Holy moon.

My gosh. Tonight is the first time in my life that I've seen the moon in 3D without a telescope. My brain's been registering it in 2D this entire time.

What a treat.

I successfully made Gazpacho for dinner. It was a balmy 81.5 degrees out today which means my apartment will momentarily turn into a furnace.

Friday was an excellent walking day. I walked for a few miles for errands and to shake off the intentional failed exam yesterday morning. We can drop the lowest out of three, that was mine.

Ah yes, pre-final exam week. It's like the calm before the storm. My body is wearing itself out before it's getting its workout. I've paced around the apartment, did my homework, did lots of reading, played some music, cleaned, cooked, cleaned, did more reading, and thought a whole lot.

...and I went on the most wondrous bike ride too. It was my first ride in possibly 8 months. My body rejoiced. I sweated! I got the better half of a runner's high on my uphill way home. I absolutely can't wait to do it again.

But that's a bit of the problem for bursitis so I've contained myself from physical exercise for the next few days to be polite to my hip. It can be frustrating sometimes. We've had three solid weeks of beautiful weather and rolling around on the floor doing physical therapy exercises doesn't seem to be quite as fulfilling.

Departure to Svalbard is approaching. I've scoured the internet and discovered these fantastic links:

Longyearbyen

Svalbard

Longyearbyen

Yay!!! It snowed there over the weekend. I find packing most difficult when the weather is 180 of what it is at my current location. I am, however, definitely packing a swimsuit.

The last time I was there, I can't even remember if I knew we were going there beforehand. I went with my senile parental units and the Bigottos, whose father is actually as senile as my father. My father was the only one who went swimming that day. My warmest clothes were cotton socks, tennis shoes, and a cotton hoodie purchased during a summer trip to South Carolina. We didn't see any polar bears. Half of us crossed a "raging torrent" of a river via a very friendly Norwegian's back and discovered a multitude of large fossils. Then we had a cup of tea. I think Longyearbyen was the place where I ordered Arctic Char and received a menacing-looking fish with sharp, pointy teeth on a plate. I've wanted to go back ever since.

I think I'll bring a frisbee this time and ditch the cotton.


Here's a link to our trip from ages ago. We went via Greenland, Iceland, Lofotens to Svalbard. Don't worry, it's all photos.

North of Northern Europe

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