Back to School

I finally got around to uploading the video of the jump into the water. I hope it works out, I can't tell if the video will work before I post it.

Yesterday we had a BBQ. And the tree's are getting green!

Day #7 Norway

Above are some photo's of life on the boat. In the third picture you can see our house. It is the last one on the right, on the water. The picture was taken from the boat coming back to the house.

Today we slept in and went fishing twice for a total of about 5 hours. We caught two fish that were about 6 inches, and one more normal size Pollock. It was a great relaxing last day on the water. Now that I am done fishing, I can confidently say I am pleased with the success to equipment lost ratio. Six fish and only one set up loss. The set-up was about $20 though, but for a whole week of fishing its not bad.

Tomorrow is our long trip home!

Day #6 Norway

The first picture is from a ferry we took today on our drive to the hike. The second picture is of a helicopter that came to the top of where we hiked to pick up a hiker that hurt his leg somehow. It didn't look bad, the hiker was putting some weight on it, but the trail was pretty difficult. The last two pictures are of the final destination of the hike.


Today we decided to take a break from fishing and went for a hike to Preikestolen. The pictures I have taken are not a good example of how gorgeous it really is so follow this link to look at some Google images of it! http://www.google.com/search?q=preikestolen&hl=en&sa=X&prmd=ivnsm&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=P3-wTcP3I4OTswaw8IztCw&ved=0CCcQsAQ&biw=1130&bih=529

Last night was an experience I did not expect to have, and it is a rather long story. But, the story is certainly worth telling.

The owner of the house is named Yan. I met him last night as he was on his way to another town with his boat. He lives upstairs in the same house as we are renting, and he keeps his boat next to the house. He already seemed like he had consumed a bit to much to be operating any type of moving object, but he shook our hands and said he was going to town to drink some beer. The way he went about leaving was hilarious all on its own. He pulled a few feet of the boat out of its resting spot with a rope, jumped in, and gunned it out of the bay! And I am serious when I say gunned it. He almost knocked over a passenger that was standing in the boat, luckily he was holding the bow line and didn't fall over! And the little bay we are in has a 5 knots limit..

When he came back a few hours later we closed our doors and blinds so he wouldn't try to talk to us. He did seam nice, but its never fun being around someone that drunk. After he had been home for about a half hour, someone came barging in to our house with out knocking. We were all in the living room so I got up to meat whoever it was in the hallway. It was the Police! They were shining lights in our face and talking to us in Norwegian. We let them know we only know English, and we are from Germany here on a fishing trip. Then the police asked if we were in the boat with Yan earlier, and we confirmed we were not.

Then the Police tried to get into Yan's place upstairs and the door was locked. They eventually used our table on the porch out back to climb up to Yan's balcony and get in. Of course at this point we turned off the TV and radio because this was a much more amusing source of entertainment. There was the sound of a little tussle up stairs, then we saw Yan get put into their police van in nothing but his boxer shorts and hand cuffs.

This morning some more people were knocking and ringing the doorbell upstairs, and eventually they asked us where Yan was. It was some family trying to drop off Yan's children. His boat and car were both hear at the house so they were confused. After some discussion we eventually told them that the police came last night and that could be the source of Yan's disappearance.

Also this morning we noticed that Yan's boat had sustained some damage on the bow, and the automatic bilge pump was kicking on every 20 minutes or so.. which is a bad sign. In the boat the seat mattresses were out of place. My favorite part is what could be found in the boat! In the boat was one beer can, one beer bottle, one single shoe, and the keys to the boat.

Day #5 Norway

Today only one fish was caught, but it was a big one. Torsten caught a 75cm (~30") Ling!

I had the goal of swimming in the North Sea this vacation. I really only swam the 7 ft from where I landed in the water to the dock, but that counts in my book! The water was about 2 degrees C (36 F), COLD!

There is a good video of this "swim." But I am going to have to wait until I have better internet to upload it.

Day #4 Norway

Today we left the dock at 6:00 am, but it wasn't unbearably cold. We had been fishing for about a half hour when Torsten got a fish on the line and got it to the boat. It turned out he had two fish! Then about the same time he boated his two I got a fish on the line, and it felt big! But it was wierd because I could still feel shaking on the line like you would feel with a small fish. It turned out with my four hooks I had caught FOUR FISH! We don't have a net or a gaff so actually getting these four fish into the boat was a two person job, team work!

