Expats Live the Good Life

I slowly wrote this over the span of a couple months...

 

One thing I’ve noticed since coming here is that every expat I’ve met is out to have a good time. Despite work and relationships and whatnot, every one is determined to live the good life. That Voss trip I mentioned in the last blog – probably about 10 people total, two were travelers, one was Norwegian, seven expats.

Soon after the Voss weekend was the weekend birthday celebration for Lydia! Rather than your run-of-the-mill party, she coordinated a weekend of surfing at Bore Stand in southern Norway. She rallied the troops, booked a couple beach cabins, and we were off!

Lydia is a jack of all trades, one of which is surfing. She is a surf instructor on a few trips throughout the year in California and Nicaragua. So the birthday girl herself was the coach for all of us first-timers.  I was by no means your typical California girl in this situation for I have never surfed and not even spent much time in the ocean. I took a while to get comfortable in the water and then spent much of my time carelessly flopping around in the waves, livin’ the dream. Wearing such a thick wetsuit is so liberating – I’ve never been so un-cold in the ocean before!

We spent the entire first day “surfing,” but in my situation was sort of just paddling around, bodyboarding a wave as I fumbled around on the board. No way did I even get close to standing up but hot damn did I have so much fun. To round off the tiring day, we had a super American meal and a mega relax session. Solid day shredding the gnar and grubbing hella hard (I’m on the plane from Oslo to Newark at the time I am writing this bit, no functioning entertainment system on this puppy, so I’m writing a bit and practicing my rusty American/Californian lingo).

The following day, Lydia, Fi, and I were up and at ‘em early in the morning. The ground was still frosted, the beach was EMPTY, and we were ready for a second day of hangin’ ten. Again, this day I was absolutely hopeless on the surfboard but I had a previously unprecedented amount of fun. Too much fun, some may say.

I should describe this beach, too. It’s worthy. You would NEVER expect such a place in Norway – long, long sandy beach backed by a flat, grassy landscape leading up to gentle, furry hills. And in the break, there were no rocks on the bottom! Perfectly sandy, no worries of stepping or falling on a nasty rock under the waves. It was the beach of dreams! And all the while, we had clear blue skies and just the right amount of wind.

All in all, an excellent weekend and a perfect celebration of Lydia’s birth.

Soon after that, I forced Fi to go on a day trip with me that I bet she doesn’t regret. Nor do I. It was a rather dismal day but the fall colors were callin’ to me. Without much of a clue, we headed out in the general direction of Sognefjord. We drove some insanely beautiful roads, one of which was a tiny, one-way, hairpin after hairpin descent into a deep fjord valley. With big waterfalls on each side. Not bad! At the bottom, we opted to park and walk to the bottom of one of the falls…safe to say I’ll be going back someday – gorgeous stuff, I tell ya!

From there we continued on to Nærøyfjord, which was nearly annoying because it was so dang perfect. I’m talking picturesque fall colors lining steep walls of a perfect fjord, topped off with perfectly still water with a perfect reflection. So pretty, it was nauseating. I don’t understand why more visitors don’t come here in the off-season…

With determination, we went farther to reach Flåm and Aurlandsfjord because I was dead set on driving up a fancy road to a fancy overlook there. The fall colors made everything so extra stunning! People, don’t waste your time with the East Coast, git on over to Norway for the turning leaves!

It was a long day spent in the car, but well worth the solitude and scenery we found.

The most notable event to follow this was my trip to Croatia, which was so incredible that it calls for its own blog…next…eventually.

Upon returning, the good times kept on rollin’ as I spent a weekend up at Voss with my neighborfriend Marie. Her family has been there for decades and owns a lot of property, including some entire mountains. They have many cabins scattered across their property and we were able to stay in the main house where her mother actually grew up. 

 

We spent much of our time being cozy and getting reading/writing/relaxing done but we did take the time to walk up the mountain behind the house, which turned out to be quite an adventure. For the most part, there wasn’t much of a trail and it was quite snowy, so we just went UP. Mountains are pretty steep, right? Right. Yet we just went up up up. Many moments required hands and knees and actually posed a risk of tumbling long distances if we were to lose our footing. Worry not though, we made it.

 

At the top of the mountain is a very remote cabin of theirs. Unluckily for us, the electricity and water were off for the winter so inside provided no shelter from the cold. We attempted to light a fire and warm some water but the sun was setting faster than the snow would melt in the kettle - we had to abandon ship to get back before dark. 

Heading down was wild! Time was running out and everything seemed steeper going downmountain…so we literally slid our way down on our butts. SO fun and SO much faster than going up. But I bet we looked like belligerent fools.

To continue with the expat birthday season, the following weekend we celebrated the birth of my Croatia-partner-in-chaos, Sarah, with a crazy wig party and a night of dancing.  She received the first snow of the year as her birthday present from the Norse gods!

Soon to follow was the treasured American holiday of Halloween. Yes, they celebrate it elsewhere in the world, surely, but not like America. The US takes Halloweening seriously compared to other countries. Norway has just begun to acknowledge it these past few years. Eric, my most wonderful American brotherfriend in Bergen, is a diehard Halloweener and made a point to celebrate this year with a party. Since Norwegians are new to the concept, costumes were not enforced, but at least one costume item was highly encouraged. We had a marvelous time doing American things, including the devilish game of flipcup. Fun night, indeed!

