There are lots of ways to immerse yourself in Norwegian before even stepping foot in Skogfjorden. For example, here are some fun and interesting things you can do on the Internet while you wait for summer to begin!
Tell your friends about Norway and Skogfjorden. I have given you some fun facts you can use to impress your friends and family with about Norway and Skogfjorden that they may not know. Dazzle them with some interesting tidbits about Norway and see if you can’t recruit a friend!
Be sure your friends and family write. Give them some pointers on how to do that!
And for the record – Norway’s constitution day is on syttende mai (May 17th). It is celebrated in Norway, of course. It is also celebrated in many places in the US and Canada in special ways. See if there is a celebration near you and, by all means, celebrate!
Syttende mai celebrations especially focus on children in Norway. It is a day when kids dress up and walk in barnetoget (the children’s parade) in the mid-morning and when they are allowed to eat all the is (ice cream) and pølser (hot dogs) they want. There are often other parades, too, such as speidertoget with scouts who wake up their hometowns with music first thing in the morning, russetoget with all graduating high school seniors dressed in their personalized russedress graduation suits handing out their humorously personalized russekort business cards, and there is also borgertoget, yet another parade, with members of various organizations and clubs showing their activities and wares. Find a parade or eat some ice cream, and check out via the various webcams all over Norway how it is being celebrated in the hours before you. You’ll have to get up early, though. You can catch many parades around the country already around 10 am Norwegian time. They are not yet posted online, but my guess is that there will be broadcasts available to watch at NRK or at TV2. Check them out when you wake up on May 17th!
Finally, how about exploring Norway? If you go to Webcams in Norway, you can find views of Norway from all over the country and see what the people in various cities are up to. If you click on “Tromsø – Balsfjord” and then follow the island in front of you to the very end ahead of you, you can imagine where I am writing this letter from – a house on the very southern tip of the island of Tromsøya. You can get to my house on Strandvegen, the road that you see from the view of “Tromsø: from the county office”. Just keep following it straight (and beyond) to the very end of the island and you’ll find where Espen and Curt and I live in the second to the last house on the right hand side of the road!
Another fun way to travel around Norway is via FINN kart where you can get a birds-eye view of any place you would like in Norway by clicking on the map of Norway and zooming in and out – either looking at maps (kart) or satellite pictures (satelitt) of the places the maps represent. Perhaps you would like to begin by checking out the cities we name our cabins after. Go ahead and try finding Hamar, Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Bergen, Molde, Trondheim, Bodø and Tromsø (in Tromsø, see what you find when you type in the address Lanesvegen 19, 9006). Lykke til og god tur!