Mumsie & Me: Prague AKA Praha

HELLO!!!!! Greetings from the Czech Republic! If I could say "hello" in Czech, I would but unfortunately I did not have the time nor desire to learn the complicated language of Czech. I am SO thankful that the Norwegian alphabet is essentially the same as the English alphabet (with a few exceptions) because trying to pronounce ANYTHING in Czech proved to be very difficult. I loved Prague, though!! It was my first time out of Scandanavia since arriving in January so it was quite a change! There were definitely some difference between Prague and Bergen. Firstly, it was SO SUNNY the whole time we were there!! This made everything 10 times better. Secondly, the Czech have an interesting sense of fashion. As in, they don't really have fashion sense at all. When I stepped off the plane, I thought I stepped into 1996. It was crazy. Ladies here LOVE their nylons. Especially with shorts and open-toed shoes. Anyway, it was really interesting to see how different their style was. They also don't smile as much as the Scandanavians. I missed that. BUT they DID have Starbucks (Holla holla holla!!!) which sort of made up for their lack of friendliness. Let's start at the beginning, though.
When we got off the plane, Mumsie and I went to our hotel and then decided to go to the very popular "Wenceslas Square" which was technically about 5 min. from our hotel, but it ended up taking us about...45 minutes to walk there because we took the most difficult route possible. I'm always up for a challenge...ANYWAY, we get to the square and buy tickets for a string ensemble that was performing at the National Museum that night. AND THEN WE WENT TO STARBUCKS!!!!



Then on our way home (after figuring out the metro system), we realized that our hotel was RIGHT by a giant easter festival! The square was filled with food stations, people selling scarves, live music and beautiful cherry blossoms!





After a quick nap, it was off to the concert! It was so great to hear some of the classics performed by some of the Czech Republic's most talented musicians (including Vivaldi's "Spring"-my favourite!)




Then, we had dinner and Mom had beer. (She had dinner too, don't worry.)

The next day, we did a "hop on, hop off" tour which proved to be a GREAT way to see so many of Prague's major sights. It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun listening to our tour guide, Patrick. He was from Chicago and made some REALLLY funny jokes. Usually, my Mom and I were the only ones laughing but that's the story of my life so it's fine.





If I could put up all the pictures Mumsie took of the sights, we would be here all day but basically we saw some pretty cool things. We went on a tour of the largest castle in the world (Guiness World Records will back me up on that one), saw the famous "Dancing Building", walked on Charles Bridge and did some of our own sightseeing in the Old Town Square.
Then, we started heading off to the Monestary for a VERY exciting concert! It was titled "A Night with the Stars", and it was supposed to be an evening filled with soloists performing hit songs from some of the most famous musicals. Obviously, I was excited. I was looking SO forward to this night because I have missed musical theatre SO much and couldn't wait to hear some of the classics! We were greeted at the door with champagne (my Mom drank mine because it tasted like alcohol and I couldn't stand it), and we felt very classy. (see model picture below)


My excitement quickly faded when the singer sang her first note. I really wished I had drank that champagne (or something a lot stronger) that would allow me to tolerate this person's singing. I am not being a music snob, but this lady was awful. I can't even begin to explain how random this situation was. Not only was she the ONLY soloist, but she was randomly joined by a saxaphone player from time to time and my FAVOURITE part was when she sang "On My Own" from Les Miserables in Czech. I wish I could do an impersonation for you, but nothing would compare to the real thing. Nevertheless, it was an experience!

Then, it was off to dinner and then to bed! The next day was a shopping day. I don't have much to say about that day except that I got some GREAT DEALS becuase Prague is so cheap. As a side note-some of you don't understand that my Mom literally takes pictures of everything. The following photo series is just a SAMPLE of some of the shots she got while following me around in stores and taking pictures of me randomly. When looking at these, imagine her saying "Annika! Annika! Look over here!" and me trying to make her be quiet as everyone is looking at us. My favourite is the one of me on the escalator. There was a person BETWEEN us and she wanted to get a picture of me. So I ran away. Oh Moms....they have no shame, do they?




That night we stayed at home because we were so tired of shopping all day. More sightseeing ensued the next day, but the highlight of the day was getting to eat dinner with a friend of mine, Maarja Anderson! She has been studying in Prague since January (and agrees with me about the Czech fahion crisis, by the way)and we got to spend a solid 4 hours catching up, talking about our study abroad experiences and mostly sharing lots of laughter! It was wonderful. SIMPLY WONDERFUL!
Then, we went to the airport the next morning and headed to Oslo! Stay tuned for adventures from THAT trip!!!
Sending love and hugs!!
A

Mumsie & Me: Stavanger

Hilsen fra Norge, everyone!
Things have been busy here for me as I was joined by my wonderful and beautiful mother in Bergen last Monday! Of course, she was greeted with lots of rain. I picked her up at the bus station, and after a coffee in town, I showed her my room. It was fun to show her where I live, my school and introduce her to my friends and floormates. As amazing as Skype is, it doesn't allow you to really show people back home what your life is like. I must admit, it has been quite entertaining to see my mom adjust to some little things over here in Europe. One of my favourite moments was when I was in the kitchen cooking dinner (yes, I was cooking. Believe it.) and someone asked where my mom was... I was expecting her to come out in five minutes, but ten minutes had gone by and she was still nowhere to be seen. THEN, I hear my door lock going CRAZY. It's just clicking and clicking and clicking and yet, the door is not being opened. I went to the door and discovered that my mom had been trying to get out of the room, but she didn't understand that here in Norway you PUSH the doors open instead of pulling them. She kept thinking that she couldn't unlock the door so...she was struggling for awhile. Meanwhile, I was laughing hysterically on the other side and waited awhile before showing her how to get out. Then, we had dinner together and made plans for the next few days we would be spending in Stavanger.