The following Friday, I thought I was being sneaky by helping to coordinate a surprise birthday gathering for our fabulous Fiona (great night, great success), but little did I know that the very next evening I was to receive a surprise birthday party of my own!! Dream come true, I kid you not. I’ve always wanted a surprise party so so badly, but that’s not really something you can ask for. Eric planned it and surprised the heck out of me! In Norway, I have many friends who had never met each other, yet he was able to bring them all together for the party! Mariann even came from Oslo!!!!! That rascal - I had been trying to meet up with her in Oslo that weekend because I didn’t think anything would be going on…she had to make up a lie that she was going on a coworker bonding trip in Stockholm to keep me from leaving Bergen. Sly gal. Such a dreamy night though – I loved seeing all of my wonderful friends under the same roof. Eric, if you’re reading this (which I’m 99.9% sure you’re not), youuuu are the besssst. Love the heck outta ya.

Although my Oslo plans had been put on hold for the surprise birthday party weekend of dreams, Mariann’s gift to me was a train ticket to the lovely city to visit her. So that I did during the last weekend of November. Mariann and I are ridiculous. I mean, I don’t even know where to begin. We find the stupidest things hilarious and can easily crack up at nothing together for a solid 5 minutes….then again about the same stupid thing over and over and over for-basically-ever. We be all sorts of weird.

One of the highlights of the visit was the Oslo Christmas market, where I loaded up on Norwegiany products for friends and family (I swear I ended up smuggling nearly a whole reindeer worth of products back into the US…big no no going through customs), where Mariann (the vegetarian) fell in love with the sausage stand man (I sampled and purchased whale, horse, reindeer, and all sorts of hybrid gross sausages in order to give Mariann a chance to chat him up). We delighted in watching people ice skate around the central rink while reindeer trotted past pulling a sleigh. Oh, Oslo. We also spent an evening at a funky cool bar that hosts full-on opera performances every Thursday for free! Beautiful!!! Another highlight was the Thanksgiving dinner hosted and prepared by Mariann’s good friend, and fellow American, Andrew. It was the ultimate American Thanksgiving shared with people of many different cultures.

The last night of my visit, we ventured out into the outskirts of Oslo in pursuit of a new friend’s birthday party. After 30 minutes on the train, and about an hour lost wandering in the snow (during which we shared the bottle of wine intended for the party…had to keep warm), we finally found the party hall and it was delightful and movie-like, full of my pal’s good friends and family coming together to celebrate a lovely young lady.   

Afterward, Marz and I headed out into the Oslo nightlife and ended up meeting a group of goofy guys from Trondheim with whom we put on the funniest dance show up on an empty stage in front of the whole bar. Safe to say the whooole crowd started dancing, too. You’re welcome, Mono Bar. Easily the funnest night of dancing I have experienced in Norway.

After parting with Mariann, I had one hour to spare before my train departed for Bergen. Ian and Klara had JUST landed from their trip to California, and they were suspiciously determined to meet up with me in the city before I left. Liiiittle did I know that was because they wanted to tell me in person that they were engaged!!!!! AHHH so exciting!!!!!! I love them two and I am overjoyed at the fact they will be wed within the next year. Eg gleder meg til å ferie bryllupsfesten din! (You get the point, Klara. Eg snakker ikkje norsk....)

Soon after this trip, I went back to the States for Christmas. Seeing as most of y’all reading this were in-the-know while I was there, I will not likely write much on it. I will write a little bit though, later, about the experience of coming back to America after such a long time abroad. It was weird.

Most recently, I returned from a short weekend getaway with friends to the Zachrisen’s rented cabin in the tiny mountain town of Maurseth. My wonderful Aussie friend, Brendan will soon be returning to Melbourne to continue his architecture education, so this trip was meant as an ultimate Norwegian farewell. Brendan, his girlfriend Sandra, Eric, his girlfriend Cecilie, and myself  (our group known as the only remaining members of The Honeybadgers), spent the weekend lounging, sledding, strolling, and drooling over Leonardo DiCaprio. It was absolutely wonderful to have a solid good weekend, with no agenda, and with wonderful friends. Brendan and I, the youngest of the group and most foreign to snowy weather, set out to build a snowman on the porch but it turned out to be a very sturdy chair. A Chairman, maybe. It was just so nice to be outside in fresh powder and good weather. Chendan, 99.9% sure you’re not reading this, as well, but I will miss you heaps. Never forget, “Great Barrier Reef, have ye heard of it?”

And now, over a month after beginning this blog, I sit on a plane en route to Venice. Watch out, Carnival, here comes Emilita. So my next blog will be…eventually…and will most likely be about Croatia and all the amazingness that that trip was. And America. And then some day I’ll get around to recapping this Italy trip that is sure to be another emotional rollercoaster/crazy fun time! Stay tuned – vi snakkes!!!

(Post-Italy note: very good times. My family is wonderful.)