Kissing my Stomach Goodbye

On the 26th September, I kissed goodbye to my stomach. Why? Well, to cut a long story short, I inherited a mutation in the CDH1 gene – which means I have an increased chance of developing diffuse gastric cancer and lobular breast cancer. After a routine gastroscopy in April revealed one of the biopsies to show cancer, I made the decision to have a total gastrectomy. Below are extracts from my diary that I wrote during my stay in hospital.

Stomach Plush – Bought from Plusheez

 

26.09.17 Day of Surgery – Tuesday

Home

Before

In Recovery

Today is the day. Something I’ve been building towards for the past 4 months, ever since I got that phone call on the 18th May. Currently sitting in hospital in pjs and a dressing gown, trying to keep as cosy and warm as possible. B is sitting here beside me, usually sleeping as he’s shattered. We were here 8.5 hours yesterday for my pre-op so we were both exhausted! Luckily they gave me a sleeping pill to knock me out last night. Starting to get a bit nervous now. Just trying not to think about it all as I keep visualising myself in the operating room and it freaks me out a bit. It’s a long road ahead, but I have to do this. The alternative would or could be much worse…

27.09.17 Day 1 – Wednesday

So yesterday went well. The level of care here has been fantastic so far. The surgery took longer than the expected 3-4 hours. I was under anaesthesia for 9 hours! This is because they sent some tissue to pathology for testing to see if there was any gastric mucosa left behind where they made the join of the oesophagus to the small intestine. It turned out that there was, so they cut more tissue away and made a new join. When the surgeons told me this today, I thanked them massively as having stomach mucosa left behind had been my biggest worry. They allowed B to come and see me in the recovery ward at around 10pm last night. They said I would be incoherent and wouldn’t remember anything, but I was fine! Even the nurses were shocked! When they awoke me from surgery, I even asked them what time it was and was surprised at realising that I had been asleep for 9 hours!

Today I am allowed to drink 300ml of water, but it’s a struggle. When I take a sip, it feels like it gets trapped in my throat and chest, so I sucked on ice cubes instead. Unfortunately, that’s now causing the same issue. I managed to get up onto my feet with the help of the nurses, so that’s something at least! Baby steps – one day at a time. I will try again tomorrow. Apparently I look well and have no fever, so that’s a good start.

28.09.17 Day 2 – Thursday

So today, the physiotherapist got me up and walking down the corridor and back! My main struggle is the air that’s trapped in my body. A lot of it is in my chest and some further down. The pain is horrific! Turns out it’s from the CO₂ that was pumped into me during surgery. They said most of it will be absorbed by the body and muscles over the next few days. B came to visit again today, it’s really great having him here. I haven’t done much at all today apart from rest but surprisingly, it hasn’t been boring. I just need to remember that my body needs time for everything to heal, so rest is very important. I also managed to drink half a glass of saft! Small victories!

 

29.09.17 Day 3 – Friday

Sitting Upright

Walking

Flowers from Gianni

Last night wasn’t so good. I think I called for the nurse 3 times because of the pain caused by the trapped CO₂. Today was okay, I walked three times with the IV stand (no longer need the zimmer frame thing!) and I can even walk without it whilst someone else pushes it along for me! The only downside is that it’s pushing around all the air inside me when I walk. I’ve cried twice today from the pain because it’s so bad and now it’s pushing against my incision where my stitches are. If I didn’t have to deal with this, I feel it would be plainer sailing! Gianni stopped by today with Bjørnar, and brought me a beautiful potted plant. It was nice having extra visitors. It was also nice being able to catch up with him, as I havn’t seen him for a couple of months. B has been wonderful though, attending to some nurse type things whilst I’m in here, what a saint.

30.09.17 Day 4 – Saturday

My Room

Flowers from BK & Anne Marthe

Last night also wasn’t good. I called for the nurse 4 times because of the pain caused by the air. Each time, they increased my epidural and I would fall asleep only to wake again an hour later in agony. On the fourth call, they gave me morphine and I slept for 3 hours until the nurses came in at 7am.

Today has been a struggle. My epidural was removed, as well as my catheter. The pain has been the same as last night. Over the course of the day, they managed to get the pain under control by giving me morphine. BK and Anne Marthe came to visit in the afternoon, which was lovely 🙂 They brought me a beautiful bouquet of purple flowers. Weirdly enough I felt a bit guilty because I was very drugged up and still in a lot of pain, so I wasn’t much fun to be around!

