Day 23 (Tue): Last day in Tórshavn!

Weather: sunny and warm, a bit windy
Walked: 9 km

This day was a sad day. I could not get past the feeling that it was all over!:( The summer, the language course, the people, soon having to say goodbye to my dear Mrs. Fanny, my new friends.. So sad but I tried to make the best of my last day in Tórshavn.

So I went for a walk and walked to the Tórshavn Outdoor Museum (in Hoyvík). It was a nice hike and I had good weather. The interesting thing about the Faroe Islands is that you should never presume anything about the weather: it might be good today and stay that way for a while, but it most probably won't be the same the next day! So, I was lucky to have spent the previous rainy day shopping and having this beautiful, sunny day for some outdoorsy hiking.

The Outdoor Museum had preserved several old buildings and the setting was nice. It was inexpensive as well. There were sheep, hens and ducks running around. It felt very authentic.

After the visit to the outdoor museum you get free entrance to the Faroese Historical Museum (Føroya Forminssavn, check link!)

I spent several hours looking around and learning new things. I also watched some of the videos playing in the video room: old footage from the old days, people celebrating Olavssøka and whale hunting/whaling.

I was amazed in many ways: I know that whales are BIG animals, but I had never thought of how the whale is transported in to the harbor. Once captured the whale is tied up on the outside the ship! And then the small ship slowly makes it way through the bumpy sea and upon arrival in the harbor, there is one big mess when they cut the "big fish" into smaller pieces... It was kind of yucky and very fascinating at the same time!

The museum had rune stones, sacral artefacts, fishing equipment, boats and some examples of Faroese national dresses. I especially enjoyed Eivør Paulsdottir's awesome red dress! All very interesting stuff.

After the hike back I had to force myself to do some packing. It was awful! I knew I'd get in trouble because of the books, the papers and of course my new (second hand) boots! In between the packing I had to get out for a while, so I went for another walk and during my evening walk I could hear Elton John's concert.

Sir Elton John's arrival had stirred up some serious debate because of the fact that he is very openly gay. There had been numerous articles in the papers and people being upset that he was coming to the Faroe Islands: some pleaded to the public to stay home and not attend the concert. I've forgotten to check what the press wrote about it afterwards, it would be interesting to know how it went for Elton John.

After the walk I had to pack the rest of my stuff and get some sleep...

Day 22(Mon): shopping and doing other tourist stuff

Torshavn's city emblem

weather: foggy and misty

walked: 11 km!

This day I had decided to do all the things I had had too little or no time at all to do. I walked around a lot! I went and bought some postcards and sat down to write them in Nordens hus and had a cup of nice, hot tea. I also helped some American tourists who had some trouble finding the shops and other tourist "worth visiting/must see" places. I had a very nice time by myself, just taking in the atmosphere, relaxing and enjoying little Tórshavn.

I found some very nice things at fleamarkets and second hand shops. You can see my purchased items below this text! I spent time taking photos and the weather was nice in that sense: the fog is much more interesting than bright sunlight.

Outside Nordens hus / Nordic House.

Dried sheep "feet" at the local supermarket Miklagarður!

No, I did not buy one, I found the smell quite horrible...

My Faroese knitted sweater.

Bought from a second hand shop the Blue Cross.

My colour and definitely unique!

I found a lovely "Chinese" dress in Torshavn's

second hand shop Blue Cross.

Yup, been to Chinatown in San Francisco

but this is where I found my dress...

How peculiar!:)

Real leather boots (that actually fit)

did not cost me much. Second hand shop on Bøkjarbrekka.

Souvenirs for mom (white+blue) and Hanna (turquoise).

Bought for a few DKK at the Red Cross second hand shop.

Day 21 (Sun): Taking it easy on "dagen efter"

weather: rainy and foggy

walked: not much at all

On Sunday after the farewell party I did not do anything worth mentioning. Sofia came to say her goodbyes early in the morning and Katri did the same later in the afternoon. I slept, did some reading and spent time at my computer and felt very empty: the course was over and all of my friends had left the precious little Faroe Islands behind them...

Day 20 (Sat): Exams & Grande Finale

On Saturday we had our last day, which to me, consisted of exams - one for Faroese language, one for Faroese literature. The exam took 2+2 hours and no lunch in between. I thought that it went OK and I had pretty much everything covered. (The results came in and I got a B+ for language and a B for literature, "B" standing for "good knowledge of the subject with lacking just some small details" and A being the best you could get -> me very happy!:)

Katri working on her exam.

