Emily's Experiences

Renn!

2008-12-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Skiers without a tuning room...no prob, we'll just tune in the snow!

Moving into our home, which was incidentally completely blocked off by a snow bank

The mountain

Well the races last weekend were interesting and a lot of fun. We somehow managed to get ourselves from Trondheim to Bjorli entirely by public transportation, involving two buses and two trains and a fair amount of walking with heavy ski stuff. Kelsey nearly missed the train because she missed the early bus and wound up having to run through Trondheim with skis. I was a little surprised when she actually made it! With about two minutes to spare...

Bjorli is a tiny town of 150 permanent inhabitants. The ski area is nice but only one trail is lit, so at this time of the year, you are skiing blind by about 3 pm. We arrived at noon on Saturday and hit the slopes for a little practice. The men were racing GS on the lit trail so we only got in four runs before we were actually skiing with our eyes closed.

The first day of racing I caught my tip on a tight hairpin and went out. That day, the course was really turny and ran about 1:15. That is very tiring for a slalom! Kelsey managed to finish both runs and got in a fair amount of practice as a result.

On day two, I finished both runs. Kelsey had to hike the first run, but skied well second run. I wasn't even close to scoring but I was about two seconds faster second run. Seeing as how this was the first time I had been skiing in over a month, improvement was all I was shooting for. We both had a blast and it got us excited for the season.

Med Amulya i Edinburgh - Nov. 22-26

2008-11-29T15:11:00.000-08:00

As I write this, I am sitting on a plane heading home to Trondheim from Edinburgh where I was visiting one of my best friends from Williams who is studying there for the semester. I hadn’t seen Amulya since May when we left school, so I was looking forward to this trip. It felt strange to leave Norway for the first time since July. It was slightly relieving to not feel pressured to speak Norwegian when ordering things, but I found myself accidentally saying “ja” when I was supposed to say “yes,” or “kanskje” instead of “maybe.”

I flew out on Saturday, after my last day of classes on Friday. I met Amulya at the airport and we stopped for some delicious food and conversation when we arrived in Edinburgh city. It was really great to see him, it had been so long! On Sunday, we took the train into Glasgow where we went to the Kelvingrove Museum and to Glasgow Cathedral. At the cathedral, I attended the second church service I had ever been to in my life. I thought the sermon had a good message, about giving love when in positions of power, rather than exploiting your power. The choir was beautiful and there was something wonderful about listening to a service in a cathedral like that. We had some dinner with some Williams’ friends - one is studying with Amulya in Edinburgh, and the other was her boyfriend visiting from the U.S. - and took the train back to Edinburgh. The next couple days we hung out in Edinburgh. I got to see the castle, numerous pubs and cafes, including the one in which J.K. Rowling started Harry Potter, climbed Arthur’s Seat, went to a religion class and a class on medieval Scottish history with Amulya, and generally did a lot of walking around the city.

Everything is much cheaper in Scotland compared to Norway. I enjoyed being able to go out for meals and buying coffee without feeling guilty. The city was old and beautiful. It felt very different from Trondheim. It was sad to say goodbye to Amulya but we will be back at Williams soon now.

I have a bus card to get around Trondheim and every time I swipe it, it says how many days there are left on the card. It is good until the day I go home, so it counts down the days for me. When it said, “40 dager” I thought that was few. Now it says “23 dager.” It’s strange to be leaving so soon. I also have exams coming up so I have to buckle down and start studying. However, I’m going to some races Saturday through Monday this week. Hey, they only last until 2:30 or so, afterwards I will be sure to hit the books!

Glasgow Cathedral

us on the necropolis - behind the Glasgow cathedral

Cathedral from the necropolis

Kelvingrove Art Museum - Glasgow- scary at night

Glasgow carnival

Modern Art museum - Glasgow- ceilings of light

Cute alley in Edinburgh

Where J.K. Rowling started Harry Potter

The castle

view from the castle

castle

Arthur's seat from inside the castle

Winter fair in the gardens

View of the Firth of Forth from Arthur's Seat

Amulya and me on Arthur's Seat - super windy

The Craggs, the city, and the castle

Edinburgh in some rare sunlight

Sunset on the plane ride home

Koia Tur til Hognabu - Nov. 15-17

2008-11-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

The weekend after Geiranger, Kelsey, Sam, our German friend Basti, and I decided to go on a cabin trip. The university athletic union in Trondheim (NTNUI) owns about 25 cabins of various sizes scattered around the countryside near Trondheim. If you are a member of NTNUI you can rent a cabin for a few nights for about $4 a person per night. Having never been on a cabin trip before, and understanding that going on one is something that needs to be done while attending NTNU, Sam and I got Basti and Kelsey interested. We rented a four-person cabin called Hognabu for Saturday and Sunday nights.