01.10.17 Day 5 – Sunday

Today has been a much better day! The pain has been managed throughout the night, which meant I got a lot of sleep and some during the day too. I also drank 1.5 cups of tea, 1 cup of lemon water and a bit of saft. So I feel like I’ve managed to get a lot down today. It’s also been nice having more visitors as Linda came to spend the afternoon with me. She brought me a lovely pink lotus flower friendship bracelet, that she also has in blue. Very thoughtful ❤ B also came to visit later in the day and he’s just getting ready to leave. Later, I’ll give my mum a call and maybe try to read my book. It’s so difficult though as my eyes keep rolling around in the back of my head as I feel tired all of the time.

02.10.17 Day 6 – Monday

Me and Vigdis

Flowers from Vigdis

Today has been an interesting one. I was sent for a chest x-ray at 9pm last night. (I’ve been wheezing a little bit when I breathe in and out.) Turns out, I have a bit of fluid on my lungs. No infection though, so I have to be mindful to take deep breaths and be up and about more. B and his mum came to visit me in the afternoon. It was lovely having her here as I didn’t know she was going to be in town until I was in hospital. She brought me a beautiful bowl of flowers, which one of the nurses commented on saying how pretty it was.

Today I’ve started to eat a few things. I say eat, but it’s still liquids. First off, I tried a chicken stock cube in hot water (too salty as I used the whole cube in a small amount of water – silly me), then i had 3/4 of a high calorie berry protein shake and a bit of fiskesuppe. My appetite seems to have changed though. I absolutely loved fiskesuppe before, but once it was in front of me, the smell made me feel nauseous. I tried a couple of spoonfuls and couldn’t have any more. Today I’ve been walking up and down the stairwell! Managed to do it three times as they suggested. At the moment, I have a lot of strength as I’m given saline and glucose via IV. Tomorrow they’re planning on removing my drainage tube. That’s the source of a lot of my pain, so hopefully once that’s out, things will get a little easier.

03.10.17 Day 7 – Tuesday

Today they removed my drain! At first, the nurse removed the bandage, and then the stitches. She gave me morphine and suggested I walked around for 10 minutes to loosen the drain. I’m squeamish with needles and stuff like that, so it grossed me out to look down and see a tube sticking out of my abdomen! It was a bit painful as I was walking around and I started to get dizzy just before she came back into the room. It was painful when she pulled it out! I yelled out that loud, I’m sure the whole ward could hear me! I still have a lot of discomfort in the area, but it’s no surprise really as it was through my muscle.

It’s now 9:30pm and someone has been wheeled into my room 😦 Boo! I had it so good! I was initially sharing a room with somebody until Friday, so it was nice having a space to myself for a few days. Never mind, I should only be here for another few nights.

04.10.17 Day 8 – Wednesday

Today I’m going home! They said I could stay another night if I didn’t feel safe leaving today, but I feel ready. I still have some discomfort, but I’m coping well without morphine.

I’m still trying to eat as often as possible. I got a bit dizzy in the pharmacy earlier, and figured it was my blood sugar level. So I had a teeny bit of honey once I got home, which seemed to help. I even tried a mashed up poached egg in the evening! It’s nice to be home and trying different foods and being back with B ❤

 

 

I just want to say a huge thank you to the wonderful Nurses, Doctors and Surgeons at Haukeland that looked after me during my stay, thanks for the lovely messages of support and kind words from my family and friends, thanks to my wonderful visitors that came to see me in hospital, which made my time spent there much more pleasant… and the biggest thank you of all to Nurse B ❤

Not sure how I could have gone through this without him.

 

Old Norse in the North

Yorkshire

formerly known as the County of York and “York” comes from the Viking name for the city, Jórvík

It’s no surprise that Old Norse has influenced the English language; particularly in the North where the Vikings dominated for many years!

When I started to learn Norwegian a few years ago, I found some similarities to Yorkshire words and places and thought it would be a good idea to make a blog post out of it!

