California Summer

Hege and Sally busy crab hunting at Venice Beach. Summer has finally arrived.

Sunny, Warm California

17 May in Seattle

Celebrating Norway's Constitution Day in Ballard, the Scandinavian neighbourhood of Seattle, was a bizarre experience. The place was booming with Norwegians living or visiting Seattle, Americans with Norwegian heritage and other Americans curious to see what it was all about. The dress code varied from the traditional bunad to viking and troll costumes.  The scale of the festivities surprised me; there must have been thousands of people there to watch the parade that lasted over two hours.

There were various things going on from about 11am until 8pm. These people are listening to a male choir of Norwegian-Americans singing in Norwegian. The songs were supposed to be traditional , but besides the national anthem, I had not heard a single one of them before. 

Usually rainy Seattle surprised everyone with temperatures in the 20s and sun.

There were a lot of Scandinavian, Nordic and Norwegian clubs participating in the parade.

All the local schools participated and we had some great marching band performances.

I met two Swedish and Finnish girls on the train to Seattle, and they decided to join me celebrate.

Norwegian soda. Unfortunately, no one was selling Norwegian sweets.

My very Scandinavian lunch. 

Dagfinn Høybråten, a prominent Norwegian politician, was also there to celebrate.

Biking Minneapolis

Lovely bike trip. Lovely people. Lovely weather. Lovely Minneapolis.

Lake Harriet, one of Minnesota's many lakes. The temperature went from 6 Celsius to well over 20 in mere hours, and the locals knew how to take advantage. People were riding their bikes, tanning, walking, playing ball games and simply enjoying being outdoors after a long winter.

Minneapolis is a very green city. There are several parks and green areas to enjoy.

On my bike trip I saw garage sales everywhere; the locals seemed to take great pleasure in them.

Nordic skiing is not so common outside of Scandinavia, but I saw several pairs of Nordic skis at the various garage sales.

These girls where selling lemonade and homemade chocolate chip cookies,  just like in the movies!

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota is the land of 10 000 lakes,  and I am about to go see if I can locate three of them. I have borrowed a bike, the sun is out and the temperature is expected to hit 20 Celsius. My only concern is to find the bike path.

A lot of Scandinavians settled in this Minnesota, and most people in the region has some Scandinavian blood in them. Maybe moose-in-sunset painting is genetically determined?  

Cool Milwaukee

Milwaukee is a cool city, both in terms of its weather and its vibe.

People: Milwaukeeans are so friendly and polite. “You only need to use internet for a few minutes? Well, I guess I cannot charge you for that” and "Let me help you with your bag mam, you want me to carry it up the stairs?"

Food: Milwaukee is known for beer and cheese, so I obviously ate beer and cheese soup, which was not as bad tasting as it sounds. I guess someone had the brilliant idea of combining their two favourites one day. And I also scoffed down some frozen custard, a local specialty fairly similar to ice cream.

Weather: The locals joke about Milwaukee having a ten-month winter, and it is not very far from the truth. The weather was pretty miserable while I was there – foggy, rainy and cold – but I still found the city worth a visit.

What’s there: Art, museums, theatre, music and beer. Milwaukee has several local beer breweries, and more museums and theaters than I could count. It is a great city to walk in, with manageable distances and some great buildings. I particularly enjoyed some of the suburbs, with their stunning houses from the early 1900s.

Despite the miserable weather, there were definitely promising signs of spring.

Indoor food market with all kinds of yummy stuff.

Wisconsin is the cheese state. Can you spot the greatest cheese of them all in this picture?

The people I stayed with had two beautiful cats. Unfortunately most of my photos with them are saved in the camera memory, meaning I cannot get them off till I find a USB cable that fits.

Chicago: Take Two

It is cold. And windy. My second trip to Chicago has not been quite as I envisioned it, mainly due to a sudden weather change. I had been planning to stroll the streets of Chicago, wearing flimsy spring clothing,  simply enjoying late spring. Unfortunately, strolling had to be replaced by fast walking, bordering on running, to stay warm. And instead of a tan, I have wind burn.

But the food was good. And so was the company. Pauline and I have managed to eat Chinese, Japanese,  Greek and Chicagoan cuisine in the few days we have been here. The NKU cafeteria food is just a faint memory by now. 

Enjoying famous Chicago-style pizza at Giordano's. While usually quite pricey, they have deep-dish pizzas from approximately 6 dollars between 11-3pm. 

Chicago is known as the Windy City. It definitely lives up to its name. 

On the Road Again

First stop Chicago. Then Milwaukee, followed by Minneapolis and a number of small cities in South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana,  before ending in Seattle/Vancouver. I am hoping to use about two weeks on my mission across the Midwest; I have only booked bus tickets as far as Minneapolis, and will be winging it from there.

As I am not returning to Cincinnati, I have to carry stuff with me that I normally would not bring on a trip like this, such as my fairly heavy laptop. On the plus side, this means that there will be more blogging. As long as there is internet access in the Midwest.

Pauline, a French exchange student from NKU, is joining me on the first leg of the trip. We are currently on the bus to Chicago, where a fellow traveller was kind enough to lend me his wireless internet device, as Megabus’ network is down.

College Days

My American college life is almost over. All that remains is to hand in a few assignments and pack up my room. It has been a fun couple of months, but I am ready to move on. My entire world these past months has been the NKU campus. Besides my trips to Miami and Chicago, I have only left NKU a few times to go the movies or to get my hair cut. Not that I have been in need of anything, the campus really is a small world in itself, but I think if stay here any longer I will go a little crazy.

The NKU campus, with its beautiful gray buildings. Spring definitely improved the rather dull-looking campus though, with its flowers and greenery.

One of NKU's many fine dog sculptures. I think they are a part of a student art project, but I am not completely sure. Some of them are cute, while others are downright creepy.

Creepy: They are placed in various locations around the campus lake, and look real enough to give you a fright after dark.

I am sick of the cafeteria food, which tend to vary greatly in quality. Since I am living in a dorm without a full kitchen, I have to have a meal plan. With my meal plan I can eat 15 meals a week  at the college diner. The food was great the day this picture was taken and the theme was "breakfast at night".

I think the staff is a little overworked  at the moment. The conveyor belt concept is clearly not working, as the dishes pile up quicker than they can remove it.