Getting to Hogabu required a two hour drive south-east of Trondheim and a three hour hike from there. We rented a car for simplicity’s sake and parked it at the trailhead. We could only follow a trail for about half of the hike, after that we were on our own in finding the cabin. I manned the topography map and Basti used the compass and we somehow managed to find the cabin with ease! I was worried that it would be a bit like finding a needle in a haystack, especially since the sun went down around 3:00 and we didn’t have much daylight left. There was no need to worry though, we found the cabin nestled in a valley between two huge mountains.

The feeling of complete isolation we had is hard to describe. There was a fair amount of snow on our hike there and it snowed for almost the whole time we were there. We could see nothing but mountains and snow and the river. On Sunday, we were planning on hiking up one of the mountains behind the cabin, but we awoke to a serious snowstorm and decided against it. Instead, we spent the whole morning lazing around in the cabin, talking and playing cards. In the afternoon, we headed outdoors for some fun in the snow. We went sledding on our butts, made a “snow fort,” and did some tricks off a rock into a pile of snow. By that time, it was getting dark already so we collected water, cleaned dishes and chopped some wood in preparation for night.

It was a relaxing, cozy weekend. We played games, played cards, told jokes, and talked. The woodstove cranked out the heat while the snow kept falling outside. When we set out for home on Monday, we had to hike through much more snow than there was on the way in. Sam had never been out in, let alone seen, that much snow in her life, so it was a good experience for her. I couldn’t believe it had taken me that long to go on a cabin trip and I’m so glad I did. If I was to only go on one cabin trip, those are the people I would want to go with, and Hognabu is the place I would want to be.

Kelsey and Sam on the way up, "absolutely knackered," as Sam put it.

We saw a herd of reindeer about halfway up

Just enough snow to make a snowman!

Three o'clock and the sun is setting

Getting the stove going

Sam was very good at chopping wood

Basti added the missing two strings to the cabin guitar

Just hanging out

Heading home

The crew :-)

So much snow!

Kelsey and me admiring the sunset

The snowman I made on the way up was still there, minus one arm

Sun setting on the way home

me in the doorway

Hognabu!

The river we were next to

playing some tunes

and eating

and writing in the guest book

Basti attempted to get a well composed picture of the three of us, an hour and a half later we were still cracking up and holding still had proved next to impossible.

one of the better pictures he took

sun setting over the mountains

Geirangerfjord og Atlanterhavsvegen - Nov. 7-9

2008-11-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

I've been on quite a lot of trips in the last few weeks and figured it was about time to update you all on what I've been up to. I'll start with three weekends ago, when Kelsey, Sam, my flatmate Jon, and I went on a little road trip. I decided that I couldn't spend a semester in Norway without going to see the famous fjords on the southwest coast. Kelsey and Sam agreed, and Jon, despite being Norwegian, had not yet seen Geirangerfjord, a UNESCO world heritage site. We left on Friday afternoon in a rental car and headed south with no clear idea of where we were going to stay, as all hotels in Geiranger were closed for the off season. While brainstorming during the car ride about what we were going to do, we came up with the idea to stay in Lom (where Kelsey and I stayed with skiing at Juvass), as it was on our way and bound to have an available hotel room. This plan worked out perfectly; we spend a nice night in a snow-covered Lom and left early for Geiranger the next day. After about two hours of driving on sketchy snowy roads with dramatic scenery all around us, we arrived in Geiranger.

Lom in winter :-)

The three girls

Where we stayed in Lom

Along the drive to Geiranger, the house was anchored!

It looked like a backdrop even in person

Our first view of the mountains around Geiranger. I think we all said, "oh my god" at least three times.

We stepped out of the car and almost got blown away.

Made it!

At Geirangerfjord, snow-topped mountains shoot up from a narrow body of water, at the front of which is a sleepy town. Despite being a little cold and windy while we were there, the sky was blue, and the complete lack of other tourists only enhanced the breathtaking scene before us. We found some good lookouts from which to admire the view and spend a few hours taking pictures from various locations.

Geirangerfjord

Attempt 10 with the self-timer.

Gotta love the trolls

A beautiful little church.

Miniature horses - Kelsey's new best friends.

Looking back at the town

farther along the fjord - you can see the waterfalls in the back.

As the sunlight began to fade, we hit the road again, heading north to Kristiansund, a small city on the coast where we were planning on spending the night. Along the way, we took a number of ferries and saw some adorable towns along various fjords.