Yorkshire	Definition	Old Norse	Bokmål
Bairn	Child / Baby	Barn	Barn
Beck	A stream / A brook	Bekkr	Bekk
Berserk	Mad / Angry	Berserkr	Berserk
By	Place names ending in by eg. Grimsby	By	By
Dale	Valley	Dalur	Dal
Fell	A hill / Mountain slope	Fjall	Fjell
Flags	Flat stones used for paving, flooring or roofing	Flaga	Flagger
Flit	To move about / move house eg. Flit about	Flytja	Å flytte
Foss	Waterfall	Fors	Foss
Gate	Street / Way eg. Kirkgate, Briggate	Gata	Gate
Gawp	To stare open mouthed eg. Stop gawping	Gapa	Å gape
Laik / Leck	To play eg. Are you laiking out?	Leika	Å leke
Lig / Ligg	To lie down	Liggja	Å ligge
Lug	Pull or carry, or a knot in the hair	Lugge	Å lugge
Mucky / Muck	Dirty / Manure	Myki	Møkkete
Nay	No	Nei	Nei
Reckon	To think, to consider	Reikna	Regne med
Sillin	Raining heavily eg. It’s sillin it down	Sila	Å sile
Skrike	Scream loudly (related to shriek)	Skrækja	Å skrike
Spell	Splinter of wood in the skin	Spjelke	Spjelke
Tarn	Lake / Pond eg. Malham Tarn	Tjarn	Tjern
Thwaites	eg. Linthwaite	þveit	Tveit

Mum’s (2nd) visit to Norway

Earlier this month, my mum came to spend some time with us in Bergen again.

The first time she came to visit was the last weekend of August in 2015. In true Bergen style, it rained a lot! So this time, I told her to come around the start of May, and promised her a weekend of great weather. (Luckily, it didn’t disappoint… phew!)

Saturday

On the Saturday, we took a 6 hour round-trip to the Hardangerfjord.

During our journey, we stopped off at Fossenbratte, Steinsdalfossen, Øystese, Hardangerbrua, Eidfjord and Voss.

Steinsdalfossen was a magical place! We walked on the path that led us directly under the waterfall. As I stood underneath, I was more than grateful for the nice refreshing mist after walking up the steep path on a warm day!

After enjoying a picnic in front of the waterfall in the sunshine, we made our way onwards towards Øystese.

Here, we stopped off at a lovely rocky beach. Whilst there, I managed to find a large, beautiful piece of quartz. ❤

Hardangerbrua – longest suspension bridge in Norway – 1,400 metres (4,600 ft) long

Our final destination, was Eidfjord. Words can’t even describe how beautiful this place was!

Close to the water, were a row of trees that had something different knitted around each one! Our favourite (especially B’s) was the lady – she even had glasses and a handbag!

After a long day of driving and sightseeing, we made our way back to Bergen through Voss

Sunday

I’ve lived here almost 4 years and had never been to Fantoft stavkirke; a place I’ve always wanted to visit. So we figured we would check it out whilst my mum was here. Little did I know that it was closed until the end of the May! 🙈

Afterwards, we took the Ulriksbane (a cable car) to the top of Ulriken; the highest of the seven mountains in Bergen. Despite me being a wimp when it comes to heights and sitting down on the floor in a London Eye pod with my head in my hands many years ago, I managed the trip quite well!

In the evening, we went out for a lovely meal at Zupperia – Torget. The “Kokkens Krumspring” was to die for! King prawns, squid, scallops and chicken with ginger in oyster sauce, served with crispy noodles. Yum! Afterwards, we took mum to Apollon Platebar – probably one of my favourite places in Bergen. A small, cosy record shop/bar that has many craft beers on tap!

Monday

Before she flew back to the UK in the evening, we visited Gamlehaugen; the King’s residence in Bergen, and then Peppes for Pizza and wine in the sunshine. Unfortunately, King Harald was in Oslo so we didn’t get invited inside for a cup of tea…

It was such a lovely weekend, having my mum visit us in Bergen again and being able to spend some time with her. We both had such a great time with her and look forward to her next visit, so that we can plan another exciting road trip and make more new memories. ❤

Road Trip to Fjørtoft

Every summer, Bjørnar and I head to Fjørtoft; the beautiful island he grew up on in Sunnmøre. In the past, we have taken the bus from Bergen to Ålesund, and then another bus, before getting on the final ferry to the island. This usually takes around 12 hours and is very draining! So this year, Bjørnar decided to drive.