 

For the rest of the morning and day I didn't catch anymore fish, which was ok with me. I couldn't complain with my four fish boated. That morning we caught 11 fish (~15" each) almost all at once, probably because a school passed by us. Then two more fish were also caught, one medium and one larger. 

The end of the day, just like yesterday, one large Cod was caught. Christof caught a Cod that measured 68 cm! This was a new record for the week.

Day #3 Norway

It has been nothing but beautiful blue skies these last two days. That of course means hat weather, but I don't have a hat. Thankfully I found a hat on the ground near the front yard of our house. That is showcased in the first photo.

The second photo is the view from our back door. The back door opens to a porch that is over the water! It's where we eat breakfast and lunch everyday. From left to right it is Torsten, Christof, and Magnus.

Photo #3 is of the biggest fish caught so far, boated by Torsten. It was a 58 cm Cod (~23").

The last photo from our back porch. I took the picture 10 minutes ago, life is good!

Today was the best day of fishing we have had so far. Six fish were caught today in perfect order from smallest to largest.. giving us high hopes starting tomorrow!

1. 8cm Cod (Christof)
2. 43cm Ling (Me)
3. 47cm Ling (Torsten)
4. 45cm Pollock (Christof)
5. 53cm Pollock (Magnus)
6. 58cm Cod (Torsten)

Tomorrow we are going to have an ambitious start and try to get on the water early. Then we are going on a hike to a huge rock ledge of some sort. I will keep taking a lot of pictures!

Day #2 Norway

The first picture is taken from the ferry trip we took from Denmark to Norway. The other four pictures are of our kitchen, my room, the living room, and our boat. The boat is powered by a 9.9hp outboard.

Today we were fishing in the boat for 7 or 8 hours. Three fish were boated by three different people, and all three were Pollock, like yesterday. My fish was maybe 2 lbs, the same size as Torsten's. Magnus caught a 52 cm  (20.5") fish that probably weighed about 5 lbs. Those three fish plus potato's were dinner. These guys really know how to cook fish! Quite delicious!

Hanging out with three German guys has created some very hilarious moments. My favorite thing that often happens is they pronounce German words in an English way. So they think its fine.. but I look confused. So even though I am the native English speaker I am always the one confused because they keep making up words!

I am the only person that hasn't lost any gear yet.. which is great because I am borrowing all of it. But everyone else is losing enough equipment to make a trip into town necessary. So tomorrow I have the opportunity to gear up Norway style. Hopefully I can bring some knowledge an equipment back to the Washington coast.

Day #1 Norway

Today at 5:00am three German friends and I left to go fishing in Norway for a week! We arrived at the house at about 7:00pm. We immediately got into the boat that came with our house and went to the mouth of the bay to fish for the 45 minutes of light that we had left. Magnus caught a Pollock about 3 lbs! It is ready now.. so I have to go. But I wanted to let everyone know that I safely arrived in Norway.

Football (Soccer)

Yesterday evening I had a very enjoyable and lucky experience.

I went for a run, then after went for a short bike ride. During the bike ride I heard some drums. I decided that after my workout was done I would get dressed and walk towards the mystery drum sound, hoping for a high school marching band. As I got closer I heard an announcer through speakers and started hoping for a high school football game.

The guy in front of me was obviously heading for the same area so I asked him who was playing and he said the local football team which was ranked #11 in the league and they were playing the #10 team in the league. So it was the semi-professional Lyngby soccer team! I asked how much a ticket would be and he said 150 dkk (~$30). So, I was a little disappointed. But then he asked if I needed a ticket because he happened to have an extra! I offered him some money but he didn't take it, because he got his tickets for free somehow.

The stadium wasn't very big but the seats were covered, so it was a very nice and shaded. There was one section that was very loud and everyone was always standing. As per my agreement upon receiving the free ticket, I cheered on the home team!

There were some differences that I noticed. When the crowed was let down it sounded much more like an EEEHHH then an AAAHHH. The announcements were of course in danish, so I didn't catch at all what they were saying. That was ok with me because I am very familiar with the sport. They also played a lot of house and techno, which I have never heard at a public sporting event.

Although, since I only went to "check it out," I was just wearing a t-shirt. Everyone else was wearing a sweatshirt and a coat, which made sense to me as soon as it started getting dark.

What I learned is, if you are ever in Europe and hear drums.. walk towards it!

Sorry I do not have any picture updates this time!

