A Student of Life

On every whale safari people come to me asking if I am in Norway as part of a student exchange programme or if I am here to study whales...I try to be the most polite possible in my answer, but the truth is that I go crazy every time I hear the same question!uffff I am a student of life people, ok? I may look young (oh boy, maybe I do look really young!), but I'm 23 and ready to make a living out of my knowledge! Of course, you don't always know everything, but that is one of the wonders of life! So, the moral here is: Never judge a book by its cover and we are all students of life!

in mood for love and sunflowers

Although Noway has a breath taking landscape, it is very often that the weather is not on your side and you have to enjoy a not so panoramic view from the windows. It is quite alright though, it fills you with a great romantic feeling of staying inside, having some tea and just relaxing. It is time to hear your own thoughts, to hear your heart beat and explore the limits of your mind! Some crazy thoughts drop by, but I try to keep things flowing and set the mind free. I glass of while would be very welcome, if I wasn't taking antibiotics!But that's a whole other story...In the meantime, I just wonder how the Sun affects my mood, which brings me to the sunflower topic!!!It is a lot of fun watching the effect of extra 5º in the temperature on people. The layers of clothes change, the colors also change, but mostly people change as well!Somehow, on every trip that is warm and sunny, people lay down and just turn towards the Sun! I am no different. I love Sun, I love the warmth, I love how it makes you feel like staying outside the whole day just walking and going out with friends (typical portuguese)!So, whenever I can, I am a sunflower (not an onion anymore!), just facing the Sun and relax as its rays touch my skin and make my cells shake with delight.

Today however, the Sun seems to be hiding in an almost perfect way. Over the grey clouds and heavy rain, it is waiting for the right moment to allure us to the streets and out to great walks! It is not so bad though...I like the feeling of looking outside and listening to the rain. It is such a romantic and deep feeling!!!

Well, well...I just noticed that all I have been writing was about the weather! what a cliché! Anyway, it does affect us all in different ways, but it is still good to experience friendship and love with all kinds of weather and learn how to deal (and have fun) every time!

I am an onion!

Similarly to the famous movie "Shrek" , I would like to say that since I arrived to Norway I am an onion. Let me explain:

As a child I never liked using tights (collants) and as an adult I should say that I was glad to live in a country where even in the Winter I didn't have to use them. Now that I am in Norway I never wore so many clothes in my life...As an example, here's what I'm wearing today:

tights

underpants

socks

thicker socks

trousers

boots

undershirt

another undershirt

sweatshirt

polar jacket

water and wind jacket (double layer)

gloves

cap

What about that hum? It's amazing when you want to use the toilet!

And the funny thing is that, once I am at sea looking out for the whales I am still cold!!!!!

Although I am cold, during the minutes that we do have a great sighting of a whale, dolphin or seal, the cold seems to go away. BUT right after that, it seems even colder than before!

So, where we have some pictures that warmed my heart when my body was freezing :P

So far, the weather hasn't been very good, so the trips are not so frequent...Today we are going out, so cross your fingers for me for good weather, south wind and many sightings!!!

adventures

Well, well,well...After the magnificent trip, I got to meet the small village of Stø. There truly isn't anything out here. No shops, no markets, no post office, nothing. The closest shop is an IKA supermarket and it's over 7km far...Not that this is a problem, but of course I need to take a 5€ bus everytime I need to buy some food, and that isn't always easy to do. Apart from that, I have been moving in and out of houses/caravans and today I'm moving for the last time, I hope. Also, the trips have been going well, some better than others of course. When people get terribly sea sick (even with the tablets!!!), then the trip becomes unbearable... It is very hard to run all around the boat helping people, cleaning, and making sure there are nice animals for them to see as well. It is hard, but so far I've been managing ok. I just keep my fingers crossed before every trip so the sea state is good and people don't get sea sick. Although the last trip was really the most horrible in terms of sea sickness and excitement from the passengers, it was the best for observations. We had some wonderful sperm whale flukes, harbour seals, gannets, and in the end I caught a glimpse of a beautiful orca male's dorsal fin :) yey for that! I also found out what happened last year with the fin whales, and why there weren't even close to the numbers of previous years. They came up north! As I hear from other guides, there were never as many fin whales and pilot whales up here as in the last year. Soooooo, that's what happened!!!! Today we have no trip, the weather is bad, but tomorrow hopefully we'll go out again and maybe I'll see the killer whales again!

Where all the fun begins!!!