The journey itself is wonderful and I am always captivated by the beautiful views of the mountains and fjords. I pack a book for the trip every time and never end up reading it because I’m either gazing out of the window or sleeping! There are 5 ferries in total throughout the journey, allowing you to stretch your legs, breathe in some fresh air and grab a bite to eat. Since I’m a fan of brunost, I opted for a brunost svele and was not disappointed! It’s safe to say my love for brunost has gone up a level. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water!

Brunost = Brown Cheese  |  Brunost is a common, Norwegian name for mysost, a family of cheese-related foods made with whey, milk and/or cream.

Svele = Svele is a Norwegian batter based cake. By size and texture they may bear some resemblance to American pancakes, but are usually eaten for afternoon coffee or as a snack between meals, served with butter and either sugar or brunost, folded in half to the shape of a crescent.

 

On our way there, we stopped off at this beautiful spot at Vassenden. The water was completely still and the place was overwhelmingly peaceful and serene. It was one of those views that takes your breath away; the photographs don’t do it justice.

We stopped off at the same spot for another photo on our way back to Bergen. It’s amazing how different it looks when the sun in shining and the water is moving.

During our stay, we travelled to Borgund to visit Sunnmøre Museum. Here they have an open-air museum with 50 well-preserved old buildings, that display various architectural styles and lifestyles from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century.

At the museum, they also have replicas of the two Viking boats that were found in a marsh on Fjørtoft in 1940.

The largest boat is about 10 meters long with the hull made of oak. The smallest boat, almost a rowboat, was much smaller and in very poor condition. They were set down in the marsh, with the larger one filled with stone. There was no other equipment or objects in the boats, leading them to believe they were sacrificial gifts.

Sealing material in the largest boat is C-14 dated to 860 AD. The boats were built some time between 500 and 900 AD.

Some of our days on the island were spent relaxing, sunbathing and swimming. Whenever the sun came out, we made sure to take full advantage of the weather. Especially since we’d forgotten what a blue sky looked like! 

Luckily there was no sign of brennmanet this year, but there were plenty of glassmanet in the sea! I initially freaked out when I saw one as I’ve never come across them before and didn’t know they were harmless! The one we saw on our final day was huge, so I took a few snaps of it in the water. Afterwards, I tried to push it far back out into the deep so that it didn’t meet the same fate as the others that had washed up along the shoreline and dried out that day.

Brennmanet = Lion’s mane jellyfish

Glassmanet = Moon jellyfish

 

Our journey back to Bergen took a little longer than anticipated due to increasingly bad weather. The closer we got to Bergen, the greyer and darker the sky became and as we approached Hordaland kommune, we were greeted by heavy rainfall and a thunderstorm directly above us! We both laughed about it… After all, we wouldn’t expect it to be any different!

A Weekend in Oslo

On this day last week, Bjørnar and I were sitting in the airport, waiting anxiously to board our plane to Oslo after seeing a small propellor plane parked at our gate. (For those of you that don’t know us very well, we are both nervous flyers and have always insisted that we would never travel by propellor plane!) So I popped a couple of diazepam, washed it down with a glass of wine (don’t try this at home) and crossed my fingers in hope that this would not be our mode of transport that day!

After thirty minutes, the small aircraft moved and a large red-nosed Norwegian plane took its place! I was very relieved and realised that I had overreacted initially since Norwegian don’t have any small propellor planes within their fleet!

Anyhow, we arrived in Oslo after a slightly turbulent 55 minute flight and made our way to Helsfyr to check into the Scandic hotel.

Our view for the next few days would be this lovely building… Skatteetaten 😀 (These are the people that collect the taxes in Norway 😉 )

The skies were dark and grey on the Friday and the weather forecast had predicted thunderstorms and rain for the duration of our stay. Yet when we woke up on Saturday morning and opened the curtains, the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in sight!

The primary reason for visiting Oslo was to attend the wedding of Bjørnar’s sister. So after tucking into the free breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant, which by the way was amazing, we made our way back to our room to get ready for Monika’s wedding. The ceremony was held at the stunning Kampen Kirke, which had beautiful stained glass windows and decor throughout. After attending a couple of Norwegian weddings since moving here, one thing that I have learned is that they like to have a lot of speeches! I think it’s great in comparison to British weddings, as only a couple of people are expected to stand up and speak, or sometimes not at all because people feel too nervous and shy. In Norway, anybody and everybody could do a speech if they wanted to!

