Even though Bergen is Norway's second largest city it feels like such a quaint little place. You can walk/hike 10 minutes from city centre and you're in a forest hiking up a mountain. The Fish Market is adorable and amazing and smells sooooo good. There are old things and new things and nature things and it all smells like sea air! I love it! So I arrived without a place to stay. I was hoping to couchsurf but after sending out 18 requests and getting declined by 8 of them I figured I should look for a hostel. So during my hour and a half layover in Keflavík I searched diligently for a hostel. But none of them would let me look at booking till the 30th. So i copied some addresses down and decided to do the foot work when I got to Bergen. Worst comes to worse you're aloud to camp for up to two days in the mountains around Bergen. I did not have to camp. I booked into the Bergen YMCA hostel. It was the cheapest in Bergen, located across from the Fish Market and has a terrace! It's perfect really. I'm in a 32 bed dorm and it looks like an Ikea showroom if all they sold were bunk beds. But it's comfy. And the terrace is perfect for writing on...
And watching the sun set!
So yesterday I hiked up Floyen (I'm not sure if that's the mountains name or if that's the name of the summit... as you can now tell I'm not well versed in the art of mountains). It's funny because the night before I text my mum and I was like I'm going hiking tomorrow. Then it was really funny because I booked into my hostel around 4 and promptly fell asleep. I was under the impression I slept through the night when I woke up and the clock said 10:30. But I stayed in bed thinking how tired I felt and I was like I just want to sleep all day... maybe I'll nap till they come in to clean the room and make noise. That's when I text my mum. She text me back right away and I was like holy shit why is she up so early.... It was in fact 10:30 at night. Go me!! From there I ended up not falling asleep till 4 in the morning!! I watched lots of Supernatural and some Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. So when I woke up in the morning around noon I was like nope not hiking. Plus I hadn't actually eaten the day before. I only had one protein bar in the evening. Needless to say I felt like shit that morning, my heart was pounding hard and I felt dizzy. So after taking forever to change and put my stuff in the locker I made my way to the grocery store and bought a few things. Bread, cheese, orange juice, cookies, and blueberries. Soooo nutritious I know. But after eating and sitting on the wharf for a while I felt better and dropped my food back at the hostel then I found myself hiking up the mountain!
Trust me it was totally unexpected. But up I went. It took me an hour and a half (like twice as long as it should have). But I made it!!
And it was so amazing!! And there was wifi so I had to text everyone and show off my accomplishment! Seriously I couldn't take enough pictures! It was so nice to just be in nature and it was just amazing. Tomorrow I'm hiking up Ulriken then over to Floyen. I'm excited. Today I walked around city centre and took a bunch of pictures...
And booked my ticket to Sogndal where my nanny family is picking me up. I went to the cathedral...