The town our first ferry left from, the mountains, and the sky.

peaceful

Sam caught the moon!

Kristiansund

The next morning, we drove for an hour to see the Atlantic Road, a small stretch of road that jumps islands close to the coast in the Atlantic Ocean. It was a gorgeous windy day and the road was elegant, curving through islands. The main attraction of the road is the Storseisundbrua, a crazy looking bridge. Incidentally, while I was preparing to go to Norway last spring, all the administrative paperwork and small details were frustrating me, especially because we were nearing final exams at Williams. Needless to say, I was stressed out and doubting whether all the hassle was worth it. To get myself excited to go to Norway again, I started looking at pictures of Norway and came across one of the Storseisundbrua that I loved. I never thought I'd actually see it in person because it isn't that close to Trondheim!

Islands on the ocean side of the Atlantic Road

Me and the Storseisundbrua in the background

The road through the islands

view from the bridge

the crew with the bridge in the background

Storseisundbrua

After spending some time on the rocks next to the Atlantic Road, taking lots of pictures, and getting windblown, we headed home. I was relieved that I had actually gotten around to taking this trip. Geiranger especially is a place that should not be missed.

Kelsey Freeskiing

2008-10-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

We attempted to shoot some video of ourselves skiing with my digital camera. The zoom wasn't strong enough for this purpose, but you get the idea.

Emily Freeskiing

2008-10-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

Emily GS

2008-10-15T12:03:00.000-07:00

Kelsey GS

2008-10-14T04:32:00.000-07:00

Kjører Ski på Galdhøpiggen Sommerskisenter

2008-10-10T07:19:00.000-07:00

Kelsey and I said goodbye to Trondheim once more and headed south. Our destination: Lom and the Juvass glacier where teams from all over come to train during the summer. Our plan: meet up with Eirik's mom, Bodil, and her team...after they left halfway through the week in we would just have to hope for the best. We arrived at the train station in Otta and had an hour and a half to kill before Bodil arrived so we camped out in front of a random hotel and Kelsey scavenged for dinner. She still can't recall if she actually paid at the grocery store...(long story).

We were supposed to ski the next day (Saturday) but the wind on the mountain was too strong for even the T-bar to open. The ski area is on the highest mountain in Norway. We were in Jotunheimen again, just a little bit north of where we went hiking. The weather gets really crazy up there beginning in October. Instead of our highly anticipated day of skiing, we did some of the most intense dryland I've done in a long time. On Sunday, the weather was still sketchy but we thankfully avoided another full day of working out and got up on the mountain.

The view from lower down on the mountain while driving up

A little bit higher

The road goes just underneath that distant hump

Our first sight of the windblown glacier

The tiny lake had whitecaps

This was actually a decent stretch of road...the whole way up I was afraid of rolling down the mountain (no guardrails), or into the lake...it would be a constant fear throughout the trip

It's quite a long hill, no big pitches though

It was great to get back on snow again. We fought poor visibility and soft snow for a lot of the trip but got some good training. While Bodil and her team were there, we trained mostly GS with them. The head coach seemed to think we were skiing well and I definitely felt my GS coming along. Every day, after a 9-3 day of skiing, we had to run down the road for about 30 minutes before getting picked up by Bodil. We then got a banana and a chance to change back at the condo before heading out again for an hour and a half of dryland. I've never felt like such an old person, the 13 and 15 year old boys had so much energy!

When Bodil left on Tuesday, she dropped us off at a hotel in the middle of nowhere about halfway up the mountain from the main town. The only room they had available was a tiny cabin perched on the side of the mountain with no heat or electricity. Days were generally below freezing, and nights well under 0 degrees (celcius). In the spirit of adventure, Kelsey and I thought it sounded like a great idea. We moved in with all our gear and left over groceries.

Home sweet home

We (and by we, I mean Kelsey) were very excited about the woodstove and keeping it going to heat the frigid cabin. It was a pursuit we abandoned after the first night. The stove was tiny and inefficient and the effort required to keep it going til morning was so not worth it. We woke up cold in the morning anyway. From then on, we spent our afternoons in the lobby of the hotel and voyaged to our cabin in the dark to climb under layers and layers of down and wool. Nights were extremely warm and cozy. Mornings though...forget it. The worst part was putting on new clothes as it felt like putting on sheets of ice. Bodil had hooked us up with another team before she left and until they left on Thursday, they took good care of us. They made sure we had rides up and down the mountain and gave us courses to train in.

From our cabin: Cold but with a great view

Cabin view in a different direction

close-up of mountains from cabin

and from IN the cabin

the other window

Kelsey and the cabin

Me inside!

