Three weeks and counting

In three weeks I leave for Russia. Ack. I'm going wih four of my closest friends--Gloria, Jeff, Debbie and Drea--with whom I've taken classes for three years and some of whom I've lived with in the Russian House. I've been waiting for a semester in Russia since seventh grade but now that it's staring me in the face...I'm really freaking nervous. Gloria and I have already had conversations about what clothes to take. We were told by the Olaf faculty to try to take as little clothing as possible. What we're missing we can buy over there, and since most Russians don't own a lot of clothing we don't want to embarrass them to look show-offish.

So. A few details re:my writing. Once I get to Russia I'll try to update this blog rom an internet cafe once a week, maybe twice if y'all're lucky. The same goes for answering emails--once a week or maybe twice if I have time and will and rubles. Feel free to to leave me comments!! And then check back--I might actually reply to them!

This will probably be the final blog, for those who are still reading this even though the tour is over. Yesterday, Sunday, was a very long, long day. I think I was awake for...good heavens, I don't know how many hours or even care to calculate it, let's just say that it was too much and I crashed hard once I reached Minneapolis and my hotel room.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were very sad days. Friday was our last concert in the Nidaros Cathedral, the large Gothic cathedral n Trondheim built over St. Olaf's grave. It's covered on gargoyles on the outside and looks almost sinister on the inside, with stone columns and immense roofs and rose windows...it takes one's breath away. It was the last concert of all three organizations together, and I started crying before President Thomforde even finished giving his devo. It only got worse once the Orchies took the stage for our portion. During Grieg's Varen and the last page of the Barber, and during the entirety of The Turtle Dove I either had tears welling up, standing in my eyes, or pouring like a small waterfall all over my face. I had direct and perfect eye contact with my cellist friends Saleha and Kirsten, and, like yawning, once you see someone else cry and you're already emotional it's hard not to cry yourself, so I got the two of them going like crazy too. Oh man.

Saturday was a looooooong drive back to the Oslo airport, where we stayed in a super-nice hotel WITH A POOL. And a WATER SLIDE. And a JACUZZI. Oh man. Fun times were had. The Bandies and Orchies each did a skit: "Norway in a Nutshell," or "Norway in an Orchie Fleece Pocket." Just a basic summary of all the silly and ridiculous events and circumstances of the tour: the tiny bathrooms in the Voss hostel, the Norwegian sweaters, Ole behavior in gift shops ("Must...touch....everything!!"), how we all got exhausted by the beauty of the country, slightly awkward homestays in case your family spoke no English, certain recurring inside jokes that would take too long to explain. After that it was almost time to call it a night--some folks had to leave at 4 in the morning for the airport. So we started saying goodbyes, which continued through breakfast the next morning, and that was definitely the worst part of the trip. I think I had convinced myself that the tour never actually would end. My good friend Rebecca was a senior and is now done with Olaf, and I'm not 100% sure when I'll see her again and it was all so...sad.

Flew to Iceland, flew to Minneapolis (we were so. loud. on that flight, because we were all bored out of our skulls and just started roaming the airplane like caged animals [which we were]), and then it was time for more goodbyes. And then some folks headed back to Olaf while I headed to my hotel for one night, before I left to Texas in the morning. After the insane crowd I had spent the last three weeks with, my hotel room was too large, too empty, too quiet. I was very lonely for my friends, even just one to watch TV with so we could make smarmy comments together.

But now I'm home in Texas, listening to the cicadas hum in the heat, waiting for my family to get home so we can celebrate being all together again, if only for a couple weeks. Man. What a crazy month. I wish I was still in Norway. I had the most amazing time; it was definitely one of the absolute best trips of my life and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go with all my close friends and do everything that we did. The end.

At least I passed all my Olaf classes

Who'da thought, my GPA actually went UP for once!

Sorry, that has nothing to do with Norway.

Okay, so today is Monday and we are in Molde, on the shores of some stupidly nice lake. As Tom says, 'Claire, if you say that thing about all the natural beauty making you want to ralph again, something bad is going to happen,' because I say that all the time. The bus ride was about seven hours long today, with two (count 'em) short ferry rides across water. Fjord sharks. I was definitely white-knuckling it all the way. I dislike boats.

We have another joint concert tonight. It was so odd to arrive in Bergen and see the Choir again, for the first time since Oslo. Like, 'Hey, what are YOU doing in Norway? What a coincidence!' Our joint concert at the Grieghallen in Bergen was a-MA-zing, and I must say that the Orchestra completely stole the show. Standing ovation, and a DEMAND for our encore, The Turtle Dove. These concerts have also been so emotional for me--I get so weepy while we play, especially during Turtle Dove and the last page of the Barber Second Essay (I swear, that last page is like the definition of Loss and Pain summed up in music, and is also heartbreakingly, extremely beautiful). I don't think tonight's concert will be any different--I look around at all my senior friends who will be G-O-N-E after this tour, and then at all my other friend whom I will miss so darn much this fall while I'm gone in Russia...add to that this soundtrack of tragic and monumental and heartstring-pulling music and I'm just a goner.

