Eating Lefse above the Lysefjorden

Here I am looking like a dorky tourist. I was so happy to arrive at the fjord after an 8 hour train ride, 20 minute ferry ride, and a 30 minute bus ride.

Can you spot Anthony? He is being a mountain man. The hike took 2.5 hours and the terrain was wet, rocky and steep. I knew it was going to be a long trip when he was tired after the first 45 seconds but then we got super into it. We were surrounded by literally hundreds of tourists from Spain on the way up, and I swear I heard the weirdest spanish accents ever.

Here we are finally arriving at the top and getting a good few of the fjord. We still hadn't arrived at the pulpit rock which you will see below! Only 3.8 kilometers! haha

Just me, um, getting my nature hike look on.

Here is the first view of Pulpit Rock or Preikstolen. 

 

This photo explains itself. SOooooo awesome. They think the rock was formed by glacial melting, but who knows? Can you see Anthony sitting with his feet hanging over the edge? I couldn't do it!!

Just eating lefse above a Norwegian Fjord, not a big deal.

I like this picture. I thin he is talking to God?

The End.

Stavanger, Norway

Today we rode the train 8 hours to the other side of the country to stay with one of Anthony's friends and see some nature. Throughout the whole train ride there were sheep, rivers, and lots of white houses with orange roofs.

We walked around Stavanger this evening and it reminded me alot of Astoria or even Seattle. The air smells so good and there is alot of water. I like this picture. The flag matches all of the buildings in the foreground.

I like these swans!

 Okay, worst restaurant sign ever. "Lille" means little in Norwiegan, then we have "taste of" in English???..... I guess it should be little taste of INDIA, but ya. idk.

Viking Ships and Kattepus

Today was my favorite day so far in Norway. I don't usually like museums that much but seriously in Norway museums are no joke. This morning me and Anthony woke up and went to the viking museum. The ships were from the 1100's. Any place that has historical artifacts more than a thousand years old is amazing to me. In Oregon the oldest things we have are from the 1800's, and I'm from the first city established on the west coast. 

The Norwegian folk museum was even better. I mean, its not a museum like where you look at stuff in glass and don't really care as you wander from room to room. They actually transported houses about 800 years old and lots of buildings from all over Norway and combined them all into a tiny village. Not only that, there are actual farm animals and people dressed in traditional clothing farming and walking around. My favorite part of the day was definitely the wooden stave church (seen below). It's amazing to think about these as some of the first protestant churches in the world. Most of them have been burned down now. Sooo beautiful.

In the 1960's farm house i found a cat, which actually scared me because I swear it was an alien or a rat at first by my feet. His name was MONS, so cute. But seriously, a Norwegian farm cat named MONS?

At the end of the day we took a boat to one of the islands. It was really peaceful. Then we played soccer with every vietnamese person living in Norway.

A+ day!

Varm Sjokolade

Here are some photos of another great day in Oslo. We had hot chocolate, went to Frogner parken and saw some awesome statues. :)

Oslo, day 2

Today Anthony and I went "hiking".. or walking through the forrest. I felt like a viking.

There were wild blueberries!! mmm

Okay I was so happy. My grandma is finnish and she used to make this scandinavian rice all the time. We made it! Soo good.

We met up with Martin, a friend from PLU and his American girlfriend. People who asked us all where we were from were a little confused. Fun times.

Oslo, Norway: Day 1

 I woke up to my first full day in Oslo to something we call pannekaker. Its like a pancake, but better, because its Norwiegan. I think all food is better in Norway because its not 70 percent corn syrup! Anyways, its really good with jam. You should try it.

I guess I should talk a little about why I came to Norway! This is my boyfriend, Anthony. You are probably wondering why he is asian if he is from Norway. :) Thats okay, lets leave it that way... Hugs!

I think this is my favorite photo of the day. At one of the churches downtown there was a memorial for the victims of the shooting. You can still feel the people mourning the loss of so many young people in such a peaceful country. There was a heart statue that read, "...But the greatest of these is love."

Okay, I don't know what is going on here but this is not an appropriate way to dress your children. For the most part, Norwegian people have a good sense of style...but this? When I asked what he was wearing, everyone replied to me, "Oh, its a one-piece" People wear those all the time."

 So we ended up eating dinner at a vietnamese restaurant. All of my stereotypes of Norway were completely shattered when I was eating my first meal out with chopsticks. I was the only white person at the table :), and the only non-Norwiegan. They are awesome.

Later that evening I took a picture for these tourists who happened to be from every province in Spain. I spoke one word of spanish and I was instantly interrupted by every single person in the group telling me that where they live in Spain is the best place  in the world. They even tried to marry me off! This made me so happy!!


Es todo para hoy.

Garden Photoshoot - Isabella, Kendall and Emma

I took my sister and nieces outside for a high fashion photo shoot. They are stars.

Today: travel pillows. Tomorrow: Project Runway

Today, Jessi taught me how to use the sewing machine. We made travel pillows out of fleece! I didn't fail! Instead of going out or doing something normal 22-year-olds do we have become craft ladies... you know the ladies with the cat shirts that make place mats and christmas ornaments in their free time. I seriously don't know what happened to us. I guess all designers have to start somewhere!

Here is the fabric we used.

The final product!

 ZZZzzzZZZzz

CUTIESSZZ.

How to make soap.

Top: Jasmine Olive Oil Soap

Bottom: Minty Invigorating soap

Step 1: find a friend (in my case, Jessi)


Step 2: buy soap base online (apparently if you make it yourself there is a possibility of death) Find some other ingredients. (We used jasmine and peppermint oil, tea, and walnut shells)

Step 3: wait for the soap base to come in the mail :(


Step 4: melt the soap base, mix it up

Step 5: Add: scent, coloring, and other mysterious ingredients

Step 6: put it in a mold...wait... wait some more 

Step 7: cut it up! (It looks like a campfire :)

YAY!