May 30, 2010
Today is our first day with a host family. For our first visit, Nicole and I have been placed with Majvi Schjødt Larsen (pronounced Moyri). She is in fact not a Rotarian but the niece of a Rotarian who was supposed to host us but is out of town on vacation to Stravbad. We are actually staying at Aud Schjødt Fredricksen’s house, which is a cute little old house built by her father in 1956. The house has stayed in the family through the years and her mother, the living matriarch of the family, lives in an apartment on the second floor. The house is divided into two apartments with two bedrooms and two bathrooms each. We are on the top floor of the house – which was fun to carry our heavy bags up the narrow spiral staircase – where there are two bedrooms and one toilet. The shower is on the ground floor and there is an additional shower-only bathroom in the basement for guests. The house can best be described as eclectic. Aud Schjødt Fredricksen is obviously a well-traveled woman who has collected souvenirs from around the world. She has crammed everything into her living room, so it feels homey but a bit like you are in a museum. Instead of a couch, she chose to buy six lounge chairs and then place them in a circle so all the guests can be comfortable and talk to one another face to face. It doesn’t look like she has any kids of her own, but her niece lives about 6 km away.
When we first got here, we spent an hour talking to Majvi about Norway and the United States. She wanted to hear about the problems we have in the States, saying that while Norway has its fair share of issues, it makes her feel better to hear about other people’s problems instead. We talked about everything from the prevalence of guns (there are none in Norway) to abortion and the death penalty, the healthcare reform and political divide within the country. In Norway, Majvi said the main problems are the education system and the fact that the students are not well-educated, that the jails are perhaps too lenient and that kids are a status symbol here but the parents are not raising them to be responsible, courteous and good. Interestingly, in Norway, the government gives each family a gift of 30,000 NOK for having a kid and then the mother is not allowed to work until the child is at least one year old. Instead, she is paid about 3,000 NOK a month as a salary. She can then choose to continue receiving this salary until the child is 2 years and 11 months old. Apparently, the more children you have in Norway the better status you have since the country needs more citizens and encourages the population to have children. Another interesting fact is that Norwegians do not carry guns unless they do hunt elk or moose in some parts. Even the police officers do not carry guns although they may have a gun locked in their vehicle in case it is needed. During our entire time in Bodø, we have actually not seen any police officers.
After settling into our rooms, which were as eclectic as the downstairs living room, we met up with the group for lunch before an afternoon hike. Many Norwegians hike during the summertime and today we decided to climb Keiservarden. Majvi actually lives at the base of the mountain and often times leaves her house to climb up to the top as her workout for the week. The climb up the mountain took about an hour, with stops along the way to see the city of Bodø and some surrounding towns. The top of the mountain is actually a popular spot for local residents since they occasionally host concerts up there. No concerts during our visit though! It was pretty chilly outside today, hard to believe this is their summer!
After a short break at home to change, it was time for our first boat ride and what better christening than aboard Faxsen, a boat that was born in 1916! Our captain for the evening is the grandson of the man who bought the boat and today, the restoration and maintenance is funded by a private foundation. Our trip today is to Bliksvær, a cluster of islands about an hour and half out to sea from Bodø. We boarded the ship at 8 pm and immediately started adding more layers of clothing. I was wearing a long sleeved shirt, a fleece, a vest and two jackets, plus gloves and a warm hat and freezing the entire time! The first leg of the trip was windy and a bit rough but it wasn't until we stopped outside of the islands to attempt to fish for cod that things got really rocky. The boat started swaying as the captain turned on the sonar to try and find a few schools of fish. We probably fished for 10 minutes but only managed to catch two cod fish. We then pulled into a dock under the "Welcommen to Bliksvær" sign, where our crew helped us disembark into what looked like an old empty barn. There, on two wooden picnic benches, we sat and waited for dinner.
Dinner was a bucket of shrimp! The crew threw three huge buckets of shrimp, three smaller trash buckets, loaves of bread, tubes of mayonnaise and some utensils, paper plates and napkins on the table. Immediately, the guests started digging in, grabbing handfuls of shrimp and starting to break off the head, peel back the skin and prepare their shrimp. Norwegians then explained that they take a piece of white bread, cover it with mayonnaise and add the shrimp on top. A final squirt of lemon finishes off the sandwich and then the process starts again. Each guests was also alloted two units of either beer, white wine or a non-alcoholic beverage. The meal ended up with one of the Swedes starting a chant and his friends cheering with their aquavit shot. "Skol!" Aquavit is a Norwegian liquor made out of potatoes and is very much an acquired taste.