A little bit more about Voss--No Talent Night is when we all get to perform skits or some silly human trick for our friends--anything that's not music-related, or related to our instrument. The Mahr and Amundson kids (children of the Band and Orch conductors, respectively) got together and performed a hi-LAR-ious skit roasting their parents and other adults on the tour. We were all in stitches, screaming with laughter. Of course, most of it is all inside jokes which would not be at all funny here, but trust me, it was great.

Oh man, BERGEN! Between the Voss and Bergen concerts we had four days off from playing--often a bad idea for us, but it seemed to work this time around. We spent those four days traveling from Voss to Bergen and then exploring the city on foot, alone or in groups. I (I found the most amazing pair of boots, big black leather with tons of buckles, at this awesome store called 'The Evil Twin' [woah! that means it's cool!] but my intelligent friends and the 1400 kroner [250$] price tag talked me out of it. Sigh.) Our hotel was right near the center of the city, which made for a fun Friday night exploring the nearby night life.

I have to go change clothes for another concert, so Claire out.

Today is our last day in Voss, which is also mindblowingly beautiful. We arrived Tuesday, played our separate concerts (Band had yet ANOTHER outdoor concert, while we got to play in the movie theater), yesterday went on a long long long group outing, and today have a little bit of free time to kill.

Tuesday was idyllic. We checked into the youth hostel--the adults get to stay in a real hotel, typical!--and then were able to wander around for three or four hours until Orchestra rehearsal downtown. I walked into town with a friend, wandered the neighborhoods, ate lunch on a bench in the sun, then went to the park. We found a large, flat rock to read on, then ended up falling asleep in the sun, on the rock. Apparently I talk in my sleep--something about how I needed to catch the ice cream truck before it was too late. Ha. We walked back to the hostel around the lake shore. Yep, das right, the hostel and a bit of the town sit right on the edge of a lake. Goegeousness.

Yesterday was such a long day. We all boarded the buses and headed out to Gudvangen, where we boarded the ferry for the Norway in a Nutshell tour. (Apparently there were Russians in the parking lot and I missed them, phooey.) We rode the boat for two hours, which was not the most fun since I am terrified of boats and constantly imagine fjord sharks coming up underneath us and taking a bite out of the hull a la Jaws. But I survived. The scenery helped take my mind of it. The water was a deep gree, reflecting the trees on the cliffs that surrounded us, plunging straight down into the water. Norway is full of waterfalls--we must have seen a million of them. We pulled up to one and the boat people got fresh waterfall glacier water for us. It was so delicious.

The ferry dropped us off in Flam (Floam), which is tiny and ridiculous and does NOT have enough stuff to entertain kids like us for three and three-quarters hours. After all that freaking time passed, we boarded the train and eventually returned to the hostel. I slept all the way home and drooled in my sleep on Tom's shoulder. What a gentleman.

I want so badly to write more but there is a long line of poeple waiting to use the internet and I do not have time. We had a hilarious No Talent Night, a bonfire, a delicious dinner, and so much other stuff. SO sorry!

What day is it today? I have no idea

Man, oh man. Norway. Um, I love this country. If it were any more picturesque here I just might keel over. We left Lillehammer this morning--yes, the Lillehammer of Olympic fame--and are en route to Laerdal and Voss. Lillehammer is gorgeous. Anyone who wants to plan a trip to Norway should go there. We stayed in a hotel right on the main drag, down the street from a pedestrian shopping area. On...some day, the first full day there, I think that was two days ago, I walked up to the Olympic park with some Orchie friends. It was raining on and off throughout the day, but it was warm enough. We wandered, threw the Frisbee, talked, and then moseyed down to town for the Band concert that was outdoors. Bad news for the clarinet, oboe and bassoon players--outside, in the rain, with wooden instruments. Some Orchies ran out with umbrellas to hold over the wooden instruments. Instrumentalist solidarity!

We played our joint concert, inside, at the Maihaugen concert hall. Maihaugen is a kind of living history park, like the Log Cabin Village in Fort Worth. Except much larger. And gorgeous, because it's Norway. There were traditional Norwegian village homes, churches, barns, most with grass growing on their roofs. I made friends with a horse who tried to eat my jacket. Thanks, that's my only jacket, and now there's horse slobber all over it. Oh well. Anyways, the concert was amazing. The halls we've played in are amazing--the Glass Cathedral in Hamar was mindblowing. Ancient Norwegian (duh) stone ruins, preserved under a greenhouse-like glass structure that makes the inside climate controlled and has delicious acoustics. Wow. Seven-second reverb? Be still, my heart. The Maihaugen was equally as good. (Of course, it goes without saying that both groups played well.) Afterwards I went out with some Orchie girls and four Norwegian boys that one of them knew. I felt sooo old--they were all still in high school, eighteen years old, and all the Orchie girls were 19 or so, and then there's me, 21 and ancient. We had a great time at this nice cafe where the owners allowed us to come in and eat even though it was time for the kitchen to close.

