Please let me mary a man from Norway!

They had trolls everywhere
at the ski museum

Where to begin, how about four hours before we thought the plane left, only to look at our boarding passes to realize our flight was leaving in two hours. We broke Joan's one cardinal rule, "always leave at least two hours at the airport" Sorry mom! Well we made it, and made it to Oslo, only to discover that the airport hotel we booked  was at the other Oslo airport, so we took a three hour train to get there, but we made it in good spirits and went straight to bed.
FRIDAY

This is as much of the jump I could
get in one shot!

There is nothing better then a free hotel breakfast! Legit, soo good, eggs Benedict with bacon instead of ham (i mean what could be better?) We rolled out of the hotel and took the train to Oslo, then hopped on the metro to the SKI MUSEUM! (you guys can thank me later for keeping this part relatively short, it was the coolest thing i have ever seen!) The museum was incredible, so after soaking up every bit of ski knowledge my brain could handle we went to the top of the ski jump. They were doing some construction on it because they are hosting the international ski jumping championships this winter, but it was huge and awesome! From there we went to the sea-side to check out the city hall and the shipping port. It was so pretty! Then we walked around in search of a thrift store to grab ourselves some Norwegian sweaters. There were honestly so many cool ones, everyone I know was going to get a cool sweater, but then i remembered i didn't have a billion dollars... so sorry guys! Armed with a cool sweater we were completely ready to live the Norway dream, so we literally hopped on a tram to the city center to a market place and then to check out the Cathedral. On friday and saturday nights it is open from 4-midnight and has music and all of these cool candles so it was pretty spectacular to say the least. Then we began our trip back to the hotel.

A typical house in the olden days

SATURDAY

Viking Ship

Breakfast! woohooo! Then we went to the Norwegian Folk Museum which like the one in Stockholm was a lot like Sturbridge village. There were a ton of cool typical Norwegian houses we could go in and see, and a working farm. Then we went to the viking museum where they had three original Viking ships and a ton of artifacts that have been found through the ages. Then to the Kon-Tiki museum (a norwegian man who sailed across the pacific ocean in just a reed boat. Then we went to the Fram Museum, which was the actual boat that went to both the north and south pole. This museum was sick because the entire boat was in the building, and then on the side they had an "experience the Arctic" which was a maze that had a rocking ship deck, and ice caps ect. It was so much fun! Then we went to the Maritime Museum where we watched a video about Norway's connection to the sea, it was pretty cool, and that is when i decided that Norway was the prettiest place i have ever seen! Then exhausted we made our trek right into our cozy beds!

Chels on the ship that went to both
the poles!

SUNDAY
Yup, breakfast was still worth mentioning, especially because this time it included Nutella waffles! Then we started our extended journey to Oslo and then to the other airport. The train ride was really cool because unlike last time when it was dark (and yes it was only 4:00) we were able to see all of the different landscapes of Norway.  Then hopped on our plane home to Edinburgh.
And incase you were wondering, everyone in Norway is the most beautiful person i have ever seen! Blond blue eyes, straight out of a runway show!

No news is good news!

This week has been a relatively calm week, after a crazy halloween it was well appreciated. On wednesday I was dragged back in to the real world of Bucknell and had the daunting task of picking classes (and realizing that i would not be able to live the Scottish dream for the rest of my "uni" experience!) On saturday AND today the girls shinty matches got canceled which was SUCH a big fat bummer! but i have had a great time in training for the last few weeks, monday fitness literally kicks my bum! But we watched the boys match today, and man do i wish i had brought my camera, the guts and gore of the match was incredible! mom, if you had seen this one, you  probably would make me quit! we were playing the roughest team of the conference, and well our boys got beat up! Lee (the guy that runs monday fitness) came to the after match tea with blood running down his shirt and thought nothing of it, those bloody Strathclyd​e men! haha Anyways, off to oslo tomorrow, look out for updates!

DUB-DADDY

Clogged Artery?

Oh where to start? I had my first test today in Greek and Roman art, it went well (for all those who don'e believe that i AM actually learning here!)

Can you say YUM!

