Top Molla Hotel Lillehammer

... took a train ride from the airport in Oslo, Norway to the town I am living in, Lillehammer. The train ride was along Lake Mjosa and was absolutely gorgeous. The houses are all spread out and many are brightly colored red and yellow. A perfect word to describe it is "quant." The scenery is beautiful with trees, hills, valleys, snow, and quant villages along ...

Lillehammer situated in central Norway on the northern tip of Lake Mjøsa and home to the 1994 Winter Olympics, even though this small town of 20,000 people only held the ice-hockey, ski jump and some downhill skiing. Other disciplines were held in nearby towns of Hamar and Hunderfossen; the latter is home to the Bobsleigh track. Lillehammer is a very tidy, compact town with everything in an easy walking distance, it is very easy ...

... His perspective as an American who has lived in Norway for over 20 years (and moving back to the States permanently with his wife and four kids next month!) gave us insights into the Norwegian approach to peace that we hadn't seen before. But the BEST thing that happened yesterday was a dinner invitation we had by a colleague of Claudia's from Hamar. A religion professor at Høgskolen i Hedmark (where I went to school in the fall) invited us ...

... because they were rather hard, but they still tasted good! We tried jojo's because somehow we ended up with a LOT of extra potatoes after Thanksgiving, and we only have 5 days left in Hamar, so we are being force to eat up as much of the food we have here as possible. The process started last week, and it has already been quite a task. I have already said a few goodbyes to people who are leaving Hamar for break and ...

Today I went for the first time to the center in Hamar where they teach Norwegian to adult immigrants. It's a very special place, and I wish I had gone there MUCH MUCH earlier in the semester. I initially went just to observe some of the methodology used since I have been fascinated with language learning especially since my linguistics class last spring. Last Monday I ended up sitting in a very small room (it was full with about 10 or 12 people) next to a friendly ...

... to let in that pure, natural sunlight. You can't help but feel peaceful, even serene, here at Nansens. Can I be a student here? :o) But I'm not writing you today to tell you about how Nansenskolen is so great. No, I had the weirdest, most amusing day of my life yesterday, and lived to tell the story. It's funny where you find yourself in life sometimes... So for the past few days, Lauren and I have been following around a group of 20 politicians and ...

I can't believe I'm sitting in front of my computer right now. I have a really long weekend because we don't have any lectures in order to facilitate time for us to be at our field studies. I finally got up the courage to call my mom's first cousin, Petter Inge who lives in the same place that my Norwegian grandfather did when he was young. When I dialed the phone I heard him answer so I started to ...

... after my dabble in an ESL linguistics class last semester. Anyway, I'm a bit nervous, but more than anything I'm just excited to participate in making this exhibit more available to a wider audience since it is such a cool exhibit, and since a large number of people in Norway and visitors to Norway speak English much better than Norwegian, even if English is their second language. In any case, I've got to get some sleep. Here's to waking up to a winter wonderland in October!

... and even connect up with the Olympic tracks at the Birkebeineren Ski Stadium. You can ski in both forested and mountain terrain, and all the trails are clearly sign posted. Hafjell Alpine Centre is located 15 km north of Lillehammer. The natural geography enables the runs to continue several kilometres down the hill, conveniently converging at the base. The runs are carefully designed to meet all levels from the "easy-peasy" to the "hard'n heavy ...

I'll write some more detailed stuff later and probably erase this entry, but I feel I should post something. We just got back from a week-long excursion to the north. I've got some incredible photos, so hang in there and you'll be in for a treat. I'm absolutely exhausted for now since we were supposed to sleep on the train last night. I've got class tomorrow morning so I'm off to bed, but I promise photos sometime this week. Thanks for checking in on what I'm up to!