Heat Wave

Over the past week, Bergen has been experiencing quite the little heat wave.  Temperatures have been in the upper 70's and with no air conditioning, my room has felt like an oven.  But I don't want to complain too much, because a week straight of sunshine was just what I needed to fall in love with this little city!  Everyone keeps telling me to enjoy this while I can since it is highly unlikely to have such great weather for an extended amount of time again.  I've been doing my best to take advantage of the sunshine with the Bergen International Festival, hiking, and the aquarium!

Wednesday marked the first day of the two week long Bergen International Festival.  During the two weeks, there are numerous plays, concerts, dances, and other happenings.  I'm hoping to attend the play A Midsummer Nights Dream next weekend.  It'll most likely be in Norwegian, but I think it would still be fun to watch.

Stage set up in the center of town.  Here an orchestra plays.

Friday after work, two of the guys on my hall and I decided to hike to the top of one of the mountains and have a BBQ!  The weather was perfect -- not too hot and plenty of sunshine.  We left around 5:30 and got back at 10ish and thanks to Bergen's high latitude, the sun was out entire time.  

 View looking on the opposite side of the mountain from where I live.  Off in the distance is the airport.

 My side of the mountain.

Me on the way up!

 Our little BBQ grill.  You buy these at the grocery store and they're good for 2 hours or so.  It was pretty nifty.

 Grilling hot dogs and chicken/pork kabobs.

View from the very top!  It was gorgeous.

On Saturday, a friend and I embarked on a trip to Bergen's aquarium.  She had already been and warned me that it wasn't anything to be too excited about.  Man was she right!  It was so TINY and only had a few animals.  But one of the animals it did have were PENGUINS.  A long time favorite of mine, I was excited to see them.  Plus we got to watch one of the keepers feed them whole fish.  It was cute. 

 PENGUINS.

 Me cheesing with some penguins behind me.

Finally, I want to end with a giant thank you to my parents for sending me the best care package ever.  You have no idea how much I've been missing my Peter Pan peanut butter!  Norway's version pales in comparison to the perfect Peter Pan version.  Also the hot chocolate will come in handy because the temperature is expected to drop a little this upcoming week.  Thank you! <3

Granola bars, hot chocolate, and PEANUT BUTTER.