Student Stories

It’s strange for me to be still posting about my time in Norway even though I’m back home in Washington.  My last few days in Norway were a bit of a whirlwind so only now have I had time to write about those last few precious days.

My dad and I left Trondheim Friday morning accompanied by one of our cousins(?) and his wife.  They traveled with us as far as Singsås, where they showed us the old farm site my Norwegian ancestors lived on before immigrating to the United States.  We also visited the original Singsås church where some of my relatives are buried.  The surnames within the graveyard are an almost perfect copy of those in the graveyard at Singsas church near my hometown of Hendricks, MN — or, rather, the names in Minnesota are an almost perfect replication of those in Norway.  It’s interesting that those who came from the same area of Norway ended up settling in the same area of America.  I’ve never felt as close to my Norwegian heritage as I did when I stood on that farm site.  It was a defining moment in the history of who I am.

From Singås we traveled to Røros, where we stayed with another of our distant relatives.  Much like the family we’d stayed with in Trondheim, they, too, were wonderful, generous hosts, leading us on tours around town, taking us on a trip to their cabin, and, of course, serving a wide variety of delicious food.  (That sentence may have been a little comma heavy.)

We started off with a tour of Røros.  All the buildings in Røros are designed to look very old.  Some of them are actually very old, dating back to the 17th and 18th Centuries when Røros was a major mining town, but most are simply designed to look that way to preserve the old-timey feel.  Mining activity continued around Røros until 1977 as evidenced by the massive piles of slag on the edge of town.  I climbed the highest one but because somebody *cough* dad *cough* didn’t take a picture of me standing triumphantly at the top, alas, I have no proof.

On Saturday they took us out to their hytte for a day of hiking, pellet guns, eating, and relaxation.  The hytte is on an island in the middle of Femund, Norway’s third largest lake, so we had to take a boat to get to it.  The landscape surrounding the hytte was stunning and with no electricity or running water, it really felt like we were one with nature.  I felt so in tune with nature that I went swimming in the lake.  It was colder than Songsvann and colder than Oslo fjord but still just as refreshing.  We also went for a short hike to an old farmstead and bridge built by the Germans during World War II.  Unfortunately, the unending blueberries around the trail weren’t quite ripe yet so I had to wait until we were back at the hytte for something more substantial to eat — a stew traditionally served at weddings and funerals in Trøndelag.  Though it was one of the simplest meals, consisting only of potatoes, carrots, broth, and lamb meat, it was by far one of the tastiest.  After an entire day of taking in the best Norway has to offer, we had a pretty chill evening.  We ordered pizza and watched Armageddon with Norwegian subtitles.

The next day we had to leave for Oslo, but not before we toured the old Røros copper mine, smelting hut, and church.  It was about 5° C (41° F) down in the Copper mine so I brought a light jacket.  The smelting hut was interesting but the best part about it were all the elaborate models illustrating the mining processes.  They were engineering feats in and of themselves with working water wheels, pumps, and what must have been a million tiny pieces of lumber all fit together in intricate structures.  The Røros church was impressive but it was more just one of those things I went to just to see and be able to say I saw it.  It’s amazing how much in that town depended on the copper mining industry.  Even the church has the copper mine’s seal on it.

After a morning filled with activity and another excellent lunch, we finally had to say good-bye so we could make it to Oslo for our flights leaving the next day.  Apart from getting stuck in construction traffic for about an hour, it was an uneventful drive.  I even drove the second half of the trip but I made sure to switch the navigation system to English before doing so.  I kind of missed the German voice, though.

There isn’t much more to say.  I’ll be writing one more post describing my flights home and summarizing my entire time in Norway.  Stay tuned.  -NLD