In the beginning.....

Let's start with a quick introduction of me. I'm a vikinglady, soon to be in my late vikingtwenties (sigh). On a average vikingday in february 2009 I met a very tasty american boy who rocked my world and continues to do so on a daily basis, coming up on 2 years now. Matt has roots in Norway and is very interested in it's history, however much pillage-and plundering there may have been. He went to grad school at the same college as me for 2 years, minus one semester in Russia, and in that time he has probably learned more about my country then I know myself, mainly because he asks questions about things that I don't give a second thought; it's all part of my average viking life. Well, Matt introduced me to America, and all it's splendor, and more spesificly, Minnesota; the most norwegian state in all of the US. I've visited several times now, and I love it! I recently spent 3 months there, and after all this time among americans I've come to understand how proud they are of their heritage, and they are always hungry for more knowledge, so they ask. I try to answer as best I can, and hope that I'm not misleading anyone. Some questions stand out more than others, on the comical side. Like "do you still live in like, cavelike houses up in the moutains with goats and sheep and stuff?", which is by far the most outrageous one, and there are quite a few people who think Norway is a city in Sweden. For shame! A hairdresser once told me that "no, I've never heard of Norway, but maybe you know this one person I met once from Denmark?"..... There's really no good comeback to these inquires, so I mostly just let them pass and save my energy for the questions with some rational thought behind them.

The idea behind this blog started with these questions, and evolved further while I was still in the states this past fall. My (very pretty!) friend Shelby is always asking me (reasonable!) things about Norway; about the climate, education, welfare, laws, nature, shopping, northeren lights, worklife, food, yup, pretty much everything about the land of the north. Sometimes I really have to think about how to answer her questions, because some of the things that differ from american culture are things I never dwell on in my everyday life. Shelby also wants to visit Norway, after hearing all about it from Matt and another one of "the visitors"; Aaron Moline, who also spent a year in grad school way up by the arctic circle. So I started "collecting data" as soon as I got home. The neighbors have been spotting me all around the area, taking pictures and videotaping the most basic and random stuff that surrounds us every day. The result will be revealed in this blog, and I hope that if you are even remotely interested in average vikingness, you will be entertained:)