'tis I again, the man who has a rapidly shrinking bank account! Yeah, Norway is expensive. Really, really expensive. And I thought Iceland was bad. Also, there are no planes in this entry. It just sounded better than any other option. More photoless updateing today, I'm afraid. I started Thursday (I think Thursday was the day after I last updated...) with some cookies. Yum! Some bakery had some fresh ones. I only rated them 6/10 though, they definitely could have been better. Next I hopped on a bus to the town of Voss, where I was planning on camping. The weather [View Full Entry]

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Hello! Welcome to our first blog on our tour. We attempted to say farewell to the UK from a place of less than outstanding natural beauty by leaving on a ferry from Newcastle. Unfortunately, even South Shields was looking lovely in the sun, and a small tear was shed at the last sight slipping over the horizon (there maybe a touch of artistic licence there). After a night on board (during which we slept soundly and the crew were, apparently, seasick), we arrived in Norway expecting hot weather. It was pouring down and we couldn't see the tops of the mountains. [View Full Entry]

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Still no pirates. Bummer. Anyways, I'm in Norway now. It's amazing. There are these tall woody things growing out of the ground with branches and green leafy things that they call 'trees'. I thought such things were only a legend! Bergen is a really cool city. There's ocean on one side, and then a bunch of steep mountains on the other. The city itself, a metropolis at 200,000-odd people, fills several nearby valleys. The weather has a wonderful tendancy to go from bright and sunny one moment to a drizzle then pouring rain, and back to sun 10 minutes later. Bergen [View Full Entry]

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Gothenburg I arrived in Gothenburg in one piece and decided to set myself a whole new challenge...let's see if the K can find her way to the hotel without the aid of a taxi! So immediately after getting off the train I made my way to the main entrance and reviewed the town map with vigourous scrutiny. Now if only I can actually follow directions. Only one small wrong turn and 10 minutes later I was standing in front of my home for the next two nights. Wooohooo! I can really do this travel thing now. The check-in counter was actually [View Full Entry]

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My parents arrived Friday night. After meeting them in the city around 10pm we walked up the hill to my dorm. Nothing like a 30 minute hike after over 24hours of flying. After catching up and unpacking a bit, we decided to go to bed early. There was only one problem, three people and one twin bed. Our resolution: my parents slept head to foot in my twin sized bed, and I slept of a $7 pool mattress brought from Phoenix. It was quite comfy actually, and everyone seemed to get a full night's rest. Saturday morning we awoke to the [View Full Entry]

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I’m officially done with my research this summer. On Wednesday, I gave a final presentation of my study. As most everyone in the office is already on holiday, there were only five people there. It was good practice for a larger presentation that I will give when I arrive back in Tucson. I have learned a great deal this summer while researching. Nothing really ever goes as planned, and you just have to go with it. This has been a wonderful experience that has gotten my foot in the door of the research world. I will be continuing this study back [View Full Entry]

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Summer has finally arrived in Bergen. Monday was our last day of rain and 50 degree weather. Two days later the sun was shining and the temperature had jumped to 79 degrees. I have been taking advantage of the nice weather walking into the city almost every day. On Wednesday, I bought some Norwegian strawberries at the fish market. The strawberries are full of flavor. I’ve never tasted any strawberries like them. The taste has something to do with the slow rate at which they grow here in Norway. As there peak season is only the next three weeks I will [View Full Entry]

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This weekend was my second to last weekend in Bergen before traveling. Time has gone by quickly. On Saturday, the sun was shining. Stephi and I decided to hike Løvstakken, mountain number five for me. Stephi had climbed it during the seven mountain tour, and figured she could find the trail head. However, we ended up on a much smaller path up the mountain. Sometimes the trail was non-existent. We weaved our way up the mountain, and reached the top for beautiful views of the city. However, I had acquired a little friend on our mountain quest. I was now the [View Full Entry]

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It’s been extremely rainy for about two weeks now. However, yesterday we got a break in the weather. I took advantage of the weather and traveled with my professor out to one of the islands outside of Bergen. While he worked on a research thesis with another professor, I walked down the road across a few bridges to another island about 4km away. The weather was beautiful for walking. The sun was shining at it was about 65-70 degrees out. We haven’t had a “warm” day in a while. I leave warm in quotation marks because it’s all relative when it [View Full Entry]

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Last night we celebrated the Summer Solstice. It was not an official celebration, but we made one. Stephi and I headed over to Lars’s house around 7:30pm for a Lasagna dinner. We watched the football match between Germany and Russia. Sadly for Stephi, Germany lost. The three of us went out to Garage, one of the local bar/clubs around 11:30pm. It was not as crowded as it had been a few weeks ago when Stephi and I went. We decided to go to Café Opera another popular club. There we met up with Kenneth, his new roommate, and a few of [View Full Entry]

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