After cleaning up, we started heading back and did indeed catch the Midnight Sun before it hid behind a looming cloud. We pulled up to the Bodø docks at 1:30 am and didn't waste any time walking home and climbing under the warm wool blankets in our beds!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Grand Prix celebration in Bodø!
May 29, 2010
Our second day in Bodø started with perhaps the most delicious mug of hot chocolate ever, Norwegians know their chocolate! Today was the second of our travel rest days and we kicked off the morning in search of a laptop adapter. Interestingly, electronic stores in Norway sell converters from Norwegian to US but not from US to Norwegian. The store clerk did figure out an alternative though and I bought a mickey mouse cord for only 35 NOK. I can now stay connected throughout the trip!
Richard and Wenche Lindal, perhaps our best friends in Bodø, picked us up for a Norwegian lunch. We visited a small restaurant called Formers Stue or Grandma's Dining Room. The inside of the restaurant was designed to look like Grandma's house including a living room, dining room and kitchen. Each room was decorated with old wallpaper, lace curtains, handmade dollies and of course, antiques throughout. Lunch was delicious and our party tried several Norwegian favorites including an open-faced burger, a brown cheese crepe and my selection, vegetarian pie.
After lunch, we met up with Per Vasshaug and a British-born Norwegian Edward Pegg. Edward has lived in Norway for the past 40 years after leaving Britain for the beauty of the Norwegian coast and of course, love. "There's always a girl," he explained. We decided to meet on the top floor of the County Building, which was great because of the panaromic view of the coastline. The goal for this afternoon meet up was to talk more about Norway and to answer any questions we might have about the country as we kick off our month-long stay. Over the next hour, we learned a lot about the country and the city of Bodø.
Norway is a country of 4.8 million and is located between 48 and 71 degrees north. In Bodø, we are already above the Artic Circle but sadly, because we crossed the line by airplane, it is not considered being baptized. Norway is about 1700 km in length, with Bodø being the approximate half way mark. Norway borders three countries: Finland, Sweden and Russia. Norwegians are very savvy negotiators and in fact, over 45 years ago negotiated with the English on the boundaries of the sea and took ownership of more than 75 percent of the sea between the two countries. Conveniently, the North Sea later was found to be home to oil so Norway became a very rich country because of that find. Border negotations for the waterways between Russia and Norway have been ongoing for 40 years, with Norway wanting the border to be half way and the Russians wanting a section line instead. Norway and Russia finally agreed on a border last year and the result is a compromise.
Norwegians initially settled along the coastline and the Sami people chose the inland area. Today, there are still about 40,000 Sami people who live closer to the northern tip of Norway. The Sami people are protected by the government and often have reserved seats for Parliament or even at universities. In Norway, everybody has a right to an education until 18. This means that you cannot fail out of a school or be kicked out for any reason. However, after 18, only those who are the brightest can apply to go to a university. Once a year, Norwegians would mail in an application to college to one address in Oslo. The government will then go through the applications and select candidates for seats in different universities and programs. Medicine, civil engineering and journalism remain the most competitive programs.
Politically, Norway is a constitutional monarchy. The king remains more a figurehead but does have the ability to make special decisions. The rest of the power is divided between Parliament (makes laws) and Government (executes). One interesting example of the monarch's power was in 1927, when the govenrmetn went into crisis and dissolved. The prime minister, who is appointed by the king, decided to step down and asked the king to find a substitute. The king selected a communist replacement and thus started a divide between the Parliament and the Government. Today, there are elections every four years and the king still can select the Prime Minister but the decision must be approved by Parliament. Local elections are every four years, two years after the national elections. Voting is by party and is not done electronically. Only for local elections can the individual candidates be selected. The parties in Norway include (from the left to the right): Left Party (Marxist/Leninist) which receives about 0.5-0.8 percent votes, Socialist Left Party which currently does have seats in Parliament, Labour Party which is represented in Government and the current Prime Minister is the head of the Labour Party, Christian Democrat Pary, Liberal Party, Center Party which is made up of the farmers, Conservative Party and the Progress Party which is more populist. Traditionally, it has been a competition between the Labour and Conservative Party to take the most seats in Parliament but recently, the Left/Socialist/Center Party has formed an alliance and works together. The winning party takes 30 percent of the seats and seven of the other parties do take some percentage of the seats. Norway has hosted two referendums in 1972 and 1992, both regarding joining the EU. People have voted against joining the EU mostly to protect their waters from other EU members coming in to fish. No other referendums have been mentioned since 1992.