And just took lots of pictures on the street. It's so cute and everything you think of when you think of Norway. Both day I walked around Bryggen. It's a UNESCO site... so you know it's cool and filled with history. A further snippet from the visitbergen site..... "Bryggen was built after the great fire in 1702 and is on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The very first buildings in Bergen were alongside the harbour called Bryggen. Bryggen has been the nerve centre of the city for hundreds of years and the silhouette of its ancient gables is perhaps the most familiar image in all of Norway. "
Then I came back and chilled at my hostel and cranked out these blogs and a chapter of my new YA book. So it's been an amazing day really... just perfect and relaxing. Tomorrow I shall conquer the mountains!!!!!! And possibly sing some sound of music... because I'm sure the hill will be alive with the sound of music. Hahaha. Sorry I had too!! Till tomorrow then! Cheers,
Let's play a quick game called guess where I am? Hint 1: I took a plane here Hint 2: It's part of my favourite continent Hint 3: It's Norway's second largest city Oh man how'd you guess Bergen Norway! Congrats you're smart! So yes I am once again on the road. Does it seem like i was just in Europe? No. I had 7 long months of hard core work. Well not too hard core I am a full time nanny after all. The worst that I have to deal with is only children that try to make up rules in the middle of an intense Uno game... and really there are worse things in life. Outside of work life has been a bit stressful. I bought my tickets about a month ago and I almost didn't board the plane on Monday. Even though this trip has been in the workings since about Christmas. A family I babysit for are in Norway for 3 weeks. The father is Norwegian so they come every year and they invited me along. So I've been saving and planning on a mini Eurotrip since early January. Yet when my flight came up and I was at the airport boarding that plane was the hardest thing I've done in a while and the whole two hours I was waiting I was talking myself in and out of this trip. Totally unlike me I know. But there are a lot of factors that play into that. Mainly the fact that life has sucked for two months. We found out our house is in foreclosure so that means we're losing the house. I had a lot of packing to do. I cleared out my room and packed it all up in a few weeks. Then I was helping my mum get off to Texas. Because of all the shit going down at home my parents have decided to separate. So before my mum left you can imagine how much fun (read not fun) it was to be home. My mum left for Texas 10 days before I left. It hit me then that I in fact had a whole house to pack up.... Which I did not. I packed a good portion emptied a lot furniture of all sorts of crap. Then left my room in a state of nearly packedness (read shit-hole). I should have done more and I feel guilty about that but I tried. Honestly. But shit was it stressful to think of all the things I had to do before leaving and the fact that I will never be going home to that house ever again. All that is just gone... Thinking about it just weighs me down.... And I'd met a guy before I left. We really only started seeing each other right before I left aka talking for almost a month but meeting up for barely over a week. But sometimes things just click even when you don't expect them too. And being a girl I over think a lot of things in the guy department for better or for worse. That over thinking still played into my thoughts as I waited for my plane. But I remembered something he said and did my best not to let thoughts of him weigh on the decisions to board on not to board.... I boarded that plane on Monday. I've got a whole bunch of mixed up feelings about it all. Did I run away? Of course. You'd think being 24 would make me a mature adult and I'd think about someone other then myself. But these last few months have really disillusioned me on a variety of topics. When I bought my ticket last month I was planning on just flip flopping around Europe for as long as my money lasted. I have no return ticket but I have plans for the next few months. But now that I'm actually here with a bit less money then I thought it all seems a bit (read REALLY) suffocating. So am I second guessing things? Fuck yeah I am. I'm rethinking a lot of things. Rethinking is a good brain exercise in some areas. Like the fact do I want to skip out of Europe in a few weeks and head to Thailand? Because the tickets are cheap from Oslo are $214 and home from Bangkok are only $645. See so cheap!!!!! But if I did I'd be skipping out on seeing another family that I babysit for. They're moving to Kinsale Ireland and I'd love to see them! But they don't know when they'll be over so that adds a bit to my hesitance to make plans. Because I totally want to see them. I know I thrive on no plans and crazyness and slapping last minute things together but some how this time is different. I can't put my finger on it. At the same time that I'm feeling confused and angsty I'm having a blast in Bergen. It's such a cute city. I hiked up Floyen yesterday. Tomorrow I'm doing a 6ish hour hike from Ulriken to Floyen then back down to city centre. It looks epic, fingers crossed I have good weather. I loved walking around city centre today and seeing the cathedral. So I legit have these two feelings of being happy that I'm traveling and enjoying it but also feeling like I've forgotten something really important. It puts me on edge and I can't quite shake it. Will I be home in a month? In Poland? I have a job offer at a hostel there, I have to confirm details next week. Or will I head to Ireland? Or will I fly across the world to Thailand? I have no clue and it's exciting and suffocating at the same time. I guess I have a lot of thinking and praying and soul searching to do. Gosh that sounds cliche but I always use travel for such things. Till I decide I'm doing my best to live it up in Norway! Hang tight a blog post on how much I actually love Bergen is coming soon (read an hour or two)! Pictures and all!! Cheers,
