2010: IT WAS FUN !
January: Bad Gastein
It's my last day of Christmas holiday today, before I return to a few of days of work until New Year's is upon us. I thought I should recapitualte a bit and try to summarize my 2010.
May: Beachcamp
So what have I been up to? The year started out with a fantastic trip to Bad Gastein in the Austrian Alps. A large group of friends enjoyed a week of skiing and snowboarding. A bit more snow would be preferred, but we still had a great time!
Practically the entire spring was spent on my Master's thesis, but I had time for a week at Beachcamp Turkey 2010. That was an amazing week where I learned a lot and got to play tons of beachvolley!
After a month and a half of thesis marathon finish in May and June I handed in my thesis on July 5th, two days before the deadline! Summer holiday was coming. One of the first things I did, beside relaxing and playing beachvolley, was to join Andreas to Rjukan, where we bungy jumped off the Rjukan bridge (83m). Awesome!
August: South Africa
For three weeks during the summer holiday, I was in South Africa with Tom (after the World Cup, but close enough to get some of the spirit). We had a great stay in Knysna at Tom's aunt, a magnificent many golf rounds at beautiful courses and a fun road trip through Stellenbosch and Cape Town, among other places. We even dipped our toes in both the Pacific and the Atlantic ocean (on the same day)! Still, the most amazing experience throughout these three weeks is probably a tie between bungy jumping off the Bloukranz bridge (216m) and safari at the Pumba Private Game reserve. Very different experiences, but both of them mind blowing!
In late August, I started my career as a working man, and the autumn months have mostly been about getting settled in a new city and to learn as much as possible in my new job. It's difficult, but very exciting! It's been a busy couple of months, also outside work, with things to do almost every weekend. One of the best was probably the weekend in Scotland, where I visited my father. Scotland is beautiful and has without a doubt many great places to play golf!
Another thing to mention for 2010, which unfortunately has been a significant event, is my knee injury. A couple of weeks after starting to play organized beachvolley in Oslo, an old injury revitalized itself and made it impossible to play beachvolley. I was bothered by the knee for a couple of months (due to some loose pieces of cartillage), but on December 8th I was scheduled for surgery and got them removed. I'm still not fully recovered, but progress is easy to spot!
Now, on December 28th, I think it's fair to say that it's been a great year and I really look forward to 2011!
WEEKEND IN SKIEN
The weekend is already over, it's incredible how fast the days have past!
My dad works in Scotland these days, so left for Skien to after work Friday to visit my mother. Straight from the train we went for a quick tapas dinner before we saw the Frikar dance show at Ibsenhuset. The show was a great mix of different traditional Norwegian dances, impressively stitched together to an hourlong show. Back home we enjoyed shrimps for a late meal.
Saturday we spent most of the day shopping, I bought myself new shoes, a suitcase and some guitar related items :) The same night we saw the Norwegian movie "The Troll Hunter", a mockumentary about the troll hunter Hans and his government job to control and kill the Norwegian trolls causing trouble. The movie was absolutely fantastic, a MUST SEE this fall (it's coming to European and US movie theaters in 2011)!
Today, Sunday, we went hiking not too far from my parent's house, down to the Norsjø lake. My mother is watching some friends' dog, so we were accompanied by two dogs. A very nice trip!
Now I'm on the train, ready for a new week of work. I'll be most of the week in Trondheim for work, but will have the Friday and weekend there to visit friends. I'm really looking forward to that!
AUTUMN SWIM
I just got back home from my first round of swimming at Tøyenbadet. I swam 15 stretches, at least that's how far I counted. Anyways, swimming is something I'll try to continue doing on a weekly basis, and definitely something my health will benefit from. By heart was really pumping after only a few stretches.
My knee is "messed up" now a days, so I've been forced to stop playing beach volley while I hopefully wait for a doctor to fix it. Swimming is a good substitute activity that also strengthens the muscles surrounding my knee without putting weight on the damaged areas.
I really enjoyed the hour I spent in Tøyenbadet, next time I'll use the sauna too ... and some goggles - my eyes are a bit sore now :)
WEEKEND IN SCOTLAND
Edinburg
This weekend I visited my dad in Linlithgow, not far from Edinburgh. I landed at Edinburgh airport and my dad picked me up.
Saturday we went to the local driving range and hit some balls before we took the train to Edinburgh. We strolled around in the old town, and along the Royal Mile. There we saw a great street artist, a hilarious magician who really impressed us.
We had a couple of beer (both ale) at The Filling station before we returned to Linlithgow. There we went out for dinner at a praised fish restaurant, but it wasn't very impressive. The food "never" arrived, and when it did, it wasn't up to par. We were both quite disappointed. The manager excused himself and invited my dad back another time to make up for the bad impression they'd made.
We then had a beer at The four Marys, a great local pub. Great atmosphere!
Sunday, we played a round of golf at the Linlithgow golf course, a really scenic course, which made our mediocre golf a secondary thing :)
The weekend ended all too fast and I returned to Oslo late Sunday night.
A narrow alley in Edinburgh, just next to The royal Mile
Waiting for the train to Linlithgow