I am now coming near to the end of my four week exchange in Norway. I am currently staying in Nordli, in Lierne National Park. Lierne is in the mountains, in the north of Nord Trøndleg close to the border of Sweden.
Before I left Åsen on Monday 25th August, the Opheim family took me to a local dairy farm where three farmers came together and built a large milking parlour with an automatic milking machine being operated by a computer. Each cow has a collar with an electronic chip and the computer identifies when the cow was last milked and if it is ready to be milked again. Laser beams identify the cows teats, wash them and start the milking process and when finished detaches itself, sterilizes the area for the next cow and does the process all over again. The farmers have 200 cows and milk 70 cows. They also have an automatic feeder which distributes silage and meal on a regular basis along the feeding troughs. That evening Randi's brother-in-law took me out on his speed boat through the Åsenfjord. Despite the odd bit of rain it was still good fun!
On Sunday, my last day in Åsen, we headed to Tronheim where we visited the Nidaros Cathedral. The Nidaros Cathedral is Norway's National Sanctuary and is over a thousand years old. It has encountered many fires and physical destruction but after a hundred years of construction it is one of Norway's most beautiful churches inside and out. On the outside it has many stone carvings all of which are of Saints and people from the Bible. Each carving has a clue as to who they are. For example Jonah has a fish underneath his feet. The Nidaros Catherdral is famous as it is the burial ground of St Olav (A famous Saint who brought Christianity to Norway.) The cathedral has a main Spire which is known as Trondheim's geographical centre and where all distances are measured from. We climbed the 172 steps up to the gallery of the spire (which is 36 metres high) to enjoy the magnificent view of Tronheim. We then headed to Sverresborg Folk Museum.
On Monday 25th August I arrived at my new home. Lierne National Park is famous for hunting Elks and is also the home to many bears, so on Tuesday 26th August I visited Lierne National Park Museum and picked up a leaflet entitled 'If you encounter a bear.' (I thought I should be prepared just in case!) In the museum I had the opportunity to learn about hunting Elks and there was also some real life animal fur that you could touch including that of a bear.
Thursday 28th August saw me head off to Sticklestad on a school trip. At Sticklestad a guide, who was dressed in middle-age costume took us around and explained the importance of Sticklestad and how Olav became a Saint after his battle. I didn't understand what the guide was talking about but did recognise some words : Viking and Ireland!
The next I went to Stortangen School. This is the school where my host family's children go. While at the school I had the opportunity to speak to some of the children and tell them about Northern Ireland. I taught them some songs in English and they taught me how to count to ten in Norwegian! Children in Norway begin to learn English from the age of five and all the children I spoke to speak very good English!
On Saturday 30th August, I went to my host's 4H club Bjønspore, to help out at their yearly second hand market. This annual event is how Bjønspore 4H Club raises money for their club. They hold it on the same weekend as Lierne's outdoor theatre (a play about the olden days and what locals got up to in Lierne!).
After dinner we went into the mountains for a walk to do some Elk spotting! We headed towards the Sisselfossen waterfall, as this is where Arnstein has a stone covered with salt on it attached to a tree, to attract the Elk. The Sisselfossen waterfall got its name because a girl called Sissel was in love with a boy and they wanted to marry, but were not allowed to. Sissel was so unhappy that she committed suicide at the waterfall. Unfortunately we did not see any Elk while we were in the mountains, but did find some Elk footprints.
Not giving up hope of seeing an Elk, later that evening we went for drive in a local forest. (The best time to see Elk is early in the morning or late in the evening.) We drove for two hours and still we hadn't seen an Elk, although we did see some more footprints and bear faeces. We then accepted the idea that all the Elks were in hiding so we headed home. As we were driving along the road, all of a sudden a large male Elk ran straight across the road and jumped over a small ditch into the forest. After all the walking and driving that evening, the wait was well worth it, to see an Elk!
Over the next few days, before heading home I will be visiting the school were Berit works and also do some more Elk spotting. I have had a fantastic time in Norway, learning about the country and its culture. I would like to thank my first host family, The Opheim Family and my second host family, Arnstein Kirste, Berit Reppen and their children Geir, Anna, Alexsandra and Aidrian, The YFCU and the members of Moneyrea YFC for this once in a life time experience- 'Tusen Takk'!