It’s been almost another month and I am back with my blog. A lot was happening on the outside and also in my head. I think I have my mind cleared up, so I can put it on the paper. Here is my travelling blog, my thoughts are probably coming in another one.
A while ago I talked to one of my friends why and when I started writing it and it was extremely interesting to read my own old posts. So I love doing it now, even if takes a lot of time, as I will love remembering it when back home.
On Thursday, 14th October, finally my visit from Slovenia arrived. During the day I still had some lectures and Minna, Marta and me went to the city after those to pay membership with Norwegian Trekking Association. After that back to the university and soon to the airport. I was glad to see Jaka coming through the gate as I hadn’t believed he’d really come. And OK, he also brought cheap alcohol. 🙂 So we had a nice dinner and cosy evening. Friday started as lazy as Thursday ended. I was babysitting in the afternoon, so after late breakfast we headed out. First to the post office to change € to NOK and then to the mainland. We had some big misunderstandings just before I left, so I was relieved to have my head off for two hours. When I was finished I came to shopping done, so no worries about dinner, and we went for a walk, this time Kvaløya. After one hour I think I was freezing since it was snowing quite hard and stupid me took only leather jacket with me.
But hot chocolate solved everything. Saturday’s weather was much better and we went to discover the city. Somehow we ended in Mack’s Brewery and had the first beer, followed by the second and the third. The third was too much – Mack is stronger than Laško, but since in Norway my liver is also getting healthier. Damn. So when we got home I almost literally fell into the bed and 2-hours planed sleep turned into 4-hours long one. So we missed the first 2 hours of Hungarian dinner and got there when everybody was already wasted. Gosh, people, couldn’t you wait? But Steffen offered his kitchen to continue the party to those who didn’t want to go to the clubs. Sunday morning offered perfect weather for a lazy day, but it didn’t really feel Sunday after having already 2 days off. I couldn’t sleep, so I was thinking the whole morning and I made a plan. A plan which was suppose to work for me. Start was simple – no fighting and enjoying the next week. And it started working completely fine. For the first time I was on the ski slopes, just too bad they were not covered with enough snow for skiing yet. We also decided to do a road trip to Lofoten and started planning it on Monday. Waffles in Bodega helped to get our plan started and we wanted to try CouchSurfing, so we sent out about 30 requests. Well, this doesn’t work as well as I expected. Jaka also helped me checked if Rudolf is doing well up here – oil and stuff. I know I should do this on my own but it’s easier to leave it to a guy.
On Tuesday morning we packed a small suitcase and started our trip to the south. After Nordkjosbotn we headed to Bardufoss and Setermoen. The weather was crap, but we kept singing, playing games and so on. On the way Jaka even tried to make the radio working, but ended burning fuse and changing it on the next petrol station. We were also playing with the idea of visiting Polar Zoo, but threw that away when they told us it costs 250 NOK to get it. We reached beginning of Lofoten around 5 PM and first headed to find the cabin. We drove around Storvanet and it surprised me how many houses were there. I was expecting only the DNT cabin there, but had no idea, this working part is full of them. So we decided to ask where the cabin is and man in the only house, where it seemed to be someone inside, sent us back to the other side of the lake. Since we pretty sure it was suppose to be on this side, we left Rudolf on the side of the road and started searching on foot. We probably had a look at all of the small houses in that area for more than an hour and when almost decided to give up, tried to ask for directions in another house. The man who opened the door knew what we were looking for right away and he told us to continue going on the road for 200 meters and we’ll see it on the left side. It was exactly where he told us and ironically also only 100 meters from the first house, where we had asked the first time. The cabin was awesome, a lot of room and cosy and heating started working in a second. After that we went to see what Harstad has to offer and had a walk and a Chai Latte there. When we got back we also made a fire, just to make it look better.