We survived off left over groceries for the first few days. We had no way of getting to a grocery store and the meals in the hotel were outrageous unless you stayed IN the hotel (then they were just expensive). We cooked egg sandwiches for dinner the first night and watery purple oatmeal the second night (involving oatmeal, copious amounts of water, blueberry yogurt, and milk). Cooking was on an electric burner in a basement room with no heat. It was kind of absurd, but fun, as for some reason Kelsey and I found everything funny.

Blurry pic but you get the idea of cooking

Tucking in

Cold but cozy and candlelit

Out on the hill

A pretty morning

Probably one of my favorite pictures

Photo-ops while waiting for a ride

A cool drive up the mountain in the back of some random coach's van who drove like a madman: somehow, he and his team got stuck with us for a few days

On the top of the hill

The thin streak of black on the snow is the road

We wound up moving into the hotel after four days in the cabin. We became friends with a Norwegian girl who is our age and a very fast skier. She had extra beds in her room so we got heat and a few square and extremely delicious meals. On Saturday night, the hotel had an extensive buffet involving no less than 9 different kinds of salmon among many other dishes. The dessert table was dangerous.

We woke on Sunday, our last day of skiing, to a few inches of snow. The road up the mountain was closed so we enjoyed our breakfast and a few episodes of Gossip Girl before packing up and moving out. Our friend was moving into a hotel just off the mountain and Kelsey's coach from Burke, Wolfi, was staying there too with his team (incidentally the Norwegian women's world cup team). We hung out with Wolfi before heading into town to get some lunch and catch the bus to the train station.

We had a solid 7 days of skiing, worked through some of the kinks in our backs, and got comfortable on our skis again. It was a successful camp and should set us up well for some early season races over here. For now, it's nice to be back in Trondheim.

Snowy world on the last morning

a cool tractor

an old farm converted into a hotel, where Wolfi was staying. it was a beautiful spot

To be continued...

2008-09-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I went on an amazing backpacking trip in Jotunheimen. Jotunheimen translates to "the land of the giants" and amazing really doesn't begin to describe it or how much fun I had on the trip. I need to find the time to write a blog that does it justice, but in the meantime I felt cruel depriving you of this picture. There are many other spectacular ones that you will soon be able to witness but this is probably my favorite

Jotunheimen

2008-09-22T01:49:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Kelsey and I heard that some of our friends were planning a trip to go backpacking for three days in Jotunheimen, a mountainous region about 4 hours south of Trondheim. Looking to get out of Trondheim for a few days, we invited ourselves along. We found a friend with a car who wanted to come too and set out on a rainy Thursday night. We arrived around midnight in the parking lot we were to hike from and spent that night in the car. I was stuck in the incredibly small back seat of the green car pictured below.

packing up to begin on Friday morning

We woke up in the morning to cold and thick fog. I uncurled myself from my seat and bundled up for the bracing weather. Kelsey's backpack was loaded to the max (it's rather small) and I couldn't quite get the bag to zip around the chocolates. As a result, the angry cow's face gave her backpack some character.

Not sure why the cow is so scary...the ones on the chocolates are happy and playing sports...

The mastermind behind the trip was our Belgian friend, Geert. Until the end of the first day I really had no idea where we were headed. All I knew was there would be about 7 hours of hiking a day. When we tried to leave the parking lot, we discovered that we were heading in the wrong direction. We went back to the cars, broke out the maps and had a long discussion about where we should go. Thankfully, this was the only time we would get lost for the rest of the trip.

The map discussions begin...

... and continue...

We finally figured out the proper direction and set off. This first day, we were to hike along a ridge that goes between two lakes and eventually descend to a camp along the water. Our starting point was called Gjendesheim and was at one end of Lake Gjende. The ridge is called Bessegen and the cabin we were aiming for was Merumburu, a little over half way along the lake.

The Bessegen Ridge in the clouds

It's really high up there, doesn't look like it though

Lake Gjende

The ascent to the top of the ridge was steep and other-worldly. The fog was sometimes so thick we could hardly see the person in front of us. When we got to the top, Geert was sad because he said the view was supposed to be amazing. We decided to stop and eat lunch (matpakke in Norwegian) among the rocks, even though we had nothing but white to see.

The group minus me on the top

(From L: Katharina, Geert, Kelsey, Steven, Basti, Simon)

The group minus Kelsey on the top, Basti is apparently very tired

Geert sadly eating matpakke

After much of our lunch had been consumed, Kelsey and Geert decided to practice some ballroom dance moves (samba to be exact) to keep warm. They were facing the white abyss and as they danced we began to see some blue through the clouds. They continued dancing and it got better and better! For the rest of the weekend we were to have perfect weather.

