It seems as though I thought I had a lot to say, but now I can't remember it all. So it looks like this is going to be just another random posting again.

Raining like crazy and the sadistic Norwegian government still hasn't made it easy for me to pick up my raincoat. I think they would rather that I get constantly soaked enough that I'm convinced to leave their country, I hear they can be a bit wary of immigrants (I'm an immigrant! How strange.). And I still have a bit of a cold, but I get the impression that that is going to be a constant feature of my life here, just like the rain.

House drop-in last night was great. We had chicken mole! That's Mexican food! Ahhh it was so nice. And right after this posting I'm about to go eat my last bowl of either Cinnamon Toast Crunch or Easy Mac, I haven't decided yet. They say that smell is the closest sense tied to memory, and I believe it. Taste is closely associated with smell, so it makes sense to me that just the taste of food from home is enough to make me think I'm going to look up and be sitting at the dinner table with my family.

Sunday was one of the best Norwegian days I've had so far. I ran about 6 km total, into Flekke and back. It was about 75 degrees and incredibly sunny, and it felt so good just to get out and be active. There's a law in Norway that states that it is perfectly legal to walk around on any property (they are socialist so private property laws are a bit more relaxed than I'm used to). But because of that, I could walk around on a lot of land off the main road. I walked down a small hill to a brook that was the greenest place I've ever seen in my life. I don't think I understood the full meaning of "brook" until that moment, because the water really did sing and laugh over mossy rocks and tree roots. It was gorgeous. I took off my running shoes and just put my legs in the water, then had a nice drink of the water. If I learned anything from this experience, it was that one should drink as much natural water as possible. I think that water ranks among the top 5 best things I've ever tasted. And then, to top off my perfect day, I went down to a huge flat rock that juts out into the fjord and laid out in my swimsuit and read Philosophy. I think everyone could use more days like that.

Added a fifth language today! Now I'll officially be taking the 5 following languages in some form here on campus: English, Spanish, French, Norwegian, and Mandarin Chinese. Cool, right? Alright, maybe another post tomorrow or Thursday after the first year show! Hooray! Peace and love.