Today is the day where I truly set out on my own. I'm no longer staying with relatives or relatives of relatives. It's just me and my backpack and an agenda of cities to cover in the next 1 1/2 months, to places like Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna and Prague among many others. I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who opened up their homes to me in the past week but I'm excited to stay in hostels, explore and meet people as well. I spent the early afternoon in G...

After eating breakfast with all of the family, Daniel dropped Hannah and I off inside of Slottsskogsparken, a huge park in the center of town. It was raining lightly, but not enough to keep us away. We walked through the park for awhile and went over to the National History Museum housed within the grounds, but it wasn't open yet. Instead we crossed the highway to the botanical gardens (the largest in Sweden) and walked around enjoying the beautiful scenery. From...

I had to visit one last thing in Oslo before I left, Holmenkollbakken, a massive ski jump within walking distance of their house. Originally built in 1892, it has been remodeled 19 times and is now the most modern ski jump in the world. Just last winter it hosted the World Ski Championships and is actually the number one tourist attraction in Norway! Julie had to go downtown for a job interview but Camilla and Petter had the day off of school so they walked with ...

When I woke up this morning, the house was empty so I got ready and made myself breakfast and then walked down to the T-Bane station. The ticket machine was out of order so I had to go find another station down the track before I could get on. By this time it was already 1 and the kids we're getting out of school. They don't have any school buses so all of the kids ride the T-Bane to school and back so the train was filled up with middleschoolers on the way to do...

Today, I said goodbye to Peter and Sissel and hopped on a train bound for Oslo and new adventures. I'm staying with Sissel's sister Anne Christine and her family for two nights. Their oldest daughter Julie met me at the train station when I arrived. She had just come home the day before from studying at UW of all places! We walked around the downtown area for awhile and she showed me the opera house, Akershus Festning (Akershus Fortress, which was built in the 13...