While fish continues to be a valued commodity, the country's wealth comes from oil. Norway has been steadily putting away the profits from oil instead of spending the money in order to provide for healthcare and other needs the aging generations might need. Currently, there are four workers to every pension but the goal in the near future is to make it to two workers to every pension. Employees currently pay 2 percent of their wages to the pension plan while employers pay 9.5 percent of their pension, though it varies slightly depending on the region within the country. Parliament cannot reallocate more than 4 percent of the money in the plan. Unemployment in Norway is currently 3.5 percent due to the financial crisis but typically is 2.5 percent.
After learning about Norway, we went home to change and get ready for our first Eurovision contest party. Richard had bought us tickets to a party hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel and being that Norway is last year's champion, this event going to be a celebration. Eurovision, or "Grand Prix" as it is referred to in Norway, is a Europe-wide singing contest where 40 countries participate by performing an original song in any language. After two rounds of semi-finals, the final 20 countries perform their songs live in the host city (Oslo this year, since Norway won last year) and each country participates in the voting. There are two parts to the voting, half comes from a panel of judges representing each country and the other half comes from the voting public at home. However, no country can vote for themselves. The only guaranteed spots in the final are the reigning champions and United Kingdom, Germany and France since they put up the most money toward the event. After every performance has been viewed, the judges collaborate the votes and each country assigns 10 scores ranging from 1-7, 8, 10 and 12 points. While technically this is a signing competition, votes are highly dependent on politics. In this year's competition, Germany won by a significant margin. Other notables include Greece, France, Romania and Belgium.
While watching the Grand Prix was half the fun, the other half was partying with the Norwegians. This was our first night out in town and we met a lot of fun and friendly people! After the party at the Radisson, we headed over to a bar called Public with our new friend Marie. Mind you, walking out of the Radisson at midnight, the sky was bright and looked like 3 pm in the afternoon. The bar scene in Bodø was like most pub scenes back at home, except more expensive! A glass of wine or a beer were 64 NOK or $10 and a mixed drink started at 91 NOK. At 3 am, it was finally time for bed!
Our second day in Bodø started with perhaps the most delicious mug of hot chocolate ever, Norwegians know their chocolate! Today was the second of our travel rest days and we kicked off the morning in search of a laptop adapter. Interestingly, electronic stores in Norway sell converters from Norwegian to US but not from US to Norwegian. The store clerk did figure out an alternative though and I bought a mickey mouse cord for only 35 NOK. I can now stay connected throughout the trip!
Richard and Wenche Lindal, perhaps our best friends in Bodø, picked us up for a Norwegian lunch. We visited a small restaurant called Formers Stue or Grandma's Dining Room. The inside of the restaurant was designed to look like Grandma's house including a living room, dining room and kitchen. Each room was decorated with old wallpaper, lace curtains, handmade dollies and of course, antiques throughout. Lunch was delicious and our party tried several Norwegian favorites including an open-faced burger, a brown cheese crepe and my selection, vegetarian pie.
After lunch, we met up with Per Vasshaug and a British-born Norwegian Edward Pegg. Edward has lived in Norway for the past 40 years after leaving Britain for the beauty of the Norwegian coast and of course, love. "There's always a girl," he explained. We decided to meet on the top floor of the County Building, which was great because of the panaromic view of the coastline. The goal for this afternoon meet up was to talk more about Norway and to answer any questions we might have about the country as we kick off our month-long stay. Over the next hour, we learned a lot about the country and the city of Bodø.