Before travelling to Oslo, I wanted to find if there were any local museums that we could visit during our stay and discovered that the Munch Museum was fairly close to Helsfyr. On our final day, we went and viewed some of Munch’s work along with some of Jasper Johns’ pieces.

 

Unfortunately, the museum did not have the painted version of The Scream on display 😦 We found out afterwards that this was currently at the National Gallery in Oslo.

Across from the Museum were the Botanical Gardens and the Natural History Museum. Pressed for time, we only managed to visit the greenhouses. These wonderful, old buildings were filled with an array of exotic flowers and plants.

Overall, we had a great weekend in Oslo and would have loved to have spent a few more days there to see some of the other museums and the city itself. Our flight back to Bergen on Monday evening was delayed 45 minutes, resulting in me missing the first half of the England v Iceland football game 😦 In hindsight, the flight should have been delayed much longer so I would have missed the whole game since it was so disappointing to watch! 😀

Money Money Money

I may have lived overseas for almost 3 years, but one thing I didn’t do before relocating was to close my english bank account. For me, it just seemed easier to keep it open just incase I ever move back. Plus, I use my card whenever I visit home and I also pay my masters degree loan from that account every month.

When I first moved here, I thought the only two options I had to transfer money to my english account were through my Norwegian bank account (which is expensive) or through PayPal (time consuming and difficult). For the first few months, I used PayPal until I came across TransferWise.

I’m not really sure how I discovered it, I think I just stumbled upon it when searching for a more efficient and easier way to do my monthly transfers! Anyway, I did a little bit of research into it first as I’d never heard of it before, and found that it was developed by the same people at PayPal. (So far so good…)

After signing up, another thing that appealed to me was their interface, which is very user-friendly and modern (another great thing to have when transferring money as it makes things so much easier!)

I’ve been using this service since December 2013 and so far, I have transferred £9700 and saved £225 in fees!

It’s easy and free to sign up! If you use the following link, you receive your first transfer up to £500 for free.

transferwise.com/u/95fb

Reasons to use TransferWise:

• Free to sign up
• Low fees compared to your bank
• Fast transfers
• Supports many different currencies
• Great customer service (Respond quickly and are very helpful)
• Easy to use interface
• Cheaper than PayPal

If you have any questions about how to use this service, I would be happy to try and assist 🙂

My review and opinions expressed here are my own and based on my experience with TransferWise. I am not affiliated with the brand nor do I endorse them and they do not endorse me. I am not paid for my review.

17. Mai – Gratulerer med dagen!

The 17th May, also known as Norwegian Constitution Day, is an official national holiday that is celebrated all over the country. The Constitution was signed in 1814 and declared Norway to be an independent kingdom.

Despite me being in Bergen for almost 3 years, this was my first time celebrating it here so I was very excited!

We arranged to celebrate the 17th with some of my expat friends, so I decided to bake a “marsipankake” for the day. I’ve never been quite fond of baking as I find it quite stressful and as I expected, It didn’t go quite as well as I had hoped! My sponge base didn’t rise very much at all, so I had to run out to the shop to buy more eggs to bake another one! The second didn’t rise either but I managed to salvage the cake by putting the two sponge layers together. Recipe: Marsipankake

On the morning of the 17th, after having our champagne breakfast, we made our way into the city centre to watch the parade. The streets were lined with thousands of people, many of whom were wearing their traditional “bunader”. Bergen has its own traditions for the parade, that includes comic troupes, various local organisations, a children’s parade, and the unique “buekorps”. It was a great experience from start to finish, and we were lucky that the weather held out.

After the parade had ended, my friends and I came back to our place and we continued the celebrations by drinking prosecco and vodka, eating “pølse” and “kake”, attempting to sing the Norwegian national anthem, and dancing to music until late!

Translations

Marsipankake = Marzipan Cake

Bunader = Traditional Norwegian Costume

Buekorps = Traditional marching neighbourhood youth organisations in Bergen

Pølse = Sausages (similar to hot-dogs)

Gratulerer med dagen = Congratulations with the day

Skogsøy

After living in Bergen for almost 3 years, (wow, has it really been that long?!) I’ve started searching for new places to explore since I’ve seen the majority of the tourist hotspots here; museums, the mountains, art galleries etc.

