Norway

5/11/11
So funny story, once we checked in for our flight to toronto we walked down the ramp to a little pea shooter plan...awesome. We weren't sure we were going to make it but if we weren't there were only 18 passengers and 2 pilots...to top it all off Naturally we had the last seat conveniently located in the back right next to the bathroom. As the day progressed our day got better...we met a few other backpackers from ann arbor, later in Toronto we met a really cute guy at customs. He helped us with our luggage transfer. As we were Walking by later He stopped us and wished us safe travels! I guess that makes up for the previous bad luck.

5/12/11
So we really havnt actually slept really since we left but after almost 16 hours in route we are almost there! As we were getting on the plane to Oslo we were standing behind two guys who were Norwegian and they were making fun of Americans and how they comment on how good their English is. The best part about it was the way they talked while imitating and English accent! 
When we landed we had to go get our luggage, and when we walked out of customs Erlend, Magnus, and Megan were there with a huge American flag to greet us as well as country music awaiting us in the car.
We are just leaving the country where we visited Erlend's family at there country home. It was beautiful. His mother made us a wonderful dinner and delicious dessert with awesome strawberries. His whole family (including the pets) were wonderful. The home was built over 200 years ago and the lumber was from even before that! You could tell that the home felt different than most American homes but the house was in such a beautiful condition it was hard to believe.

5/13/11
 Today we got up and Erlend made us eggs,toast, and bacon. We then met up with Meghan and Magnus to go to the the statue park, it was wonderful and beautiful. There were many/all naked people. Magnus then left to go to class. Magnus and Erlend are both law students and are very intelligent and witty. They have fun teasing us and our country, but all in good fun. The rest of us then went to the opera house near the water. The architect Wasserstein has designed many buildings around the world including the library of Alexandria where Meghan and Lindsey got to visit last year. The building was designed to walk up on the roof outside. We then went to the fort William the 4th made to defend the Country. We were able to tour the castle and learn about the history. Sarah dropped her glasses down a dark passageway and had to have them rescued/ unlock the passageway to get them...oops :)
We then went downtown to get a kebob ( a dish that is pita bread filled with meat, ours was lamb, and veggies). we met up with Magnus and relaxed in a park for a while before going to a friends birthday party. At the party we met a lot of really nice norwegian's most of whom were college students.

5/14/11
Today we got Oslo passes to use for transportation and go to any museum all days. we took a ferry across the bay to see the Viking ships  and then went to see ConTiki's ship made out of papyrus. After that we went to the national gallery and saw some famous art such as: Scream, the thinker, and Madonna. Later that night we went to visit Magnus' parents home. his mother was very welcoming and father made wonderful food on the grill. Although it ended up raining for the first time that night it ended up being a great night full of great people And great memories.

5/15/11
This brisk rainy morning came quickly as we only finished packing and getting ready for the next leg of our adventure a few hours ago. We are now on our way to the airport leaving Oslo and going to Dublin, Ireland. We were blessed with great weather basically the whole time. Unfortunately we are missing a national holiday here on tuesday. But we are glad that gives us even more of a reason to return as soon as we can. Oslo will be hard to beat but we are excited to see what else Europe holds. Enough cannot be said about how much help and enjoyment Erlend and Magnus (and their families) provided for us on this trip. It's a bummer to leave them and Meghan behind but we shared some great memories with them and hope for more in the future...Meghan's memories should be shared sooner as long as we can make to Poland in a few weeks as planned :) one thing we won't miss is being in the most expensive city in Europe, but other than that no complaints here, it was a wonderful experience and a great start to our trip.