We've had so many free days, just wandering around, and it has been wonderful. Skipping rocks at the lake below the Glass Cathedral while listening to the band rehearse, wandering the streets of Lillehammer at 1 am and meeting random Danish girls who insisted we go out with them, sitting and staring and watching people go by, listening to them speak Norwegian, or French, or some other tourist language. You can always spot the Oles, because we all have the same black fleece. We're an army that has descended upon the country. I love this pace, and the free time, and the exploring. We're driving on buses today and the countryside is amazing. To me it feels and looks like the mountains of Colorado mixed with the beauty of Russia (only cleaner, and more orderly, and with English-speakers). I never want to leave. Mom and Dad, sorry, I'm defecting.

We made it!

Oh heavens, we finally made it to Oslo. I love being in different countries, but I really dislike long flights and waiting for hours in airports. Both of which are guaranteed when you're traveling with almost 90 people in a single massive group. Our group was composed of Orchies, Bandies, and LaLas (Choir folk, and really, this is not considered an offensive name!). We were flying IcelandAir to Reykjavik and then on to Oslo.

We sat around the MSP airport for a long while, chatting and trying to pass the time. I called home one last time--"Yes, as of twenty minutes before boarding time I am still alive and well, goodbye, dear family, talk to you in three weeks"--hung out with friends, and then we got on the plane. As soon as we were all seated we began playing Musical Airplane Seats, moving around and trading so that we could be near friends. I think this bothered the flight attendants--we hadn't even taken off yet. Everyone was excited, happy, anxious, eager, and loud. Fortunately there were so many of us that there wasn't much for other passengers who could be bothered by overstimulated college students.

The flight was long and uneventful. One beautiful thing I noticed was that the sun never actually set. It got down close to the horizon, but never once dipped below it. The lack of night made it seem like less time had passed. The sky was brilliant with hot pinks, magentas, purples, and pale orange shades of sunset. It was amazing.

Reykjavik! A foreign country! Halfway there! Some folks took pictures of the landscape from the terminal windows. "And see that mound of dirt, way off in the distance? That's a mountain, or something, in ICELAND."

When we finally landed in Oslo around 3 pm on Tuesday afternoon (Norway time...around 8 am American Central time) most of had only gotten about two hours of sleep since Sunday night and were quickly crashing. We collected out luggage--it seems to take soooooo loooong when your suitcase is DEAD.LAST. like mine was. I had horrible flashbacks to August in Moscow when they lost allll the checked luggage and we were running around the capital of Russia in the same clothes for three whole days. Icky. We boarded buses and drove up to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump...a really tall ski jump, with lots of stairs.

I woke up as we walked around the ski jump grounds and realized, "Oh my gosh, I'm in NORWAY!!." From the grounds of the ski jump you can see most of Oslo down below, and although Oslo is the largest city in Norway it doesn't "intrude" on the surrounding natural beauty. There are forests on almost all sides, lakes in wo directions, pasture and farmland as your drive towards town from the airport...What I love about [Western] Europe is the way that the citizens and governments have been able to put quite a lot into a rather small space. Small streets, smaller homes, smaller cars, public transportation, and so on. It may just be that this strikes my wide-open-spaces-American eye as different and therefore better, but I
really do enjoy the idea of being able to live smaller, ride my bike to and fro across town, and so on.

Anyways. We arrived at the hotel a bit before 5 pm, time enough to steam away the nastiness of the airplane with a deliciously hot shower. It's amazing how a little make-up and some contact lenses can make me feel like a realy, honest-to-God member of the human race again! We had dinner downstairs in the hotel dining room, and oh what a meal it was. We hadn't eaten since breakfast on the flight to Oslo and so were all starving, stomachs turning inside out from hunger. We stuffed our plates to overflowing, went back for more, had even more dessert and then absolutely fabulous coffee. It was heavenly. Afterwards I went out for a walk with my Orchie friends Beth and Hayley. ALthough it was 8 pm it was still as light out as if it were 4 or 5 pm in Minnesota--I suppose that's due to the famous White Nights of the northern reaches of the world. We wandered around Oslo, stared into the exhorbitantly expensive and tasteful shops, yearned for shoes, stared at the statue of a tiger outside the main Oslo train station (tigers? in Norway?), wandered some more, got a little lost, then suddenly realized that we were exhausted and should scoot back to the hotel before we collapsed on the street.

And thus ends this entry. Tomorrow night is our first concert, all the organizations together! Oh man, it's going to be amazing. I cannot wait to hear how gorgeous we sound in the Konserthuset! Now I really am crashing--"system failure, exhaustion overload, must recharge"--so the end.

I don't speak Norwegian

Hello, bienvenidos and welcome to my writings from Norway! Okay, so I'm actually sitting in my campus house's living room, writing this, but that's neither here nor there.

As you may have guessed, my name is Claire. I'm a junior at Olaf and have played in the Orchestra for two wonderful years. The Orchestra is really what keeps me going here on the Hill, and I am so darn excited to spend nearly three weeks traveling through a gorgeous country with my best friends. I think I just might melt when we get to the Oslo Konserthuset. I will definitely have a music nerd moment.

I still haven't finished packing up my room (gah!) so I will end this introductory missive and leave y'all [I use this word a lot, be warned] to your work. But don't leave until you read Rebecca's blog, too. My next writing will probably be from Norway--fram fram!!