Hot Dogs, Rocks, and Bugs

Me on the hike to the top of Kjerag

Alma, Me, Jenny, and Sonja on Preikestolen

I smacked my forehead. Again. And kept smacking. My body was already covered in little mosquito bites, and yet they kept coming as we sat around a smoldering grill, smacking ourselves. We didn't really talk. We just listened to the sound of the rushing water and the sounds of the valley we'd decided to set up camp in. It was our last night in the Stavanger area, and we all thought a lot about the hikes we'd done, the views we'd seen, the hot dogs we'd eaten, and ultimately how this entire semester is coming to a close. No longer is Sogn Student Village a bumpin' international student village. Classes are over and more and more people are leaving every day. It was a weird feeling before I left on a trip. And it's even weirder being back now. Oh the times, they are a changin'.

The future's looking awesome (and a bit stressful). David arrives on Monday morning. We leave on Friday for Tromso for me to run a half marathon. Then we head to Helsinki for a few days, Riga for a few, and Prague to finish up our 10-day trip. We come back to Oslo for one day, and then we get on a plane and I leave this semester forever. I am then in Cincinnati for 4 days before I head to Philly for internships, jobs, moving, house-warming parties, and a hamster named Miley Cyrus. So with all the stresses of the future looming, it was really great to get away to the mountains of South-Western Norway for a few days.

The trip started with a 7AM train from Oslo to Stavanger (the 4th biggest city in Norway). I went with my roommate, Jenny, and two Germany girls I'd not met before, Alma and Sonja. We got to Stavanger, rented a wreck from Rent-A-Wreck, picked up some groceries, and headed to find a place to camp before hiking the infamous Preikestolen, a 600 meter sheer cliff overlooking a fjord. We drove around, stopping at beautiful landscapes and wound up camping illegally in a public grassy area. We pulled in around 10PM (still daylight), listened to the clanking cowbells and baa-ing sheep, and got our tents ready to put up. As we were getting ready, we saw a man in a cottage next to the site. Wanting to be respectful not to camp too close, and also knowing we were not supposed to be there, we decided to ask him if it was okay with him. Not only did he say to camp and not to worry, but also that he had a canoe, rowboat, and a porch with a table that we were more than welcome to use the next morning. He stayed and chatted, talking about American politics with me, and German holiday spots with the Germans. It was great. The morning was spent canoeing on a gorgeous lake and eating breads and spreads. At 1PM, we headed to the hike.

The hike itself was pretty rough. Not necessarily physically, but it was full of big rocks, making every step an ordeal. But after 2 hours, we wound up looking out onto an amazing view. The cliff was breathtaking - the cliff distinguished, the water a mesmerizing blue. We sat, had a picnic, and took pictures before heading back down.

Me on the peak of Preikestolen

We then headed towards our next challenge - a rock stuck between two cliffs 1,000 meters high - Kjerag. Since it was a 3 hour drive from Preikestolen, we decided to camp along the way. As we got tired and hungry, we wound up at the beginning of a fjord in a park adjacent to a marina. Full of fishing boats, rocky beaches, and a gorgeous sunset, we set up camp, ate hot dogs, and roasted marshmallows. It was really nice talking about our semesters, travel experiences, and future plans. We all were into different things, studied different things, were from different places, yet we all wound up studying in Oslo for the semester.

The next day, we got up and made our way to Kjerag. The hike itself is 2 and a half hours each way across 3 mountains, the 3rd being the highest and longest. But the first two were much steeper and rockier. We clung to rocks and hoisted ourselves up as we made our way along the trail, following spray-painted red 'T's. We finally made it on top of the third mountain and had to walk another 40 minutes on top of the mountain to the 'egg', trekking through snow and slush. But we eventually made it to the egg, and not a single person was there with us. Since the area by the rock was dry, actually getting onto it wasn't as dangerous as it looks! But it was really cool looking at the view from the rock, knowing that not many people will ever do something like this.

On "The Egg"

So it was on this momentum that we made our way back, found a place to camp, and ate hot dogs and smacked ourselves. We'd all had a really good trip and saw some absolutely amazing natural views. Norway is just such an unbelievably majestic and gorgeous country - every trip I've made in Norway has reaffirmed that. The next morning was a quick one - sick of bugs, we wanted to get out of there fast. So we got back in the wreck and drove to Stavanger to return the car and spend our last day seeing the city before our night train back to Oslo.

The buggy valley in the morning.

The city itself was excited about a multi-cultural, retail-sale festival. Choirs, foods, crafts, and sales were everywhere in a gorgeous sunny day. We walked around, ate sausage and cheese samples, and checked out the hilarious and very visible street art. I bought a fresh crayfish from a boat at the port, and ate it as we walked around the outside of the Norwegian Oil Museum, complete with a weird oil-waste themed skate park/playground/hang out place. A funky thing for sure. But eventually, it was time to make our way to the train station for our 10PM ride back. It was a really fantastic trip and getaway from the weirdness that is Sogn Student Village. I know this post has been a bit brief, mainly because the pictures explain everything much better.

I'm excited/nervous/stressed about the near future, but life is, in a lot of ways, all about change. Some things you prepare for, some things come without warning. Either way, as things come to a clear end, I'm just going to do my best to appreciate everything I'm doing and have done. It's truly an outstanding gift to be able to do this - all of it.

- Jonathan