Adventures from Norway: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Hei alle sammen,

Once again a much over due entry here.

I hope all is well. I want to take this opportunity to write a big thanks to many people. Grab a box of tissues and get ready, because this one is going to be a tear wrenching experience.

I would like to start by thanking my family. Throughout this whole experience in Oslo, my family has been there to support me. There has never been a moment that my parents, my sister and Andrew, my grandparents and many more have said I'm on this adventure alone. I am truly thankful for all the help they have given me from day one!

Since I missed out on a Thanksgiving post, I would also like to say that I am extremely thankful for many of my friends back home. Cody, Teresa, the boys (Jake, Jeff, Jordan, Ryan, and more) are all a great group of friends. I can't wait to see you all when I get home. Drinks are on me.

I'd also like to say how thankful I am to my second family back home, the EGF speech team. Kristine and Sam Gruenberg, Andrea Lorenz, and Chantel Thompson were all a large reason I stayed here in Oslo for one year. As a both a competitor and coach, I can honestly say I have always enjoyed the experience with this wonderful group.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of my new friends here in Oslo. A group of us came together calling ourselves the "O bo shi na tin tah tin" group (named after the childhood game which I showed to my friends here in Oslo). Since my arrival here in Oslo, they have welcomed me with open arms. My roommates Sarah, Nina, Marius, and Claudia have made the experience here in Oslo a more than wonderful experience. I can't express how amazing you have all been

Hopefully that wasn't cheesy but I really cannot express how blessed I am to have met all these wonderful people.

Now, lets get to what I've been up to lately.

In the last few weeks I've done a lot. Up until December I didn't do much (at least not much that I can think of haha). However, I did have an exam on November 25th which went well. My next exam was a take home exam handed out on December 2nd. It was honestly the hardest paper I've ever written. To be honest, it was the hardest class I've ever taken. My next exam was December 3rd and it was the spoken exam for my Norwegian exam. I did ok, but I would have liked to had more preparation time. My final exam will be Wednesday which is why I'm procrastinating by writing my blog now. On December 5th/6th I got to bring in my 21st birthday with my friends here in Oslo. A big apology to my family for not being able to Skype with them on my birthday. We'll make it up!
On Friday, I also had the pleasure to accompany Sarah and Iris to Vigelandsparken. Vigelands, for short, is a well know sculpture park in Oslo. The park has a plethora of different statues of people doing various activities. The park is particularly well known because the statue figures are all naked. Here are a few pictures from the park.

This man is featured throughout the park often standing in very 'manly' positions

Two person statue sets are also coming. Iris and I were almost exact replicas here. Almost ;)

This is one of the most famous statues at Vigelands and you can tell by the fading on the baby's hand

Up to my old antics again

Here is the famous pillar at the end of Vigelands. It is filled with entangled humans. 

Iris and Sarah also up to no good at Vigelands haha

Multiple ages and emotions are personified through the statues at Vigelands.

Sarah doing her best impression of whatever this emotion is hahaha

 Friday was capped off when the "o bo" group celebrated Christmas and my birthday on the night of the 6th. The evening started with a speech by me which was the first time I've had the pleasure to speech in front of a crowd in a while. Then we enjoyed a delicious smorgasbord (for those who don't know what that word is, it means a buffet style meal). I then had the pleasure of receiving a ridiculous amount of presents from all my friends here. I got a Sweater, chocolate, candies, a dutch clog key chain, two cakes, and a happy birthday video. You can see some of this below.

Birthday Cake from the Group

Birthday pie from Miriam and Eva at Tobi's place. It says Brent.

A sweater from my friends, a clog from Iris who visited that weekend and the only candy I have left haha

Me with my cake. Pretty close resemblance between me and the mini Brent on the cake haha.

The party was a lot of fun and I could not believe what all my friends had done for me. I also asked that everyone make a "camera confession" and just say a final goodbye for me. It was so nice to listen to what they had to say and I do have to admit that it brought a small tear to my eye as I watched them all. The people here are truly amazing!