Norway is a country of 4.8 million and is located between 48 and 71 degrees north. In Bodø, we are already above the Artic Circle but sadly, because we crossed the line by airplane, it is not considered being baptized. Norway is about 1700 km in length, with Bodø being the approximate half way mark. Norway borders three countries: Finland, Sweden and Russia. Norwegians are very savvy negotiators and in fact, over 45 years ago negotiated with the English on the boundaries of the sea and took ownership of more than 75 percent of the sea between the two countries. Conveniently, the North Sea later was found to be home to oil so Norway became a very rich country because of that find. Border negotations for the waterways between Russia and Norway have been ongoing for 40 years, with Norway wanting the border to be half way and the Russians wanting a section line instead. Norway and Russia finally agreed on a border last year and the result is a compromise.
Norwegians initially settled along the coastline and the Sami people chose the inland area. Today, there are still about 40,000 Sami people who live closer to the northern tip of Norway. The Sami people are protected by the government and often have reserved seats for Parliament or even at universities. In Norway, everybody has a right to an education until 18. This means that you cannot fail out of a school or be kicked out for any reason. However, after 18, only those who are the brightest can apply to go to a university. Once a year, Norwegians would mail in an application to college to one address in Oslo. The government will then go through the applications and select candidates for seats in different universities and programs. Medicine, civil engineering and journalism remain the most competitive programs.
Politically, Norway is a constitutional monarchy. The king remains more a figurehead but does have the ability to make special decisions. The rest of the power is divided between Parliament (makes laws) and Government (executes). One interesting example of the monarch's power was in 1927, when the govenrmetn went into crisis and dissolved. The prime minister, who is appointed by the king, decided to step down and asked the king to find a substitute. The king selected a communist replacement and thus started a divide between the Parliament and the Government. Today, there are elections every four years and the king still can select the Prime Minister but the decision must be approved by Parliament. Local elections are every four years, two years after the national elections. Voting is by party and is not done electronically. Only for local elections can the individual candidates be selected. The parties in Norway include (from the left to the right): Left Party (Marxist/Leninist) which receives about 0.5-0.8 percent votes, Socialist Left Party which currently does have seats in Parliament, Labour Party which is represented in Government and the current Prime Minister is the head of the Labour Party, Christian Democrat Pary, Liberal Party, Center Party which is made up of the farmers, Conservative Party and the Progress Party which is more populist. Traditionally, it has been a competition between the Labour and Conservative Party to take the most seats in Parliament but recently, the Left/Socialist/Center Party has formed an alliance and works together. The winning party takes 30 percent of the seats and seven of the other parties do take some percentage of the seats. Norway has hosted two referendums in 1972 and 1992, both regarding joining the EU. People have voted against joining the EU mostly to protect their waters from other EU members coming in to fish. No other referendums have been mentioned since 1992.
While fish continues to be a valued commodity, the country's wealth comes from oil. Norway has been steadily putting away the profits from oil instead of spending the money in order to provide for healthcare and other needs the aging generations might need. Currently, there are four workers to every pension but the goal in the near future is to make it to two workers to every pension. Employees currently pay 2 percent of their wages to the pension plan while employers pay 9.5 percent of their pension, though it varies slightly depending on the region within the country. Parliament cannot reallocate more than 4 percent of the money in the plan. Unemployment in Norway is currently 3.5 percent due to the financial crisis but typically is 2.5 percent.
After learning about Norway, we went home to change and get ready for our first Eurovision contest party. Richard had bought us tickets to a party hosted at the Radisson Blu Hotel and being that Norway is last year's champion, this event going to be a celebration. Eurovision, or "Grand Prix" as it is referred to in Norway, is a Europe-wide singing contest where 40 countries participate by performing an original song in any language. After two rounds of semi-finals, the final 20 countries perform their songs live in the host city (Oslo this year, since Norway won last year) and each country participates in the voting. There are two parts to the voting, half comes from a panel of judges representing each country and the other half comes from the voting public at home. However, no country can vote for themselves. The only guaranteed spots in the final are the reigning champions and United Kingdom, Germany and France since they put up the most money toward the event. After every performance has been viewed, the judges collaborate the votes and each country assigns 10 scores ranging from 1-7, 8, 10 and 12 points. While technically this is a signing competition, votes are highly dependent on politics. In this year's competition, Germany won by a significant margin. Other notables include Greece, France, Romania and Belgium.
