Paddling to Munkholmen

The beauty of being a student is that one has the liberty to seize the day when an opportunity shows itself. So last week, when we had a miraculously long period with sun and warm weather, we grabbed the chance to go for a morning paddling trip to Munkholmen. Munkholmen is an island just outside Trondheim. Sadly I have never been there before, so I am happy I got the chance before I leave the city.
It did not take more than 30 minutes to get there, and that was in a very slow pace indeed. The water was completely still and the sun was warm. The words we all kept saying ware idyllic and fantastic.
Well ashore on the island we sat down to relax a bit, being a bit tired from the early start. A tip for others planning to take the trip: bring breakfast or at least coffee=)
On the island we also got to see plenty of birds nesting. Because they are so well camouflaged they were hard to spot, and one time I did not see it until it was inches away from my foot. Even though they were lying next to the path and we walked passed them, they did not move at all! Either they are very tough or they are used to people.

Thanks to Magnus who managed to take photoes while we were paddling. I am not quite there yet, but soon:)

Very happy group:)

A "short" stop at the island to relax in the sun

See what I mean?

It's beautiful in Trondheim when the weather is right

The view towards Trondheim from Munkholmen

Testing VO2 max -a trend in Norway

It has become more and more popular among athletes and rich men in the capital who train as if they were professionals to test ones maximum consumption of oxygen. This obsession has grown to a business and last autumn the milk acid factory was established. This is a place where anyone can pay a nice amount of money and get there oxygen consumption measured and also get guidance regarding their training. The subject has become very popular and even though I don't think it is necessary to do these sorts of test unless you are a professional athlete, I have become curious how I would do on the test. I haven't acted on this curiosity because I did not want to spend the money, but when a friend needed help with tests for her thesis, I had do grab the opportunity. I did not look forward to it (all I knew was that it would be painful) nor did I have high expectations for my result. And I was right, it was very tough and I am in no shape what so ever. More information about the subject can be found here. For those who are thinking about doing the test, I would recommend it, although I am not sure how much I would be willing to pay for it. It was a fun experience but I am afraid that since I have done it once I will continue to do the test in the future.

I did the test on a treadmill, but they also wanted test persons going on a huge treadmill on roller skies. Unfortunately I did not have my equipment in Trondheim so I could not do it, but my brother volunteered=) He did much better on the test and I am quite impressed. No photoes of me luckily, but here are some of my handsome brother:)

Getting ready...

Safety is always important

The test crew:)

Also other tests were done, jumping with skiing shoes is not easy..

The Norwegian National Day

On the 17. May we celebrate our National Day. This is the date at which our constitution was first signed. The traditional celebrations is walking in parades after marching bands, eating lots of ice-cream and playing funny games(especially for children). The celebration is mostly devoted to the children in Norway, they have their own parades and this day is about them having fun.

For me, this 17. May meant I finally got to wear my traditional Norwegian costume, bunad. I did not bring it to Sydney, so it had been two years since I last wore it. I really like wearing it even though it is a hassle to iron the shirt the day before and exhausting to wear the whole day. It is also a typical problem to get blisters from the shoes.

Since the day is about celebrating our country, I had to start the day with a run in the forest. The nature in Norway is something really appreciate. It started with perfect running weather, dusk rain, and I could not have got a better start on the day. But just when I got home, it really started pouring down and it did not stop till late in the evening. So it was a wet and cold celebration this year.

Ida joined me on the morning run:) Trondheim looks rather grey..:/

After the run, the next on my program was champagne breakfast with the rowing group. The breakfast lasted quite a while, and I went directly to the parade. It is so much fun to watch the parade in Trondheim because all sort of people walk in the parade and try to entertain the audience. After a while I joined the parade and walked for the rowers and then for EMIL. Part of walking in the parade is shouting hurray, the name of your school or organization or singing songs. This is very true for walking with EMIL; you haven't done a good job, if you don't have a sore throat.

Bagpipes seems to be in every parade I go to:)

Anything to keep dry and warm:)

Men in uniform! Hurray!

It seems not everyone is happy about walking in the parade

drumming nurses, very cool!



Vikings=)

!

!!!

