Packing up

 Things that are nice will be packed last of all

Things like clothes will be packed first

I'm sorry, I keep thinking I've posted recently, and I haven't. This weekend has been filled with packing, volunteers-at-Bukta-festival-afterparty, my own leaving-my-apartment-party, walks with my parents, more packing, saying goodbye to my brother who is moving to Svalbard (google maps! go!), watching films, finishing Game of Thrones season I, more packing, watching films with Christine, and more packing.

Now I'm just working on finishing my food (om nom been eating all day), and having a short break from packing.

Tomorrow I move back in with my parents.

Days of Summer

Screenshots from Krøniken (The Chronicle/Better Times), a wonderful Danish tv series from a few years back, set in 1950s Denmark. It's full of politics and history and natural-but-pretty people in pretty clothes, and is of course also a massive family drama. I've been watching it recently, missing my Danish friend Cecille, and hoping I can visit her in Copenhagen soon.

I was supposed to use this week to pick myself up after last week's festival (Bukta), where I volunteered, working nine or ten hour shifts, followed by going out (everyone's going out! More concerts in town! Yay!) and staying out till four in the morning, three days in a row. Still, the picking up of self this week has turned into having-a-holiday-week.

I usually get up at eight every morning, no matter if I have work or not.

This week I've been staying up late with friends, watching LOTR:ROTK extended (four hours of film) and the Batman midnight premiere (only three) on the same night... Today I decided to sleep long and well and take it easy, so all I've done is watch tv series (Game of Thrones, Krøniken), and read (Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally and La Belle Gabrielle by Alexandre Dumas/Auguste Maquet).

So this week is relax-week, this weekend and the start of next week is packing and cleaning-time, and on Tuesday I'll be moving back home with my parents.

I have already bookmarked jobs to apply to.

Christopher Nolan/Dark Knight Rises

Went to the midnight screening of the last Batman-film last night (finished at three am, I am tiredface today). GO. WATCH.

I forgot all about it being a Christopher Nolan film until the end, when of course, I was reminded of how Mr Nolan ends his films.

Loved it.

Sweden, baby

 Greenhouse Street

 Sweden has so many trees. So many woods. So many trees. Seriously.

 All the traditional houses are red, while in Norway they would be white.

 They have lots of islands and Finland on the other side of the sea.

And I have one dad and one brother, here in Piteå.

We drove from Oslo to Tromsø. Please look it up on a map. It was roughly 1200 miles. This is like going from Edinburgh to Falmouth, and then back again, and then some more.  We drove through Sweden, since they have way better roads than Norway, and spent roughly 25-26 hours driving, with two nights in Sweden and enough ice cream/food/stretch-your-legs stops. Not recommended unless you really like driving or have someone to swap with.

Green

Sad thoughts for yesterday and everything. Look at soothing, peaceful photos.

Stop

This day needs to not have been.

Nesodden/Oslo

 Then I went to rainy, verdant Nesodden to stay with my grandmother

 To Oslo to see my friend Julie, among others

 and eat Moroccan tapas and drink mint tea with all the sugar

 then back to Nesodden to weed, read and smell the roses (quite literally)

Rural idyll, as long as it's summer

Mis amigos Colombianos

 Xiomara, Dasha (así, de Rusia), Carlos

Xiomara y yo

ya te extraño.

Ahora necesito aprender español mas de nunca. Todo el tiempo estoy usando el google traductor. Necesito un curso y un viaje de España para aprender mas.

Mis amigos Colombianos se han ido.

Red Cross Youth Camp III

 The sun goes down in this part of Norway, completely confusing

 Campfires for social interaction

 Again: sunset in summer, only happens in the south

 People playing guitars by campfires, obligatory

Our new slogan: From Like To Action

Red Cross Youth Camp II

 Dasha, my dear companion from Tromsø

 Presentations about Colombians in Norway and Norwegians in Colombia

 Aina being cooled down

 Xiomara, showing no skills in badminton

People, people, people

These days were a big mix of workshops and boredom and fun times and games and entertainment and sadness for people who were about to leave.

Red Cross Youth Camp I

 A red cross of jelly/jello

 Tents for the lucky ones

 Ess i Ermet, a Norwegian group

 Temmy and Basanta, a Nigerian/Nepalese dancing group

Dasha, my little Russian.