The great thing about Bergen is that it’s fairly easy to get around thanks to the bybane and bus services, but there’s a lot more that Bergen has to offer that can only be accessed by car. On rare days that we have access to a vehicle, I like to take full advantage of this by exploring some place new.

I came across the beautiful Skogsøy after searching for things to do in Bergen on Visit Norway, and decided that this was a place I needed to see and explore. So, I asked 2 of my expat friends if they would like to join myself and Bjørnar on our little adventure and off we went.

The 55 minute drive from the city centre was wonderful! It wasn’t long before the urban scenery changed. The longer we drove, it became more beautiful and peaceful, with many rolling hills that sheep and lambs were grazing upon.

We began our hike by admiring some galloping lambs that were close to the path. They didn’t seem fazed by us or anybody else for that matter! I assume this is a very popular hiking route as they were different to the sheep on Fjørtoft – there they start to shuffle away before you’ve even seen them!

The hike was described as being “medium” for effort level on the website and I definitely agree with that. Some of the terrain was difficult and rocky. The path was marked well and we would often come across stacks of rocks, (some of which were painted blue) which reassured us that we were heading in the right direction.

After walking for some time, we came upon a signpost for “Skogstuo” on the side of a hill that we climbed. The panoramic views from the top were breathtaking! The four of us sat silently and watched the ocean waves crash against the cliff walls, whilst breathing in the cool, salty sea air.

I definitely recommend visiting this beautiful island if you have the opportunity to do so. It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of city life, so it’s important to get away from it every once in a while to unwind and relax.

Nordlys

Last night was like most nights here. It got dark, and my phone notified me that it was kp6 outside. (For those of you that don’t know what this means, basically the kp number system is a scale of geomagnetic activity aka northern lights forecast)

Usually, there’s nothing much to see here in Bergen, and after many previous disappointing late night treks with my camera, I decided not to bother perusing it.

A few hours later, Bjørnar showed me an online news article from BT (Bergens Tidende) showing many photos of the beautiful northern lights taken all over Bergen that people had submitted throughout the late hours of the evening. So, off we went with my camera and tripod to the dark football field behind HiB in Kronstad. Unforunately for us, there was far too much light pollution and we didn’t catch a glimpse of anything. We decided to give it up as a bad job and return home shortly after midnight.

Upon returning, I saw more photographs emerging along with comments from people on social media stating they had also just seen the beautiful light show across the skies. Determined to see something, we set back out with my camera and headed to another location; Møllendalsveien. Upon arrival, we immediately saw a faint, green haze dance slowly above us! We stayed there for an hour, appreciating the beautiful light before returning home once more.

I was able to capture a few shots, but next time we need to find a location with less light pollution as this hindered the vibrance of the aurora. Perhaps I’ll be setting off on mission number 3 this evening!

For live kp updates, I use the following site: http://www.aurora-service.eu/

and I use this android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beebeetle.auroranotifier&hl=en

Fjørtoft

Last week, Bjørnar and I traveled to Fjørtoft; the island he grew up on and an already favourite location of mine. We began our journey from Bergen to Ålesund via coach and was a little sceptical after being told it would take ten hours. I have endured many long, dreadful coach journeys in England; usually amounting to nine hours with no stop-offs.

However, this trip was more than bearable! The coach journey provided me with some incredible views of the beautiful fjords; something the M1 doesn’t have to offer… There were also around five ferries during the journey, which allowed us to get some fresh air, stretch our legs and satisfy our appetites with warm food.

Once we arrived in Ålesund, we had to make our way to the dock to board a ferry, enabling us to travel to Fjørtoft. This added another two hours onto our journey. Once aboard, I began peering through the window and noticed that the ocean was full of jellyfish! I had never seen so many in my life! Bjørnar then explained to me they were called brennmanet; brenn translates to burning. I immediately knew I had to give these a wide berth but couldn’t help thinking what they would taste like…!

 

After a long day of traveling, we finally arrived at Fjørtoft and were greeted by hugs, hot cocoa and a lovely supper. It wasn’t long before I was tucked up in bed and fast asleep…

The next few days involved a lot of exploring on the island. On one side of Fjørtoft, there is a lighthouse that is surrounded by a vast stretch of land. Nothing else has been built on this area and sheep are allowed to roam freely. It also features some viking burial mounds as seen below.

