falling to the earth....

... this is how one of my friends captioned the photo on facebook and I rather liked it.  A few days ago Bea, Vale, Stephan and I took advantage of a few hours of sunshine and hiked one of the seven mountains around Bergen- Løvstakken.  It was a bit of an adventure... indeed, such is life!... and we had some fun with jumping photos at top.  We also brought a little 'one time grill' and grilled hot dogs for lunch before heading down.  Yum!

Vale, Lisa and Bea
Photo credit: Stephan Duffner

looking towards Bergen city center- Bea, Lisa and Vale
Photo credit: Stephan Duffner

Stephan!  aka Charlie hiking with the 3 Angles
Photo credit: Vale on Stephan's camera 

Pølse (hot dogs) time!
Photo credit: Stephan Duffner 

Fun fun in the sun.

Thank you Stephan for all the great photos!

your sunny gal,

lisa liv 

chasing the sun

Finally, some rays of sun last Friday and Saturday!  I must say, Bergen is really beautiful... when it's not raining :)  Eh, even when it is raining it's a beautiful little place, just a bit trickier to enjoy (like my very wet ill prepared feet today... I thought I could get away with flats. Negative).  The result of all the rain is a very serious enjoyment of sunshine when it comes.  It seemed as if everyone in Bergen was out in full force on Friday afternoon.  I loved the sense of joy and community in the air.  As I walked past restaurants people were at outside tables enjoying each other, sunglasses and a beer.  

I arrived home from school on friday afternoon to my flatmates orchestrating a little BBQ for the park.  We grabbed a one-time-use grill, some burger makings, beer, blankets, veggies and my guitar and headed over to the park.  What a great evening!

Bjørnar, Ida and Knut Anders readying the feast

2 of my 3 fantastic flatmates-Knut Anders and Bjørnar 

Then, to enjoy a little more fresh air and the local mountains around Bergen, some good friends from school and I did a nice local day hike, 'vidden,' from Floyen to Ulriken on Saturday.

Martha, Anette and Eli

Vidden success!  A celebratory beer atop Ulriken looking down at Bergen

Alas, the rain returns.  And so we study until the sun shows up again so we can then scamper outside for some more fun, sunglasses and afternoon beer.

klemmer,

lisa liv 

on tur

Vi går på tur means 'we go for a hike' but I like how in english it sounds like 'go on tour.'  How very appropriate- we go on a tour of the mountains.  

My new flat is at the foot of Floyen, one of the 7 mountains around Bergen.  Floyen has lots of roads/trails up and around on top.  There's also a funicular, the Floybanen, for people less interested in a good uphill walk and more interested in the great view from the top.

Floyen has become my training ground. Here's some pictures from my run last Thursday (click on the photos to enlarge them)-

a good breather and stretch break at the top

I live by the little pier all the way in the harbor

on the way back down the mountain

This weekend has been rainy so no running or walking up Floyen.  I did find my way to the pool at the student center and have decided swimming is one of my new favorite things.  Reason 267 why it's so much better living in city center!

Wishing you a wonderful Sunday.

Wet hugs from rainy Bergen,

lisa liv

sum sums summertime

What a whirlwind of a month.  I wrapped up finals, wrapped up life at Hatelberg (my home for my first year at NHH) and made my way back (taking the long way due to volcanos and hurricanes) to sunny San Diego for the summer time.  And, since returning home, I've been keeping busy.  But, for those of you who know me, I'm sure that's not a big surprise :)  Now that I'm settled back into life in SD, I'm looking forward to blogging much more regularly.  There's so much I want to share! Just so little time to sit down and gather my thoughts.  

Let me start with my super last weekend in Norway.  My birthday was May 20th and my dear friends Bea (Germany), Vale (Italy) and Martha (Norway) organized a fantastic weekend to Stavanger and hiking Preikestolen (or the 'Pulpit' rock.... you will see why below).  We are a little posse (all ENE majors) and have a great time together causing trouble..... but mostly being nerds.  Martha's bday was May 16th and this was our last weekend together until next spring.  It was the perfect wrap up to our year together.

We didn't take this photo but just to give you a different perspective

my BV gals!

Isn't Norway beautiful?!  I really loved all of the outdoor activities this past year and I'm looking forward to more hiking this fall. 

I also wanted to share a neat graphic I came across at the end of the semester.  I think this is a great visual of something one of my classes looked at this semester- potential energy from natural resources.  The amazing thing is how much energy the sun gives us- really enough to cover the energy we consume it's just a matter of harnessing the power (goodness that sounds like a bad movie line).    Check it out:

Some interesting numbers I just saw from the EIA (source EIA) on electricity generation numbers over last year in the US:

solar generation in march 2011 up 37% over march 2010

wind generation in march 2011 up 20% over march 2010

hydro generation in march 2011 up 52.2% over march 2010 (and up 28.9% from Feb 2011)

natural gas generation in march 2011 up 5% over March 2010 (up 0.5% from Feb 2011)

nuclear generation in march 2011 up 1.6% over March 2010 (up 1.3% from Feb 2011)

Next up I'll write a little about what I've been learning about being back in SD.  Hello algal biofuels!  Also, I've been enlisted to help on my parents kitchen remodel and I might end up teaching surfing?  Ahhhh, never a dull moment.  Oh yes, and last Monday I ran up to LA to play a show at The Mint.  All good things.  I'm grateful for my opportunities.

Heading off to the San Diego Wind Energy Symposium tomorrow.

hugs from sunny (with some June gloom popping up) So Cal,
lisa

beeeeeeeveeeeeee