Saturday was a nice recovery day for those who were at the party. The next day videos and pictures were pretty funny and we're still laughing about all the ridiculous things we did that night. On Sunday, Sarah, Iris (here visitor from the Netherlands) and I went to go find somewhere to go snow sledding. It had finally snowed on Saturday night so we wanted to make the most of the snow. The sled rental place was not open yet, however. Instead we decide to enjoy a snack at a local restaurant. Here's a picture of us on the way home from our adventure. Really no significant reason to add this picture. It's just nice:)

After the weekend I was able to enjoy some more fun in the snow with Marius, Nils, Daniel, and Alicia. We had a short snowball fight and then had a makeshift sled expedition. Here's a picture of us afterwards and if you're really bored, then you can go to my Facebook and watch the video of me sliding down a hill..

I hope all is well back home and you will here from me soon after my trip from Paris!

Also, here's a shout out to Iris: I only mean to the people I like. Ask Sarah

Stayed tuned for more Adventures From Norway!!!!!

The Adventures Of Norway: I Saw the Aurora Borealis recently, how about you?

Hello again to all of you,

I'd like to start this blog with an apology to all of those who have been waiting for another post. I have no one to blame except homework. But enough of this...

I hope you enjoyed the last blog entry. Once again, I apologize for how long it has been since my last entry. If you're going to point the finger at someone, point it at homework... or me. Regardless of why I haven't blogged recently, I do have a treat for all of you! I spent the weekend of the 31-3rd with three other friends in Tromsø, Norway. Even though words and pictures will never be able to truly describe what I saw, it will probably make this entry much more interesting for you. Let it begin!

We left for Tromsø on Thursday early in the morning. We flew with Norwegian Air which has seats that are just as cramped as every other airline. Unfortunately, "perfect" Norway apparently has yet to expand welfare equality to the tall. (that joke kind of makes sense if you live in Norway). Arriving in Tromsø was a very confusing experience. The sun was positioned somewhere between sunrise and sunset which sounds like noon to the rest of the world. But trust me, there is no noon in northern Norway. We decided to rent a car in Tromsø and headed out to our cabin located near Svensby, Norway. Below you can see a picture of our cozy little cabin.

The cabin was very nice and the view was beautiful. When we looked out from the front of the cabin, we saw a lake backed by mountains capped with what seemed to be the world's whitest snow. The view made every early morning worth it. I'll let you be jealous for a few moments (see below)

We headed out for a tour of the surroundings of Tromsø on Friday. The sight was truly amazing. Every single corner brought a new mountain into view. Every lake was flanked, surrounded or framed by a seemingly indescribable scenery. It was amazing. Really.

This is a Giant Santa Clause in the city where all letters addressed to the North Pole go

This is me trying to look arty 

This lake had what I thought was the most AMAZING view. I loved it.

Saturday was highlighted by a dog sledging tour. That was an experience.
The four of us headed out bright and early for Tromsø Villmarkssenter. When we arrived we were welcomed inside the center and given riding gear. I think I personally had the best outfit

 








The huskies were Alaskan huskies so they look a little different from the common image of a husky. (Siberian huskies are more commonly known).

The tour took two hours with one hour of driving and one hour as a passenger. Driving was tiring! Below you can see some pictures taken from the passengers view while I was seated.

My sledging partner was Nicole (There's a picture of us below) Just in case she reads this, I will say that the funniest moment of the tour was when our sledge tipped. The instructor told us there are three rules to driving a sledge: 1. Never let go of the Sledge. 2. Never let go. 3. Never. Let. Go. When our sledge tipped, Nicole didn't let go so I watched as the dogs pulled her around 30 feet. (It sounds mean, but, trust me, we all had a good laugh about it later).

The fun of sledding was capped of by a beautiful view of the Aurora Borealis AKA the Northern Lights. I'll combine three nights worth of pictures below. ENJOY!

You may notice that some of the pictures look slightly or extremely blurry. This is due to a relatively long exposure time i.e. the lens is open long making any movements appear blurry.



 On the final day in Tromsø we went to the city center and spent some time taking in the city. We didn't really see much... but, we did go to a nice polar museum with seals. That was nice.

I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and I hope to write again some time soon.

I also love this picture of the city so I'm adding it in with no context.

And I almost forgot! 

See you again for more Adventures of Norway!