back to Ørndalen for the infamous Laundry Party instead since I'd already promised friends that I'd be there.

The Laundry Party is basically a party held in our common house which also doubles as the laundry house. It was a pretty decent party, everyone was there and I hung out with Josh, Grace, Adam, Jamie, Amanda and many more. I also acquired a stalker, a Norwegian guy who I always seem to meet when he's had way too much to drink. Actually, it's sad, but I've never met this guy when he was sober. On Friday he polished off an entire bottle of vodka on his own and then he followed different girls around, leaning right up in their faces and talking. He even got me pinned up against a wall at one point. Thank goodness for male friends who can help you out in a pinch! I left the laundry party around 2 AM before the police showed up to tell people to quiet down.

On Saturday I worked the late shift at Døgnvill from 6 PM until midnight. Out of all the bands I heard I liked Katzenjammer and Dumdum Boys the best. The headliner was, shock and surprise, Snoop Dog! I'm no Snoop Dog fan but it was kind of surreal and definitely worth it to hear him play at a festival in northern Norway.

After my shift ended and I got all the cotton candy out of my hair I headed downtown to the festival after party at Driv. They had three bands playing and a DJ on the bottom floor. I met a guy in line who started talking to me in Norwegian, then in English when I couldn't make out his dialect. His name was Knut and he spoke excellent English and was really friendly so I decided to hang out with him for a while. I was planning on hanging with my friends but I couldn't find them anywhere so I stayed with Knut instead.

We danced a bit and got some drinks and listened to an excellent cover band called Kissing Miss Lissy. They played songs by Deep Purple, Kiss, and other similar bands. Driv closed at 3AM and I headed out with Knut to an after-party-after-party at his cousins house. Turned out that the cousin went to bed before we got there so Knut offered to walk me home instead. The last bus back to Ørndalen left at 3:30 and the next one wasn't until 7:30. I warned Knut about the hike back to my place (it's 11 km!) but he came along like a gentleman and walked me all the way home. It gave us the chance to talk and by the time we got back we were exhausted but knew eachother a lot better. He ended up taking a taxi back to his hotel. He lives outside the city but comes to Tromsø on the weekends. We exchanged numbers so we'll have to see what happens!

Damn this has been such a fantastic weekend so far and it isn't even over yet! I should go get some more sleep but I think it's going to be almost impossible at this point. *big grin*

Pierogi Party and the Black Kilt Man

Time for an all-encompassing weekend update. It's been a busy one, and I have lots of craziness to report this time. Especially the tale of the infamous "Black Kilt Man".

Our English speaking potluck parties continue following a letter 'P' theme. Last time it was pizza, this time we did pierogies. Many thanks to Adam and Jamie who did most of the cooking. The homemade pierogies were definitely a success, super simple yet delicious.

The pierogi party was just a warm up for a fun filled evening at Driv. For those of you who don't know, Driv is the local student bar and hangout in Trosmø. It's a pretty amazing place, basically it's an old fishing house out on a dock by the harbor. There's four floors and three "stages" in the building which feature DJ's and sometimes live music as well. It's cozy, but usually crowded, and the candles + drunk students seem to scream fire hazard to me.

After a quick pre-party at 11A Grace and I headed downtown, with a couple of pit stops. First to check out the science party that was going on at campus, and then an accidental bus tour of the island when we jumped on #34 instead of #20. 34 was the party bus that night, we rode into town with a bunch of drunk French students singing Polish drinking songs. Memorable.

There was a so-called "traffic light party" going on at Driv. One of those events where you dress according to your relationship status. Green=single, red=taken, yellow=uncertain. We all avoided the colour theme but had a great time anyway. There were lots of international students there and we hung out for a while and danced a bit. The dance floor at Driv is small but has great lighting and even a fog machine. The music on the other hand is the same pop/techno that you'd find anywhere in Finland. We made it an early night and took a taxi back to Ørndalen around 1:30 since it was cold and rainy and we didn't feel like waiting for the bus.

The next day Josh, Grace and I headed to Old Bodega for a British Pub Night that we had seen advertised. Turned out that it was just us, the Bodega volunteers, and a few of the members of Den Norske Mannskor. Seems like the Norwegian men's choir have the same crazy party animal reputation as they do in Finland. We met a guy in a black kilt who made Grace and I very nervous. Not only did he stare at me and label me "prey" but he talked at length about how the Norwegian vikings liked to pillage, rape, and keep warm in the winter with kidnapped British women. Grace and I spent the rest of the evening avoiding Black-Kilt-Man-Wannabe-Viking and we stuck close to Josh and our other male friends just in case. There were some other nice people at the British pub though and we even got a free Smirnoff Ice out of it all.

