Norway. Never a country that I thought I was going to visit when I first explored studying abroad. When I met my cousin from Norway as a senior in high school, my mind changed completely. Coming to Germany this fall, my main goal was to find a time that I could cross the sea and make it to the very long country to meet my extended family for the first time. After some coordination, we got it to work. And I could not have asked for anything more. To describe the scenery in a blog does not do it justice. There are utterly no words that I could type that could remotely get you to understand the euphoric state of mind I was in the entire weekend. If you want a truly humbling experience, take some time and travel to the most beautiful place on earth… Norway.

Our roadtrip through the mountains

The water was so blue and clear… tasted great!

Matt and I overlooking the mountains

One of the many waterfalls along the trip

Now my family I can talk about. I was extremely nervous and overwhelmed when we pulled back into the driveway after our two day roadtrip to find about 15 family members standing there. So many people came up to me to shake my hand; they all introduced themselves, but Norwegian names are very difficult to pronounce! After going inside, we had dinner and talked for hours. I was so blessed to know that this many family members wanted to meet me. They were all so kind and engaging. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. There is nothing better than coming home from the most beautiful scenery to meet the most beautiful people. I hope now that I can go back to Norway since I cannot imagine living without these family connections in this gorgeous country.

All of my wonderful Norwegian family

One of the most memorable experiences was meeting my cousin’s girlfriend’s son, Leander. He was almost 3 years old, and we bonded because we didn’t need language. After a few hours of playing with Buzz Lightyear and Lego planes, we became the best of friends. He learned my name right away and came to give me a big hug before he had to go home to bed. On Sunday, we all had lunch together and then had to say goodbye. As we both pulled out of the driveway in different vehicles, Stein (my cousin) stopped the car because Leander was crying. Tor (my other cousin) pulled up alongside to see what was wrong, and Leander felt like he hadn’t said enough goodbyes to me. That was enough to almost make me cry.

I love my family. Hopefully one day I will be making the long trek back to Norway to experience even more of the country and even more family dinners.