Life in Trondheim.

Hey All!

So the past two weeks have been very busy, but unfortunatly not with any exciting trips. I almost went hiking 2 weeks ago, but I got a little bit of a cold so I decided to stay home. I've spent the past 2 weekends hanging out in Trondheim, mostly with my flatemates. I love my flat! There are four of us living there. We've each got our own room and then we share a kitchen and bathroom. There's 2 guys (Lorenzo and Kai) and 2 girls (Agata and myself). Lorenzo is a petroleum engineering student from Mexico. He's been here since January and will most likely be here till June. Kai is an Engligh major from Norway. Agata is an architeture student from Poland, and she arrived here this summer as well. She was born in Australia so her english is practically perfect! Anyways, it's a very well mixed group and we all get along really well. So far it's been a blast hanging out and going out on the town with all of them.

School has kept me very busy! It's kind of hard to believe though considering my Kinetics homework took 30 minutes and one sheet of paper last week. Two weeks ago, I had a 10 hour lab determining the kinetics of a reaction carried out in a CSTR. Then last week, I spent 9 hours distilling ethanol from water. To bad nasty solvents are used in the columns, otherwise I could have gotten some cheap alcohol. You have to take what you can get in this country because everything is so expensive!! (Don't worry I didn't come up with that idea. My supervisor actually brought it up when I asked where we should dump the solutions at the end of the day.)

Yesterday (Sunday) was a big day for me. I went rowing with a club here in Trondheim!! It was the first time I had been in a real boat since the last time I rowed for U. of Colorado. Not only that, but it was also my first time sculling. All the teams I had been on before did 'sweep' rowing. This means that each person has only one oar. But sculling is where you have 2 oars. I went out in a double with another girl, and it was quite the adventure! Let me tell you! We both weren't that good so the boat was rarely set. We were both catching crabs left and right. Then at one point we managed to flip the boat and go for a little swim. It was brisk. We'll leave it at that! It's so nice to get back into rowing again, and I especially love how the atmosphere isn't all competitive here. (Note: Picture is from Colorado, not Norway).

Hope all is well!
Julie