the post christmas period this year has been rather enjoyable. Exams this time round were not too taxing and so i was able to enjoy a good bit of socialisation in and around the first few weeks after new years. Christmas was a pretty low key family affair this yer which was nice but it was good to get back to normality- whatever that means.
with exams out of the way me and adam (dave) craig headed for the supposedly wintery climes of norway on a £20 ryanair flight from dublin, thought id slide that in thought it was notable. we were
greeted on the far side by my cousins who live out there and they embraced us in to their 'culture', which would become the mission statement for the trip- endulge the culture. we arrived and did all the re-aquaintancing(not sure if thats a word) and got dave introduced to all over some fine norwegian pizza!? cultural i dont know. culrural experiences were restored by watching a 'huge' handball game from euro 08, which norway lost. it was quite funny how much handball came across as dodgeball-esque from the movie, but the norwegians seemed to like it and get quite excited by it so we watched and soon became somewhat intrigued.
the next day we had the pleasure of taking one of my cousins english classes at her school where she is a teacher, and had the distinct feeling that although they all spoke fairly good english they were constantly
taking the mick out of us in norwegian. that was fun especially for the wannabbe teacher dave. we then went ice skating that night and dave was able display some spidish traits acquired by a youth spent at the dundonald ice bowl, as i fell over and over.
we visited the 'cabin' the next day dabbed a little in some skeet shooting and had some fun on the ice lake, when i fell and did my ac joint on the ice ruining any chance of getting some skiing in on the trip. a mcdonalds norwegian style on the way home made me feel a little better and the cultural aspect of mcdonalds was that it cost £8 for a big mac meal. that night we headed for the snow show for dave and geir to get some skiing in as i watched from the bottom and stared at the beautiful norwegian 'cultural talent'.
saturday we went for some frisbee golf which was tremendous fun and although i was slighttly restricted by my left shoulder my right arm was functioning well enough to get me by. a great game that dave and myself would later go back to. that night we further indulged into things norwegian by going to the mets sports bar to party it up norwegian style. some £12 drinks and some norwegian hotties combined with some good tunes and company lead to very entertaining evening in which vero moda as she became known gave us some memo
rable quotes.
sunday we arose to another cultural breakfast- ham, goats cheese, peppers and eggs on cold bread...mmmmm...dave loved his breakfasts. then off to chruch and we watched a well timed choregraphed performance of the zacchaeus story by nat followed by a sermon from his prodigy in his funny hat. church in a different language is quite interesting, especially when you have 2 eedgits at the back laughing so hard that they are ruining the culture. after church we headed for another ice lake in the mountains and did some kite skiing and cross country skiing followed my some sausage for lunch. more euro 08 handball on sunday night with salt and pepper crisps and melkosokoladje with dime..mmm.
monday me and dave took the car and went touring- back to frisbee golf and enjoyed some more cultural time as we explored the regioned while the others worked. the lynne and andreas hosted us to a wonderful mexican feast- norwegian style(just because we were in norway). we visited dirk kuyt (christer) and watched as lousie took a fit of laughing over a non funny joke. possibility of a video link soon.
tuesday and dave, me and lynne headed for rutjkar or something like that for some sledding except to find out that it was too icey and we would likely fall and injure oursel
ves badly so we went walkning and scenery looking....some class views as the pictures testify. then for our last night we went on a snow hike/expedition depending on who you ask. congo showed us some local delights at the top of a mountain/hill. our 25/50 minute walk was cool and it was fun to watch dave go on his rear a couple of times.
this is really long so ill wrap up....some pictures on facebook on both mine and adams sites.
Photos 1Photos 2Photos 3memorable quotes:
'this just looks like home'- dave
'im going to eat a sandwich in the oven'- geir
'i like your tits mate'- andreas
'this scenery is amazing its like your in a foreign country or something'- dave
'im going to get a mouthful'- vero moda
'g-e-i-.....wait is that on the internet....congo'- geir
'do you want to bring your asthma?'- lynne
'do u still love me even though im fat?'- louise(preggers)
at atmosphere and waonderful example of the qualities of the european culture. following we took a little trip dwon to the red light district. i was surprised by what i saw and it was not at all what i had expected. 12 midnight on a friday and the district was filled with 1000's of tourists taking pictures. after twice being offered ecstasy, we walked down one of the alleys with the windows for the prostitutes. rows of about 30 girls on each side staring at each other with 100's of tourists in between, very few using the services but more taking in the phenomenon. the girls were generall very stunning girls, not the scrony, drugged up ones that i had pictured. coffee shops everywhere offer weed for whoever wants to smoke freely and openly and needless to say everywhere u go u smell not smoke but weed! some good times had with felix and his family including a great night at his step dads restaurant, classy place!! some good nights watchngthe nba finals and shootin some hoops with the boys. a great time had in a unique city! 
both graduated on the same day, and both had separate prize givings to attend. my prize giving was fun in the morning as i got a prize for a group business plan. the lunch and photos with charlie and mum and dad. then the busy part started(for mum and dad at least). my graduation ceremony at queens started at 2.30, charlies prize giving started at 2.45 then his graduation was at 4. i walked at about 3.30 and then mum and dad high tailed it over to the waterfront for charlies. i finisihed the ceremony at queens and then enjoyed some strawberries and cream on the lawn at queens with my classmates. tag that night followed by a nice graduation dinner at where else but villa! a long fun day!
