High Latitudes and 3 Hour Long Sunsets

This past week I missed the bus because I walked halfway down the street and realized the reason I was freezing is because I forgot my coat, I met another Floridian living in Arendal while at the cafe with my friends, I taught several of my Norwegian friends famous American gang signs, and I journeyed with my host family North of the Arctic Circle.

The school week passed by without much going on, or at least that I can remember. I hurt my foot so I had to sit out of gym. My sociology class had to go through town taking surveys during class, even though half of the class skipped the surveys and went shopping. I miss the bus three times in a row one day. We worked with printing in Photography class.

But on Friday I went with my host family to Bodø, far up North in the country, and North of the Arctic circle. It's actually as far away from Arendal as Northern Italy, so we flew. It was the first time flying since I came to Norway, and it was really cool to look down and see all the frozen, or freezing, fjords and lakes on the South coast. Though, it was kind of surreal landing at the Oslo airport again, almost 6 months later, this time the ground white with snow.

Of course, it was dark and cold when we got to Bodø, which is pronounced like Buddha if you were wondering.  We just checked in to the Hotel in the middle of the town, I made my Facebook status "chillin above the Arctic Circle" which I thought was funny because it was cold, and we had dinner.

On Saturday we went to this place called Saltstraumen, which I don't know how to explain, so I'll let Wikipedia do it:

Saltstraumen is a sound with a strong tidal current located in Nordland 30 km east of the city of Bodø, Norway. The narrow channel connects the outerSaltfjord with its extension, the large Skjerstadfjord. It is the strongest tidal current in the world. Up to 400 million m³ (tonnes) of seawater forces its way through a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) long and 150-metre (490 ft) wide strait every six hours, with water speeds reaching 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph). Vortices known as whirlpools or maelstroms up to 10 metres (33 ft) in diameter and 5 metres (16 ft) in depth are formed when the current is at its strongest.

That was really cool, and cold. It was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit with 35 mph winds. This is the warmest winter in the Northern Hemisphere in recorded history. I saw North-Norwegians walking around wearing jeans and a hoodie. Then we drove up and down the coast for a few hours, and saw some of the most beautiful mountains ever. I'll put videos on my photo blog.

We got incredibly lucky with the weather. The whole time we were there it was clear and sunny out (well, when the sun was out), which is really rare for that part of the country. The sun came up around 10 and went down around 2 everyday. But it was light out for much longer. Because of the high latitude and the angle of the Sun on the Earth, Norway gets incredible and long sunrises and sunsets. But if I thought they were long in Arendal, it was nothing compared to the 3 hour twilight we had in Northern Norway. The sun was only above the mountains for a little over a half hour during the day, but the light was pretty amazing without it.

On Sunday we went to the Baptism of my host dad's brother's son, which is the reason we went up there in the first place. It was a long day, with a big dinner (at 1 o'clock, when the sunsets of course) and 5 hours of travel back to Arendal. But at one point in the night, my host dad's dad told me to go outside right now and it would feel like I was near the North Pole. And that's the thing about being up there, you feel the high latitude in the air, and you see it in the light. I walked outside and between the low mountains and breeze against the Northern Atlantic Ocean, and the purple sky filled with stars, it felt like I was near the North Pole. I don't think many South Floridians of my age get to experience that. Of course, just being in Southern Norway I'm pretty far North, but you can't really tell the same way.

And on the plane to Oslo I saw the Northern Lights. At first it was just a green strip in the sky, but it got stronger and the aurora's were pretty incredible looking from the plane. And I found out later that the lights were particularly strong that night and could be seen as far south as Trondheim. Unless you're Norwegian that probably carries no significance to you. But it turns out most of my Norwegian friends haven't even seen them, so I guess I'm pretty lucky.

But in the end it was a very nice trip, and a pretty nice week. Things are going to start getting busier and busier soon, so I'm going to enjoy the next week or two where I have nothing to do but hang out in Arendal with my friends. It snowed while we were gone, and now there is a pretty significant amount of snow in town, and it's not even getting dirty in town, so everything is white. And by the looks of the weather, it's not going away anytime soon.

Until next week I guess?

Ellen