A breath of fresh air!

I realised that blogging while travelling is actually one of the hardest things ever. Especially when all I wanted was to get away for a while and enjoy my time with friends, by the end of the day, I was knocked-out and writing just seemed impossible. So I saved myself that, and decided to write when I am at my home away from home, a bit at rest.

This trip came about spontaneously, a few months ago I was not even planning on going anywhere this summer because what were the odds? I dreaded the holidays mostly because I thought I would just be doing a lot of school work and the only excitement would be working in the garden, atleast I would have that- I said to myself.

One day, I came home from school and had dinner with my host parents as usual when they suggested buying me tickets to visit some of my friends from the folk high school. I was startled! I couldn't believe that they had actually thought of me and how they often times noticed my low-spirits. After that dinner, I could not contain the excitement, I dropped everything and started asking some my friends who I really wanted to visit, and some who would have the possibility of hosting me, if I could visit them.

I started planning the trip, and stops and costs and everything. Hate to admit it, but I forgot my school work that entire week because I was suddenly looking forward to this new window in my life!

Few weeks fast forward, the first year of school was over and it was sad too because we said goodbye to one of our favorite teachers as she returned to Finland. Days went, and on a Friday morning, my hostmom drove me to the airport. So, off I went.

It was weird seeing so many people at the airport compared to the last time I was there, that was in December though and the COVID-19 situation was different. Plus, it was the summer break after and since travelling outside the country was possible, people were fleeing to some of the safest travel destinations.

The flight from Kirkenes to Oslo usually takes two hours and fifteen minutes and I sat with my eyes closed, listening to music and thought about how I really wanted to forget about school work for a while, just enjoy my time with my friends and focus on the now (then).

Getting all comfortable in the seat was not an option for me because I sat in the middle. We had face masks on, but it was still uncomfortable being squeezed in the middle. I tried my best not to move, and tried to read a Norwegian book I took along which eventually made me nauseas, so I had to sit still.

It had been almost over a year since I saw most of my friends from the folk high school, and I was really excited when we landed in Oslo. Suddenly I was around more than a hundred people, suddenly there were different and interesting people (not that people in the north are not, but one gets used to things when we live in a place for too long). So it was good to get away, because coming back made me realise how unique things are up here, and how I actually would live in the north, if I decided to live in Norway after my studies.

Walking into the airport or walking off the plane has it's own vibe, it's own atmosphere that I'm pretty sure everybody can relate to. Imagine this, all kinds of people walk down the staircase and all I see is characters, artists, models... the idea is that everyone suddenly picks up an idea of how they see themselves as they exit the plane. It's weird speaking for everyone else so let me discuss this in terms of how I see it, that will be less confusing.

Sometimes when I walk off the stairs, I feel like an important person, almost immediately I get pictures of presidents walking into the airport and something about me changes as I walk into the buiding from the plane. No, I don't pretend to be higher than everyone, it's more of a nicer thing because sometimes I make eye contact with people who look like they are rolling on clouds, catwalking or on a yacht, and I know that face when I see one.

Recently I came across a quote about walking into an airport and having that walk, like you are the only you that will ever exist and you take pride in that. It wasn't that deep, that was just my way of putting it because in other words thats what the quote meant.

Anyway, I got the the airport and waited for my baggage. Funny enough, I had a huge plastic bag around my bag so that the travel backpack wouldn't be ruined. Once again, my mind has a weird way of thinking about some things because after I wrapped my bag up in that plastic bag, I convinced myself that I was an important traveller with important baggage and that is why I was being extra. The only problem is that nobody was bothered, I didn't even have to convince myself of anything, in addition, the people at the airport had probably things much worse than that!

It took about ten minutes or so after landing and getting my baggage that I finally walked over to my dear friend, Ayla. Mind you, while waiting for my bag at the baggage retrieval or so its called, I observed everyone around me, trying to imagine where they were headed to. Grouping them into families, loners, friend-groups and tourists. I went as far as observing how some of them never took their eyes off of their phones, and how others ran their mouths because they were talking to another person that they were really close to- rather comfortable around. The intention was not to be judgemental, or simplify people, but now that I think of it, it was weird of me to stand there and pretend like those people were faceless creatures that could be categorized like objects just for my own pleasure. But then again, I'm pretty sure I was not the only one doing that right there...

