Seizing..

I do stuff like… seize my Norwegians days.

In case you are unaware my mother created a binder that is full letters and cards, (a surprising amount of gum), and advice from people back at home. All of these letters have helped me and I’m so thankful for every single one. Recently I read one that told me to go out and something I’ve been wanting to do but just haven’t gotten around to (I think you know who you are). So today I did. Rachel and I didn’t have class today so we went out into the rare bit of sunshine there was and found an adorable little Norwegian Café and had warm beverages and worked on some homework and had lunch. They really love cold sandwiches here, all on some kind of wheat bread with nuts and seeds. I did not recognize any of the pastries either but they did look scrumptious. The ladies in the café were very friendly and I think they rather enjoyed talking to us in English, we chatted about what were studying and about a salon that was downtown and I knew a girl there from one of my classes. It was quite an enjoyable afternoon and I’m looking forward to my boxing class tonight.

There have been instances here in Norway where I have realized how much I take for granted back at home. I know that is so cliché and obvious and there really is no way for me to clearly explain it to you. One example would be when I was walking home the other day, it had just been snowing consecutively for multiple days and was now sleeting. Due to the sleet some of the snow on the ground was getting slushy and forming large puddles (more like bodies of water) on the path where I walk. As I trudged through the ponds my feet were soaking wet and freezing cold. Not just wet like ‘oh my toes are damp’, wet like when I got home I wrung out my socks and dumped water out of my boots. But surprisingly as I was walking home I was just humming and looking around at the forests and buildings around me. I was content to be walking home with sopping feet. This made me realize that if I ever had to walk anywhere at home I would probably have a terrible attitude about it; let alone walking even with slightly drizzled feet. I’m thankful now that I have to walk here, it has taught me to be more appreciative of simple things at home like my vehicle and dry socks and a microwave and don’t even get me started about the laundry situation.

This is totally random but I also just want to throw in that the other morning I had just woken up and was having my morning tea and reading when of course when I am the most relaxed DDDDDDIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGG, the joyous sound of the fire alarm once again. At this point I don’t even look out into the hall to see if anyone is evacuating I already know they’re not. I simply walk over to my big metal door and abruptly push it shut to muffle the false distress siren. They might as well just take the whole fire alarm system out because even if it was a legit fire I don’t think anyone would leave, I mean I certainly wouldn’t, because of how many times it has gone off for no tangible reason. But nevertheless, safety first.