While watching the Grand Prix was half the fun, the other half was partying with the Norwegians. This was our first night out in town and we met a lot of fun and friendly people! After the party at the Radisson, we headed over to a bar called Public with our new friend Marie. Mind you, walking out of the Radisson at midnight, the sky was bright and looked like 3 pm in the afternoon. The bar scene in Bodø was like most pub scenes back at home, except more expensive! A glass of wine or a beer were 64 NOK or $10 and a mixed drink started at 91 NOK. At 3 am, it was finally time for bed!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Landed in Bodø!
May 28, 2010
We have finally arrived! After what seems like hours of traveling including sitting on the runway for an extra hour and half while our flight was rerouted to avoid the lightning storm and running through the Oslo airport to go through customs, pick up our luggage and drop it off at our connecting airline, all within 45 minutes! We were greeted at the Bodø airport by three Rotarians including Per Vasshaug, the international contact and Richard Lindal, the incoming president. Since the Bodø airport is literally in the heart of town, we drove around the corner to our downtown hotel. The Grand Hotel/Clarion will be our home for the first two nights as we get adjusted to the time difference, get over our jet lag and learn how to sleep through the Midnight Sun. The hotel itself is special as it is one of only three buildings that partially survived the German bombing of Bodø in 1940 during World War II. The entire town was destroyed in that bombing, but as we can see today, they have picked themselves up and started over. In our hotel lobby, you can see an old wall mirror with a crack through the glass. The mirror was actually hanging in the Grand Hotel when a grenade was thrown into the building and is now kept in its original condition as a memory.
We have finally arrived! After what seems like hours of traveling including sitting on the runway for an extra hour and half while our flight was rerouted to avoid the lightning storm and running through the Oslo airport to go through customs, pick up our luggage and drop it off at our connecting airline, all within 45 minutes! We were greeted at the Bodø airport by three Rotarians including Per Vasshaug, the international contact and Richard Lindal, the incoming president. Since the Bodø airport is literally in the heart of town, we drove around the corner to our downtown hotel. The Grand Hotel/Clarion will be our home for the first two nights as we get adjusted to the time difference, get over our jet lag and learn how to sleep through the Midnight Sun. The hotel itself is special as it is one of only three buildings that partially survived the German bombing of Bodø in 1940 during World War II. The entire town was destroyed in that bombing, but as we can see today, they have picked themselves up and started over. In our hotel lobby, you can see an old wall mirror with a crack through the glass. The mirror was actually hanging in the Grand Hotel when a grenade was thrown into the building and is now kept in its original condition as a memory.
Walking by the docks, Bodø, as with most cities in Norway, is situated right on the coast and between several mountains. At any given moment, you can see many personal and commercial boats including cruise ships headed toward Bergen, Estonia and Russia. In fact, during our stay here in Norway, we will be joining one leg of the Hurtigruten boat line which has 10 ships out on an 11-day roundtrip voyage between Bodø, Bergen and Finland. The docks are also home to five boats selling fresh fish for local residents. Customers visit the boats all day to buy shrimp by the pound.
The rest of our tour took us through the town including a visit to the local Cathedral (Protestant, which is the state religion of Norway) and City Hall. We walked by several residential neighborhoods as well. All of Bodø is walkable, within 10 minutes from any given area (including the airport) to downtown. Another interesting creation is Glass Heust or the Glass House. Essentially, architects designed a glass ceiling to connect two sides of a street to create an indoor mall for residents to shop, walk through and visit during the winter months. On both sides of the Glass Heust are stores or restaurants and on one end is the town square which is an open piazza with restaurants, a performance stage and more shops.
Our first day ended pretty early as we all needed to catch up on missed sleep. The Midnight Sun did not really affect us in the hotel since our curtains were pretty heavy and we were pretty exhausted but we shall see how the rest of the trip goes!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Scandinavian Adventure
Scandinavia. I can't say that a trip to Scandinavia was on my top ten list of places to visit in the world... and definitely, not somewhere I expected to visit within the next five years. But the one thing I have learned is that life is reliably unpredictable and in about seven hours, I will be boarding a U.S. Airways flight to Oslo for the first leg of my trip to Northern Norway.
How did I end up here? A few months ago, I received an email advertising a cultural emersion/exchange program sponsored by Rotary International. The South Jersey District 7640 was looking to send four non-Rotarians to Northern Norway for a four week program designed to experience, learn and understand life in Norway. The entire Group Study Exchange program was created with the idea that by transplanting a person from one place in the world (South Jersey) to another place in the world (in this case, Northern Norway), you are opening up new doors, broadening horizons and allowing the individual to take in a global perspective that will hopefully influence their personal and professional lives back home. Over the course of four weeks, I will be playing Norwegian. I will be living with Norwegian families, shadowing professionals in my field, participating in everyday Norwegian activities and essentially learning how this part of the world lives and works.