In comparison with the others on the island, this one in particular is very wide and extremely long. Unfortunately, nobody knows what exactly lies beneath. But I think the mystery is what fascinates me the most…

During my stay, I was lucky enough to get access to the Church as I was eager to see what it looked like on the inside. The decor and warm colours evoked a cosy feeling and positive energy…

 

The Church is over 130 years old and prior to this, there was a Chapel from 1309 to 1878.

On the final day, I was lucky enough to drive the boat in the ocean and also attempted some fishing! On two occasions, I was almost dragged overboard by something heavy on the end of my line, but it took me so long to reel it in that by the time I did, whatever I had caught had escaped! Therefore, B was gloating when he managed to catch a fish…

Although who can blame him?! After all, what he caught was rather delicious!

Nytt Liv i Norge

My time in Norway so far has been a rollercoaster ride filled with highs and lows, but it’s one that I’m thoroughly enjoying. After all, nobody said it was going to be easy moving to a new country but I’m really liking it here in Bergen.

One thing I am rather fond of, is the beautiful scenery. For a big city, Bergen has a lot to offer. The city centre is vibrant, busy and great for shopping and yet within walking distance, you can surround yourself with nature on top of the mountains, with only a few people in sight.

The weather in Bergen is usually rainy so I tried to take advantage of the beautiful, warm weather in July by doing some hiking.

Stoltzekleiven

Climbing up 800 steep steps was an absolute killer! I had to take regular breaks and sit on the rocks whilst people much older and fitter than me, made their way up with no problems whatsoever.

B kept trying to reassure me that we were getting closer to the top. Stolzen has many halfway points; all of which are way before the actual halfway point sign… Once I saw the actual sign and realised B had been fooling me, I was ready to give up and wait for an air ambulance to retrieve me!

Reaching the top was definitely worth the struggle! The view was incredible!

After a well deserved rest, we began to make our way to Fløyen and came across many beautiful lakes.

Below is Storevatnet.

Climbing the mountain was thirsty work and although we ran out of water, we were able to refill our bottle with the fresh water from the lake.

After hours of walking, we arrived at a very busy Fløyen.

Løvstakken

Another mountain accomplished is Løvstakken; another of the seven mountains that surround Bergen. Before starting the hike, I warned Linda about my struggle with Stolzen and my regular need for breaks… However, this one was less steep and was therefore a much more enjoyable walk.

On the hike back down from Løvstakken, we took a different route and headed towards Storavatnet; the lake near Loddefjord, and went for a swim. Seems like we weren’t the only ones taking full advantage of the great weather as the place was heaving with people!

Muse!

Last month, I was lucky enough to see Muse in Bergen! After seeing them three times previously in England, I knew I was in for a real treat. Luckily, the weather was beautiful! (Nothing worse than it banging it down when you have standing tickets…)

I went to the concert with some Norwegian people that I had recently met; Linda, Irene, Marius, Are and Trond. I can honestly say that I had a great time and the people I was with made it a fab experience that I will never forget!

After finding a Norwegian flag at the concert that I waved around frantically whilst Muse played, I was asked by a few people if I thought it was the 17th May. I explained that I was English and that I was just being patriotic to my new home!

Ikea

Ikea is definitely worth a mention in my blog post. Afterall, it is one of my favourite places to be! Unfortunately, it is not close to the city centre and definitely not within walking distance… but they provide a free bus service on Saturdays! Wahey!

On our first visit, I was absolutely shocked by the vast size of the building!

Then I was shocked by the size of the standard meatball portions!

Definitely not as tight here as they are in Southampton…

New Home

Finally, that leads me on to our new home…

During my first month in Bergen, me and B were staying in a shared flat on Knøsesmauet. Smauet describes a walking place or street that is ‘small’ apparently…

Basically, everything about the flat was “smauet”! The shared kitchen was tiny along with the bedroom and shared bathroom. However, we were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves for the whole four weeks due to it being vacation season.

We were lucky enough to find a great one bedroom apartment that we moved into two weeks ago. It’s close to the mountain, Fløyen (which means the walk to is great for the legs) and when you look out of the window, you can see the sea!

