Taagaabu

Late post.  Last weekend (that of Sept 16-18) I went with Aline, Bojan, and Marcio to Taagaabu, a cabin (Koiene in Norsk) SSE of Trondheim.  We parked at a little farm (with a REALLY scary wolf tied up at the gate) then hiked our way into the woods to find the little cabin up by a stream.  It was really pretty, with a climbing tree next to it, a wood-fire stove inside, and a roof covered in blueberry bushes.  Here are some photos:

Me at Taagaabu... with an ax.

The Pit Toilet.
It has a giant sign because it gets buried in the winter.

We arrived Friday afternoon then went hiking on Saturday through a big marsh-land (I think everything here is a big marsh-land) to a pristine lake.

Then I introduced our crew to an American Tradition: Smores!  We had to get marshmallows, chocolate, and No-Taste Cookies, but it was all worth it.  As a side note, they wrap hay bales in plastic here to protect them from the winter, so I took a photo of me with little marshmallows and BIG ones!

Marshmallows of every size

Although the hiking was great and living in a cabin is fun, the best part was the clear sky.  Since arriving I haven't had a really clear night to stargaze, but at Taagaabu it was breathtaking.  I saw a couple shooting stars, the Milky Way, a dozen constellations, and about 3 satellite passes every minute.  THAT was the best part.

Stakkslettbua

Another weekend, another trip!  This weekend I was out at Stakkslettbua, a cabin owned by the Sports Center at NTNU (called NTNUI).  I went with the student group from St. Olav's Catholic Church.  It was an interesting trip, and it was neat to be off the beaten path.  I feel I've spoiled myself with the trip to Geiranger, though.  Nothing quite matches that.

There were no paths to the cabin, so we hiked across about 1.5km of marshy terrain to get there.  This would've been fine, but we weren't really told about it until we had arrived.  We had to carry plastic grocery bags of food plus whatever bag we had packed for ourselves (not knowing how far or through what we'd be hiking), and that was a little frustrating.  Basically, it felt like the whole thing operated on an every-man-for-himself basis.  There were organizers, but no one seemed to take responsibility for distributing information or any serious degree of logistical planning.  But I should've seen it coming; that seems to be the norm here.

But on to the good stuff!  We arrived Saturday and hiked to the cabin, then a few of us hiked on to an 850m peak.  From there we could see a peak just over 1000m, so we hiked there!

Nice terrain.  Site form one of the peaks we climbed

Finally we made it back to the cabin hungry and exhausted to find that cooking pasta for 14 on a woodfire stove isn't as simple as it is on a gas range.  Who would've thought?  That took us to sunset (very nice) then moonrise (nice, as well).

Sunset from Stakkslettbua

Now, that looks pretty sweet, and I was pretty pleased to see it.  I was planning on telling my buddies back it Moholt what a cool view I'd had, when I got a text telling me to run outside because you could see the AURORA BOREALIS from the student village.  I ran out, but by then it was cloudy at the cabin.  This is what I missed:

Aurora from Moholt.
I MISSED THIS!!!  UNGH!

I was extremely disappointed.

This has been another week of class with little to report.  This weekend I'll be off to yet another cabin for camping & hiking, this time with some of my CoMEM buddies!

Geiranger Fjord

Now for the weekend of Sept 2-4!  I suppose I should begin by noting that classes are alright but instruction is different from that at Berkeley.  I hate to say it's not as good, but many of the instructors at Berkeley were VERY good.  It's especially weird to take Soil Mechanics here, since they teach it "The Norwegian Way."

On another note, I had to take my passport back to the Police Station to get my residency permit corrected - someone wrote "Today's Date" in the space for "Expiration Date", which makes me an illegal!  They'll fix it, but it'll take a few more weeks to get all registered (which means a few more weeks before this whole scholarship thing gets rolling...).