Dance!

Basti and Kelsey

Katharina and Kelsey, the clouds are clearing!

Me as the clouds clear

The boys getting very excited at the view

Geert is happy now

Lake Gjende. The color is so cool because it's a glacier fed lake

Katha

lake close-up

me again, it's very windy

Steven

Basti. you can see the two lakes on either side, we hiked on the narrow strip of land between them

the group looking at where we have to go

we were really excited that we could finally see so we took a lot of pictures up here, not knowing when the clouds would come back

The descent down Bessegen, insanely steep

A break after descending

Simon and Geert on the edge

Me next to the other lake, it looks much less blue...

The sun beginning to really break through the clouds

And again

Kelsey smiling next to a very high lake

And me doing the same

Looking back at Basti

More sun

Geert grinning at where we came from

The "cabin"

About 17 kilometers later we arrived at our destination. I was told there were these cabins at each place we were going to that served food and had beds in dorm-like, or hotel-like settings. Kelsey and I wanted to save some money so we brought a tent and a stove and food. The stove was a huge success, the tent less so.

Waiting for Simon's infamous pasta

Simon cooking the pasta

Williams skiing represent!

Where we slept

Neither Kelsey nor I had sleeping pads so the night in the tent was extremely uncomfortable. We got very little sleep and both woke up around six, looked at each other, and booked it for the cabin. We crashed for a blissful hour on the couch in the lobby and were grumpy upon waking.

Getting ready to leave in the morning...note the sunshine!

The day before we had been very happy to end our hike with a long descent. We were less happy in the morning when we contemplated having to climb it again. It was tough but we got there eventually.

Kelsey at the top

Basti and Geert admiring the view

Beginning the flat part of our trek...it was flat but long! to the end of the lake behind Kels

On this second day, we were to arrive after 24km or so at Glitterheim, at the base of the tallest (or second tallest, it's disputed) mountain in Norway. We began with the steep climb from the lake and then walked through some marshland and along another lake. Eventually, we were to begin climbing up through a massive rock field, and then down the other side to the cabin.

A waterfall we saw along the way

Awesome shadows

Something is apparently interesting

Simon relaxing

Geert

Nap time!

After hiking on the flats for what seemed like hours, we came across the most idyllic beach. Deeming it a perfect place for matpakke, we broke out the stove and ate grilled cheese. We introduced Geert to the grilled bread with nutella idea and he was soon addicted. Of course, after large lunches a nap is in order so we all sprawled out and took in some sunshine. It was tough to get going again but we knew we still had a long way to go.

Starting to climb

A suspension bridge

Geert and the beginning of the rocks

I followed the coat hanging off Basti's bag for hours and hours and hours...

You may notice the view, but I notice the rocks...

A quick break before the final push

As I had gotten very little sleep the previous two nights, Kelsey and I decided to fork out the cash and sleep in the cabin. Simon was the lone camper, he actually camped out in the small clearing in the picture above.

In the dormitory

The $10 beers they indulged in, G and I drank tea

We woke in the morning to frosty grass and clear skies. Kelsey and I were in great moods having had a lovely night's sleep. We left before breakfast to pick up Simon, hoping we wouldn't have to chip him out of his tent with ice axes.

beautiful dogs next to a signpost with all our destinations on it

If we followed the designated route back to our cars, we would have had to backtrack a considerable amount. In search for new sights and views, we chose to make our own path over a mountain and along a ridge, finally meeting the route at a lake. The climb over the mountain was killer. It never seemed to end and the entire thing was over rocks. They were extremely tiring. Every time we thought we were at the top, more rocks stretched before us. What a way to start the morning!

Water break on the way up

Awesome mountains (and rocks)

Kelsey finally summitting

The climb was definitely worth it though, we were treated to one of the best views yet.

Awesome

Kelsey looks like a rock in the clouds on the edge of the world

Me!

Each day I saw views I never thought could be topped but the next step always proved me wrong. At the top of this peak we saw a lake far below and a crater across the valley. It felt mysterious due to the low hanging clouds. Basti decided to kick a boulder off the mountain and it seemed like it took minutes before it came to a rest. When it was time to move on, Simon and Steven decided they wanted to go down on the left, through a gap they claimed was in the mountain. Basti, Geert, Kelsey and I chose to stick to the route we picked out and walk along the ridge, eventually descending to the valley below. Despite my misgivings, we separated after setting our meeting place as the marked trail along the lake. We had hoped we would escape the rocks by making our own route but alas, we were destined to clamber over them forever.

setting out along the ridge

the lake we were aiming for

Kels with the crater in the background

Off the ridge at last!