After getting my bag, I headed to the exit with the mask still on my face and I swear my eyes almost popped out when I spotted Ayla. It had been sooo long, and even though we texted each other once in a while, send mail or had streaks on snap, it was way better to hang in person! The COVID-19 police are probably going to kill me for this one, but as soon as we saw each other, we ran and did that classic airport hug, totally amazing.

Soon we were blabbering on about how long ago it had been and I got a compliment in between about how good I had gotten at speaking Norwegian. I smiled and thanked all the northerners who'd ever taught me a word and mostly the dialect, and big ups to my host family who kept it a hundred always- what that mean?

It was weird because the last time we spoke, I was still getting by with my broken Norwegian and English and now I was having a whole-a** conversation in Norwegian! For me on the other hand, it was a whole new world to hear her dialect properly. Back then I would focus on understanding the message, instead of focusing on the dialect- now I could actually hear dialects and guess which part of Norway someone came from. It's insane!

Another thing was that I realised how switching from one language to another can open up a whole new world, I mean I already knew this but it hits different when you have a friend whom you mostly communicate with in one language and suddenly you learn their language- it's like you join their world. I felt this before too, but now that my Norwegian was on a different level and we mostly spoke Norwegian, I started reflecting on it.

We bought some ice-cream and drove to a small town/village outside Oslo. It took us about four or five hours because the traffic was insane, but it gave us ample time to catch up and joke and laugh. It felt good to be with a friend, to be in a different state. I discovered so much about myself all over again, you know, growth. How when you're static you don't think about how much you've grown as a person because you can't see outside the circle you're in and suddenly you step out and can watch from a distance, you get a whole new perspective. That was me. I can't recall how many times a part of me left and watched me from outside, knowing that I would be just fine. That part of me that always sits on my shoulder and nags about 'oh what if you'll say the wrong thing?', or ,'nooo, don't say that', or,'omg you can't speak to people'. She was gone.

That evil little me sat somewhere far off in the distance and watched as I laughed and made mistakes and laughed again because everything was hilarious. At some point we saw a man sitting on his bike weirdly with his legs all strectched out and we went insane. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if it was really funny or we were just exhausted!

The new landcape and scenery did good, time and again I realised how good it was for me to be there. Even though I travelled a lot while I was at the folk high school, this experience was different. Not because I was in the south and not because I was travelling alone, well, those are just some of the reasons. But the main reason it was different this time around was because I didn't feel like a toddler who hardly had anything to say.

I didn't use most of my time and energy trying to understand what people around me spoke about nor did I have the brains to remember all the names of the places we visited. Just the other day I was telling Simo how I've seen so many places the first year I got here. The only difference is that the memories I have of those places feel ages ago when I was still a toddler and I wasn't quite acquainted with my surroundings.

Before we pulled up in the driveway, I kept joking about how I wanted Ayla to drive me back to the airport because I was nervous about meeting her parents. My request was granted and we spent another five hours driving back to the airport, only to realise that I hadn't booked my ticket that same day so she left me at the airport and drove back home, vowing never to pick me up at an airport again.

Turns out, we never drove back. As soon as I met her parents, my worries melted away along with that little devil who usually sits on my left shoulder and I knew that my stay would be amazing. I must say, there are only so many luxuries in the world such as knowing that you click right away with the people you're visiting and it immediately feels like home. Makes me want to scream how 'home is where the heart is', is such an underrated phrase. Or is it overrated and people sort of made it's meaning less? I'm not always sure which one is more approprite.

I've decided to write an on-going article about my two week travel as it would take the longest post in the world to share everything I learned and did during those two weeks. So I'll try and split it into days then focus on a topic and write around that so that it's also easier to follow with.

Thank you so much for your patience, and your endless support, it really keeps me going. Brace yourself for some of the most heartwarming stories, wonderful people and beautiful pictures courtesy of yours truly.

Love, Queen

#blogging #travelling #norway #europe #summerbreak #oslo #writer #lover #food #friendship