So that was a summary of my past four months wrapped into a few photographs, a map, and a timeline. Hopefully, I will do a much better job second semester keeping track of my travels, using photographs, diary entries, and maps. No more timelines... if I can prevent it. I also hope to reflect upon these prior trips throughout this diary so I can continue to explore how they have shaped me and influence my decisions/travels in the future.
In these last few days, I have only begun to process how my winter break travels went. During the two weeks we had off, my family visited the first week and we visited Paris, Barcelona, and Madrid. Out of these three places, I fell in love with Madrid, the city where my brother is currently teaching English along with his best friend. I could feel the culture engulf me while wandering the streets, shopping, and eating the food. After we celebrated New Years together, my family went separate ways and my parents and youngest brother returned to America.
My other brother, his best friend, and I then went on to Stockholm, Oslo, and Tromso. While I enjoyed all of these cities, I must say that Tromso was by far my favorite. Tromso is a little city in the Arctic Circle, known as the cultural hub of the Arctic Circle. We travelled there in hopes of seeing the Northern Lights. Once we arrived, we realized it wouldn't be possible to see the Northern Lights without renting a car and so, we did. The first night of our trip, we drove around searching for the lights but had no luck. Cranky, tired, and hungry, the three of us headed home to watch old movies and sleep, hoping that tomorrow we would have better luck.
The second day, we set out exploring the fjords and the city of Tromso, both of which was beautiful. The fjords, Kaldfjord and Ersfjordbotn, were covered in snow, causing the two boys to start a snowball fight. After finishing the snowball fight and seeing both fjords, we headed to Kvaloya to catch a better view of a mountainous village near Tromso. We ended the adventure by heading back to the city and enjoying lunch at O'Leary's, a Boston pub that happens to be very popular in Norway.
Later in the day, we went dog sledding. Dog sledding was supposed to be under the Northern Lights, but due to how cloudy the sky was, we couldn't see the Northern Lights on the excursion. This did not impact how much fun we had, however, at all. Kevin and I decided we would go together and Kevin's friend, OV, went with a traveller from Italy. Both boys started off in the lead with the dogs and I enjoyed sitting while Kevin lead the way. I tried to lead the dogs on my own but didn't feel as comfortable as Kevin so I switched positions with him after a maximum of five minutes. These dogs were some of the friendliest little guys I have ever met! Whenever they stopped, they just wanted to cuddle, eat snow, and roll around.
After dog sledding, we began our drive to the Finland border at 10pm in hopes that we would catch a glimpse of the lights. Around 2am, we headed home, defeated after not finding the lights. While I was staring out the window, keeping my fingers crossed, and praying to God, I yelled to my brother to stop the car and dashed outside. A very faint greenish-grey cloud seemed to be dancing over my head. It was my first Northern Lights sighting. I felt as though my prayers had been answer and our trip was finally complete. I had seen the Northern Lights, regardless of how shiny they were feeling that night. God had answered my prayers and I had now seen a sight that was only a dream many months ago.
But that wasn't all that was in store for us that night. A few minutes later, we saw that the color of the clouds ahead of us were enhancing into a bright green. We inched the car a little farther, hoping to get a better view, and waited, sitting with our fingers crossed. Then, the magic happened. Straight ahead lay a mountain and above that mountain, the sky was began to dance. At first, I saw light green swooshes start to dance and suddenly, purple swooshes began to join in. As I watched the sky, I tried to keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks. Never in my life had I experienced something so magical, so beautiful that I knew I would never forget that moment.
While I am only retelling the story a week after it happened, I hope that with my new adventures, I will be able to share them as they come. However, don't think for a second I won't continue to share memories such as this one... they are too precious to ignore!

Below: The first photo is of Ersfjordbotn, the second fjord we saw which resembles mountain peaks. The second photo was taken when I found the boys all cozied up fighting off the cold just after we landed in Tromso. The third photo is one of the very few pictures I could get where you can see the Northern Lights. I guess what they say is true... some beauty cannot be captured by a lens.