I emailed this to a friend but I thought the rest of you might like to know my norway plans as well:
feb: work school
march: barcelona school work
april: school work
may: exams exams
june/july: working work$$
july/august: poland ukraine turkey greece norway
sep: alaska
of course, this schedule is subject to change (and sure to be supplemented with other side trips/adventures)
As for Barcelona, I'm leaving Tromsø on the 17 March and visiting Vågå/Vinstra for a few days, then I fly out of Oslo on the 21, and return the 30th. I'm flying into Girona Airport, which is 100km (63 mil) north of Barcelona, so I will spend a night or day in Girona, then travel down to see the big city for a few days before I further south to see Valencia (there might be a festival there). I might try and see how close to Africa I can get before having to return to Girona to catch my flight to Olso. Of course, this is NOT set in stone!
It's 0˚C in Tromsø and I see this huge dark cloud hanging over the sea. Hopefully it's bringing snow rather than rain. The thin cover of snow we have now is just barely doing its job of providing fun winter activities. The ski tracks have gone to ice, and the rest of the snow around here is dirty and crystallized.
My classes are going well. The opening movie at the
Tromsø International Film Festival this year was The Kautokeino Rebellion, about the Sami uprising in Kautokeino in 1852. This movie has received rave reviews. Generally, most good movies are based on good books, and the teacher of my Sami Nation class brought in the author of the book that inspired this movie to talk to us. Unfortunately, I can't remember her name, or find it on the internet, but I know she's a Danish scholar who had a GREAT presentation. It was incredibly interesting to hear about how these separate events (a religious movement, a farmer's complaint) culminated and lead to the rebellion. Essentially, she explained "the tipping point" to us. Unfortunately, my other classes this week weren't as riveting as this one. Both my professors for International Political Economy and Indigenous Religions speak in such broad, abstract terms it's hard for me to follow what they are actually talking about. Luckily, the texts for both classes are
very interesting and aren't typical textbook reading.
As I've been typing, that dark cloud/fog has been moving closer and closer to the shore. I couldn't see Kvaløya before, but now I can't even see the coast of this island. I really hope there is snow inside of this cloud, because it's actually kind of creepy.
Tonight, there is a "welcome back the sun" festival in downtown Tromsø and also a party at the school, both of which I'm going to have a look at.