This spring has been fantastic in Norway. So far, we haven’t had too much rain so that’s been pretty lucky. I’ve been on a few different trips around the country that have been some of the most exciting trips I've been on. I was in Trondheim at the end of the winter, and I just got back from Bergen this week. I was also in Sweden a few months ago for a ‘harry tur’, which I can explain later.
Lately I've been pretty busy with friends, my job, traveling, and soccer. I play on the Brumunddal women's soccer team, and we've been playing nonstop since I joined the team in the fall (as you can see, we still played outside in the winter).
Lately I've been pretty busy with friends, my job, traveling, and soccer. I play on the Brumunddal women's soccer team, and we've been playing nonstop since I joined the team in the fall (as you can see, we still played outside in the winter).
I also was featured in our local newspaper in an article about our team, with a large picture of myself and a summary of the recent game. I wasn't too thrilled about the photo they put in the paper, but it was still cool to be pictured!
I also just got done with Russetid, which is the time when we are Russ. Russetid officially ends on the night of the 17th of May, which is Norway’s national day. For me, it was a lot like the 4th of July in America. People in Norway use the same colors (red, white & blue) all over the place, there are parades, good food, and a bunch of other similar traditions. The only real difference is the flag we waved! It was an awesome day and I’m happy I got the chance to celebrate it while I was here. Below are a few pictures from the festivities on the 17th of May. As you can see, I am wearing the red Russ pants that I talked about earlier!
On the 17th of May, Norwegians typically use the traditional dress called a Bunad. It is a thick dress that has many different colors, which is worn with old silver jewelry that is often passed down in a family for many generations. These Bunads are extremely expensive (thousands of dollars). Norwegians use their Bunads until they don’t fit anymore, which rarely happens. Many people use the same Bunad from the time they are in their mid-late teens to when they are elderly.
Each Russ bus/car has a theme for their vehicle in the 17th of May parade. Our theme was Bieber Fever, because Justin Bieber had a concert in Norway about a month ago and all the girls in Norway went crazy and they disrupted everything in Oslo for multiple days because they were so intense. There's a guy who's dating one of the girls in Rehab who looks very similar to Justin Bieber (and dances as well as him), so we used him as our Bieber.
In the parade, he stood on the back of the van while the Rehab van drove in the parade and we ran after him like crazed Bieber fans who were dying to get his attention. One of the girls in the van named Karoline acted as Bieber's body guard. You can see all of this below in the picture as Karoline pulled me away from 'Bieber' as he kissed my hand. For us, it was a hilarious skit, but I'm not sure how much the older people who were watching the parade understood. In the second picture below, you can see two of my very close friends Synne and Margrete. Synne is also in Rehab, but Margrete is in another Russ car called the Manhunters. They used their name as their theme for the 17th of May parade, as they had two men tied up walking with them in the parade as if they had captured them. It was pretty fun to see all the different things that the cars came up with!
When I went to Trondheim, I stayed with a guy who was an exchange student at my school in the U.S. two years ago. Although we didn’t have the best weather while we were there, it was a really fun trip and I’m happy we went and got to visit him! We did a wide range of activities in the city, including going to a club called Karma.
During the day, Helene (the friend I traveled with) and I walked around the city to see the best sights. The strip of colored buildings below was definitely one of my favorites!
As I said, I just got home from Bergen on Monday night. It was by far one of my favorite trips I've ever taken! We had fantastic weather the first two days, which was incredibly lucky because Bergen is known for record amounts of rain each year. There is rarely a week without rain, so we were lucky to have two scorching hot days! We walked around in the city the first two days sightseeing and shopping. We also went to Tivoli, which is a traveling carnival. We went on a few rides that looked out over the harbor, which was super cool to see. On the first night in Bergen, we took a sightseeing train up the highest mountain in the city that brought us to a balcony with a breathtaking view. The panoramic picture below is the view from the balcony!
We took a train on the way to Bergen, and a plane on the way back. We got some pretty cool views while on both the plane and the train, which are shown below.
While in Bergen, we went to the Bergen Aquarium for a few hours to check out a bunch of awesome animals. There were all kinds of tropical fish and water animals, including penguins and adorable seals! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for us.
A ‘harry tur’ is a drive that Norwegians take to Sweden just to shop. The most common things bought on a harry tur are candy, alcohol, and meat. This is because they are MUCH cheaper in Sweden (less than half the price). My family took a harry tur to Sweden and bought a bunch of candy and other things, which were gone less than a week afterwards... The picture below shows a warehouse-style store that sells only goodies (candy, pop, etc). These types of stores are the ones that Norwegians target on their 'harry tur's.
Although this was a very short summary of the many months that I've been away from blogging, I can promise that there will be one or two more blog posts before I leave for America at the end of June (the 29th of June, to be exact).
Thanks for checking out my blog, and hope you come back for my next post!
Hade bra,
XOXO Karma