When we finally got off the ridge, we hoped we would have a reprieve at last from the rocks. For the most part, we did. The problem was that in these mountains, distances that seem close actually take hours and hours to walk. The absence of trees means that you can see for many miles and it's really difficult to judge how far things really are. I had thought that we would reach the lake after one hour, max two hours. It wound up taking around four. The length was probably increased by Basti's decision to make us walk right alongside a river (hello more rocks!) rather than the route I was expecting to take over some rolling hills.

An example of distance distortion. The river looks pretty close, but Kelsey is that tiny speck in front of the large boulder

At least four hours after leaving the mountain top we reached the path, marked by the large red Ts that we had followed for three days. We threw down our packs and started up the cooker for lunch. Shortly thereafter we were joined by Simon and Steven. Apparently they had reached the top of a small hill after their descent and saw us behind them. They sat down to wait for us to come. But we disappeared due to our river walk. So they sat for about an hour thinking we were about to show up over the next hill. Eventually they gave up and were surprised to see us waiting for them on the trail. I was just glad that we had all become one group again.

Kelsey grilling some bread

The view from our lunch spot, we had come from somewhere right of the snowy mountains in the distance

After lunch we set out for the final push back to the cars. We began by walking along the lake for several kilometers. We then had a bit of a climb, some rolls, and the descent back to Gjendesheim. Kelsey and I were walking about as fast as we could without running along the lake but the boys were on some sort of mission. We were soon left in the dust, wondering how the guys were going so fast.

Quick photo-op along the lake

The boys stopped at the end of the lake long enough for us to catch up and then began hauling again. Kelsey and I sat down and drank some water for about one minute and then sighed and started up. The guys were already just colors in the distance.

The end of the lake where we stopped for a second. Dad's retirement home is pictured.

Our shadows on the barren landscape

Maybe it was from exhaustion or endorphins but around the 9th hour of hiking Kelsey and I started going slightly crazy. We were singing all the songs we could remember, including a variety of Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, and cracking jokes that no one else would find even remotely funny. We thought they were hilarious. I don't think we would have made it the last few miles if it wasn't for our strange mood.

Kelsey: day three, hour nine...

where we came from, where we are going

my sign post

Kelsey and the eternally happy G

We wound up catching G at some point as he had to stop at every possible location and set up the perfect picture. We stayed with him as the road we eventually would drive on came into view far below us. We had no idea when we would start descending but the road seemed to be taunting us as we couldn't see any familiar sights along it. Finally, Lake Gjende became visible. We literally ran down the mountain that just two days before we had climbed up. It seemed more like two weeks. Over our right shoulders we could see the Besseggen ridge. On Friday it had been too foggy to see where we had to go. I was glad for that now as the ridge seemed impossibly high and the trail very sketchy. Breathless, we reached the road and began trudging toward the car.

G and Kelsey on the road again.

Despite my blistered feet and my cut hips from my backpack, I had just had the time of my life. It was honestly one of my favorite weekends ever. The sights were breathtaking, the company fine, and the weather gorgeous. If you ever go to Norway, make sure to go hiking in Jotunheimen. I woke up in my bed in Trondheim on Monday, immediately wanting to shut my eyes again and wake up in a cabin in the "land of the giants," ready to hike another 40+ miles in three days.

Trondheim

2008-09-11T02:42:00.000-07:00

I've written much about the various trips I've taken while I've been in Norway, but neglected to write about my everyday life here. The trips seem more interesting to write about because they are out of the ordinary, as Trondheim has started to feel like home.

View from my window

My room from the doorway

My room again

Our common room/kitchen and my Italian roommate, Dani, in the process of cooking

As I mentioned before, the first month I was here I took a Norwegian language course from 9 until 2 five days a week. Nå jeg kan snakke lite Norsk! We had great trips on the weekends and the people I still mainly hang out with are those I met in the course. I'm in my second full week of classes now and I'm taking Population Genetics, Molecular Biology, and Norwegian Society. Population Genetics is a masters level course and Molecular Biology is taught in Norwegian so that should be interesting... The amount of work I have to do is far less than at Williams, as you are evaluated solely, or almost solely, by a final exam. I certainly have to keep up with the readings but not having labs for once is amazing. Except for Fridays, I have one class a day and on Fridays I have two. I live in a student village called Moholt, which is situated between the two major campuses. I have two classes at the campus called Gløshaugen, and one at Dragvoll. Its about a five minute bike ride to Gløshaugen and from Dragvoll, and ten minutes from Gløshaugen and to Dragvoll. There's a major hill that rises from the city center to Gloshaugen, through Moholt, and to Dragvoll. That's why it takes different amounts of time for me to bike. I must say, I miss the smallness of the Williams campus sometimes, where I used to complain about walking the 400 meters to class.

