Happy birthday, Isabelle!

On a sunny day in July of 2011 I got a call from the administration at UiT. It was a call that was completely unexpected, but was greatly satisfying; I had been admitted to the clinical psychology program at UiT. I was extatic, jumping for joy in the hallways at the American College of Norway (where I worked as an International Student Advisor at the time). Oh, what a great day!  

As I came down from Cloud 9, I started thinking about the logistics of accepting the offer and moving to Tromsø. Was I really going to move to Northern Norway? The furthest North I had ever been in Norway was Trondheim. Tromsø was sooo far North. How would I get there? Where would I live?  So many thoughts were running through my head. 

Tromsø is about a 2-hour flight from Oslo. I quickly realized that the train doesn't go that far (I actually tried booking a ticket from Oslo to Tromsø on Nsb.no), and a quick Google Maps search told me that it takes about 24 hours to get there by car. Flying seemed like the only viable option. So I wrote down "Book flight to Tromsø" on my to-do list. 

The next thing was finding somewhere to live and someone to live with. I decided to try my luck and put up an ad on Hybel.no (kind of like a Norwegian Craigslist). I remember my friend, Kine, helped me with the ad. Those sorts of things are so awkward; "Hi, my name is Susanna... Uh... I consider myself a pretty fun person, want to live with me?" 

Thanks to Kine's wonderful writing skills, someone text me and was interested in living with me. Hurray! That someone was the fabulous Isabelle. We hit it off, and decided to find an apartment together. Isabelle is from a little town near Tromsø, so she could go apartment hunting for us. With her Northern Norwegian charm, she managed to find us a place right smack in the center of Tromsø. Score! I flew up up a month later, we bonded over an eight hour trip to IKEA (16 hours drive total), and have lived together since. 

Two and a half years have passed since Isabelle and I decided to become roommates. What she lacks in morning cheeriness, she makes up during the rest of the day (after having her coffee). I'm so happy to have met such a wonderful friend. One who loves to travel as much as I do, and has the funniest/weirdest sense of humor. Happy birthday, dearest Isabelle! 

Poor Isabelle had to spend her birthday traveling. On the bright side, she was traveling to New Zealand and got to spend time with Sydney and I. So it couldn't be all that bad, right?

The flight to Auckland went well. Sydney was on a different flight, and left an hour later. We were a little rushed because we got on a bus from Macquarie to the city that took FOREVERRR, but we all made it. There was no turbulance on the 2,5 hour flight and we didn't crash, and that always makes me happy. 

Once we got through customs at the airport, we realized that our phones didn't work. Silly us, we didn't contact Vodafone and set up roaming, so we don't have service. How were we supposed to know to do this? Anywho, we ended up getting a prepaid NZ sim-card. If you need to reach me, my number until April 22nd is:

+64273061800. You can also email or Facebook me. 

We picked up the rental car from a place near the airport. We'll be driving around in a fancy Nissan Pulsar 2000 until Sunday. Our first destination on our NZ road trip was Waitomo, approximately 180km/110miles from Auckland. Driving on the opposite side of the road went much more smoothly than expected. It was actually quite fun! Our 14 year old car had a new stereo system, so we were able to hook up our iPhones (which meant that we could sing Britney Spears and other 90s pop music from the top of our lungs). 

Though Isabelle has an impeccable sense of direction, we thought it would be best to have a little help. We followed directions from our handy GPS, Bertha. We decided Bertha was a very fitting name, seeing as it was Isabelle's birthday (haha, get it?). 

After about 2,5 hours in the car we pulled up to Juno Hall YHA, and were greeted by a somewhat passive aggressive hostel owner. He wasn't too happy that we arrived 20 minutes later than scheduled. I guess I would want people to be on time as well, if I was running a hostel. Next time we will be sure to call if we are late! Lesson learned. 

The room is nice. The three of us are staying in our own 4-bed room. Luxurious indeed! The curtains remind me of an old couch my Grandma used to have, and the rest of the place is like an old Norwegian cabin. Quite cozy. 

The birthday girl was tired after traveling. Sydney and I have decided that we are going to celebrate Isabelle tomorrow, too. Whether she likes it or not! We have to do something a little more spectacular for such a spectacular Isabelle. 

Tomorrow morning we're going on an adventure trip of the Waitomo Caves. We'll be rappelling/abseiling down cave walls, climbing waterfalls, and tubing down streamways. So excited! 

Good night from New Zealand! 

Love, 

Suzy