After the exam I was happy that we had food at home: the Finns came to our house to finish the rest of the food and we were all happy. Afterwards I had the luxury and the time to take a little nap! And then it was time to go to the University for our last evening together. And I cried and I cried and then I cried some more after all the sentimental speeches: I had had such a wonderful time with the summer course, the Faroe Islands, new friends and all of it, and I was so sad that it was all over for us! :'(

The food at the going away party was awesome! The atmosphere was heartfelt! We sang, we drank, we had fun and stayed up very late. I sympathized with the ones leaving with the early morning bus to the airport - and was so happy that I had decided to stay for a couple of extra days! I could sleep in all day the following day if I wanted to (and so I did).

Sofia, me and Hjördis at the farewell party.

At our farewell party we also danced some Faroese chain dancing: a very simple "one step right, two to the left" - choreography with singing (chanting) old norse verses. Our course leader stood in the middle and served everyone a shot of aquavit (schnaps)! I don't think that there were many sober dancers after that session!

I also went out a small trip to see what was going on at Bar Circus. I also got hit on (my first and only time in Tórshavn) when a guy asked if I wanted to spend the night with his friend. I was so baffled that I couldn't respond with anything witty, but when I think about it, it would've bee nice if he had asked for himself (we're not in first grade anymore)...

Day 18 (Thu): Last day of school & Sushi

Weather: nice, cloudy but no rain

Walked: 5km + evening walks

Day 18 was a Thursday and we had our last lectures. It was a long day! We had to stay for some extra teaching in Faroese language. Phew! At the same time it was sad and also nice to get out of class and start planning the last evening with my course friends.

After the lectures we took a quick pit stop at home and then we headed out to get some sushi at Tórshavn's one and only (?) sushi restaurant Etika (click on the link to see more!). It was one of the coolest restaurants I've ever been to. The interior design was awesome! I was surprised that the price was actually reasonable, maybe even cheap (?) considering that sushi food is still thought to be a bit "hip"and "cool", so I expected a pricier menu. (Ps. Etika also has a restaurant in Copenhagen, I'm sure it's also worth a visit.)

And as it seems, I only eat sushi abroad!:) This was my second time at a sushi restaurant, my first was in St. Petersburg last year (2009). So I'm definitely not a connoisseur, but I have to say that I loved it! The Norwegians ordered a ton of small things (a larger portion than ours) and we all did our best with the chopsticks.. Hah, great fun! A tired old joke: No wonder the Asians are so skinny, they have to eat with chopsticks!:)

Our sushi plate. Delish!

Needed some help with the eating;)

Afterwards we went to get hold of the rest of the group that were watching a football (soccer) game, Denmark vs. Japan - the Danes didn't want to miss the game, which is why we didn't have any Danes with us at the sushi restaurant. Apparently Denmark had lost: a surprising turn of events!

It was a bit cold outside so we headed in to cafe/bar Circus, an underground bar in the heart of Tórshavn. I stayed out until maybe 01 o'clock? Headed home because Circus closed shortly after we arrived. Hmph! *dislike* Just when we started having some serious linguistic fun!

Wall painting at Bar Circus. Turned out

photos weren't allowed. Oops. My bad:)

Bar Circus. The kitschiest bar í Havn!

Encouraging writings on the wall

@ the unisex toilets of Bar Circus.

Day 17 (Wed): Jóanes Nielsen

Weather: fog, rain and sunshine

Walked: 4km

Today (28th June) I think I saw the author Jóanes Nielsen driving a blue van in Tórshavn. I'm pretty sure it was him. And this proves that Tórshavn is a very small town!

We had a long day (23rd June) with literature. In the morning we had our regular literature lessons and the whole day was dedicated to the author Jóanes Nielsen (see link), whose novel, Glansbílætasamlarnir ("The Scrap Collectors" or sth like that: what an unsuitable and clumsy translation in English!) we had read and were supposed to analyze. I don't know how good a job we did, but we did our best.

In the afternoon we had the author himself come for a visit. We had questions. He answered. I think I asked two questions. He didn't understand my Swedish:) I don't think we managed to be very deep with our questions... I would love to bedazzle an artist or someone whose known to be an intellectual. But so far I haven't succeeded:)

I found myself fascinated by his eyes and constant thoughtful frowning. I wanted to go over and wipe the frown away, make him not frown. I thought he was interesting.

