The Flossy Flossy
Keeping it “on the real” the best I can.Archive for travel
Finnmark
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.
Plans
Back from Bergen, and school has begun. So, I have been doing a lot of thinking and planning lately, like I tend to do whenever I have a lack of things to do. Was at Rudi’s house last night and found out that there’s going to be a Norwegian X Factor audition in Oslo from the 20th to the 22nd of May! If I have no coinciding plans then I’m going to the audition days; it’ll be a great experience to say the least.
I’ve also been discussing a “final road-trip” with Marie la française. We think a couple of us are going down to possibly Kristiansand, in southern Norway. We haven’t decided on a date yet and everything’s still in the drawing-board phase.
Also, I’ve been talking with Mom about what to do after I get back to California. The plan is that I will have July off to “go do my own thing” and hang with friends. And at the beginning of August, we will fly up to Toronto, Canada, to visit a second-cousin. We’ll spend about a week there, and then we’ll head westover (I think it’s westover…) to Ottawa and meet up with Tilly, who will accompany us in Ottawa and hopefully Montréal. And I also really hope that we’ll get to visit Québec City as well.
And after I come back, I will have about half a week off to pack my things before I fly off to Switzerland on July 17th.
Anyway, that’s my travel forecast. However, there’s also still a bunch of immediate stuff that I have to focus on, including that visit to Dolly Dimple’s. “Har du en ledig stilling?” Haha, wish me luck. And this weekend, I will be going to Gol to visit Jessica and get sfasato!
As for today, I think I will go to volleyball practice. Haven’t been there since it started snowing. But now I can bike there again…
And I also need to withdraw money.
And I also need to print a résumé.
Life is good.
