The Last Shall Be First?

Well friends, today is the one month mark of my trip - two months yet to come and I couldnt be more thrilled. I am in Bergen now, perhaps one of my favorite places - due to all my friendships and the extreme beauty of the place. I will be here for two weeks, visiting with old friends and making new ones, exploring the city and strengthening my legs with hikes to the seven surrounding mountians.

After Copenhagen, we left for Gøteborg, Sweden, a short 4 hour train ride. There we were picked up by Emma, another exchange student from the Erickson home. We spent the day walking around Gøteborg for a few hours and met a friend of Emma's for an extremely funny cake and coffee snack. We laughed for an hour straight, at stories from one anothers past, but mostly for no reason at all. Later we ate dinner at Emma's and later hung out with her and her boyfriend. It was a nice night to relax and enjoy another country. The next morning however, I left for Oslo. Our 21 day pass had only two days remaining, so I decided to leave to go to Oslo while Tim stayed behind for another day in Sweden.

I took the morning train and got to Oslo around 4:30 pm and was met by Ingrid Skogestad, an old friend from Hillcrest. We hung out with some friends for the night watching the Brann game, which was pretty fun. We had some pizza and plenty of Norwegian chocolate, of course, on my first night In Norway.

This morning I woke up at 7 to take the 8 o'clock train to Bergen, since it was the last day my rail pass was valid. But, during breakfast I lost track of time while drinking coffee and chatting and had to run to catch a tram that would take me to the train station. When I got to the tram stop, there was a tram there that had the number 18 on it, which was the right number to get to the train station. However, in a moment of hasty absentmindedness, I didn't realize the tram was going the opposite way - away from the train station. After 5 minutes I discovered I was going the wrong way and by the time I changed and made it too the train station, I was 10 minutes to late and missed the 8 o'clock train. So, I had to wait until 10.30, not a bad thing...but a frustration I will probably later laugh about. Anyway, I guess it is appropriate that my LAST train ride is the FIRST one I miss.

But, all worked out in the end. I arrived in Bergen three hours later than expected, but luckily Anders Vage was smart enough to figure out I would come on the next train and came to meet me. Now Anders and I are cooking dinner in Fredrik Brunstad and his friends apartment, which is actually an old monastary that also houses three other priests.

I am totally pumped up for the next two weeks to catch up with all my friends. Bergen rules...

And if you are reading this and are in Bergen...please...come see me.