Hip hip, I am back from the Artic Circle! It was a much needed vacation. Went with Balázs, Francesco, Håvard, Guro, and Kjersti (vertsmor) up to Finnmark for the long weekend. Thursday, after my X Factor audition (which I unfortunately didn’t get around to doing ’cause of the time constraint; but it was a great morning with Doug and Xenia, and I’m betting my bottom dollar that you’ll get to see me on TV), we flew from Oslo Gardemoen to Alta. And from there, we rented a minivan and drove to Hammerfest, where we set up base at a wicked house with huge glass windows and high ceilings–very haute and modern.

On Friday we drove to Karasjok (Kárášjohka) to visit the Sámi Parliament. (The Sámi are the indigenous people of Norway.) And since we were so close to the Norwegian-Finnish border anyway, we decided to just cross over and have dinner in Finland. It was very cool, ’cause the countries were divided by a small river, but once we crossed it, we couldn’t understand a thing. All the signs were suddenly unintelligible and everyone started speaking Finnish–som forresten, er et råt språk! I had reindeer, with a side of mashed potatoes and lingonberries. (I’m really becoming fond of it–the kjøtt-potet-tyttebær combo. It’s typically Scandinavian and oh-so-good.) And at night we took a drive to a neighboring town for a midnight hike and to see the sun.

Saturday, we drove up to Nordkapp (North Cape). I’m actually now thinking of working there next summer, if it’s possible. Sent a mail requesting information to Rica Hotels. It would seem like a great opportunity; the pay’s not shabby and I’d get to continue speaking Norwegian while utilizing my other foreign language skills.

Welp, that was my weekend.