The next morning, we had to get up early to catch the 7:30 ferry to Stavanger. Although I had planned on going to Stavanger many times during my stay in Bergen, it is a four hour trip and because of school and other commitments on the weekends, I hadn't made it out there yet! For those of you who don't know about my connection to Stavanger, basically my mom's entire family is from the area and our main reason to visit was to see her cousins, aunts, uncles etc. My grandma was born in Hognestad and my grandpa was born in Aalgaard. These two towns are right next to each other and are just a half hour drive outside of Stavanger, so I got to see where my grandparents spent a lot of time when they were living in Norway. But let's start at the beginning of our first day AKA "The Day of Eternal Visiting".
If any of you know me, you know that I like to talk. I can talk all day and never get tired of it-or so I thought. The first day we got to Stavanger, we visited with relatives for literally 11 hours.
My Aunt Kitty and her husband Sigurd picked us up at the ferry terminal at noon. We immediately went to the town of Sandnes where they live. We quickly stopped at a popular tourist attraction where there is a very famous viking sword monument.
Before lunch, she took us to an interactive science museum. (SO random, but awesome at the same time). We were the only people that weren't there on a field trip, so we felt a little out of place but, that's the story of my life so it was fine. Mom captured some of our time there on film. (My mother has proven to me that you can literally take pictures of EVERYTHING and EVERYONE. At this science center, she even went up to some kids and asked if she could take pictures. Only Debra...)




Back at Kitty's house, we had a very traditional Norwegian lunch (which was DELICIOUS!). Lots of bread, waffles, cheese and meat. And of course, more visiting. I will say that the trip to Stavanger helped me work on my Norwegian. Conversations would consist of my mom speaking in English, and then Kitty and Sigurd replying in Norwegian. I was surprised at how much of the conversation I could follow. It is definitely easier for me to understand Norwegian and reply in English than actually speak it. It's the same for my mom. Hopefully, I will get better at the speaking part soon, though!
After lunch we were joined by Terje, Kitty's son and thus, my mom's cousin. He hadn't seen me since I was nine so I don't think he really recognized me. I mean, not only do I look older but I also don't look like a little boy anymore. Or so I hope. Then, we got in the car to go visit more of Mom's cousins. We visited Asbjorn and his family, Morten and his, and Jack. We just "dropped in" unannounced and I was basically a stranger to these people so it was a little random for me, but it was nice to learn more about my mom's family and hear them talk about "the good old days". Then, Kitty took us out for dinner. I'm surprised we made it without getting into an accident. Kitty is wonderful, but her driving skills are definitely lacking. People say I am horrible at parking and now I know where I get it from. Anyway, dinner was great and at around 10:30, Kitty dropped us off at my cousin Siv Elise's house where she lives with her husband, Francesco and two kids, Marco and Thomas. We talked until 11, and then I passed out.
The next day, more visiting ensued...but it was a beautiful, sunny day so I was happy to be out with people! We started off the day by going to Siv Elise's and her mom's office. Siv Elise has her own fashion line, and along with her mom-she runs it from her mom's house just a two minute walk away. We had coffee and talked about her life as a designer (very exciting!). Then, my mom's cousin Ingrid picked us up and we made our way around my grandparent's home towns. I got to see where my grandma was born, the church where she was baptized, her school as well as my grandparents house and school.





Mom and I learned that it is at this time of the year that the sheep give birth. It is important for the farmer to be "on call" 24 hours a day, so Ingrid's husband is currently LIVING in the sheep barn. (see picture below). That is what I call devotion.



We made a quick stop at Ingrid's house and I played a little piano...for the first time in months! SUCCESS! We had to get back to Siv Elise's though so we could have a nap before dinner.
We went over to Ola's and Olaug's for dinner and had trout, boiled potatoes and cucumber salad (my favourite)! Again, it was great catching up with family and it was cool to see their house where I stayed over 11 years ago during my first visit to Norway. Here are just a few (of the MANY) picture of this wonderful family.




On our last day, I visited Siv Elise's outlet and bought some great sweaters and vests....!! We snapped a few pictures, and then headed back to the ferry!



