March

So I haven't given up completely about trying to blog. I'm just very terrible at remembering to do it! It's been a busy few months. In an effort to catch up, I'll try to summarized from where I left off :)

I'll start with the gong-show of a ski trip we took ;)

At the beginning of March, I went on a skiing trip with some friends who live in my building. We rented one car, and a second one was from a norwegian guy who also came on the trip. It was just for one night, and we would be going into Sweden. The hill opened at 9 and because it was about 2 hours away, everyone decided we should leave at 5am..(I was no thrilled, I think everyone was a little over eager) But I have to make allowances too, the guys driving the second car are from the south of France, so have never experienced winter driving conditions and wanted to make sure they had time to take it slow.

So anyway, (as we pulled into the ski hill parking lot at around 7:30), we had to wait for awhile but finally got everyone's equpment ready and up on the hill. It was an alright place to ski, just a long t-bar ride to the top, but nice views and pretty good snow conditions.

After a day of skiing, we had to drive 1 hour back to our cabin (back over the norway-sweden border). But of course, we had to drive 1 hour in the opposite direction to the nearest gas station/grocery store. So needless to say, after an early start and a long day, tempers were running a little high.

The norwegian guy who came with us had been responsible for booking the cabin. We had planned to sleep 10 people in a cabin designed comfortably for 8. When we finally arrived, it turned out to be double booked and there were already 6 people staying there. So that didn't really help with the tensions that were rising. But we got every one fed and that seemed to help. Thankfully, I had packed my blanket, so took a cushion off the couch and managed to actually sleep quite well. Not everyone did, but we made sure the drivers had a bed at least. The next day was another hour drive back to the hill and a day of skiing, before heading back to Bodo. It was a bit of a fiasco, but still fun noneless and an adventure to look back on! In the pictures, there's me helping Jen after a crash and the view from the top of the hill and the whole gang of us.

Then on March 8th, we had a bit of a dinner party in honour of International Women's Day. I've never really celebrated it before, but I guess it is a big deal in many countries, especially Russia where the girls told us it's very usual for men to buy presents, flowers, chocolate for women on that day. So I was lucky enough to have my roommates do the cleaning for that day (thanks guys!) and then the French guys cooked dinner for everyone. It was really a lot of fun. We pushed the tables together out in the main hallway and had quite a nice meal.

The other events of note for March were my lab course for Molecular Ecology (15th-19th) which involved very long days (830-5ish) in the lab doing DNA purification, isolation, PCR and sequencing of fish and soil samples. It was quite exhausting, but quite a privilege too because we were allowed to use all of the new, fancy equipment. It was quite different from any lab I've taken at the U of S.

Also, on St. Patrick's day (which is not celebrated in Norway) we all headed down to the local club (PULS) to watch the North American trio Quick Pick'ns. It is 3 exchange student from this term who decided to play, John from Saskatchewan (one of my roommates), John from Tennesee (who plays the banjo) and Matt from Minnesota. They did a great job, played some Irish folk songs, bluegrass and country.

Overall it was a very enjoyable month. I also had my Easter holidays start on March 23, when I left for Ireland...but I'll save that for the next post which will hopefully be soon. I'm trying to catch up before I leave Norway ;)