WHOA! IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS!

Today while walking to work I realized that it's now been more than three months since I left Edmonton, and more than three months since I arrived in Tromso. That is three months that I have not seen my wife or my dog. Of course it has also meant I haven't had to do many household chores either (I vacuumed a couple times, and have done some cleaning and lots of dishes, and cooking and even walked a dog (Yukon)). At least with Skype and Apple FaceTime Nicole and I can video chat, still not the same as being with each other but better than a phone call or a text message or email.
But Nicole comes on Saturday, that will be nice (understatement).  We will do a bit of traveling within Norway and just enjoy some time together. Jax is spending a couple weeks with Nicole's parents.  He likes camping with the camper van.  Nicole said he hopped right in, no concern at all.  We met with Nicole's parents once at Lake Louise and even I can admit as a die hard fan of tenting that it can be awfully nice to sit in a warm dry place....Jax fully agreed, and I think he liked that the camper van had windows while the tent does not.  Nicole mom did say the he wimpered a bit once he realized Nicole wasn't with them and wasn't joining (which makes me quite sad), though we know he will have an amazing time.  Jax loves Nicole's parents and their dog tupper (who doesn't want a border collie for a best friend).

Things here are progressing nicely and I am finally starting to feel a bit settled in.  On Monday I went to the police station to get my temporary residence card (which will come in the mail). And this past weekend I moved into my apartment, so I am no longer relying on the extreme kindness of my friends....who now have a place to stay if they ever come to Canada... My apartment is okay, it will do for the next four months but isn't somewhere I'd want to stay long term. It is not that there is anything wrong with it but it is a bit far from work, and is in a massive apartment complex.  Here on Tromso there are many small apartments, rooms for rent in houses that it would be a shame to live in a complex when you could get something with character and soul (and fewer neighbors).

That said, Tromso has about 10,000 students and in a town of 60,000-65,000 people that is quite something.  So when the students start looking in June and July, the rush is on and it is difficult to find something.  There have been plenty of newspaper articles about students unable to find a place to live and last year some students were living in the fire station for a few months.

I still find Norway expensive, but just don't think about it as much.  It is best not to price shop too much and while I was going to do a little blog post on costs of groceries and so forth, I decided it would just make me think more about how expensive it is here....we will see...maybe in a few weeks as right now I am way behind on blogging/posting.

I feel that I have made some lifetime friends here, already, hopefully this is true. It has been great to meet you people and strangely I often feel more in place here at NPI than I do at the U of A. Maybe this is just because NPI is friendly and filled with people who study the same thing as me. Back at the U of A, my office mate and fellow PhD student Alec Casey are some of the only people studying sea ice in the Arctic (there are a few others though we never really meet with them).

When I was staying with Gunnar Spreen and his wife Gabrielle I was working slightly different hours than I am used to, sleeping in a bit and starting work at 9 but then staying until 7 pm or so. This was kinda nice, and I had a really great time staying with Gunnar and Gabrielle (more on that in another post).

Friday afternoon usually means a beer at the end of the work day at 4:30pm, which is nice.  We go to Olhallen, which is a very old pub in Tromso right next to the old Mack brewery (it is closed).  The pub closes at 6pm so it is a good place for an after work beer.  I am not much of a beer drinker but these Friday afternoon beers are helping.  I usually get a Blanding (spelling may be incorrect)..it is a mix of a light and dark beer.  You can get it at most bars in Tromso but the amount of light beer vs dark beer changes with each bar. I'm still not crazy about it, but at least the second one always goes down smoother than the first.

Oh, and work is going okay too.  Met with Christian (my supervisor) yesterday as he is here in Tromso for a meeting this week.  It never ceases to amaze me how valuable his insight is and how quickly he can provide some ideas that take me from not being confident of what I am thinking or what to do next to having a plan.

Okay, well I want to write at least one more blog post this morning before starting work, so I better get to it.

Sorry there are no pictures in this post.  I think my monthly summary post will be text....unless there are some great summary pictures. But there should be a post on my weekend trips the past couple weeks and hopefully I will share some of my travels with Nicole.