Initial Perspectives.
After meeting the Norwegian GSE team here, I have had an opportunity to learn bits and pieces about their culture back home. Everyday life in Northern Norway seems to mirror life at home. Most working professionals work 9-5 jobs, however life seems more relaxed and less dependent on working toward that next promotion and proving yourself in title or salary. Financially, all industry pays higher so as to compensate for a higher cost of living. I think there is a vast disparity between city life and rural suburban living, particularly in the social lifestyle. One consistency, however, is the dependent on the outdoors for activity whether it be hiking, fishing, boating and skiing. It is this commitment to nature and the outdoors that motivates Norwegians to take that extra step to guarantee its continued existence. Expense is not a limitation when it comes to taking precautions, which is particularly reassuring since oil and fuel are the financial lifelines of the country. I am, perhaps, most interested in learning more about the World Seed Bank and the Norwegian's foresight in protecting and preserving the very things that sustain our life today.
Expectations.
This trip to Northern Norway is going to be hectic, chaotic and inspiring. We are going to be on the go for most of the hours in any given day and given that we'll be there during 24 hours of sunlight, the days are guaranteed to be long. For each area we are going to be visiting, from Bodo to Tromso, our hosts want to show us the best of what their hometown has to offer and we are going to be the lucky recipients taking it all in. My goal is to meet as many people as I can, learn from them about life in Northern Norway and really understand what people prioritize, criticize and enjoy. I want to understand how life in another part of the world can be so different, yet so similar to life at home and what lessons we can take away to better ourselves. I want to capture every awe inspiring moment, take in the landscape and sights and come home ready to share my experience.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away."
How did I end up here? A few months ago, I received an email advertising a cultural emersion/exchange program sponsored by Rotary International. The South Jersey District 7640 was looking to send four non-Rotarians to Northern Norway for a four week program designed to experience, learn and understand life in Norway. The entire Group Study Exchange program was created with the idea that by transplanting a person from one place in the world (South Jersey) to another place in the world (in this case, Northern Norway), you are opening up new doors, broadening horizons and allowing the individual to take in a global perspective that will hopefully influence their personal and professional lives back home. Over the course of four weeks, I will be playing Norwegian. I will be living with Norwegian families, shadowing professionals in my field, participating in everyday Norwegian activities and essentially learning how this part of the world lives and works.
Initial Perspectives.
After meeting the Norwegian GSE team here, I have had an opportunity to learn bits and pieces about their culture back home. Everyday life in Northern Norway seems to mirror life at home. Most working professionals work 9-5 jobs, however life seems more relaxed and less dependent on working toward that next promotion and proving yourself in title or salary. Financially, all industry pays higher so as to compensate for a higher cost of living. I think there is a vast disparity between city life and rural suburban living, particularly in the social lifestyle. One consistency, however, is the dependent on the outdoors for activity whether it be hiking, fishing, boating and skiing. It is this commitment to nature and the outdoors that motivates Norwegians to take that extra step to guarantee its continued existence. Expense is not a limitation when it comes to taking precautions, which is particularly reassuring since oil and fuel are the financial lifelines of the country. I am, perhaps, most interested in learning more about the World Seed Bank and the Norwegian's foresight in protecting and preserving the very things that sustain our life today.
Expectations.
This trip to Northern Norway is going to be hectic, chaotic and inspiring. We are going to be on the go for most of the hours in any given day and given that we'll be there during 24 hours of sunlight, the days are guaranteed to be long. For each area we are going to be visiting, from Bodo to Tromso, our hosts want to show us the best of what their hometown has to offer and we are going to be the lucky recipients taking it all in. My goal is to meet as many people as I can, learn from them about life in Northern Norway and really understand what people prioritize, criticize and enjoy. I want to understand how life in another part of the world can be so different, yet so similar to life at home and what lessons we can take away to better ourselves. I want to capture every awe inspiring moment, take in the landscape and sights and come home ready to share my experience.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take, but the number of moments that take your breath away."
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