It was a rainy ride back to Bergen, and we were tired from our busy days in Stavanger, but overall it was a very successful trip and I'm very thankful I had the opportunity to see so much family again! Although visiting does get tiring, it was so amazing to learn more about my grandparents from the people who actually knew them while they were in Norway.
The next stop for me and Mom was Prague, Czech Republic-stay tuned for a post on our adventures!
Sending love!!
A

Exploring Scandanavia

Hello all! I'm excited tell you about my amazing days in Denmark and Sweden! Last Thursday, I left for Copenhagen-excited, but a little nervous to travel completely alone for the first time. However, the trip was made easier by the fact that I was staying at a friend's house so I wouldn't have to try and find my hostel when I got into the city at 10:30 PM. I was going to be staying with my friend, Daniel. Looking back on it now, I had only known Daniel four days before I asked him if I could crash at his place. He is from Mexico, and we met on the Arctic Circle trip. I guess when you are in Europe and "sort of-kind of" know someone, they are a perfectly acceptable temporary roommate. One of the great things about Copenhagen is the metro takes you right from the airport to the city centre. It definitely reminded me of the good times I've had taking the c-train to school and back every day. Daniel met me at "Fansanvej" and took me to his student apartment. It was really great to have a place to stay. He was an incredible host, cook, and tour guide. I spent that night planning for the next day.
On Saturday, I went into town by myself and saw the Round Tower and the changing of the guards at the royal palace before I started to wander into random shops, bakeries and cafe's. I was telling Daniel that it was so weird being on my own. It was SO QUIET. But it was really nice. I went to Copenhagen's famous shopping street and surprisingly didn't go too crazy! I had a lot of fun just looking at all the really nice (but expensive!) clothes. It was quite rainy out so I didn't spend a ton of time outside, but I really enjoyed the day. As a side note: in Copenhagen, they have public washrooms underground. I thought they would be totally nasty, but I went down to one and it was actually really nice! So...I took a picture. :)





That night, Daniel's residence was having a "Spring Fling" party so I got on my flowered tights and got ready to meet a WHOLE BUNCH of new people at one time. I met a lot of Canadians (even some fellow Albertans), some Americans and a lot of Aussies. It was a really great night and some of the people I met are planning on coming to Bergen in May, so hopefully I will get to see them again!
On Saturday, I got up early in the morning and saw that it was a BEAUTIFUL DAY! I hadn't seen so much sunshine since I got to Norway, so I wanted to get outside and experience it all! Daniel was kind enough to let me borrow his bike for the day, so I felt like a true Dane cycling everywhere. It is so nice that Copenhagen has bike lanes on every single street. Since I'm not so worried about getting hit by a car, I could relax and appreciate the beauty around me.

I biked for two hours, and then took a canal tour. Before the boat ride, I got some soft is AKA soft ice cream that is 100x better than any ice cream you will eat in North America, and sat on the street looking out at the harbour.





Later on I went to a cafe that was supposed to be the Danish equivilent of Starbucks. Well, let me tell you-Starbucks could teach them a few lessons. It took exactly 27 minutes for them to prepare my chai latte that I ordered "to go". I would consider myself a fairly patient person when it comes to hot drinks, but this was crazy. Lucky for me, I didn't actually need "to go", so I sat down, listened to my ipod and did some journaling and eventually enjoyed my hot beverage. :) That night, I went out for dinner with Daniel and some of my new friends. We went to a place that was very similar to a favourite restaurant of mine at home: earls. It brought back some great memories for me, and it was definitely a night of laughter and great conversation. I had to get to bed relatively early because I was leaving early the next morning for Stockholm!
When I got to Stockholm, I found my hostel and quickly made my way to the main square. Though I had been to Stockholm before, I had only been to the old town area so it was very cool to see the new part of the city. I came across a market that was selling...everything you could possibly imagine. I was excited because I thought I might be able to find something cool, but it didn't really work out because I couldn't navigate my way through the crazy amounts of STUFF. Swedes are obviously not known for their organizational skills. (See Picture)

I quickly moved onto other parts of town, but didn't stay out too long because it was FREEZING cold and very windy. Plus, I had to prepare myself for the AWESOME-NESS that was going to occur the next day when I was going to meet up with my good friend, Ben from Minnesota!!
Ben and I met at FLBC, and though I hadn't seen him since August, I knew it would be just like old times when we met up. He was visiting his sister who was studying in Upsala, so we were able to meet up. After I picked him up at the train station, we went for coffee....and stayed there for four hours. Words can't describe how fantastic it was to see someone from "home" and just CATCH UP! We walked around for a bit, took a few pictures. And made a video. But of course, the video is not working so...you guys don't get to enjoy those 2 minutes of entertainment. Nevertheless, it was a great time.
Then, we went out for lunch and had a delicious panini (Ben's favourite) and continued to be obnoxious and take pictures in random places.





Basically, it was a FANTASTIC day and I'm so glad I got to meet up with him!!! My last day in Sweden, I walked around Old Town Stockholm window shopping and enjoying the SNOWFLAKES! Found a store named after me which was also cool...!





That day I made my way home, and it was a LONG journey. As much as I enjoyed my trip it was so wonderful to be home in my own bed!! I'm going to spend the next two weeks studying before my Mom comes to visit and we head off to Prague!
More adventures to come!!!
The diva is signing out for now! Hope you all are well!
A