After that we headed down to Driv for some live music. The Lame Ducks were playing, as well as a teenage female punk band called Cyaneed. I enjoyed the Lame Ducks but Cyaneed didn't impress me much. Grace and I discovered the Vikingfjord, a tasty but treacherous vodka cooler which cost 80 NOK!

The whole town seemed to be partying in the streets when we left Driv. We saw someone drop down and do push ups in front of oncoming traffic, and ended up meeting lots of random Norwegians since Josh aka the social butterfly kept walking up to people and chattering away. We finally rode home in a taxi and got in around 4. I went to bed and expected to sleep until at least noon...

Only to be woken at around 9 AM by small children shrieking in my front yard followed by some guy singing off and on in Norwegian and playing a guitar. So much for sleeping in, what a bizarre way to wake up after a late night on the town.

Sunday was a calm day, just taking it easy, watching movies and reading. I also went blueberry picking for about an hour, I think I got about 1 L which I froze for later use.

The weekend is finally coming to a close. No class tomorrow but there's plenty to do anyhow. Laundry, shopping, studying, and a meetup with the Tromsø jogging club. I'm looking forward to finding a jogging buddy, I only hope I can keep up them in those killer hills. I went for a 8 km jog on Saturday and just about died running up some of those hills along the ski trail. I have nothing but respect for the long distance runners here in Tromsø!

Driv

PDA's & The Big Fat Summary Post

In my last blog entry I wrote about day 2 & 3, before the introductory program had even begun. I haven't had the time (or the motivation) to post since then so now I'm going to summarize the events of the past week quickly before moving on.

The introductory program began on Wednesday and it continued on through the weekend before wrapping up on Monday with a tedious lecture on sources in the morning and a nice candlelit lunch at the student house in the afternoon. The highlights of the introductory program include making many new friends (most of them from Canada!), a nice sightseeing of Tromsø by bus, the fantastic Norwegian waffles at Cafe Bodega, a visit to the University museum, and the free Second Hand Market on Saturday.

I'm slowly finding my way around the city, I even invested in a monthly bus card to make traveling cheaper and easier. I've also taken the time to explore the island a bit on foot. On Saturday after the Second Hand Market I went hiking with my friend Adam from his apartment in Elverhøy to my place in Ørndalen. We followed the ski path most of the way, that's going to be a nice thing come winter. The path is incredibly well maintained and it's even lit by streetlamps at night. We saw lots of things on the way, the walk was about 6 km. Lakes, mountains, hockey rinks, ski ramps, soccer fields, and plenty of Norwegians out walking, jogging, and biking.

On Sunday I stayed home and relaxed while most of the other international students went on an excursion to a place called Grøtfjord. In hindsight the trip probably would have been fun. I went on my own little hike on Sunday to the summit at Ørndalen. It's steep but only about a 10 min walk. There's even a little book at the top that you get to sign when you've made it all the way up.

Other things of interest, we had a totally spontaneous pizza party at our place yesterday. Mike (my Canadian housemate) invited a bunch of people over and we made pizzas from scratch. A good time was had by all and the pizza crust was some of the best I have ever had. It was made by an American expat who's been traveling abroad for about 8 years. Apparently he worked at a bakery at some point during his travels, he even knew how to toss the dough up in the air like a pro!

Today I tried to go to my first lecture on Sustainable Energy only to discover that I didn't have a lecture today. Oops, well at least I know where the Physics campus is now.

On my way back from town I saw one of the cutest PDA's. I've already noticed that Norwegians seem to be much more open and warm than Finns are, Public Displays of Affection seem to be well accepted here. Today I was riding the bus and it stopped by the hospital to let passengers off. There was a doctor there in scrubs waiting for someone. It turned out that he was there to meet his girlfriend/wife. She had a dog with her, a cute spaniel that she carried in her arms off the bus. It was so cute to see how the guy first took a picture of the girl and the dog with his phone and then gave them each a kiss and a hug. Now that's the kind of guy that I'm looking for, someone who's just as happy to see me as he is to see the family pet.

I also stopped at the Horse (Horze) store in the Utsikten plaza and browsed for a bit. After walking around a bit I also discovered that the Stakkevollan swimming hall is only about a 10 mins walk from my house. That's going to come in handy during the dark months.

There we go, that's life here so far. More updates should come soon as I've got lots of plans for the weekend. Tomorrow should be my first lecture as well. For real this time!


To do list:
- Visit Sivertsens Kafe downtown, supposedly the only vegetarian restaurant in Tromsø
- Find some jogging buddies, I need some motivation to scale those hills on a daily basis
- Figure out where the nearest riding stable in the area is, I need another horse fix