not making any promises....

drum roll please......I'm back in Minnesota!!! I sort of have been since May. I honestly kind of forgot about this only to log on to notice my last posting was in April. My last month in Norway was amazing. It was very hard all at the same time though. I may write more on this later and put up some pictures.

This being said, I don't know how well I will keep this up. I do not see blogging being a very good outlet for me since many of my thoughts are best kept inside my little head. It also took it getting to be 1:47am the night before my last final of the semester to get the motivation to start this up again. The ominous threat of studying lingering overhead has always produced a great amount of motivation in me. I've cleaned, baked, attempted song writing, caught up with old friends, watched the snow come down for an hour straight, tried new hair styles, and even thought about painting my nails, only to decide against it seeing as how I do not have any nail polish remover and am never satisfied with the outcome.

Maybe it won't be until finals of spring semester before you hear from me again, but I will try to be a bit more dedicated.......

Søvasslia

A couple of weekends ago we went on our semester student retreat to Søvasslia, a retreat center about an hour and a half outside of Trondheim. We had ten students go with us and it was an amazing weekend.

Me and Cortney making dinner.

The view from the cabin.

The Easter basket was appreciated by all. THANKS MOM!!

Linn really likes my mittens so I am wearing hers.

Magnus and me trying to figure out stuff for worship.

Me and Audun. Looks like something serious was being discussed.

We had the retreat from Friday until Sunday afternoon. We talked a lot about the grace of God and finding our identity in God. We had so much fun and it was a time to really grow closer to each other and to God. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful place either.

Flying Cats

Some people say I find ways to put myself in random situations on a regular basis. This is living proof that it is in fact random situations that gravitate towards me. Yesterday morning, I had just woke up and was sitting on my bed which is under this window. When I am sitting all the way up, my head sits right by the base of the window. I also have my window open all the time to get some nice air-flow in my room.



As I was sitting there checking my emails, I hear this loud 'meow' come from outside. As I turned to the left I see a cat crawling through my window. It's head is about six inches from my face and it nearly gave me a heart attack is scared me so bad. It was lucky I had just woke up otherwise I probably would have punched it in the face with my amazing self-defense reflexes. I looked at it and let out a scream which in turn scared the poor cat that was already terrified because it was stuck on my roof. Once I realized what had happened, I tried calling it back to my window. I reached out and got the cat and brought it into my room for about a half hour and gave it a head scratch that was greatly appreciated. I'm still more of a dog person though. They are nice and don't crawl into second story windows onto your head.

Tautra

Here are some pictures from Tautra, an island on the same fjord that Trondheim is on. We spent about 5 days at a monastary there on a silent prayer retreat between Palm Sunday and Easter.

The chapel

The view was a bit of a distraction during the sermon. Not complaining though.

The old monastary ruins from 1207.

Our first morning there it was so windy. I stepped outside for about

one minute and my sweatpants were caked with snow. I love storms!!!

The view from my room.

On the train ride back

Scotland Banter

While I was at the conference in Belgium during August, I had the chance to meet some crazy, yet amazing people from Scotland. A couple of weeks ago, Kelly and I had the chance to travel to visit them. It was such an amazing time! Really can't say enough good things about it. Here are some pictures from our time there.

After a glorious night train. I LOVE THE MORNINGS!!!

We had a great welcome team

Strolling through a park in Dunfermline

The Abbey in Dunfermline. Part of William Wallace is claimed to be buried there.

Our male models....

Downtown Edinburgh

William Wallace himself

Everyday at exactly 1 they shoot off this canon over the city so everyone knows it's one o'clock. Kind of like in Mary Poppins.....

There are at least 4 of us in there, maybe 5. I can't remember if Linda squeezed in there.

Sign winner of the day

HUGE calzones.

The gang walking around at the castle. We got to see the crown jewels of Scotland. They've also rebuilt certain areas of the castle to make it how it was during the time of wars and keeping prisoners there.

We found out that Dunfermline is the sister city to Trondheim so Kelly and I had to get a picture with the sign. Unfortunately though it was kind of in the ghetto so we took a quick picture and got out of there.

Introducing Puppy Chow and 7-Layer bars to the Scots!

I don't get how an entire continent doesn't like peanut butter.

Linda and Jo hard at work in the kitchen making dinner.

I think I am checking to see if the bars are done.

Haggis, potatoes and turnips.

Haggis is a traditional Scottish food that is the ground up organ meats of the cow boiled in the stomach of a sheep. I actually really liked it.

Down at the beach!

It was so windy that day.

I swear....it wasn't my fault.

Luckily it wasn't too cold that day.

Kelly and Linda dried my clothes using the little hand dryer in the

bathroom in the basement of "Miami Beach"

Balmeddy (pretty sure I spelled that wrong) Beach

yes....yes we do

It is known for its dunes.

This is Jo explaining Donnottar Castle.

Jo and me

We were trying to take a picture and Jo was more focused on getting us across the street.



Walking around the University in Aberdeen.

Airport fun. I have Nessy on my head.

It was so sad saying goodbye to everyone there but we had an absolutely amazing time. I can't wait until our paths cross again!!!!