The trip with John this week has been full of fun and excitement!  We slept at a different location very evening, which of course added to the excitement.  We pulled a few all-nighters, hitch hiked a couple of times, and most importantly, never got lost!  The first day he came it was my roommate’s birthday so I made curry for John, which he loved, then we all went around to the British guys next door for some cake and drinks.  Most of my Outdoor Education friends came around to celebrate with us, so John got to meet the people I’ve been sharing my life with for the past 3.5 months.

Sunday came around and I took John to a Bay that we hiked around and enjoyed the view.  Then we went to Odderoya, for some typical Norwegian waffles.  Odderoya is a beautiful Island, so we climbed/hiked around the island for a little after the waffles.

 

It was then time to set up camp for the evening so we went back to my place, grabbed the gear we needed for the evening and off we went to make camp in Jegersberg.

 

We camped in a little shelter next to a lake.  John barrowed some gear from Luke, one of the British guys in our program, and needless to say he loved trying out all the new sleeping gear technology.  We had typical Norwegian sausages, and stick bread for dinner.

The following day I showed John around the city since everything closes on Sunday which was the previous day.  Then later that night we packed our bags, as we would be taking an 11hr overnight train ride to Bergan, in other words, a cheap accommodation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bergan is a city just off the west coast of Norway.  Then in Bergen we hiked to a DNT Hut Where we stayed the night.  The huts are part of one of Norway’s great way of cross country skiing and being able to stay in the mountain.  These huts don’t have electricity or running water but they have wood burners, cozy beds, and candles everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the morning we wanted to hike out but with the snow conditions it would have taken the full day to hike to the bus station.

So we decided to use the road as a hand rail and hike 6 miles to a different bus station.  This car drove up behind us with 3 older men who didn’t speak English.  They said “Bruvik” which was the town our bus station that we were hiking to.

So we tried to tell them that’s where we were going.  Then next thing we knew they were opening up the back of the truck and telling us to get in.  So we happily got in and sat on some cardboard boxes they told us to sit on.

 

 

 

It was really nice to be out of the rain and cold.  They dropped us off in Bruvik where we learned it was a 4 hour wait till the next bus.

 

 

 

 

Luckily there was a guy going to Kukivik where more buses would come, so we got a ride with him to the bus station and then waited only 20min for a bus and finally took an 8miin train back to Bergen just in time for the Fjord tour.

 

The tour boat stopped at a waterfall and let us drink the water from it, and they called it Norwegian Whisky.

It was pretty rainy and windy out but that didn’t stop John from standing on the upper deck the whole time for the 3.5 hour boat ride.  That night we all made pizza together at the hostel since some of my friends from Kristiansand were in Bergen.  After dinner we hit up a couple pubs and then it was off to bed.

In the morning we went to a fortress type museum that had ruins from World War II which was pretty cool.

 

Then we were off to the airport for our trip to Iceland.  The flight went well and we arrived in Iceland at 3:30pm which was actually 5:30pm Norwegian time.

My friends from camp were in Iceland so they picked us up and we went to the ocean together.  It was beautiful; there were lava rocks everywhere which made for a magnificent landscape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ausha’s patents cooked us famous Icelandic lamb that night and it was delicious!

The following day Blue Lagoon was waiting for us which takes you to the very modern geo-thermal power plant as they generate all their electricity and heat from the underground hot gasses and process them thru the turbines and generators.

They had mud that you could put on your face which exfoliated your skin!

The golden gate tour was next, where we saw the titanic plate where America and Europe meet which was pretty cool to say the least.  Then we went to Gullfoss waterfall which was a huge waterfall surrounded by Ice and snow. Lastly we went to go see a Geysir which was fun to see, and all the geothermic activity on the ground around it.

The day was finished off by walking around town followed by some delicious fish prepared by Ausha’s father and some homemade ice cream, and hot chocolate made by Ausha’s mother.  Later that evening we went to club and to our surprise all the guys were wearing suits which was a bit too fancy how hot it inside.

We stayed up till 4:30am in the club then went to get a famous hot dog where Bill Clinton got one 10 years ago!

Then it was off to the airport to catch our flight home to Oslo.  We arrived in Oslo around noon with only two hours of sleep but that didn’t stop us from exploring the town for the day.

We finished the day with a walk back our hostel following a waterfall stream which John loved since California is in a drought right now. When the morning came it was hard to believe it was already time to say our goodbyes.  I had been waiting all semester for this trip and it was over before I knew it!  Time fly’s so fast, but luckily we both decided we want to go to Iceland together again:)