Sam and her boyfriend outside a cafe we went to by the "old bridge," a really cute area of town

My main means of transportation

They have blankets at the cafe so you can sit outside in the cold

The gym where Kelsey and I usually work out

The student union building

The cathedral across the river from studentersamfundet

Pictures of the cathedral at night

The main/front building at the Gløshaugen campus

The view from the front of campus, you can see the fjord

View of the fort from campus

The building where my biology classes are held

Another view from Gløshaugen, you can see the cathedral spire

View along my commute to Dragvoll

The fjord on the way to Dragvoll

Every time I bike to Dragvoll I am blown away by this view

View from Dragvoll

Inside Dragvoll, the roof opens up during nice warm weather

Inside Dragvoll again, at the end of the corridor is where my language class was held

For more stories...

2008-09-11T02:38:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, one of my best friends from Williams is in Norway with me. Kelsey and I are pretty much never apart and she has a blog as well. So if you want to read about everything I do here from a different point of view, check out her blog at www.keladventures.blogspot.com

More pictures from Gråkallen

2008-09-09T06:16:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the poor composition of the previous blog. Blogspot started acting up so I gave up and posted it as it was. More pictures are below!

A watched pot actually never boils

View of the fjord and a bit of the city

Readjusting packs

Strange rainbow park

Hey look! We made it to the top!

In front of the tent

Nicely set up

Kelsey breaking out the tent

The sweet, cheap Norwegian grills and dinner!

Chocolate - Marshmellow Sandwich

That is actually not a piece of coal...

The mysterious balls...

Gråkallen (aka "the mountain with the balls")

2008-08-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

outside a bunker

sunset

attempting to get warm in the last bit of sunshine

The weekend before last, Kelsey, our British friend Sam, and I decided to test out Kelsey's new tent. She had been hounding us for weeks to use it with her, so on a beautiful Saturday we set out for a mini backpacking trip. The highest "mountain" in Trondheim is visible from most places in the city and can be easily distinguished from the other wanna-be mountains by two distinctive ball shaped structures on the peak.

The farthest peak is Gråkallen

We prepared for our trek by buying what turned out to be too much food from the Rema 1000 (like a pathetic version of a Price Chopper), including marshmellows, six eggs, a full loaf of bread, cheese, bananas and two big bags of chocolate as well as cookies. I conveniently already had dinner in my freezer - about nine pølse (hotdogs). However, I less-than-conveniently left them there, prompting an emergency stop at another Rema 1000 along the way (we were really in the wilderness). Kelsey and I also brought out all the ski gear we took with us to Norway in an effort to ensure our warmth, and that of Sam, in the chilly Norwegian night. We made our backpacks rather heavy but generally succeeded in not freezing.

So we set out from Moholt (my student village) map-less but laden down with 6 liters of water. Our sights were set on the distant slopes of the mountain-with-the-balls. Fortunately for our unguided selves, the majority of our hike was on paved roads, making for a quite boring but straightforward climb. It was indeed a climb, despite being on roads, but we made good time over the six or so miles to the top. At one point, while we were taking a water break, Kelsey saw a Norwegian man come out of the woods and deigned to ask him how to get to the mountain-with-the-balls. He looked at her rather strangely and burst out laughing. I then had to come to her rescue and attempt to pronounce Gråkallen . . . You must understand that Norwegians seem to have an issue with understanding their own language unless it is pronounced perfectly, with inflections in the exact place they belong, and heaven forbid if your vowels don't come with proper lip-pursing movements. Needless to say, it took a few tries for us to get our point across...

We succeeded in summitting the mountain where we were greeted with beautiful views of the entire city, the fjord, and the mountains and lakes to the south of Trondheim. We found a relatively flat, grassy area to set up the tent which made Kelsey exuberantly excited, especially when it actually worked and seemed as though it would be able to fit all three of us. Two person tent, yeah right!

We cooked dinner and dessert and ate til we couldn't fit any more. We then began to explore in the rapidly dimming light. It turns out that there are several old bunkers on the mountain, complete with gun holes and strange black wires. Kelsey and I poked our heads in a couple of them; they weren't very interesting but as night fell, the mystique began to grow. About half of the top of the mountain was fenced off by wire fencing with barbed wire loops on the top. This area contained the balls and a few of the bunkers. There were signs on the fence warning us against entering and against photography. For some reason, the signs had a date from 1914 on them although they did not look nearly that old. Parts of one of the balls had camo paint on it, as did a strange building with pyramidal shapes sticking out of it. We had neglected to do any research on what the spheres actually were used for and as a result, our imaginations were free to wander. They really took off when the balls began making noises. In the twilight, on a barren mountain with enormous whispering spherical buildings and decrepit silent bunkers we were left to ponder its secrets and history.

