On my way back to Boston I’m staying two nights in Reykjavík. I’ll takes some notes while I’m here and post them when I get back in town: Sept 6 – In only a few hours this island has really caught my interest. However, I clearly need to come back with a whole lot more [...]
- These first two street signs are to be found in my hometown of Stavanger, Norway while going for a walk in my neighborhood last week. I wanted to start a little collection of pictures showing how Norway is crazy about its viking past. However, I just have to concede that Icelandic national identity has [...]
Yesterday afternoon, I paid a visit to Iceland’s National Museum, located just next to its largest university, the University of Iceland. The museum is in nicely designed church-shaped concrete structure with three floors, a gift shop and cafe. The upper two floors are the permanent exhibit with temporary exhibits on the first floor. Like many [...]
I was well on my way to spending a lazy Saturday reading on the couch but the wonderful weather outside convinced me I should hop on my uncle’s bicycle and go for an afternoon ride. I have blogged a little bit about some of these delightful afternoon rides that I took to Mosterøy and Rennesøy [...]
I’m writing this on my way back from a short trip to Japan where I presented at a conference held at Waseda. It was a great trip, and I got good feedback both at the conference and later directly from my old advisor from my two years spent as a research student at Waseda. I’ve [...]
Two Korean friends, Seyeon and Youngsoo, visited me for a few days in Stavanger before continuing their month of travel around Europe. I treated them to some outdoor fun, a stroll around old Stavanger, and splashed about in a forest lake nearby my apartment. We rode the Clipper tour boat into the beautiful Lysefjorden and [...]
Sunday was hiking day. I have been biking around islands recently, but it was time to head to the mountains for a nice day trip. Joining my uncle, cousins, and a number of friends, we took the ferry to Tau, and drove to one of my favorite places to hike in this area: Trollkjeften. I [...]
After my adventures at the city archive, I checked the sky to confirm decent weather and embarked on this afternoon’s biking adventure. I packed a book on Norwegian treason trials and took the bus out to Mosterøy, which is just north of Stavanger’s peninsula and reachable by tunnel and bus. For anyone making the same [...]
After a night and morning of heavy rain, the sun emerged from the thinning clouds this afternoon, long enough for me to put my reading aside for a few hours and go out to enjoy it. I hunted down my young cousin, borrowed his bicycle and went on a short bike ride to one of [...]
I finished my summer of language study in Seoul and I’m on my way to Norway. I’m writing this in Dubai airport while waiting for my flight to London. I’m enjoying a McDonald’s “McArabia Meal” which the advertisements assure me will offer me an “authentic taste” of this region. I knew I could trust the [...]