Hey Reader! Missing me yet? Yeah, I know you are. But fret not for I'm about to post a pretty long entry and this way you can feel more connected to me! We had a pretty exciting couple of days and I haven't had access to my laptop since Thursday, hence the long post! This weekend Karina and I took a trip to Haugesund on the west coast of Norge (look it up if you want)! My mom grew up in Haugesund and my great uncle and aunt live there now (as well as my great grandma)! They were nice enough to let us stay with them this weekend! So strap yourselves in for a long post and check out FaceBook for all the pictures! (More to come according to my aunt and uncle who also took pictures but haven't put them online yet!)
We left Oslo on Thursday at 10:50pm on the night train which was headed to Stavanger. It was definitely an experience! The train was really nice and really new but I don't think it matters how new the train is when it comes to sleeping. We tried our hardest but the nine hour train ride ended up being quite long! Poor Karina didn't sleep at all! I tossed and turned but managed to get a couple hours in. It was still a really cool trip though! So glad we did it! Once in Stavanger, we took a bus to Haugesund but the cool thing about the bus was that it went on a ferry half way through the trip. So we got to get off the bus and walk around the ferry as we crossed the Stavanger Fjord. It was beautiful! We made it to Haugesund around 12:30pm on Friday and were picked up by my great aunt and uncle.
The first day we drove around the city and my uncle explained all the cool things about the area as well as the city itself. He knows a lot when it comes to Norge (especially his home town)! Patriotism is big here in Norge (as Karina has pointed out to me several times over the weeks that I've been here). After the tour we went back to their place and had lunch. Later we went walking in the woods and saw a viking village! That evening we went and visited my great grandma who is now 87 years old. She's still sharp as a whip though! She knows what's going on! The only thing was that she spoke very little English and that put my Norsk skills to the test. I think I managed to get my points across but luckily my uncle translated anything I didn't understand!
Saturday we went around the island of Karmøy and stopped in a couple small towns. The most beautiful was Skudneshavn which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It had many small cafés (including the World's Smallest Kafé), old houses and a beautiful harbour! We stopped for waffles and coffee (minus the coffee for me) in a cute little café and it was packed full of locals enjoying a Saturday afternoon. It really is a lot different out of the big city compared to these smaller communities! Everyone is so friendly and so excited to meet foreigners! They love to practice their English! We also walked in downtown Haugesund but it was pretty chilly out that day! It wasn't a long walk to say the least! But it was cool to see the places my mom and her brothers went as kids! We even got Napoleons Kake from the same bakery that my mom went to when she was younger!
I have to give a special shout out to my great aunt who prepared so much delicious Norsk food for us while we were there! It was all delicious and I was glad to finally get to taste some traditional dishes! We had salmon and egg open-faced sandwiches (so delicious), turkey and boiled potatoes, cauliflower soup and on the last night we had cold shrimp sandwiches where you have to peel the shrimp yourself! The shrimp sandwiches were my favorite! It took me a bit to get the hang of breaking off the shrimp's head and peeling it myself but it was well worth the wait! I felt so in touch with my Norskness!
Today was just a traveling day and now we're back in Oslo safe and sound. Back to school tomorrow! But what an amazing trip that was! I can't wait to see more of Norge! Karina's family are from Narvik (up north in the country) so that's where she'd like to go next! I'm up for anything! I really feel like I need to explore it while I'm here and get the most of this amazing country! And if the food's anything like we had this weekend, I don't care where we go! Thanks so much to my amazing relatives who put up with us and gave us such hospitality! And as usual Reader, thanks for reading! I hope to hear from you all soon!!! Much love from Norge.
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