Departure Day

This time last week, I was on my flight to Norway, preparing for landing at Bergen airport. One week later and my back still hasn’t quite forgiven me for the trauma I put it through earlier that morning…

The day prior to my journey involved me frantically walking into town twice to buy two new (huge) suitcases. I guess I had underestimated the amount of ‘stuff’ that I had to bring with me. I knew already they were well over the 20kg allowance but there wasn’t much I could do about it, other than pay the additional fees for them being overweight.

Saturday didn’t start off so well. After waking up feeling like I was going to be sick at any given moment, my taxi decided to be twenty minutes late. Luckily, I allowed more than enough time to get to the coach station and as I got there, the coach to Gatwick had just pulled into the bay.

The taxi driver reassured me that my cases didn’t feel as though they weighed more than 32kg (the maximum limit) and this put me at ease.

The coach was peaceful and quiet. This was definitely the calm before the storm… After getting plenty of sleep on the coach, we arrived at Gatwick Airport.

My first mini-drama was trying to find a trolley for my cases. Luckily I spotted some further back before the coach stop. Brilliant idea to put them there… I had to leave my cases unattended to retrieve one. It then took me a good five minutes to lift both my cases onto the trolley due to their weight whilst a group of people stood and watched.

The Norwegian check-in desk wasn’t too busy and I explained to the woman that my cases were heavy as I was moving to Norway. I was in shock to see that both cases were well over the maximum limit with one being 34 and the other 35kg. She explained that I had to repack them and get them both down to 32kg otherwise they would be unable to drop them. It was definitely the highlight of my morning, repacking my cases in front of a vast crowd of people checking in for their monarch flights. I removed a few of the heavy items from my cases and packed them into my hand luggage in hope that they would not weigh it.

After getting the weight of my cases down to 30 and 32kg, I re-approached the check in desk and explained my situation once again to a different lady. Although I was 22kg over the limit, she felt guilty for charging me £150. Instead, she charged me £70 and I got away with my weighty hand luggage.

Once I had gone through the security checks, I headed to a bar for a drink. Although it was 7am, my nerves for flying needed calming with a glass of wine, so I went to Cafe Rouge. After finding a table, I was greeted by a breakfast menu. I was still feeling nauseous and can never usually eat before a flight anyway so when the lady asked if she could take my order, I asked her for a drinks menu instead. She looked at me in disgust! After she returned with a menu, I picked up my belongings and walked out. I am not prepared to be looked down on by anybody! I walked into Bridge and ordered my drink at the bar. The bartender was jolly and happy, which lifted my spirits once again.

Once the gate number was announced, nerves and anxiety started to hit me as usual. I tried to remain calm and made my way to the departure gate.

Once I boarded the flight, I explained the the flight attendant that I was nervous as I broke down into tears. I had to explain that I was also an emotional wreck as I was also moving to Norway and that the reality of it all had only just hit me. Cringe… However, after take off, I felt completely fine and actually enjoyed the flight. It was over much sooner than I anticipated!

After collecting my heavy luggage and adding more injury to my back, I was greeted by the friendliest face; Bjørnar’s, and the day didn’t seem so bad after all… 🙂

 

 

17th May

So yesterday was Norway’s National Day in which I have already started feeling patriotic towards. I had the fantastic opportunity to celebrate this day last year on Fjørtoft with Bjørnar and his family, participating in a march on the island whilst waving a flag, listening to the amazing band outside of the church, taking part in the traditional game of throwing a horse shoe (which I was quite good at!), eating brennsnut and watching sketches performed by residents on the island.

(Me and B last year on the 17th May)

I felt it was important for me to celebrate this year in anticipation of me moving to Norway despite me being in England.

When I came home from work, I arrived to the wonderful surprise of a lovely bouquet of flowers that B had sent to me with the note, “Happy 17th May, love bear”. 🙂

In the evening, I invited two of my friends over for drinks and snacks, and listened to Norwegian rock band ‘Big Bang’. I even hung up my Norwegian flag with pride!

(Fizzy pear drink, elk, jarlsberg cheese and marzipan cake)

Despite being unable to celebrate in the same way I did last year, I had a great evening and I look forward to moving to Norway more and more each day!

The Missing Piece

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, yet I can’t seem to find just one to describe this photograph… What I do know is that this photo pretty captures the essence of his fun personality. Despite the dreary weather, he never fails to put a smile on my face by not taking life so seriously. I miss him dearly.