Me on Lofoten
On Wednesday morning trip through Lofoten was planed, so we headed south and reached Lødningen to get some breakfast and coffee. After our stomachs were full again, we drove in way of Svolvær and Kabelvåg, with one obligatory stop at the local airport. There was some awesome sceneries and I wished one of those small houses was mine. We continued more to the south and in the middle went off way, to reach Henningsvær. Nice place where not much happens, of course. But we enjoyed the view the whole time and it was amazing.

View from the balcony of one of the houses near Svolsvær.
Around 6 PM it started getting dark and I started getting tired. We stopped in Leknes for a drink and a hamburger and full of new energies continued our way to Moskenes and Å, which we reached late in the evening. At least late enough to find everything closed. We wanted to stay in another DNT cabin, but couldn’t find it. After looking for other accommodations for some time we bumped into closed Youth Hostel, but there was a telephone number. We called and the owner answered, but he was in Gran Canaria. Totally diferent from all the snow that was surrounding us. But he told us where the rooms are and the front door was opened. Relieved with found accommodation we drove back to Moskenes and luckily that we did, because there are only 2 ferries driving to our next stop Bodø a day – one at 7 AM and one at 9 PM. We chose the first one, which meant I had to go back sometime again to explore Lofoten a bit more, but we had the whole day in Bodø.
So we woke up at 6:15 on Thursday morning and got to the car. In my half sleep I slipped for the first time on this icy ground, but so far has this also been the only one. We got to the queue 5 to 7 and paid almost 100 € for 4 hours drive, which we mostly overslept. But we needed it. When we arrived to Bodø another sunny day was waiting for us. But we had a museum day ahead and we drove straight there. I think I would never go to an aviation museum on my own, but having one pilot-to-be with me, this was a must. We both paid the student price and got to know whole civil and military Norwegian aviation, from beginnings to World War II and modern flying. We were done with it late in the afternoon and when we came out I didn’t want to repeat the experience from the previous day, so we first searched for the accommodation. CouchSurfing didn’t work out here, so our next ry was camping. We called and the guy told us it’s closed in the winter, but opened one cabin extra for us. Not a luxury, but enough for one night. So with accommodation provided we went for a bit sightseeing and to see if we can buy a cheap radio for my car. But as figured out already couple of times before – Norway’s expensive and the cheapest radio cost 80 €.
On Friday we woke up really late and our trip was planed back to the North. I wanted to have a coffee in Fauske and they even had a road sign for a Café, but strangely there was none. The road was bad – full of snow and it kept snowing for most of the time we were driving. So we continued without having a coffee on road E6 through Vassmo and after ice-cream, chip and probably one whole chocolate (yeah, I know – only junk food!) we reached Storfjord around 5:30 PM. We had to take another ferry, which took only 25 minutes to get us on the other side, but wasn’t leaving until 6:40 PM. We finally found a place with coffee and they also gave us internet access. So in the hour we were waiting we finally checked all the Facebook messages. 😛 When ferry unloaded us on the other side of Tysfjorden, I started panicking, cause there was no petrol station and kilometres we’d done were soooo many. Garmin showed there’s one petrol station in 35 kilometres and I was praying we make it until there. And we did, luckily, but it cost me quite some nerves. After another hour we reached Narvik and since we haven’t heard anything from Polish girl who was suppose to host us, we decided to look for the camp. And just in the moment we were about to go to this place, Kasia called us and confirmed our CouchSurfing. Nice. So we drove another 30 kilometres to Bjerkvik.

CouchSurfing in Bjerkvik
I think you can’t find this place in any tourist guide, but Kasia made it very interesting for us. First we could unload our things in her room and after that we sat to the dinner. Typical Polish soup, very spicy and a lot of vegetables. After eating sandwiches for 4 days my stomach was very happy. Also her landlord was very interesting and nice. Almost 70 year old man, former officer, could speak only Norwegian, so while Jaka helped Kasia practice her Serbian, I was improving my Norwegian. We also had glass or two of wine and I called it a night before everyone else, but I was dead from driving. We had bad conscious when we woke up first at 9 o’clock on the next morning, but after taking a shower I figured out no one is awake yet anyway. We had a brunch around 11 AM and after that our two hosts took us to hotel where Kasia works for a coffee and we kept talking for some hours. Also about hotel in Zanzibar, that their friend owns. Maybe someday… Without noticing it, it was already 4 PM and after taking us on a tour around Bjerkvik and some photos together, we had to get on our way back home. A bit more than 3 hours and we were in Tromsø again.
