Trondheim, my dear mother (and father), is a tiny little place that is forgotten by all, somewhere in the near-middle of Norway. It is the third largest city of Norway, but that really isn’t saying much, seeing as how Oslo is the only city that matters (kind of like how Reykjavik is the only real city in Iceland). No offense to Trondheim. But this was the first out-of-Denmark-non-tourist-site I’ve been to, and it was a little unnerving to be unable to find souvenirs!

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Needless to say, because it was such a small, quiet, cold, rainy, dark town (sun sets around three pm), it was hard to get much done. Add that to the fact that I was tired (still am), and you get a full week of basically nothing. Mrp. I’m fine with it!

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Nidaros Cathedral, built between 1070 (?!?!) and the 13oo’s, burned down in pieces during several fires, and reconstructed to its original fourteenth-century glory between 1869 and 1969. Crazy stuff. It was also built on the tomb of St. Olav. He is important. But I am not sure why.

View from the back

More pretty angles!

Old Town and the bridge that gives couples a year of good luck for every time they cross together- we only crossed twice. Whoops!

Some pretty river views near Old Town

Trondheim’s own little Nyhavn

Shopping district (Jackson experienced his very first shopping spree and has since been nerding-out over his new hip clothes. What a nerd.)

Okay. This obelisk has a cool story, to be continued after the next picture.

Apparently this is the track they use for summer skiing races. Because it is Noway and that is just what you do in the middle of downtown in Scandinavia, apparently.

My first European rainbow! Jackson had to head up to class, so I stayed downtown in search of a souvenir shop. I was unsuccessful, but I did find this little gem, a lot of rain, a lot of second-hand stores, and a sweater from Denmark that had a tandem bike stitched onto the back. I would have gotten it if it hadn’t been an extra large!

A dinner for champions, home-cooked by Uncle Ben. (The salad was all me.)

A hike up to the second campus in a rare bout of sunshine

The chocolate milk is actually insane in Trondheim.

A late-night walk along the river. Oh wait. Just kidding. It was actually about 4:15pm.

Another baby hike/walk on my last day. We spent most of our time watching a dog, four boys under the age of nine, and a dad try to kick a soccer ball back and forth on a hillside. Much falling occurred.

That sculpture thing again in the middle of downtown. So cool!

This is how Trondheim airport works. I felt like Madonna or something.

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And then I flew home! But wait. I didn’t talk about the things we didn’t photograph:

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On Thursday, we got together with Brian and Sofia from UW for a little reunion, and we ate at a Thai restaurant with those wonderful sunken tables before watching Spectre in the theaters. Norwegian movie theaters are even more expensive than those in the States, and you have to reserve seats ahead of time like in the actual theater. So strange.

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On Saturday, I got to meet all of Jackson’s friends, the Dutchies and the Germans! (He only knows one Norwegian. Funny how that works.) We went to dinner in the city and came back for some good old-fashioned Catan, and I creamed them all. Jackson was my side-kick. But they were all super nice, and Koen, one of the Dutchies, is letting us stay in his Netherlands apartment when we visit in a few weeks! Yippee!!! Jackson’s roommates were also total sweethearts. Aranka (Belgian) is even part of a Charleston dance group at NTNU. And Yannick (German) is a mechanical engineer, just like yours truly. How can you ask for anything better?

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Jackson’s little apartment/house is positively perfect for college living, and he pays a fraction of the price that I’ll have to pay for something much less wonderful once I get back to Seattle. Each room has a downstairs, a way-too-steep-and-would-probably-never-pass-safety-laws-in-Washington staircase, and a loft bedroom. However, all the houses look slightly distorted and short, despite their two stories, because the slope of the roof starts right after the first floor and makes a really steep triangle up to the sleeping area. Maximal use of space! Genius. Why do we not do these things?

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But my favorite part of Trondheim was that everybody understood my Dorwegian. That is my personal rendition of Danish with some Norwegian flairs thrown in here and there. Seriously! It was amazing! I felt so cool and Nordic. In Denmark, even if I try to speak Danish, Danes will switch to English without hesitation. It’s disheartening and makes me doubt my Danish skills, and therefore I rarely put them to use (despite my Danish final which is apparently next week. *sigh). But in Trondheim, both in the city and on my flights with Norwegian, they responded in Norwegian every time! Twice, on the plane and in the store, a lady began talking to me in English, but when I responded in Dorwegian, they switched to Norwegian! IT WAS THE GREATEST.

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Okay. I think that about sums up my Trondheim adventures. Oh, and I just realized I forgot to include a single picture on this post that contains my face or Jackson’s. So here you go:

Model status in the woods.

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Venlig hilsen/ best regards/ Vennlig hilsen,

Lizzy-wa