The rowers with oars and blazers for the occasion:)

Walking with EMIL is always nice:) The EMIL oath is written on the back of the "banner": Teach us the joy of simple things, about laughter that doesn't have hurt in mind, forgiveness free of motive and love to all humans underneath the sun

After the parade I was so lucky that a friend and her brother invited my over for dinner(it's impossible to go get a table anywhere on this date, especially when it is raining). To get a homemade meal and traditional dessert out of the blue is luxury for a student! Thank you very much!=)

All in all a good day, although the weather could have been better. Plenty of highlights through the whole day=) Now, it is back to having no life and writing and writing and writing on my thesis. Thank god for daydreaming..:)

Not every day I get a rose so it was highly appreciated even though it was from a random guy(not being a stalker)

Hurtigruta

Some time ago I was lucky to be invited to a meeting with my new job at Hurtigruta. I could not say no to this opportunity to both get a better insight in what my job will be like and to travel with Hurtigruta and see the beautiful nature of northern Norway from the sea. We traveled from Trondheim at noon and arrived Bodø the following day at around the same time.

The meeting was really interesting and I learned a lot=) But it also confirmed what I already knew, I am starting working in a really man dominated business. 3 women out of 50 participant! Well, I should be glad I wasn't the only one=) That's not really a problem either, but being on a ship on the ocean, that can be a problem! Some dizziness has to be expected.

Hurtigruta lived up to my expectations. The cabin was nice and I had plenty of space and the service was splendid. Silly me had totally forgot to inform about my allergies beforehand, but that was no problem. Instead of getting the usual, you can eat bread and salad they made a dish in a few minutes. The view was also amazing. Unfortunately we passed most of Helgelandskysten during the night, but I got up insanely early to see the point where we passed the polar circle.

All in all a wonderful trip where I got to know new people, learn a lot and got to see beautiful nature. One of the highlights was of course when we passed a wind farm.

Not for eating, so it must be to show the tourists how it's done. follow the smell...

couldn't wait to leave the view in Trondheim behind...

Much better=)

Beautiful light, it lasted the whole night. Almost sun the whole day now:)

Houses showing up in the middle of nowhere, Norway in a nutshell.



Good morning and welcome to the mountains:)

The polar circle:)

Still winter in the north of Norway late in April

BDO-mila

In the typical Trondheim weather BDO-mila, a running competition, was arranged with more than 500 participants. That's many for a run on a weekday in Trondheim. Due to lack of shape, I did not run, but of course I went to cheer on the sporty people who did=)
The run was made up by six laps around a fortress on top of a hill (a bit like the fortress in Newcastle(Australia) making it a 10 km long run. The laps were pretty flat, but that also meant no breaks, and believing my friends who participated it was a tough run. I had a good time cheering with my friend Ragnhild and a friend of hers, and it was as always inspiring to see how fit people are. It makes me want to get that extra energy they seem to have. Especially the winner, no one even came close to beating him. As most sports events these days, this one also had their celebrities participating: Petter Northug and Eldar Rønning from the national team in cross country skiing. Eldar did best of the two as he was the third one to finish.

It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces participating and especially people I know are not runners, but do different kinds of sports. What I did miss was familiar female participants. I did not see one woman I know in the whole race; we have to get better at participating in competitions girls! Here are some photoes of sporty people=) I apologize for the poor quality, butthe cold made it difficult...

The start, rather crowded and at one point we worried they would run over some of the small children who started before them..

3 men ran from the rest already in the beginning



Audun, still with good spirit:)

Haakon(to the right) in deep concentration

Eldar runnig past Ola, but it didn't last long before Ola tried to pass him again and did so too!=)

Eivind with some energy left:)

Carpe Diem

Today something really sad happened: Alexander Dale Oen, a Norwegian swimmer, died a sudden death. First I got shocked. How can this happen? How can a healthy, young and fit man just die? Then I got sad. Why? Why is life so unfair?!? Dale Oen was working towards the Olympics in London, and he was one of the most promising athletes from Norway. And not only was he a great athlete, he had with several occasions shown what a great person he was too. He was of great inspiration to other athletes and truly gave of himself=) Then all of a sudden, he is gone. My thoughts go to his family and loved ones.

But this also got me thinking (it is hard to concentrate about a master thesis once you let this under your skin). Life is extremely fragile and can be taken away in seconds, no matter what you do to take care of yourself. I, myself, must admit that I could make more of every day. What about you? Could you have made more out of this day then you did? Do you grab the opportunities life gives you? Do you dare to take chances? It is so easy to just go along instead of making life extraordinary. You get where I am going with this so:  Seize the day!=) And do make the best out of whatever happens:)