Tuesday or Wednesday Marcio and Aline proposed we go to Geiranger Fjord, after hearing the idea from Ruben and Shirin.  Within 24 hours we were setting up a route, renting a car, and reserving a cabin.  Seven of us went: Alex (me), Aline, Bojan, Isabel, Marcio, Ruben, and Shirin.  We drove west to the ocean then south along the coast to cross The Atlantic Road, which hops from island to island across a large inlet from the Atlantic (I don't think it's actually a fjord...)  Check it out; here's us at the biggest bridge:

Then we drove on until we got to a city - okay a town at most - called Helset, where we spent the night.  We rented a cabin there, and it was AWESOME.  There were 3 rooms and a loft.  The kitchen had all the equipment to cook for and serve about 10 people, and outside you could see the glacial mountains rising on either side of a river (about 100 m away) that emptied into the fjord.  We made a delicious dinner of quesadillas then played Cosmic Wimp-out - just like home!  Take a look:

The next morning we took a 60 minute ferry ride through Geirangerfjorden into Geiranger (the town).  It was amazing.  It was as beautiful as Bryce or Zion, but in a totally different way (and without the crowds).  Uncountable waterfalls drop from steep cliffs, the water is strikingly blue, and the formations in the rock are breathtaking.  Some photos looking from the bow (doesn't do it justice!)

When we got to Geiranger, the town at the end of the fjord, we hunted around and found a cabin about half way up the cliffs.  Okay maybe it was a third, and that doesn't really count the peaks.  We hiked out way to Grinddalsaetra, a cabin in the saddle between 2 peaks, and the view was AMAZING.  Again.

Here are a few photos:  1) Marcio at the top.  2) Me at the Troll Sign (behind is the nearest peak).  3) Grindda the Troll at the top.

Needless to say, they like their Trolls here.  The signs are very knobbly and troll-like, and there are GIANT trolls in town, like this one with Shirin and Ruben:

After our hike we had dinner then slept.  The following morning we went on a hike around the edge of the fjord.  The mist would sweep in and be gone in cycles lasting only 15 to 20 minutes; it was pretty neat.  So here's me at the top.  I mean, it was only sort of SPECTACULAR...

After that we were off to Trondheim once again!  We drove for about 6.5 hours through central (rainy farm-country) Norway, though we crossed a really impressive ridge along the way and went through Trollsidda to boot.

Road at Trollsida

Lake at the top of the ridge we crossed

And then we were back!  What a trip!  Since then it's been classes once again, which are just fine.  Subjects are interesting and instruction is still fine.  This weekend I'm off again, this time to a cabin out west with the student group at St. Olav's.  More pictures to come!

Maritime Heritage Trip

Well, it's been a while, but I'm back.  I'll do this in two posts, one for each week I've neglected.

The weekend of August 26-28, the coordinators of CoMEM came to visit.  We met them over pizza on Friday afternoon.  There were representatives from Barcelona, Delft, and London (Southampton couldn't make it) plus some staff from NTNU.  On Saturday our coordinator here, Oivind, took all of us north of Trondheimsfjorden to the region where he grew up.  We visited a maritime cultural history museum, a castle, and a farm & fishing village.

At the maritime museum they had replicas of all sorts of things Norwegian fisherman would use back in the old days, but they coolest thing was the ship yard.  Okay, it was more like a barn, but inside they were making Clinker Boats (Viking style ships) in the same way the old Norse used to do it!  Big hammers and big iron nails held the whole thing together.  First is me with traditional Norwegian hat & gloves, second is the ship barn:

Then we were off to the Austrått Castle.  It was actually just like a big stone house with a nice enclosed courtyard, but it was the biggest thing for kilometers.  In fact, you could easily mistake it for a large church from a distance.  In the courtyard, though, all the pillars were painted to look like figures out of biblical stories, including the major patriarchs standing over the entrance.  First is the Castle, second is me in The Court of the Patriarchs (!!!) :

Now on to the farm!  Oivind's father actually lived there for 7 years, and he grew up a short walk away, so he chatted with people there about all the folks in the pictures on the walls.  That was probably the most interesting part.  We had lunch there then walked down to the waterfront and saw the fishing harbor.  It used to be one of the only ports with an international export license, so it was REALLY busy.  Now it's pretty calm.  Here's me with a tiny pycnopodia (sunstar) I found, then Shirin watching the waves at the end of the breakwater.

So that was our trip!  We rode the bus home then went back to classes for another week!