Saturday we had a barbecue that was a lot of fun! Doing any activity here has its difficulty of course. Usually when a group plans something there is one person that knows what is really going on. But, I always do things with my international friends, so it turns into a "how many engineers does it take to plan a barbecue" joke.  A very very long story short, it takes 8 engineering students a little more than 5 hours after meeting to make food.

Many of you know that I did cross country as a sport in high school and raced at a distance of 5k. Lucky for me there is a relay here with a 5k loop! So two friends and I have made a team to do a 15k relay. There is a trail around campus that is exactly 5k so this relay is an annual event! It will take place exactly one month from this day. Of course, I started training today. So, I will be a far cry from the 5k runner that I once was.

One of my friends introduced me to this sight. It gives sentence examples of why the English language is difficult. It gave me some laughs.

www.sheetr.com/21-reasons-why-english-sucks

Have a good week!

Bike Ride

I am, ever so slowly, becoming a little more European. I enjoy trains, I drink wine sometimes, and I decided I needed a bike. So, I looked for a bicycle for a while and told a few people I was looking for a bicycle. One day a Lithuanian friend of mine saw a bicycle with a sign on it that said "Garbage." So he moved it from the garbage pile to the closest bike rack. Then he told me about it in class and took me to it after class.

It was free, so of course I liked it! Both tires were flat, the front wheel didn't turn very well, it didn't shift, the chain looked like it was made of rust, and as you may be able to see in the picture it doesn't have the normal exposed sprockets with a derailleur that I am used to.

But, I borrowed a friends pump and pumped up the tires and they actually held air. I then needed some type of lubricant, so I went to some bike shops. Off the top of my head I could think of three different bike shops in Lyngby that I had walked by, because there are SO MANY bike shops here. I went into my third shop that day and they had WD-40, so of course I chose that.

I probably used half my can of WD-40, but now I have a fully functional bicycle! The front wheel still has a little resistance to spinning, but I try to think of it as extra exercise.

Today I decided to go for a bicycle ride. I looked on google maps for a few minute and tried to find this park I had heard people talk about, but I couldn't find it. But I did know what general direction it was, so I just guessed and rode straight there, which is astonishingly lucky. The entrance to the park is about 3.5 km from my home. From the entrance to the park to the ocean is about 3km. Both of those distance I checked on Google Maps.

Above are some of the pictures I took during the ride. The first picture is about .5 km inside the entrance of the park. That household is about in the middle of the park. The second and third pictures are just of the building. The fourth picture is from the house to the ocean. And the fifth picture is where I turned around to head home.

Have a good weekend!

Deciding What To Do

Everyone,

I am trying to decide if I want to do any more trips than I have already planned. I am going to Norway to go fishing for my spring break with three German friends. As most of you know I will be traveling for two weeks with Carrie, Lisa and Brad. We will be traveling by train, starting in Copenhagen and ending in London. We will be going through Germany, Netherlands, and France on our trip.

I also have many more places to visit in Denmark, so I am not sure I need to plan another trip. But I have over a week after my last final and before my 3-week course starts. So I could do another trip!

So if anyone would like to look at my list and let me know which one they think would be worth while, or suggest another one, please send me an email!

sdSchrammm@wsu.edu

Place	Country
Salzburg	Austria
Edinburgh	Scotland
Athens	Greece
Lauterbrunnen	Switzerland
Hallstatt	Austria
Zurich	Switzerland
Berlin	Germany
Stonehenge	Great Britain

Castles!

 Above are pictures of Kronborg Castle. It my favorite castle out of the three castles I have visited so far. Its history goes back as far as the 1420's. The castle was given a large renovation that was completed in 1585. A lot of exciting things have happened to this castle over the ages. Shakespeare's "Hamlet" was based in this castle!!
When Kelli and I visited it we got to do the normal things, like walk around the church and main rooms. But there was also a nautical museum full of models, and we got to go under the castle. When we were under the castle it was very very poorly lit, so there was a lot of guessing where to go.

Above are pictures of Frederiksborg Castle. This is the largest Renaissance palace in Scandinavia. The oldest part of this castle dates back to 1560. This castle has an extreme attention to detail. Although the pictures of the sealing aren't the best quality, you can see how hard they worked on them! Kelli's only goal when visiting Europe was to visit castles, so I took her to these two.

Both of these castles were within an hour or so to where I live. I look forward to visiting places in Denmark a little further from home soon, because the weather has been getting much better and I am a little more confident using trains!