After sufficiently scaring ourselves we took refuge in our tent and after a while attempted to sleep. I only managed to do so after waking Kelsey and Sam up, determined that I heard footsteps in the blueberry bushes around our tent. It turned out to be the wind.

We woke up to a world covered in fog and started up the grill for breakfast. It stayed hot enough for Kelsey to fry a couple eggs for breakfast but by the time I attempted the same feat, the grill had cooled too much. My eggs wound up in the trash bag, much as they had looked when I first cracked them. I made do with a "cheese toasty" as Sam calls them, and we watched the fog move off the mountains and settle into the valley below. We could just see the tops of the two skyscrapers and the lone smokestack of Trondheim poking through the clouds.

We made it home by 10 that morning, sore in the shoulders and hips, but happy that we overcame the imagined demons of Gråkallen and had ourselves a nice little adventure. I think Sam is still surprised that she actually came with us :-)

Preparing to fight

Looking south-eastward

Sunset

Me and Sam

Starting up the grill in the morning

Coming out of the tent in the morning

Me and Sam at sunrise!

Eirik's Farm and Juvass

2008-08-27T05:19:00.000-07:00

Last week Ian and Eirik came to visit me and Kelsey. I had no class so Ian, Eirik, and I took a road trip to Eirik's house in Hurdal. We went into Oslo the next day; it was fun to see another city besides Trondheim, although I'm glad I'm here. Eirik's farm was really nice, they had adorable new kittens, tons of cattle, and sheep. Meeting his family was great even though they spoke really fast Norwegian to me.

The view from the house

After Eirik's, we went north and picked up Kelsey at the train station before heading to Lom, where we stayed while we skied at Juvass with Eirik's old ski team. Lom was a quaint little town in the mountains with a really cool church from the 11th century called the Stav church.

Stav Church

We skied Saturday and Sunday on the Juvass glacier. The drive up there was interesting in Eirik's car, which went about 15km/hr up the massive hill. The first day we broke through some low hanging clouds into brilliant sunshine which made for some great pictures.

View on the drive up

The skiing was fabulous, the snow was really hard in the morning and got pretty soft by the afternoon but the cover was still good. It was awesome to be on snow again and it felt like I was skiing well. Kelsey and Eirik looked good too, and Ian shot some video.

The view of the glacier

The hill while going up the T-bar

Kelsey and Eirik going up the T-bar

Reindeer we saw on the way up!

Trollheimen

2008-08-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

The last weekend trip of our course was to a region in Norway called Trollheimen. We went on an hour long boat cruise through a 10km long lake that was surrounded by mountains. I was concerned because the weather was cold and threatening to rain but the rain held off and the dark clouds and fog made the trip more beautiful.

On the boat

At the end of the lake was a seter, an old farm that could only be accessed by boat. From there we began a hike. We wound up going up the wrong way so we had to bushwack our way up past tree level. There were some small snow fields and I got to go skiing on my feet! Four of us summited the mountain.

After we finally made it back down to the seter, we were served a traditional Norwegian soup dish in a cozy building with sheep skins and a fire. It was delicious and a great end to a wonderful day.

One of the seter buildings, this is where we ate

Kystens Arv

2008-08-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

The weekend after Søvassli we took a ferry to an old boat building factory. When we got there, we went on a short sailing trip in an old boat designed in the tradition of the area. It was a very windy day so we had a good sail. We then had a tour of the museum and Kelsey, a friend of ours, and I went for a swim in the fjord! It was cold, but not as cold as I had expected.

Swimming in the fjord

Kelsey steering the sailboat

Søvassli

2008-08-27T04:06:00.000-07:00

I have been in Norway for almost a month now and I'm having a great time. For the first month I took a Norwegian language course. I learned a bit of Norwegian but in the process I made some good friends and went on a few amazing trips. The first trip was to a place called Søvassli where about 65 of us stayed in a big hostel-type place. There was a lake across the street with snow covered mountains in the distance. The second day we were there we went on a five hour hike in the mountains and swam in a few lakes along the way. It was probably one of my favorite weekends. We had a lot of BBQs, went on a zip-line, rock climbed and canoed until late at night, because it didn't really get dark in July.