The Journey to Norway

April 19, 2013-

Today was the day, it was finally here! Today I was going to visit my close friend who lives in Norway. Her name? Maren.

Maren lives in Norway and studied abroad at Simi High my senior year. We met in English class and hung out all year together. She left the US and I thought I would probably never see her again. 

However, all that changed when I came to Barcelona. Why not go to Norway? Not many people can say they've been to Norway before? and on top of that, I have the opportunity to reunite with one of my good friends. Here I go:

After waking up at 2:45 in the morning, leaving the house around 4 to catch the bus to the airport at 4:20, I got on my flight which left Barcelona Airport at 6:15 in the morning. All that would have been a hassle, except after all of it I was on a flight to Norway to see Maren.

The flight took 3 hours from Barcelona to a town outside of Oslo called Rygge (because RyanAir flies in to nearby airports that's how it's so cheap). From Rygge I got on the bus to the main bus terminal in Oslo: or so I had hoped. Norwegian is NOTHING CLOSE to any language I can speak so I had absolutely no idea what people were saying or what any of the signs said. Luckily the Norwegian people are taught English as soon as they begin school, so everyone knew English.

I finally arrived in Oslo and waited two hours for my next bus which would take me to the town of Elverum: where Maren lives. Eventually I made it on the bus and was off to finally see Maren. Bus time: 2 hours.

Maren was waiting for me at the bus stop right as we pulled in and finally, we were reunited at last!

I didn't mind the bus rides because that meant I got to see the countryside, which was absolutely beautiful. On the side of the road would be mountains with beautiful rocks in the side and water flowing down. As far as you could see was miles (or should I say kilometers) and miles of forest. In my opinion Norway was the most beautiful country I've seen. Yes, even prettier than Italy. It reminded me of the area of Lake Shasta that we always drive through when going to Oregon every year, just pure forest with beautiful views. 

On our way to Elverum there was a huge frozen lake, we were driving on one side, and there were huge mountains and forests on the other. Again, this reminded me of the frozen lake we drive around in Oregon on our way to Bend. On the sides of the roads there were moose crossing signs all over: they have moose here, so much that they have to have signs for warning? HOW COOL!

Anyway, after Maren and I walked to her cute little home we set my stuff down and freshened up. Then we were off to watch a handball game: Norway's most famous sport. Her brother was playing in a tournament and her Dad was the coach. 

Conveniently the handball game was at her Nursing school, so before the game we walked around, she showed me her classrooms and gave me a tour of her school. The school was so modern: so brand new. It was a beautiful school: not too big, but not too small.

Then we went in to the gym to watch the game. I met her whole family: her Mom, Dad, Grandpa and Grandma. Since her brother was playing the game I wouldn't meet him until later.

The handball game was so different than any other sport I'd ever seen before, but I loved it. It was a mix between soccer and basketball. Each team has a goalie and they run up and down the court passing the ball to each other, sometimes dribbling, sometimes just running except handball is much more fast paced than basketball. The ball is flying all over the place and traveling at dart speed. Then as the players reach the other teams side of the court they throw it at the soccer type goal (but not very wide). Of course there is a goalie protecting the net, but when it comes that quickly, or they do tricks, it's very hard to react. The games usually only last about 20 minutes each too, but the kids are worn out by the end because of all the running back and forth.

Maren's brothers/Dads team won, by a long shot.

After the game we went home, Maren's friends came over (about 3+her roommate) and we all ate dinner together that her roommate had cooked for us while we were gone. She made garlic bread and a type of Norwegian soup with trout, salmon, shrimp and vegetables. Usually I don't like fish much, but the soup was delicious! For dessert, one of Maren's friends brought Neapolitan ice cream and we topped it with their version of M&Ms called "non stops." Norway is also known for their amazing chocolate, so not only were the non stops good, but they were made of their Norwegian chocolate making them 100 times better. We also had pieces of their famous milk chocolate called "Melkesjokolade": the best chocolate I have ever tasted.

After ice cream Maren made an authentic Norwegian dessert: Leftsa. Which was basically flatbread rolled with butter, sugar and cinnamon inside. This was by far my favorite food that I had while I was there. I ate it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner the following days I was there.

We sat around and talked as we ate dessert, eventually it got really late and everyone went home. Maren's bed was so comfortable and I was tired from being up so early, I don't think I've ever slept so good in my life. Norway was home.