Traveling and Spring

Clearly I was delusional when I said I would write a post every week. It's been closer to one a month... But that just means I'm busy and having a great time, right? YES.  It also means that this will be a long post.

A lot has happened since my last post. My core course, Sustainable Development in Northern Europe, went on a study tour to Oslo and Rjukan, Norway for five days; I traveled to Stockholm with Susie and Berlin with Julia; classes have had big deadlines as projects get going and conclude; and, most importantly, I've been getting to know my Danish housemates and this incredible city better.

The longer I'm here and the more I see of it, the more convinced I become that Scandinavia is one of the best regions to live in the world. Now, that's a heavily biased statement because I haven't seen the majority of the world, much less lived elsewhere for an extended period of time, but everything I've seen here seems hard to top. The public transportation is timely and clean and thorough; the cities are beautiful and built on a human scale; the environment is prioritized, along with civil rights and the needs of the citizens.

Sure, it's dark here in the winter. I wasn't here in December, but during the shortest days the sun barely rises. That can't be easy to handle. Even now, the sun rises around 7 AM and it's dark by 7 PM. But by the time I leave, there will be light for nearly 17 hours a day, so I think it balances out.

Yes, smoking is nearly ubiquitous. That has been the biggest disappointment for me in coming here. The US has done such a good job in eradicating smoking - the teen smoking rate is below 8%, I believe, and stores like CVS have stopped selling cigarettes altogether - but it's still very much the norm here. And there isn't the infrastructure to handle it, so people just throw their butts on the ground, littering the streets and sidewalks. I haven't had the chance to look into whether there are any campaigns to try to reduce the amount of smoking, but if there are, they aren't visible.

You bet that taxes are high. But it's easy to see what the money is being spent on - the best public transportation system I've seen, universal healthcare, paid maternity leave, free education - through a Master's degree and with a monthly stipend! - reduced childcare costs, and so on. It's also nice not to have to worry about tipping at restaurants. Sure, the bill may be higher than in the US, but once you factor in the expected tip, they even out. And the message that paying everyone a living wage sends... that's priceless.

Even with the darkness, the smoking and the taxes, I would move here in a heartbeat. If only it were that simple...

The mountainous Telemark region of Norway.

In other news, I had a once in a lifetime experience: I turned 21 in the beautiful mountains of Rjukan, Norway. The day started with a visit to Statkraft, a Norwegian state-owned renewable energy utility, where we learned about the work they are doing in Norway and around the world. After a few hours there, we boarded the bus for a three hour drive into the mountains of the Telemark museum. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day - it was snowing but bright, adding a magical quality to the already gorgeous scenery. Upon arriving in Rjukan, we headed to the Industrial Worker's Museum, a large decommissioned hydroelectric plant that played a role in World War II - look up the Heavy Water War if you're interested. Seeing the huge turbine hall with 6 of the original 12 turbines appealed to the engineering nerd in me. The things are massive!

One of the turbines at the Industrial Workers Museum in Rjukan.

After walking down the mountain that the plant sits on, we boarded the bus to head to our hotel. It was still snowing, so our bus driver, Helge, had to stop at the bottom of the valley to put chains on the tires, a task that took nearly an hour in the falling darkness and snow. 

Allow me to take a moment to talk about Helge. He is the MVP of the trip, driving us from Oslo to Rjukan, through the snowy mountains, and back again. The first time we understood how magnificent this man is was when we arrived in Rjukan. The parking lot for the museum was near the bottom of a hill, with several sharp turns, not so mention the hill was made slick with snow. To check whether there would be room for the bus to turn at the bottom, Helge got out of the bus and went running and sliding down the hill, made an assessment, and came running back up. Most bus drivers I've experienced would have just said "get out and walk," but Helge took the time to see for himself if it was possible. Later that night, he had to put the chains on the tires, taking them off again the following morning when we had descended from the hotel's mountain, and back on that night, and back off again the following morning. He navigated through countless snowy hairpin turns, and I never once felt concerned for my safety. The cherry on top is that, back in Oslo for our final visit, Helge got out and asked around about where the exact address for our visit was, once he had gotten us close. The man went above and beyond for us. Someone in the class made a card that we all signed, and his face when we gave it to him was priceless. I would be willing to bet it's hanging in his bus right now. 

Back to the story. The hotel we stayed at was actually a ski resort - Gaustablikk, to be precise. We arrived and went straight to dinner. Elizabeth, our program assistant, bought me a glass of wine for my birthday, which paired excellently with our meal, which I later learned was reindeer. 

Birthday wine!

Dinner at the hotel - apparently reindeer. It was fantastic.

To top off the best 21st birthday a girl could ask for, some friends from my class bought me a couple drinks at the hotel bar and we hung out playing cards for a few hours. Then, when I went back to my room, I found that my parents had left me a surprise:

Birthday surprise from Mom and Dad.

They had called the hotel and asked for a basket to be brought to my room, with a note that reads "Happy 21st birthday Meg! You will always remember where you were when you turned 21. Enjoy! Love you very much, Mom and Dad." I will always remember where I was on my 21st birthday. How could I forget?

The next day we went to the Hardangervidda National Park Center, where we learned about reindeer and saw some of the most beautiful scenery of my life - and I've been fortunate to see a lot of beautiful landscapes. We went snowshoeing with our guide, Christian, who lives in a cabin that is only accessible by snowmobiles in the winter and boat in the summer - a true Norwegian. It was a bright day, overcast but clear at the same time. Occasionally there would be breaks in the clouds that allowed the sun to shine on the far mountains across the frozen lake. The magic from the day before continued. 

My camera doesn't do it justice, but it was a breathtaking view. 

The following day we returned to Oslo, where we learned about Epleslang, a small company that picks the unwanted apples from trees in the yards of Oslo and turns them into a high-end apple juice that is the non-alcoholic alternative to wine. In addition to being a sustainable business, it has a strong sense of social justice, hiring mentally and physically disabled people to pick the apples, helping to introduce them into the work force. You can read more about Epleslang here. A tour of the Oslo Opera house rounded out the week before I headed to Stockholm to reunite with Susie for a weekend adventure of food, Swedish culture, ABBA and palaces. 

Inside the Oslo Opera House

Together at last - in Stockholm!

Riding Swedish horses at Skansen.

SWEDISH MEATBALLS. <3

The ABBA Museum!

Inside the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

This past weekend I traveled to Berlin with Julia, where I found a Meg again! (I'm bad at taking pictures, so you'll have to refer to Facebook for proof of the encounter). We saw the Berlin wall (of course), the Temple of Ishtar at the Pergamon Museum, climbed up the dome of the Cathedral, went up in the world's largest captive balloon, listened to algorithm-generated music, and ate some delicious food at a market hall. We packed a lot into our ~36 hour trip. I'll spare you the details, but here are some pictures:

A portion of the Temple of Ishtar from Bablyon.

The other side of the Temple of Ishtar.

Inside the Cathedral.

"Why" indeed. A portion of the Berlin Wall at the Topography of Terror Museum.

The largest captive balloon in the world! And we went up in it!

Happy hour drinks with Meg and Kyle at a Mexican restaurant near our hostel.

East Side Gallery.

The food market - yummy food and tasty treats. 

Tempelhof Airport, currently home to nearly 9,000 refugees.

I can't believe I'm more than halfway through my time here. I don't want it to end. But, I am looking forward to experiencing spring in this city, as well as seeing some more of Europe. Next up: Prague, Salzburg and Vienna. More on that later. 

Until next time!