Sunday was lazy. A bit of catching up on sleep, a bit hanging around and cooking a lot. We found one store which is opened on Sundays and decided to prepare jota, traditional Slovenian dish. We also found sour cabbage, which has to be there for me in jota, but it wasn’t really sour in the end, but it still was tasty. Monday was the last day of Jaka’s stay here and we meant to find a radio for my car. So we were driving around the city for most of the afternoon and found one for a reasonable price. But after more than one hour he had to give up, as radio wasn’t prepared to cooperate with Rudolf at all. No music in my car I guess. Jaka finished packing really fast and we drove to the airport and I was really sad to see him go through the security. Partly because it mean I had to go back to normal student life, university and studying, partly because he was cooking for me the whole time and he did it well, but mostly because I will miss him. I guess this chapter ended. I talked for a while with Ingrid, whose ex-boyfriend was coming to visit her from US. We drove home together and I was a bit jealous, cause my vacations just ended when her started. And as I was standing in front of my door again I couldn’t find the keys. Shit! After thinking about the ways Jaka could send them back to Tromsø and looking for them everywhere for more than half an hour, I found them in my pocket. Stupid me. I ended the evening with a movie at Eva’s place.
Tuesday and the rest of the week I spent getting back to the normal rhythm, following the lectures every day, going to Kraft and doing some dinners. The first one was on Wednesday at Walter’s place, when he cooked for us. Beside bread with bacon, we had pasta, meat balls and tiramisu for desert. Italian tiramisu? Love it!! And it also felt good to be back with people I hadn’t seen in previous days and talk with them. On Wednesday and Thursday we also had study group – exam in December is getting closer. On Friday I was back to babysitting and Saturday was laundry day. Around 11 AM I was going back from laundry where I just put my clothes from washing machine to drier and caught the sunrise. Day is obviously getting shorter and shorter. In the afternoon I jumped to the city to get my first Halloween costume and when I got back I prepared dinner for Stefano, Walter, Alec, Minna and me.

I spent my first Halloween partying as a pirate
Minna was staying at my place – we got our costumes ready, went to Hungarians to have some drinks and afterwards to Driv. We came back early in the morning, so the last Sunday of October had to be lazy. In the morning me and Minna woke up at 10 AM and I was really happy, that we set the clock back one hour – it meant an extra hour of sleeping. After the breakfast we started knitting. I hadn’t done that before, but it seems to be popular in Norway. I also have been looking for one headband on the internet for quite some time, but haven’t found one I would like, so I think I will just make one. She showed me and I picked it up really fast. I suppose I really am talented. 😛 So after 2 hours of knitting she said I could start knitting for real, as I don’t need to practice much more. I am doing a scarf now and I have started 3 times already, but the last version is just wide enough, so I’ll continue with that. I also got addicted a bit, so I think I can manage to finish it until our trip to Bergen next week. In the afternoon I was invited to Tarja’s birthday party. She’s one of the children I’m babysitting and she just turned 4. I met Anja before and we went there together. After a moody start, Tarja became herself again and between playing, eating sweets and talking we forgot we only wanted to stay there for an hour and we said goodbye after 3 hours. Anja invited me for a tea to her place and as I was invited to a dinner and didn’t want to drive home in-between, I was very happy to accept it. She’s the other Slovenian girl here, as I already mentioned and we don’t see each other much. But it’s always happy to talk in your mother tongue and it’s even better if you have a great person to talk to! So we processed life in Tromsø, love problems, Norway, exchange students, studies and much more. It was awesome and it made me feel incredibly calm! 😮 I think it’s from explaining what’s on your mind in your own language – totally different. I would love to stay more, but I was already late for the dinner, so I rushed there and apologised. While apologising, everybody had this expression on their face, like »What is she apologising for??«, which I understood when i read Anja’s message later – nobody changed the clock in their kitchen, so I actually wasn’t late. Haha, also good. I returned back home at midnight, called my mum, if she can wake me up next morning and rushed into my bed.