But then the more exciting stuff, we flew out of Edinburgh pretty late, and arrived in dublin with no issues. Our hostel was surprisingly nice. And we ventured for dinner, and of course ended up in this little fish and chips shop. The first thing I saw on the menu was a "jumbo beer battered burger" (it wasn't the first thing but it was defiantly the best thing) so I got that, and let me tell you i am sooo glade i did! It was everything i hoped it would be and more! Then walking along the street I saw none other then miss caroline Dittrich! WOOHOO but she was headed to bed, dont worry, we made plans for later! Then we went to The Temple Bar (to avoid confusion the place people go out is called temple bar, but this was a bar called temple bar in the temple bar area, those crazy Irish!) where there was some great live music! So we hung out there for a bit and then headed back to the hostel for a good night sleep.
FRIDAY

Caroline just cant stay away
From those jersey boys!

We took a walking tour today that was really good! He talked all about the history of Ireland and walked us pretty much all over dublin (it was 3.5 hours). Then we did our own little adventuring and found this incredible ice cream place. P.S. this blog is just a really great way of slowly explaining to you guys that you are going to have to roll me anywhere from now on, legit just wait! Then we went to the hostel and took a nice naperino to prepare our selfs for the infamous dublin night life. Then i meet up with caroline and her mom for dinner at a cute little restaurant. I had spiced beef with a dijon mustard as an appetizer, then a gaelic boxty (for those who dont know a boxty is a potato crepe like food that they fill, with in my case peppered beef and mushrooms) then for desert i had Baileys cheese cake.. yum! Dinner was nothing short of eventful! We had irish men knocking on the window yelling at us through it, there were men in the girls bathroom that bought us a bottle of wine, it was just crazy! Then Caro and I walked her mom home and headed out! It was a blast and a half! imagine the amount of fun we have on a regular basis and then add in the fact that we haven't seen each other in a long time and that we are in ireland.... WOOHOOO
SATURDAY
Today we took a bus to Galway to wander there for a bit. When we got there we were starving so we got a nice bite to eat, leah and i split a burger and a smokes salmon cream pasta dish. the burger (that we ordered medium closer to rare) came out deader then road kill, it was well done haha but still good, and the guy next to us told us they have to cook everything all the way through now. And the salmon dish was just out of this world! Then we wandered around the main town for a long time. Tonight we dressed up for Halloween, it was a hoot! the people got so into it! like everyone was in full makeup and costumes. Needless to say in my handmade candycane costume i looked a bit well, feeble.
SUNDAY
Of course when in dublin, visit the Guinness factory! so that is just what we did, it was such a good museum type thing. Then we had our pint on top of the factory. Then headed to the oldest pub in ireland, where i ate a nice beef and guinness stew, it was everything i hoped it would be! Then we went back to the hostel, had a few ciders and stayed out until we went to the airport at 1:45 in the morning to sleep there until our early flight.  Wow the Irish are fun!

Oct 23rd

they had an EPIC armory! 

Wow, some might ask how I can be so late on a blog.... and i would probably say something sassy back. but for now I am just going to apologies, as you will soon see it has been a busy week!

No big deal, just the fence in my humble abode 

After the wonderful boarders trip I went on a tour with Thea (the girl I met During Oktoberfest) to Northern England. First we went to Bamburgh Castle where they filmed Macbeth. However, it was beautiful and well preserved. They had a great museum through the entire castle which was a hoot! Then we hopped back on the bus and went to the Alnwick Castle, this castle is still "running." And my favorite was in the very beginning when walking through the gate there is a sign that says "welcome to our family home". Yeah, if only i had a family home that looked like that. Legit HUGE! Also this is the castle they filmed lots of harry potter in it. Imagine the broom lessons in the first harry potter, yup that was here! So of course Thea and I ran around on our imaginary brooms (good thing it was sunday and pretty rainy and empty cause we looked a bit gooofy!)

Big man wallace!

We also wondered around the town of Alnwick which was a pretty cool town (but since it was sunday not many places were open). But I did find some shortbread tarts, but instead of being filled with lame fruit it was filled with caramel and chocolate, needless i got a pack of six and ate them all at once and had a stomach ache for the rest of the trip, but totally worth it, i would do it again!

From there we when to a trail head that lead to the wallace monument. William Wallace was this crazy fighter guy that fought famously against the British in hopes of regaining the Scottish pride. The statue was gigantic! i mean i don't think i would have even come up to the top of his boot!
For our last stop we went to the Scotts View, which if you were paying attention in my last blog you would already know about it, so i little test for all you guys!
Stay posted for DUBLIN!