May Is Here

Today is the first of May and a holiday in Norway. They celebrate Labor day on the first, so everything is pretty much closed down for the day. The sky is overcast today and it was raining earlier on this morning, but I've always been a fan of rain, I just find it to be relaxing. The days are dwindling down until my departure and it's just amazing at how fast my time here has flown by. I'm leaving for home in about 2 weeks and I am ecstatic to get back. There are a ton of great things, opportunities, and people waiting for me back in Sioux Falls and Grand Forks and I can't wait to be wrapped up in all of it :) But until then, I'll soak up what's left of my journey here in Norway.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. I went to the Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo with some of the faculty from ACN. Steiner, The founder of the ACN, was good friends with Thor Heyerdahl, the man who headed the Kon-Tiki expedition, so he gave us a special tour of the museum. I hadn't heard about the Kon-Tiki expedition but what I learned I found to be very interesting. Thor Heyerdahl was a norwegian explorer who had studied geography and zoology. In 1947 he set out on a journey from South America to the Polynesian Islands. He and his team believed that the people of South America could have settled the Polynesian Islands before the Columbus-era. So, they built a a raft using only material and techniques that the people of that time would of had access to and sailed across the Pacific Ocean. The journey took 101 days until they reached the islands making their theory plausible. The museum was pretty incredible and they had the actual Kon-Tiki raft that the men used on display. When I heard that they used a raft I was thinking about something fairly small, but the raft they built was pretty epic haha. It was made from balsa wood which is incredibly light and floated in the water very well. Anyways, like I said before, Steiner was good friends with Thor Heyerdahl and his family and still keeps in contact with Heyerdahl's son Thor Heyerdahl Jr. (who is also an explorer). He was supposed to come down and visit with us but his wife was sick so he was with her, but he relayed a message to us saying that we could pick out any book we wanted from the gift shop and he would sign it for us and ship it to us later! I thought that was pretty cool. So when I get back to the states I'll be getting a book signed by a Norwegian explorer :)

Tuesday is the She & Him concert and I'm very excited. It's at a pretty small venue that holds about 200 people so it should be another great intimate concert experience :) After that it's just a few more days until I make my return home, and I can't wait. I keep saying this, but it's just so true. This trip to Norway has changed me and made me grow in ways I never thought possible. I used to be afraid of change and I was never very good at dealing with it, but this experience was all about change. It challenged me and pushed me, but the changes that I've experienced while here have been life altering so incredibly positive. This is an experience that I will never forget because it has played such a big role in who I have become. This was exactly what I needed in my life and I am forever grateful.