Audrey around the world: mai 2008

YES the SUN is finally back in Norway!!
Ok, that's true that in Oslo, even during winter, there is sun... but from 10am to 2pm... so that is not a lot!
But now day are getting longer and longer!
I think the sunrise is around 4.30am. Actually last week end, I was coming back home after a party around 3.3oam and the birds were already singing and it was not completely dark.
On the evening, now the sunset is around 9.30pm - 10pm, but it is still light till 11pm.

The city looks completely different now. Everyone is lying in the parks, having BBQ, walking in the streets!
I really feel the impact that the sun can have on people! Personally I am trying to enjoy in the best way all the sunny days. After spending a winter in a Nordic country, I really understood how much we should enjoy the sun and stay outside when it is sunny :-)
So most of time now, after the office, I stop at the harbor and just take a sun bath with some friends and other interns!!
These last weeks I was never home... always coming back late... so I am starting getting tired... I can not imagine next week in Tromso where it will be sunny the whole day and night! when are we going to sleep?!

hey hey!!

Long time I didn't write here!
So let's start!

MARCH

Easter Holidays!
In Norway, we got 3 days off for Easter, so I went to Paris for 5 days to spend some time with my friends. It was really great... except it was still cold. After a long winter in Norway I couldn't wait to have a bit of sun.
I had a lot of fun!!
Nice talks with my friends, even at 3am...
Nice dinners and good food!! I am missing so much the French food! so I have been eaten a lot for 5 days!! - true that I m starting to get really tired of the norwegian food -
Nice walks around the city...
Shopping with some friends...
Sightseeing to the Chateau de Vaux le Vicomte...
These 5 days went really fast! but I really enjoyed it!
And because it was cheaper to fly to Bruxelles, than to Paris, I have spend an afternoon with other friends in Belgium (eating waffel, french fries, and trying the Belgium beer)
Then I took my flight back to Oslo...

AIESEC conference:
The week end after Easter, there was an AIESEC conference here in Oslo.
First I told myself that I will not be going... I have already been participating to a lot of conferences... but it ended up that I have been asked by the National Comittee to facilitate the track for people going for an Exchange (Outgoing Preparation Seminar) and of course, I couldn't say no :) I love too much AIESEC!!
So I have spent spend my whole week end at the university, facilitating sessions, talking to members and having some nice parties... and like all the AIESEC conference, we didn't get a lot of sleep... and the next Monday... back to work!!

APRIL :the sun is back!!
In April we could start feeling that the winter was finally over. FINALLY!!(yes I forgot to say that when I came back in Norway after my Easter holidays it was snowing in Oslo)
But in April, days started to be much more longer and we started enjoying much more by staying outside!
With some friends and other interns, we did a cabin trip for a week end!
A cabin is something typical norwegian. It is a king of cottage where norwegians go for the week end. During winter, they go skiing and during summer they go hiking. Most of norwegian family have the own cabin.

So back to our cabin trip: we left a Saturday afternoon in direction of the Nordmarka, a place near Oslo. But we got lost... walked for 5 hours (included 2 hours in 1 meter of snow)... and finally found the cabin around 8pm!! ouf!! We were exhausted but we all keep a nice experience from this trip! The cabin we rented where in the middle of nowhere, without electricity neither water. So we started making a fire, preparing some food, and boiled some snow on order to have some water!
If you want to laugh a bit, just watch the video of your trip!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYmj7jDH6Ok
You can even see me being really French and complaining, but for the short story, I was telling the Guys (most of them Germans) to take left... but they just didn't want to listen to me and decided to take the other way! results: we got lost!! (even if the German guys were with map and GPS) hehehe!

MAY

Cabin trip (again)

With some friends last week end, we decided to go for another cabin trip near Oslo! This time we didn't get lost and didn't see any snow. We hiked around 25 km in 2 days and got a lot of sun :)
The cabin was at the top of a hill and we had a wonderful on the Oslo fjord! No electricy, no tap water but the cabin was simplely great! It is perfect having dinner outside, in front if a fire and watch the sunset at 9.30pm!

17th of May
Today it is the 17th of May, national day here in Norway!
Unfortunately this year, it is a Saturday :(
For Norwegian people this day is really important and I could see that it is a really strong tradition for them.
There was a parade in the main street of Oslo (starting at 10am) where all the schools of the city are part of the parade and play some music. Just for fun we decided to join and walked in the parade for 10 minutes. Then we went at the top of the street and stop in front of the castle to see the King! It was cool but COLD!!!!!!!!!!! and raining!!!
In the street everyone were dressed with the traditional Norwegian dress and we could see thousand of Norwegian flags everywhere in the street (Tram, houses...)
At 1pm, the parade was already over so then we went to the apartement of a friend in order to make our BBQ (because we couldn't do it outside)

What's next?

Tromso
Next Thursday, we are travelling to Tromso, a city in the north of Norway where now it is sunny 24hours a day!!! We will stay there for 4 days! I can not wait! but the bad news is that it was snowing there 3 days ago (30 cm of snom) and it is still cold (around 0-5 °C)!!

France
Back to France in one month for some holidays.
Taking the plane on Friday 13rd to Paris, I will spend the week end there ; and then will go to the Alps to spend one week with my family!