1st of November was a holiday in most of the Europe. Well, for me it meant last week of practical part in this year, Gynaecology. We started with a morning meeting and after that we went to the skills lab, where we learned how to do a gynaecological exam. It was on models, but at my university I think we don’t even do that. Before the lectures in the afternoon I had some free time, so I went to the centre to made an appointment for car service and to buy my own knitting needles. When returning to my car from the last shop, a really cute Norwegian guy stopped me when crossing the street and said: »Så kult du er kleddt!« He caught me completely off guard, since I would never expect Norwegians to be so spontaneous, but totally made my day! OK, it also helped that he was cute… After the lectures I went to Kraft for an hour. When I came back I saw cookies on my table, but wasn’t allowed to eat them – I also decided to do a month without chocolate, so no cookies with chocolate. I’m doing great in these first 3 days, so I am optimistic. On Tuesday morning I was knitting and met with Benjamin to try the spectrum light. It is suppose to help when there’s polar night and no sun. It’s enough to have it twice a week for 10 minutes, but we were caught chatting there for one hour. So full of energy I continued my day with lectures and Norwegian course. I was suppose to go to Kraft after that, but lost the motivation somewhere in the afternoon, but Leo ( a German guy) said he would join me, so I didn’t have an excuse not to go. After one hour there I felt great and was ready for cozy evening in the cinema. This time we saw The Social Network, a movie about Facebook. I loved it and I don’t hate Facebook because of the movie now. If you have time, you definitely have to see it, especially if you use this social network. 😉
On Wednesday I was suppose to have a seminar, but I got lost in the hospital and never made it. I don’t know how I manage to get lost, seriously!! So instead of that I did some knitting and had a proper breakfast. At 10:30 I was driving towards the airport, because there was Australian Couch Surfer Joel coming to Tromsø. So far I knew he’s finishing his travel around the world in the Northern Europe, but I was more of a “looks good, should have been OK” accepting his couch request. So I picked him up and have to admit – almost didn’t recognise him live. :¤ But I just dropped him in the centre, as I had to get back to the university. After lectures and Kraft, where I almost died doing Step, I met Joel back in the city and we headed to Mack’s brewery, what else! I loooove this place and I love their Micro Beer, because I never know what I’ll get. So we sat down and I found this guy had Canada, Mexico, US, Spain, Italy, Germany, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia, Greece and many other places I know, love or would like to go behind him. The more I tried to get some connection to Slovenia, the more I realised he has no idea, where this country should have been.

Me and couch surfer Joel on top of Storstein Mountain (btw: Joel says "Hi!")
But we got to chat about all the other stuff to until he went for a tour to see the northern lights. I came home, unloaded my car and wanted to do something for the university. But, too bad, fell asleep after the dinner and woke up just when Joel rang that he’s in front of the house. Shit, already?? But nothing helped and I had to be at the university 8 AM sharp, so I wasn’t much of a good hostess and continued my beauty sleep. 😛 On Thursday I left home at 7:30 AM and returned 11 hours later, after lectures, practice and Norwegian course, to an awesome smelling kitchen. Joel was already back from his trip and he was cooking!! I love men who can cook and I think I should put it into my CouchSurfing profile. So we had this nice dinner and I think I told him far too much you should tell a stranger you picked up at the airport one day before, but it just felt right. And we had a bottle of wine, which also helped. 😀 After that we started the Havanna Club bottle, which I got from my last visitor. I would prefer wine, but that’s what happens in country with really expensive alcohol (and everything else). More laugh, talk and great stories were about to end on the next morning when he was suppose to fly back to Oslo. But we discovered that the girls from Sweden cancelled their trip to Tromsø the previous morning, which lead us to the crazy idea him staying another day. So we threw a coin and changed the flight. We fell asleep quite late, but I was up very early on Friday for Kraft. Low energy level I would say. But after taking a shower I felt almost as new and was ready for another day of hosting an Aussie. We went to Bodega for some free waffles. I love them!! Of course everybody was there, since it was 1st Friday of the month and International Coffee was happening. After couple of hours there, we joined Hungarians Eva and Franci and one Canadian girl Kathleen and took the cable car to the top of Storstein Mountain. We got a nice view on Tromsø and surroundings on 420 meters above sea level. In the late afternoon me and Joel were discovering city a bit more and also bought some fish for the dinner. Of course we needed some alcohol too and this time I didn’t get asked for ID in Vinmonopolet.
