Skribling på veggen

And now for the final post in this "York diary - a girl's fantasy dream come true"....or not... At least not as dramatic as that. Of course, this has been like a dream and it has certainly been true, but I wouldn't take it as far as say it was my life's dream come true. A good part of it, but not the whole shebang. I've got a few other dreams that fall into that other 'dramatic' category.

Anyway, this final installment in York diaries is written on my mum's computer at home. The shiny Windows Vista is glistening in my face and I'm suddenly remembering why I don't like it. Don't trust everything that shines, the saying goes. Or something like that. But I digress. Yes, this is written at home, in Bardu, some eight hours after I landed on Tromsø Airport. I'm finally home.

It's both sad and not to actually be home again. It struck me how odd it were when people around me were speaking Norwegian instead of English! I certainly missed that, and I'm sure the odd English words and phrasings will come into my everyday language for the first few days. I certainly want to say things in English rather than in Norwegian, but to accommodate other people, I try to refrain. So far so good, at least.

I should probably do some summary on the past week, seeing as I haven't written anything since last Sunday. Forgive me if it seems short or less detailed, but there's just been a lot of impressions and I'm still jet-lagged, so I will probably not go on for long.

The week has once more been dominated by school, apart from that one day I had to stay home because I was ill. Yes, of course I was ill. I always get sick towards the end of my journey (mysteriously enough). Coincidentally, a few of the others in my group also got sick, so it might have been a bug going around. I refuse to believe in food poisoning or anything like that (although my mind certainly supplies a lot of hypochondric worst case scenarios). So the past few days haven't been the best of the trip, even though I was touched how people looked after me and were concerned for my health! It was really great to know people were around even though I was far from home.

We also had to do a project to be presented on Friday. My group got York Minster, the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was HUGE! I got a few photos, but none of them can do justice to the immensely beautiful architechture and sheer size of the cathedral. I'll have to look it up somewhere else if anyone want to see it. As a part of the project, I also attended an Evensong (smaller than the Holy Communion) to see how it differed from Norwegian services. Since this was an Anglican service, the choir (that day it was the boys' choir) dominated the service. It was truly wonderful singing! So pure, so beautiful. I only missed not being able to join in.

Apart from school, the last week was mostly spent watching football, discussing football, finding a few football pubs, and generally being sociable and out nearly every night. It was great! I really got to know people from my class (and from Oslo) better, and we had a wonderful time. Oh, and I got my 'historical photograph' taken with a few others. If I ever get to scan it, I will put it up, but for now I can reveal it had to do with Medieval costumes and background...

Right, I said this wouldn't be a long thing, so I'm ending it here. My feet are in a desperate need for a special bath! They've been following the lyrics of "These boots were made for walking" for two weeks, so it's long overdue!

Thanks to Bob and Claire of Adams House, York (if anyone's in the vicinity and needs a B&B - that's the place to go). Thanks to the great and wonderful teachers at the NSC for interesting and engaging lectures and seminars. And most of all, thanks to everyone from Tromsø and Oslo who made this trip a memory for life! Cheers, mates! It's been a wonderful trip!