Climb Inn Rjukan

... and sit comfortably. This bus ride was amazing! We saw maybe over 10 beautiful waterfalls and the bus made it down a very steep corkscrew path (very impressive! It was like going down on Lombard street 5x's steeper!) to get to our next mode of transportation...the ferry. Our ferry ride from Gudvangen to Flam was also packed with tour groups. We felt this ...

... t-bar I should say). There was also some decent tree runs here which we enjoyed. To mix it up, we went back to the Skisenter in Rauland - where more snow falls. It didn't disappoint today as the snow came down in droves and made for some nice turns. There's not much else to say - its just snowboarding - so enjoy the pics.

... in Norway than it is back in the states. I would imagine that one of the reasons is that they use a lot of pomas and t-bars here instead of proper chair lifts. Good for the wallet, but man they can be uncomfortable after awhile. Anyways, we're going to take tomorrow off and hope the snow builds up for our next day on Thursday. I hope its a good day.

... is. The surrounding mountains are quite nice and they make up for the lack of skiable terrain here by their presence. Its always good to keep a bit of variety in the mountains you visit, so I can't wait for the next place to go. However, that will have to wait for a few days since we are taking an early train to Bergen the next day where we will be spending some time without snow.

I'm supposed to stay in Oslo for the weekend. But plans change. Instead, Thomas meets me at the train station and we take a bus to his home in the middle of Telemark County - a rural area of Norway. I start off the next day at his parent's place in Flatdal. I'm pretty sure that translates into Flat Valley, for the scenic valley here. I get some exercise when we walk up the ...

... And I feel like I've known them forever. On Friday I went to the choir in Mjøndalen again. We started to learn a Norwegian song and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The song is really pretty and I like it a lot. During the weekend I just relaxed. I was very tired by this time. I caught up on sleep and did homework. On Sunday afternoon my family took me to ...

... very interesting and we will have to go back to go in the mines. On Saturday night I went to Betania, which is kind of like a youth group but they meet on Saturday nights. They sing songs, have a sermon, and then they have a hangout room and a cafe. It was really fun. I made some friends and I taught them a game for the ping-pong table. On Sunday morning I went with ...

... didn't actually do that much. Mostly I just hung around the house. On Sunday afternoon I went with Jenny's family to Drammen because there was a festival going on. We met another girl from my class, Heidi, there. We walked around and I really liked Heidi. I would say she is my best friend. Sunday night was really depressing because I didn't want to go to school. I was nervous and I was still tired.

... is amazing. When we arrived in Krokstadelva I was anxious to see the house I would be living in. Krokstadelva and Mjøndalen are sister cities in a valley. I don't really live on the side of a mountain, but to me it is a mountain. Really it is just a very large hill covered in forest. There is a river in between Krokstadelva and Mjøndalen. Both cities are quite small. So when we finally arrived at their house I was very happy. All the ...

... down early. We found a little café by the water, had some dinner and then took off for an evening 3 km hike up to Berkkenfossen falls. It was a pretty taxing hike, but as you can see from the some of the pictures, the view was quite beautiful. We were pretty wiped after the hike (granted it was 10 PM, although with all the light it looked like 5 PM) so we had some tea and took it easy the rest of the evening. Catch ya on the flip side, - M & A