As I promised, there will be more frequent posts about my adventures in Norway :)

I arrived yesterday in Oslo and could already have a pretty good idea on how beautiful this country is. There is green everywhere and you get the feeling that this place brings real peace and tranquility to people. After that delightful moment, I was forced to hurry up to check in again for my next flight. Lucky me....the flight was delayed. As the plane took off I was able to see chances in the sky. I left Oslo with a Sunset and arrived in Evenes with a perfect sky similar to what we usually have in the afternoon. Truly a midnight Sun!

Suddenly, my eyes were completely overwhelmed with images like the one on the bottom. Absolutely amazing, worthy of Lord of the Rings landscape ratings!

I was exhausted, but the light didn't let my system shut down, no matter how hard I would close my eyes! After I got out of the plane, panic came along. I had nowhere to go, there were no buses to the town I was supposed to go and I had to go somewhere else and sleep! Finally, I got to a hostel and slept. The next day, I was picked up and met everyone on the team! I was very welcome by everyone, but unfortunately the weather was bad so we couldn't go out to the Fjords or to sea. Maybe tomorrow!

Crazy week!

After such a crazy week I feel ready to write on my blog again. For the few readers that actually follow the blog, I will summarize my accomplishes and my obstacles for the days I went missing. For those who don't follow the blog, just try to keep up,ok? So, I heard that my skipper's exam was delayed once again. After saying everyday that I'm leaving on the 10th and I really really really have to take the test earlier than that, the school booked the exam for the 26th...I was in total shock! This was absolutely one of the worst thing someone has done to me. After long negotiations and talking with everyone from the school to fix this, the exam was re-scheduled once again, but this time for the 6th of June. Yey for me!!Apparently I'll be doing the exam with another girl,and that's it. The rest of the class is not ready and their exam remains booked for the 26th...Ufffff What a relief,hum? With all the craziness going, I had to keep studying for the exam and, as usual, I didn't take my laptop with me (it's a major distraction!). The result was that every night I had tones of emails from my boss asking for a translation of a part of the company's website in portuguese and italian! The italian part I had to ask a friend to do it, so I also had to email her to check things and to make sure I wasn't taking too much of her time...Well, here's how it turned out: http://arcticwhaletours.com/ There's a picture of me on the website which I hope to replace when I get to Norway and take a better one. I have absolutely no photos at all where I look professional! All my field photos are just messing around with friends and that kind of stuff :) I hope you enjoy exploring the website and hopefully you'll drop by when I'm already working as a guide!

As you can see, it wasn't all bad things! I also got the chance of going to the theatre with a friend to see a comedy & improvisation play (is it still a play if it is all improvised?). It was amazing! Aaaand I got an extra ticket by going to facebook during the play and writting where I was and what I was seeing! So, on Sunday I'm going back there! I also took a boat driving lesson! I felt like I was born to do it :) It was a verrrrry small boat, but driving it was great! And on Sunday I'm going again, but this time in a larger boat!

Wish me luck!

everyday mistakes

I just found out that the guy I told you about in my previous post is far from being the guy I'm going to meet! I got the chance of talking with the guy I'm actually going to meet and it was really embarrassing for me just trying to make a joke about our birthdays and finding out that his birthday is far from being the same as mine. The other guy is still an inspiration though!

Now, changing the subject; today is really hot in Lisbon!!! Unfortunately, I cannot enjoy this warmth very much because this is the worst time of the year for people that have allergies! Pollen is out there, flying like crazy, accompanied by something similar to cotton buds that, of course, comes out of trees and make the eyes sting and the nose start running. This time of the year is great to go to the beach, where there are few people and none of these things, but it is horrible if you have allergies and have to go around town.

This weather thing is going crazier and crazier every year...Climate change at its best!

This reminds me, I really need to start looking for warm clothes to bring to Norway... A nice jacket will have to do, or my suitcase will be filled with warm clothes and nothing else! I wonder how cold it will be there...I'll be working out there in the sea, so I reckon it will be much much colder than in inland. I heard feather jackets are the best, but I need to start looking around before making any judgments on the warmest clothes I can get here in Portugal. And that is another thing...in Portugal we don't have much cold, at least as cold as the summer in Norway I think, so it will be a challenge to find clothes that fit that kind of weather. Maybe during the weekend I'll start shopping. It's crazy when you're going to a different country and you need to be fully equipped for what's coming, but the problem is that you can never be 100% sure of what you're going to need! Let's hope it all goes for the best for me.

I wonder how my friend's chicken is doing? :P