Erika in Ireland

I was in Norway a few weeks ago. I loved it. Norway is soo beautiful. Am seriously thinking about moving there. Tromsö is one of the most beautiful places I have been to. Tores moter lives about 4 hours by bus from Tromsö. We had to cross two fjords to get there. They live in one. Or do you say beside one? Anyhow, I took about 700 photos during my 10 days. That is a lot of photos! I was soo lazy. We didn't do much. We were eating, sleeping, watching movies in their own home cinema thing with a 52" plasma and surround system stuff and the most comfie armchairs ever!

We took a walk while we were there, and I forced him to make a snow angel AND I took a photo, I promised tho, not to show anyone =) yeah right... It was about -15 degrees Celsius and I looke like a Michelin in all the clothes, but I wasn't freezing. It was great! We were out for about 2½ hours, and I took photos and just enjoyed the views and the fresh air.

I am born in Stockholm, in a suburb, but still, in a big city. There are always sounds, cars, neighbours, trains, etc etc. When we were out in the mountain I just stood there quiet, and I heard nothing. No cars, no trains, nothing at all. Not even birds. I almost got nervous. I am not used to the quiet. Or the fresh air. You took a breath, and you could FEEL the freshness. I just stood there like a dork, breathing and listening to nothing. Tore got impatient. He is used to this. The tap water they have is not filtered, it comes straight from the mountain river and it is clean. It is like drinking the bottled water you buy in the stores, except that you get it for free. His mom and her husband offered us wine every evening, but we just drank water, and milk. You can get the wine in Belfast if you look, but the milk is disgusting here. And the tap water? It is full of chlorine, and it is probably hazardous in some way or another. So we drank water.

I finally met his relatives, and they were soo nice, especially his uncle. He was soo funny! He was exactly like a Swedish norrlänning except that he spoke Norwegian! =)

And luckily it seemt that I got his mums approval. And the relatives. They will let me come back again.

Don't know if I told you about the problems we experienced when we flew to Tromsö but we had the same problems on our way home, I will tell you now =)

Ok, so we wake up at 4 am in Belfast. We get to the airport and everything is fine. Except for the fact that we are waiting for a passenger for over half an hour! So we are half an hour late when we land in Amsterdam. That meant that we only had about 20 min to get to our flight to Oslo, on the other side of the Terminal. And we had to get trough the security control again! We were soo stressed and the airport personnel were soo unfriendly! The flight steward told us they would probably escort us to our gate since we were delayed, so we spoke to the staff when we got off the plane. No, they wouldn't help us, wouldn't even tell us where our gate was!

We had to run. We ran to the security check point, the queue was insane! We now had 5 min to get to our gate and we were in the middle of the terminal. Our gate was in the end of course. I went to the fast lane for business class and spoke to the security staff. They just looked at me like I was stupid. I told them we were delayed and that we had to get to our gate now. They looked at me and took our passports. I think they took longer time than they had to on purpose just to piss me off. I worked. "We ARE in kind of a hurry, you know!" I said and stared at one of them. They let us through.

We came to our gate and Tore went to the staff to explain, and they told him. You are not boarding yet. Not in another 40 min! Huh?! It said clearly on the screens that we were boarding, but no. So we had stressed for nothing!

I was exhausted when we finally got to Oslo. The day after we were flying up to Tromsö and that was an experience as well.

We were late in the morning since we were both so tired. Missed the first airport train, but luckily we took the train after. It was a bit tight tho, since our check-in was closing about 5 min after us arriving, if the train arrived on time. But Tore told me not to worry, 99% of the trains arrived on time. But not ours. Of course! Their was a technical problem with the thing the train is driving on, so we had to go the "old way" which took 20 min longer! We were so stressed when we arrived and ran up to our desk, just 25 min late for check-in...

We didn't have to worry. Our plane was delayed two hours. Stressful two days!

On our way home, we didn't hit any problems until we were in Amsterdam. We thought we were in a hurry this time as well, but no. It was 20 min delayed. That's great! But no, suddenly it was an hour delayed. And then 2 hours delayed. In the end the plane was 3½ hours delayed and we arrived to Belfast International around 1am in the morning.

That was a loooong story.

Finally back in Belfast, the job hunt began. I had my last 2½ weeks at work and Tore started to look for jobs everywhere. I haven't been able to look for a job since I am going where he is going and it is quite easy for me to get a job in a restaurant wherever I go. Especially since it is going towards high season now. For a while it seemed like we were going to France, or maybe Germany. He have had a lot of offers here in UK, but he have turned them down since he wants to leave the English islands. I want to leave them too. The weather is horrible and I just don't know what to do. The system with medication and stuff is good tho. I get my epilepsy meds free, which I don't even get in Sweden. I don't know how that works in other countries. When I am writing this Tore am waiting for the results for a job in Valencia, Spain. If he gets that job, then we'll move within 2½ weeks. If not, we most likely move to Oxford within 3-4 weeks. I really hope he gets the job in Spain. Remember I said last year I wanted to go and work in Spain this summer? What if my dream comes trough but not the way I expected. It would be soo cool! Otherwise I will be happy in Oxford. It is a beautiful city with a lot of history.

Hmm, what more have happened? I am right now living in Karoline's apartment, my Swedish friend and ex-colleague since she is home on holiday in Smögen for 2 weeks. It is nice to get some time of from my lovely boyfriend and just be alone. Really need some space. AND, I don't have internet which means I can't play wow, which I think is a good thing since I developed a bit of an addiction there for a while... I liked it tho... =)

Ok, end of my story. Hopefully it will be published on my blogg very soon.

Love you guys, you know that! And sorry my nice non-swedish friends for the three thingies I've written in Swedish, it is kind of my Belfast story, but in Swedish for my friends who don't understand English..And my English/Brittish/American friends, pardon my bad grammar =)