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.