Back to reality...

Almost double rainbow across the lake from my house

This shall most likely be my last post for this blog, as I have returned to the real world, aka Nelson. It was definitely a shocker to come home, mostly because of the cultural difference but also the change in languages threw me off a bit. Here's some things that took a little getting used to:

* strangers making small talk or saying 'Hi' in passing on the street... in English! How crazy is that??

* not ignoring, or saying 'Go away', to people trying to sell me or give me something on the streets. In Europe, I won't ever see those people again, but in Nelson... probably not a good idea to tell someone off for giving out a pamphlet..

* speaking in the right language. At first I had to do a bit of mental sorting before I was sure that English would come out when I opened my mouth. 

* seeing people I know. Definitely not used to that while traveling around Europe!

* hearing my coworkers, or anyone for that matter, talking in English. I feel like I should eavesdrop just because I know the language, whereas in Switzerland I had no clue what was going on!

* working.. after 2 months traveling around Europe it was a bit shocking to get thrown back into working 3/4-ish time, soccer refereeing a few times a week, and working on a piano pedagogy course, but now (3 weeks later) I'm getting everything sorted out.

That's all I can think of for now, but I keep noticing little things that I wouldn't usually notice, for instance I was in a souvenir shop a few days ago with a friend who was looking for a present, and I immediately went straight to the post card rack (in Europe my souvenir thing was to collect post cards everywhere I went), before I realized that I didn't need to get a post card from my own town...

Here's a few highlights, in pictures, from my 8 months in Europe:

- Visiting family and a friend in Norway, where my roots are -  

My dad's cousins, Bjarne and Olav, in front of Bjarne's potato farm near Hamar 

Another of my dad's cousins, Frøydis, and her adorable granddaughter Solveig

:) Lauren and me on a hike above Arna, Norway, where she is living while on a rotary exchange (but not for much longer! Coming home next weekend!)

- Wandering around the Swiss Alps for 2 months -

- Living with a wonderful Swiss family for 5 months :) -

My second family, our landlady and me

- Paris in 36 hours - 

The Tower and I

- Snowboarding in the Austrian Alps -

- Cross country skiing the Engadin ski half marathon in St. Moritz, Switzerland -

Traffic jam on the first hill gave me a chance to whip out my camera and photograph a small selection of the 10,000 people in the race

- Clubbing in Zurich - 

The U of C crew! Miss all you guys!

- Working with amazing colleagues! -

Geri and I rejoicing in a successful camera-trap session in the Jura mountains coming to an end

- Visiting x-country skiing friends in a little town in northern France -

My friend's grandparent's beautiful stone house

Adriene and me :)

- Bike trip in southern France with Surya -

Memories for life <3

- Clubbing in Barcelona - 

Surya, our new friend Coop, Livy and me at Hyde Club in Barcelona

- Eating gazpacho ...

... and hiking ...

... in beautiful Cadaques, Spain -

- The steep, narrow cobblestone streets of Cadaques -

-The vineyards and views of Lausanne, Switzerland -

- Beer garden in Munich ...

... with Clara, a friend from back home au-pairing there -

- Getting lost in the canal streets of Venice -

- Beautiful Trieste and Duino in Italy -

Me, Livy and Surya at the Miramare Castle

Miramare castle

- The view from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence, Italy -

Panoramic view of the city, including the Duomo in the centre of this picture

Ponte Vecchio

- Leaning Tower of Pisa -

- Cinque Terre with the Swiss crew -

A great weekend with a bunch of U of C engineering students on internships in Switzerland

Manarola in the sunset

Sunset from Manarola

- Five-hour speed tour of Rome -

Trevi fountain and me

- Walking tour of Athens -

Amazing view of the city from the Acropolis

- Ios, the 'party island' -

After a night out we spent a relaxing day on the beach in beautiful sunshine

- Santorini, the last stop -

Annalea, me, Marlies, Angelinda, and Surya, in just one of countless jump shots

Oia

Mike (our Aussie dorm-mate), Surya and I at sunset at the highest point on Santorini, on my last night there :)

And to close off, here's a map of Europe and where I've been! The Switzerland dots aren't very accurate as the country is quite small, the dots are big, and I went to a lot of different places, but everything else should be pretty close to where I went! I guess London doesn't count since I only stopped at the airport for 2 hours, right?

Well, thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed my long, infrequent updates about working, traveling, and living life in Europe! 

So long for now (as Stuart McLean of the Vinyl Cafe would say), until the next adventure that is! ;)

Sonja :)