I brought Joel to the airport on Saturday morning and then spent the day trying to study, organise the photos to put them on Facebook, did some homework and knitting and in the afternoon I received a SMS from Xavier, my next Couch Surfer. I met him and his Latvian friend Julia in front if the library and we went for a tea to Driv.

Julia, me and Xaver
They are working and/or studying in Alta, “a bit” northern from Tromsø. After getting to know each other we went to my place and had a dinner. Hungarians invited us to see a movie, but we didn’t make it, ut we did join them afterwards. After a while they decided to go down town and Xavier joined them. I wanted to get some rest and Julia was also tired, so we called it a night. On Sunday we got to see the sunrise at the southern part of the island, but it was damn cold with all the wind. I left them in front od Museum of Tromsø and got myself doing some useful stuff. At least I convinced myself they were useful. At 2 PM me and Jula were going to Step time in Kraft and luckily I survived this time. After a shower I met Minna to see the basketball game, but it was cancelled because team from Bergen couldn’t fly in (storm in the South of Norway). Pity, but I had dinner at Jula’s at 7 PM, so I went home and shortly after that Lucile came to me and we made an apple pie. My first apple pie, cool!! We went to Jula, where she and Ingrid were already waiting for us. We started chatting, opened the wine and talked, talked, talked. It was refreshingly to have a girls-only dinner, have a talk about guys and how life here is. And I realised I changed. The things I want changed. And I wasn’t even expecting it to happen so fast. Awesome!

Dinner at Jula's place
So we had a great dinner and Ingrid told me also that she’s moving in Jula’s place at the end of semester and also one other room is getting free, which got me to the idea of moving there. I wasn’t sure if I would want to give up my awesome view, but on the other hand I don’t really feel like home in this house. We live in the same flat, but I don’t really know my roommates and I hate it. So we decided to go to the accommodation office on Monday morning and I had time to think about it. On Monday morning my mind wasn’t much clearer so I decided to ask about that some people. I got the same answer every single time so this made my decision a lot easier. I met Ingrid at 11 AM and on our ride to University we discussed the whole thing through and when we finally got there we both applied for the other house. We’re going to be roommates from December on, yiipii. After lectures in the afternoon I went to Kraft (I try to do something every day and not get lazy in the winter) and home to my homework and finally uploading the pictures on Facebook afterwards. And I found out that Slovenian team, that one of best friends Tina is part of, won this year’s Grand Prize on iGEM competition. 3rd time in last 5 years victory goes to our country, crazy!! So I have to congratulate her here as well!!
Tuesday started with lazy morning and at noon I met Minna at the university. We studied a bit, talked a lot and I’ m slowly starting to get panic attacks, as I feel I don’t have enough time since the exam is coming closer and closer extremely fast. No CouchSurfing after my trip t Bergen, sorry guys. Today I first brought my car to the service, because I needed to change the oil and filter. In the morning Minna, Henning and me were studying at the university and in the afternoon I was running around, but already knew they have to be careful because of the cars. Awesome! Now I’m finishing with my blog and I swear I will never ever wait so long to write another one. It just takes too much time. And tomorrow me and Minna are flying to Bergen, yeiii. And, of course, I haven’t packed yet. I’m running to do that now.
Ha det bra!