Det snør! It's snowing! Pretty wild for me. I've spent a week here and there in snow but I've never LIVED in a place it snows. It's truly my little winter wonderland....

I must admit, I just received my USC Alumni Association monthly email with a link to the flikr photo page. Scanning thought the photos (mostly SC send-off photos) I had this momentary 'goodness, how did I end up here?!' All these 'kids' in flip flops and sunny smiles with the SC band surrounding them. Cardinal and gold lit up by sunny days, green trees and blue water (it's SC folks.. these events are always in some fabulous outdoor location) It made me miss the fall in southern California a little bit... cool crisp air (but not too cool), clear blue skies, college football and the descent into the holiday season *sigh*..... But, fear not, this is not a sign of building homesickness. More of an appreciation of all I've had in my life and continue to have in life. Admittedly, I'm a little out of whack with this weather... shouldn't we be cooking turkeys and singing Christmas carols right about now? Oh... ops... we haven't even donned our best witch or pirate costume yet : /

Believe it or not, I’m done with the semester in just over a month. Wow! My last final, Petroleum Economics, is on Thanksgiving of all days- Nov 25th. I’m heading home to San Diego on Dec 8th so start looking for my smiling face (trust me, the grin will be from ear to ear I’ll be so happy to see my SD peeps!) around that time.

A few highlights from the past few weeks- my friends Bea, Max, Mike, Valeria and I did the ‘7 fjellstour,’ the ‘7 mountain tour’ a couple of weekends ago. It’s about 30 kilometers and 2300 meters cumulative up. An amazing day but very hard physically. Bea, Max and I finished just as the sun went down. A fabulous memory from my first semester in Bergen (and something not many people do…. quite a feather in our cap!)




And then there were 3







we did it!











Last weekend I was able to go to Trondheim as a representative for the international masters students here at NHH. It was a lot of meetings but it was also a chance for me to get to the city where the whole Olson family journey started. My great grandfather left Norway in 1866 on a sail boat bound for Canada (and then on to the states) with his mother, Ane, and siblings. What a strong woman! They sailed from Trondheim so it’s been a city of particular interest to me. Just the Friday morning bus ride from the airport to the city center was special- farmland running into the sea, mountains, trees, early morning fog- magical for me. I was able to sneak out of the meeting for a little on Saturday and go to the church which is the main thing to see in Trondheim. As a sight to see, it’s fantastic. But, for me it was overwhelming. As I surveyed the stones and old organ I was hit by this powerful sense of my history, my past. I was in a building my ancestors might have visited before they left. Am I standing where they stood so long ago?



I often joke Ane is probably rolling in her grave yelling to me ‘I worked so hard to leave, why are you back?!’ Yes dear great great-grandmother, you left a poor and declining land. But, things are very nice here for the time being. Who knows how the country will fair when the oil runs out. But, for the time being, Norway is taking care of its people and it's a land full of kind folks. It’s quite special to be back, and quite a pleasure with the comforts of fleece and polar-tec.

hugs from the snø, lisa liv

happy hiker!

PS, I know a lot of my pictures are from hiking... but it's so beautiful here I can't help but post them!  I will post some pictures from Trondheim and snow and other random things :)