Danielle's May Sem Blog: Shopping & Cousins (Day 6)

Yesterday was an amazing day filled with tons of fun things! First off we decided that it would be a good idea to sleep in a little bit and then head our for a day of shopping. (which turned more into a day of window shopping) We first started at the brygge, which is the old historic buildings that are super colorful and are lined up next to the harbor. Cool side note, that the brygge is not really all that "norwegian" if you can say that. It was actually made by German's. Anyways in bryggen there is tons of shops and of course magority of them are tourist shops so they attracted people like me! I didn't purchase anything other than some shot glasses that people had given me money to purchase. I was dreaming of purchasing a real Norwegian sweater, because my Norwegian sweater has sleeves that go to halfway up to my forarm, however the sweaters where super expensive. (Like everything else in Norway as well.) After we went to the touristy shops we went to the more mainstream clothing stores, which I loved! Me being a girl, the fashion in Norway is so in, if you can call it that. However, there was observation I made, the girls who wanted to be "in" on fasion all looked the same, which kind of reminded me of Americans all wanting to be "in" with fashion by wearing Hollister clothing. Almost every girl in Norway had long hair, a long green jacket, skinny jeans, pearl earrings, a big purse, and white high top converse. I was astonished by how simliar girls here look. But anyways I did purchase one thing! I got a scarf that is like a jade color, I think that every country I go to I am buying a scarf because they are resonable and I can always use them. (Plus if you know me, I love scarfs)
After a long day of shopping and cold weather, I was looking forward to seeing my Norwegian cousins who live right outside of Bergen on an island called Søtra. They had invited my group to have dinner at their house. And I don't even know where to begin when talking about my experiance at dinner, it was unforgetable. The adventure began when our whole group walked from our hotel to Danielson Skole. Which is my cousin's school in Bergen. It is a christian school in the downtown that has grades 8-13. When we reached the school we were greeted by my cousin Elisabeth who took half of our group to the bus station, that would take them to her house and meet us. The rest of our group with my cousin Nils in his car. The car ride from Bergen to the island Søtra, was amazing, the views were outstanding and unexplainable. As we reached Nils house I was amazed, it was the cute red house sitting on a hill in the countryside overlooking a lake and the mountains. I instantly wanted to move in. As our group all got situated into the house, we took a tour around their lovely house, and then ate. The dinner was AMAZING, because it was delicious and home-cooked by Kristin. Before we ate, we were privlegded to have a nice prayer and a norwegian song, thanking for our food. For dinner We had a hotdish with chicken and vegetables and then potatoes and rice. For desert we had way to many things but it was all so good! We had a delicious tasting berry desert with vanilla cream on top and then we had cinnnabon rolls, ice cream, sola and coffee. I would love to have that desert again. The berries were actually picked from my couin's garden, and they were to die for. After we were finished eating we mingled forever and it was lovely! I was super happy to see my cousins, Peter, Elisabath, Rebekka, and Hanna. The last time I saw them was this summer, so it was so amazing to be in Norway and be at their home and to see all of them! We had an amazing time socializing and learning about Danielson, Norway and everything. It was so nice to feel at home in Norway! And I cannot wait to go back, and stay for longer!

After my visit to my cousins, we took the bus back to bergen and we decided to take some pictures by the harbor, because the SUN WAS SHINING!! (which is a rare occurance in Bergen, because it always rains) While we were taking pictures, I ran into a good friend of mine Elsa, who also studies at Concorida and I worked with her at Skogfjorden. So a group of us and her went out to a cafe, and had a nice drink and chatted. Afterwords we headed back to our hotel and crashed! well i watched some awesome Norwegian tv, then crashed!
Snipp Snapp Snute!