stavanger and lysefjord norway

This weekend I visited Maiken in Stavanger, Norway. Stavanger is located in south west Norway and sits along the coast of the North Sea. The climate is very mild compared to the rest of Norway because of the wind or something that comes from the Atlantic. Maiken said the weather is often compared to Ireland and it hardly ever snows in Stavanger, just lots of rain.



During my quick trip we were able to go to a beautiful beach along the coast and take a boat ride up the Lysefjord. Both of these things were amazing. The beach was deserted, except for a horseback rider and some insane surfer dudes, because it was a pretty chilly day. To get to the beach we had to walk across sand dunes and through big patches of sea grass. The beach reminded me a lot of the beach we stayed at with Aunt Janet in Monterey, CA.

On Saturday we took the four hour boat ride from the port at Stavanger up the Leysefjord. As we got farther and farther into the fjord the water became very still and the clouds began to roll across the tops of the mountains. Maiken had been on the boat cruise on a sunny day once but she said it was very different with the clouds. We weren't able to see the tops of many of the mountains/rock formations. I personally thought the clouds made the ride almost seem magical or like we were in a dream, especially with the still water and no other people in sight. If you google image Lysefjord you can see more pictures of the fjord. The fjord is so big it is very hard to capture what it really looks like with a normal digital camera from a boat.

The rest of my trip was spent hanging around with Maiken and her friends from school. She told me they had all been practicing their english before I had arrived!

Check out the pictures from my trip on the right of the page under stavanger and lysefjord norway.

easter weekend recap

According to the London Paper and London Lite this years Easter holiday was one of the earliest in quite a few decades. It was also predicted to be one of the coldest in Londons history and the weather people were definitely right! This morning I woke up to go to an Easter Sunday service at St. Pauls Cathedral only to look out my window and find a light covering of snow on all the trees, houses, and cars. brrrrr. This has by far been this coldest weather I have seen in London since my arrival on New Years Day. The snow didn't last for long. I think it had all melted by 10 am.




Despite the snow and horribly cold temperatures (cold for London but not near cold by midwest standards) two friends and I made it to St. Pauls (where Princess Di was married) for the 10:15 Easter service and met up with another girl. We made it early enough to get seats in the second row of the cathedral. The service was absolutely beautiful. The majority of the service consisted of music from the choir. The Bishop of London gave a short message with his very powerful voice (he was literally 10 ft from us while speaking).

Tonight several people and I had planned on getting together and cooking a homemade Easter dinner but when we arrived at the grocery store it was closed, apparently for the holiday. We ended up eating at a wonderful little mediterranean place called Shish. I had a chicken Shish Kabob with some very flavorful cous cous.

Last night I had my first "cinema" experience in London. I went with two guys from Furnival House to a theatre right down the street. We got student tickets for the movie and they only cost 5.80 so about $12.00. This is a good deal for cinema tickets in London. The theatre didn't even compare to anything in the states. The screens were very small and the theaters only had about 1/4 as many seats. The cinema did have a coffee and full service bar though, this seemed a bit strange to me.

I've been busy trying to finish up a few really big essays before our spring break begins April 4. The weather has been really cold here so it hasn't been too torturous to stay inside and work. This next weekend I am making a quick trip to Norway to visit Maiken in Stavanger and to see where she goes to school.

st. patrick's day in dublin

As Americans we commonly associate St. Patrick's Day with the colors green and orange, beer, celebrations, Irish people, and a green river running through Chicago. Well Irish people seem to associate the very same things with the day and celebrate in basically the same ways, except they don't die their rivers green, the day is an actual national holiday, and they seem to drink a bit more guinness.

I would have to say the celebration was a little different than I had expected, maybe a little more American than expected or not quite as Irish as expected? We still had a great time exploring Grafton Street, walking up and down the River Liffey, checking out St. Patrick's and Christ Church Cathedrals, Trinity College, and the Temple Bar Quarter. We also waited in line for two hours to tour the the guinness storehouse with the other 500,000 tourists in town for the holiday weekend. The wait was definitely worth it as the inside of the storehouse was pretty impressive and the end of the tour ended with an opportunity to visit the 360 degree gravity bar at the top of the building to view Dublin.

the lake district and lots of sheep

After a 10 hour bus ride on Friday I arrived in the Lake District of Northern England (about 20 miles south of Scotland) with my study abroad program. The scenery looked a lot like something you would see on a postcard from Ireland or Scotland. Many brilliant green rolling hills, hundreds of granite stone fences, english cottages, and countless sheep.



We stayed near the small village of Keswick. On Saturday our program had arranged for us to participate in "adventure activities" but we woke up to pouring rain and really strong winds. We still did some of the activities we had picked out but I had decided I wanted to go sailing on one of the lakes and wasn't able to because the winds were way too strong and there were huge white caps on the lake, so that was a little disappointing. Instead of sailing we kind of just hung around the waters edge, chased some sheep, ran through a lot of sheep poo, and took some awesome pictures of the scenery. In the afternoon I was still able to go absailing down a pretty steep cliff, or so it seemed as it was my first time ever absailing!



Sunday morning we visited the town of Keswick and explored the cobblestone streets and small stores lining them. The trip was a lot of fun, a great chance to meet more people from my program, and a good chance to see more of England!!

almost like christmas

Yesterday I checked my mail at the reception desk. I don't really ever check my mail because I'm never expecting anything ...but late last week my mom did send some spring clothes and I thought maybe the package would have arrived. Lucky for me the box had come and not only had the spring clothes arrived but so had a second package! Two packages in one day!

Apparently back in January my mom had sent a "care package" with a few comfort items and it finallyyyyyyy showed up in London yesterday. So yesterday was a good day, new clothes-well almost, lots of microwavable kettle corn, marshmallow valentine hearts, pictures, letters...etc.

It's amazing how a few little things from family and home can make you feel.

maiken does london

I was finally able to see Maiken again for the first time this weekend in nearly three years. She was able to fly down from Norway for the weekend so we could explore the city together and do some much needed catching up.



We spent the majority of the weekend sight seeing. We saw the major tourist attractions around the Thames and then ventured into North London to find Abbey Road. This was my first time there and there definitely wasn't much to see, just a road!



Another thing I did for the first time this weekend was ride the London Eye. Maiken had gone on the eye during the day before so we decided to do the night ride which I had heard was very impressive. The ride is about 30 minutes long and you are able to N,S,E,W out of the capsule you ride in around the wheel. The views were amazing up and down the Thames and to the north and south of the city. I didn't realize just how big London was until I was at the top of the eye!