Thursday, November 20, 2008

Two parties tomorrow, it's too late to talk about Bergen, and I'm almost done with my paper

Those three things sum up the status of life here in Hamar. I can feel everything wrapping up in the form of a fiery crash. My 21st birthday will be celebrated a day early in a country that diminishes the accomplishment of turning 21, if you know what I mean, because my birthday happens to be relatively close to another classmate's and we're having a joint birthday party. I'm most definitely looking forward to it, especially because it coincides with the due date of my case study and my case study is pretty much finished. I have a few revisions to make and a bibliography to finish, but it's going to happen and that's a good feeling. Then the 22nd (my actual birthday) will play host to the christmas/goodbye party for international students. It's always a fun and unique time when the international students come together, so I'm expecting big things from the final jamboree. Between those two parties, my birthday will not go un-celebrated to be sure. As for the second point of the title, it is kind of too late to talk about Bergen, but not really. I didn't want to write a large travelogue entry then because I was working on my case study and typing was beginning to hurt my fingers. Excuses aside, however, Bergen was a great way to (maybe?) end the many and varied travels in and around Norway. It was very rainy, somewhat cold, and ridiculously scenic. As with all cities we've been to, it seems, the city was built around water, and between that and the inclement weather the best word to describe Bergen is wet. The first day there was all about hiking, and the second day was all about wandering. At this point, that's become the status quo, but the hiking was unusually good here (no Switzerland straight uphill debacles) and the wandering was solid due to the fish market, preserved historical buildings, and the better exchange rate than a couple months ago. I'll give you a sense of daily life in Hamar at this point: I slip on ice a lot these days, I eat a lot of pasta, and I get rather cold outside. Also there's this cereal called Coco-Pops: Crunchers! which is a wonderful cereal and really needs to catch on in the States. I mean, sure I like Marshmallow Mateys and Golden Grahams and stuff, but this is some good dessert cereal. I will miss it when I leave this place. Finally it was dark at like 3 today, and it was never really light. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's 83 and sunny in Phoenix today, and light until about 5:30 . . . wow, climate shock!

Yea for the paper and Happy Birthdays!