A couple of weeks ago I had my mid-quarter break. Instead of going somewhere warm like Tuscany or the south of France, I decided to head on up to Scandinavia to visit some relatives of the Lorentz family. Honestly though, people always go to Italy, Spain, and Provence. When can you say that you went to Scandinavia? I figured the only time I'd do it would be as a broke, wandering exchange student.
Fortunately I was not going solo on my adventures. It turns out that my friend Mike here from New York needed a travelling companion for the break because Josh's girlfriend was visiting and they were travelling together. So that Friday morning of October 23rd, we woke up bright and early and went to catch a train to the Charleroi airport in Brussels. Why did we wake up that early to go to the airport? I have no idea...but I do know that we waited in the airport for our flight for a good 10 hours. To make matters worse, the flight into Oslo was delayed! I felt so bad for my relatives Ingrid and Arve that were picking us up! But finally we arrived, and there was no passport/visa check getting off the plane which had really worried me because I have no visa anymore, someone in Germany is in possession of it (Grrr). I recognized Ingrid and Arve at once when we stepped outside and clearly from the way Ingrid's face lit up when she saw me, the recognition was mutual. We climbed into the car and commenced the two hour drive up North to Gjovik in the shroud of night. I tried so hard to keep my eyes open as we went, but sleep soon took hold of me. Obviously there wasn't much to see anyways since it was pitch black out!
The next day was pretty cloudy and I was able to attain a more accurate view of our surroundings. There house was so adorable. It looked like a little mountain lodge with traditional Norwegian decorations. Ingrid had prepared a great breakfast for us which included tons of yummy Norwegian cheeses, flat bread, elk sausage, home-made jam, and of course, coffee. Plenty of coffee. We drove up to the mountains after that, which was absolutely freezing, and then to Lillehammer where the '94 Olympics were. It's funny because whenenver I'm looking at train tickets online for my various trips, whenever I type in "leaving from" and try to put down Lille, France, Lillehammer always pops up. I never thought I'd visit the place! So we got to see where the ski jumping happened and then also back in Gjovik where the ice hockey and speed skating went down. The ice rink was this crazy cave like thing dug out from the mountain! Apparently if nuclear warfare were ever to break out in Gjovik that is where everyone would go. Too bad we don't have something like that in the US...
Just over three days Ingrid and Arve became like a new set of parents for me. They were so friendly and Ingrid rarely didn't have a smile on her face. Arve is so intelligent and knows basically everything about Norway's history. I learned all about the controversy between the reindeer owners and the farmers whose crops the famous animals destroy. I also learned about how humble Norwegians are, both from personal experience as well as a story Arve related about how instead of being escorted to Sweden on a private jet, the King of Norway bought a train ticket like everyone else. Apparently his Majesty's security is very light as well. Arve said that if we had wanted in Oslo we could have just walked in and talked to him like he was any other person!
On Sunday night, the night before Mike and I were to leave Oslo for Stockholm, Ingrid and Arve had tons of family over. I felt like an ambassador for the Lorentz family! I was catching everyone up on the goings with my family, Don's family, Sanch's family, and Doug's family. It was cool to see Ingrid and Arve's two sons as well...They have the cutest kids!
Then it was off to Stockholm...We arrived late there too but David Weckner was there to pick us up wearing the "green jacket" that he said to look out for. We drove about 20 minutes out of Stockholm to his ADORABLE house at a suburb called Guda, and met his fiance named Gunilla. I don't think I've ever met as interesting of a person. She is the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Sweden and talks non stop, and is VERY articulate! Both in Swedish and in English! We stayed behind the main house in this kind of tree-house with Swedish horses all over it. One of the days, Gunilla actually gave us a tour of Parliament! Stockholm was hosting the European Union congression that weekend so we met all these really important European officials. Gunilla has met Obama multiple times, has "exchanged political views" with Hilary and Bill Clinton, is friends with Al Gore, and has talked with George Bush senior. She travels ALL over constantly, in places like Africa, India, and elsewhere in the Middle East, and really gets to know the inhabitants of such countries on an incredibly personal level. She was telling us about this house in Ghana that asissted woman and children ages 3-30 who had been raped and abused in their lives. She must have learned some terrible stories! Mike and I also went to this cool museum called the Vasa Museum that has this huuuge ship that the King of Sweden many years ago had thought he could engineer the construction of on his own and which sunk about 15 minutes after it set sail in the harbor of Stockholm. I also got to go into David's work with him one morning out in the countryside. He's a horse vet, so it was really interesting to see how that work differs from my mom's with dogs and cats!
There's so much more I could say about my travels that week, but I have a lot of work to do so I have to run...but I'm going to Marseille this weekend in the south of France so I'm sure I'll have a lot more to say apres-ca! A bientot :)
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