The day we arrived, we realised that our tent lacked a vital part; the pole that would keep it up. We slept inside in a conference room. The third day, we realised one of our group hadn't paid her membership, and wouldn't be able to vote during the conference. I also had to move from our now-functioning tent to the sickroom because of my cough. The fifth and last day, my bus left fifteen minutes early, and I didn't get to say properly goodbye to the youth delegates, who are going back to Colombia/Nepal/Zimbabwe, and who I probably won't see for many years.

Other than that, I had a really wonderful time. Really. Some things have to go wrong when so much is right, that's just maths.

I'm back, I'm back!

 To my wonderful northern landscapes

 To my friends, here personified by Christine

And to my fresh mountain water (more difficult to drink than it seems)

I'm sorry for neglecting this blog completely while I've been gone. I've been a) at the Red Cross Youth summer camp, running around in the sunshine and doing workshops, b) at the Red Cross Youth annual national conference, voting and... well, voting and voting, c) at Nesodden, visiting my grandmother, hopefully helping her a bit, but also reading books and drinking tea and taking baths, and going in to Oslo to see my friends, and d) driving from Oslo to Tromsø with my dad and brother, just arriving tonight.

Photos will come! But after three days in a car, half the time with me driving, I had to get out, so I called Christine and we went for a walk instead. Now I need to unpack and sleep before tomorrow: my first proper workout since the end of June. 

Farvel

As of yesterday I am at Gulsrud campsite near Oslo, not sure if internet exists there, and I definitely have no laptop. On Sunday I go to Nesodden to visit my grandmother, and then I'll probably be back online.

Spoiled brat

me in Plaza Mayor, Salamanca, march 2012, photo by Alicja H.

I have to remind myself how lucky I am. This is my travel itinerary from the past twelve months:

2011August: Oslo/Nesodden, family visit + festival

December:
Oslo, weekend communications course (RC)
Germany, family visit for sad reasons but still travel

2012
January: Oslo/Nesodden, family visit for sad reasons but still travel + Oslo + seeing Maja

February-March: Spain, three weeks volunteer work on a farm in Extremadura 

April: Oslo, one week Red Cross course

April: Russia, one week Leader (RC) course

May: England, ten days of Falmouth/Brighton/London-holiday

And now,

July: Buskerud/Oslo/Nesodden: ten days of  RC summer camp + family visit + friends

I have now been at home five weeks without travelling anywhere, and it feels like such a long time because I haven't been home for this long since February. I've become completely spoilt through a) the Red Cross (although those courses are hard work, they are also fun and I've met so many wonderful people) and b) not being employed, so I've been able to take off for a week here, a week there, and three weeks in Spain.

So don't listen to me if I grumble about being stuck in one place. This is a reminder to myself that I have done and will be doing lots of travel.

Now you English people need to come here.

This time last year

I had just moved back to Norway, and was looking for a job and enjoying nice, "warm" summer weather.
I just realised that I moved from Falmouth on June 30th last year, and came home to Tromsø on July 1st. I have already been at home for one year, but it feels like much less. And while I'm happier here, and for some reason seem to belong here (even though I'm half Southern), I still want to travel. Long-term. And live other places, and learn about other cultures and languages and weird ways of doing things. I'm not going to Colombia this year as I was hoping for, so I'm looking at another year in Tromsø, but then... hopefully. Something. Vague plans ahoy.

First Aid Kit covering Fleet Foxes' Tiger Mountain Peasant Song

because we need some beautiful music

Sunshine and beer and rain

 Friday night at 9:20

 Sunday morning at 6:30

 Sunday morning at 6:30

Sunday afternoon, 2:30

At the moment, Tromsø Weather is in the fantastic mood of  "rain all day, sun all night", which happens a lot more than you would think, during summer. On Saturday night I had predrinks at my place, while other people were running the Midnight Sun Marathon. Obviously, the midnight sun never comes out during the Midnight Sun Marathon, which is every June. We walked into town in the drizzle, at midnight, cheering the runners on (the main path is past where I live now) while we sauntered tipsily along, taking water from the refreshment spots and generally having a good time. As I was walking home at six in the morning, the weather changed to sunny and warm, and Tromsø felt like a pretty perfect place.

(We've now had rain/drizzle all afternoon, until the clock struck nine and the sun came forth, as usual. I like this pattern).