5 Dager!

Hello hello my fine Reader! How is everything? I hope the weather is treating you well as it's been incredible over here! For the past four days (and most likely today), the temperature has been higher than 25 degrees with sunshine! It's so lovely to have warm weather without the rain but the only problem's that the sun doesn't really set any more so it's hot in my room ALL day. When I say the sun doesn't set I'm not exaggerating. At midnight there is still a faint glow coming from the over the hill and the sky stays a pretty navy blue all night. It's only going to get lighter until June 21st! There won't be a midnight sun though, we're too far south for that! It's really cool to experience this amount of sunlight!


So yes the rumors are true! Karina and I leave on Thursday and that means only five days until the big trip! It's so scary how fast time has flown! I'm getting very excited to leave but am still feeling sad to leave Oslo behind. I think after almost an entire year in Norge, Karina's very excited to go! Not that I blame her! I've only been gone for six months and I'm already homesick! Heck, I was homesick at Bamfield and that was only six weeks! (Oh man! Bamfield was so much fun! I miss it!) With only five days left there's still much to be done but I've got most of it sorted out. We've officially booked a hostel for Rome (what a hassle that turned out to be), looked up all the train information we needed, given our change of address forms to the post office, ordered transcripts to be sent to the U of A, figured out how to get our deposits back and I figured out some last minute Norsk citizenship issues. (Don't be surprised when I tell you that I'm not out of the woods yet! :P )


As for things we still need to get done, there's quite the list. The most daunting task will definitely be cleaning my entire room and the bathroom one last time. With limited cleaning supplies it will be an interesting day to say the least. The bathroom is actually in great condition because every time I or my neighbor shower, since there's no shower curtain and the floors/walls are tiled, everything gets a good rinse. The floors are also heated so it evaporates all the water before mildew can form. It's an ingenious idea if you ask me. We've also got to get rid of some of the stuff we've acquired during our time in Norge. This includes a mirror, the duvet I got free from a friend on my floor, a couple books, some containers, a laundry basket, a lamp and a few other little things. The traditional 'study abroad' method of getting rid of stuff is to put a 'free' sign on it and leave it in the kitchen. Chances are, someone will want it! I do have a fair number of friends on my floor who want my stuff though so the kitchen option will be a last resort. I've already mentioned how ridiculously cheap RyanAir is but here's another example. We have to print off our boarding passes before we get to the airport or it's a charge of 60Euro (per page). That's just freakin' nuts! So another 'to do' item on our list is to go and print off as many boarding passes as we can at the University. It's free to print at the library! There are a bunch of other little things to look into but I'm not too worried. I got most of the hard stuff out of the way and now I can just sit back and relax in the sunshine.


I'm not sure if I mentioned this to you or not Reader but I'll say it either way. I was going to bring my computer on the June Trip as some of the hostels won't have internet/wifi/access to a computer and I'd like to be able to stay in contact with you. But the more I thought about it, the worse the idea sounded. I don't feel comfortable bringing my Mac across Europe with me, especially since we're staying in hostels. It's not that the hostels we've chosen are shady or anything like that, but you never no when someone's going to steal. So long story short, I'm leaving my Mac in Oslo with my other bag. It will be safe at my Uncle Knut's friend's house, she's a very nice lady. There will certainly be hostels with internet and each time we have the chance I will go online! I will also have my iPod which can pick up wifi so there's that as well. It's not like I'd be spending a lot of time on my computer either way!


There'll be another entry in a couple days to give you guys the details of the trip just so you can follow where I am on what days. But I think now would be an appropriate time to thank you all for keeping track of me these past six months! It's been a blast and I'm so happy I got this opportunity. As usual, I love and miss you all! I hope your jobs/school/life are going well this summer and to my Sib Syb, good luck with graduation in June (see you in Denmark)! :D