A Year in Norge: September 2012

"Just a Hill"

There are a series of mountains that you can hike up and get marked off on a special card. If you climb 10, you get a free mug. It's called "Ti på Topp". Today, we climbed one of those mountains.

Right after starting out. Pictured: the family dog, Milo.

At the base of the actual mountain, before we really needed to work.

From left to right: A friendly stranger we met (she thought I was really Norwegian!), Fredrik (one of Troy's friends), Ellen (host-mom), Sonja (Fredrik and Ludwig's mom), Ludwig, and Troy.

This was pretty high up, I was taking a break and appreciated the pretty colors of the blueberry plants.

Nearly there! Taken at the top of the mountain, but not the end of the trail. It doesn't look that high!

A very tired, very happy Catie at the top of the mountain.

Talk about the perfect house!

Me and Milo at the end of the trail.

Ludwig, Milo, Me, Fredrik, and Troy

Bonus sheep I saw coming back down.

My host-mother, Ellen-Christine; my host-father, Stein; and four brothers. Leon, Troy, Fredrik, and Didrik. Leon, Troy, and Didrik all live at home (except that Didrik lives in an apartment beneath the house, but he often joins us for dinner). Fredrik is in the military several hours away and he has a limited amount of free time on weekends.

But on Saturday, we got to visit him and bring him back to Harstad with us for a few hours!

Fredrik (tall) and Troy (short)

Troy blinked.

Oops.

Homemade Indian food with Troy, Fredrik, Didrik (not pictured), and Ellen (also not pictured)

Food!!

Hopefully I can get more pictures of the whole family next time everyone is here!

Getting Settled (HOUSE)

So, hi! Let me sum up what's been going on since I got to Harstad.
My host-mom picked me up from the airport and it was a short (30 minute) drive to our house. A yellow house near the sea. Literally. The ocean is right in our yard!