Jóanes Nielsen signed my book, coolness!

I now have two signed books from Nordkurs: the Jóanes Nielsen book and Hallgrímur Helgason's "101 Reykjavík" from Iceland (2003, see link).

Curious facts:

- The Faroese Glansbílætasamlarnir has a typo on the cover! It's written Glansibílætasamlarnir with an extra -i- after Glans- ...

- The "New Norwegian" translation has a beautiful cover paper: the scrap pictures on the front cover are black and they reoccur on the inside of the paper cover, kind of hidden. Lovely symbolism! Lovely graphics!

Glans(i)bílætasamlarnir (Faroese, blue cover),

Glansbilledsamlerne (Danish, black cover),

Glansbildesamlarane (Norwegian/"New Norwegian",

white cover, picture of the inside of the paper cover)

Day 16 (Tue): Literature and a latte at Café Natur

Weather: very, very thick fog!

Walked: 6 km

Phew, this Tuesday (22nd June) was veeeery loooong. We had our regular language lesson in the morning, but a little more literature than usual. On top of the regular lessons we had our Norse ballads and dance lesson (kvæði), that had been cancelled the previous week..

Afterwards I thought that I needed some fresh air, so I took my camera and my books and went out for a walk. During the last week I was starting to feel very tired: my active lifestyle here and my way of wanting to do as much as possible without resting, was beginning to take its toll..

So a silent walk with me, my thoughts and my camera seemed to be what I needed. Ended up having a tasty latte at Café Natur and reading material for the literature course.

A beautiful latte.

And brown sugar on a stick.

Delish!

Day 14 (Sun): Hike on the island Nólsoy

Weather: sunny

Walked (hiking): 16 km

After the nice wedding party and "outing" at Café Natur on Saturday, Sunday the 20th June arrived SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL. I could not believe my eyes:)

I met with three happy Norwegian girls in the harbor just after 12 o'clock and we took the ferryboat to Nólsoy. At the tourist information we asked about the hike and how long it would take, because the guide books all told a different version.. We were told that we could easily make the hike to the light house in five hours.

So, first things first: we had lovely waffels at the tourist information!:)

Waffels with ice cream in Nólsoy, delish!

Happy and excited we headed up the fjell (I wouldn't call the mountains here "mountains"..). Just above the village Nólsoy is the roughest part with a steep climb up the fjell but after that the rest of the hike was on a plain grass heath. It was pretty wet on the heath, so I was glad I had decided to wear my hiking boots. We met with an Australian old lady(!) who had hiked to the light house in 2+2 hours(!); a Tschech couple and later two Swedish men.

We saw sheep, grass, the fjell, the pretty light house, the village from above (it was an awesome view from the top!) The light house was cute and our picnic food was delicious! A great outdoorsy trip in a nice weather and good company. I would recommend this to all who have at least five-six hours of spare time in Tórshavn. But bear in mind that it's good if you're physically fit (or at least more or less in a "normal" condition) to do this hike, the first part just above the village is the roughest.

On the way up. Village Nólsoy in the background.

Soon after this picture the hard part was behind us.

Sheep and Norwegian girls :)

Light house in the other end of Nólsoy.

The picture was taken by some Swedish

men we met at the light house.

It was no surprise, that when I got home, I took a shower and was all wound up the rest of the evening. And VERY tired the following day..

Day 13 (sat): Princess Victoria's wedding

Weather: sunny

Walked: 5 km

On Saturday 19th of June our Swedish Anna-Stina wanted to throw a party in honor of the Swedish crown princess Victoria's wedding. This was highly appreciated and we had gone grocery shopping the day before. And yes, I cried at the wedding: I thought that the ceremony was absolutely beautiful! We prepared dinner so after the ceremony we had dinner and sang Nordic songs with our Swedish Fredrik at the piano. A great evening! Here are some pictures.

Blue and yellow: the color of Sweden.

"Sing, ye, Swedish people!"

Anne-G. preparing the wedding buffét.

Day 12 (Fri): A troubadour's birthday

Hanus G. Johansen's humble cake.

Weather: sunny and warm

Walked: 8km

On Friday the 18th June we had lectures about literature and also in the afternoon a guest lecture about children's literature. FYI (curious fact): all Faroese children over 10 years of age received a copy of Robinson Kruso (Robinson Crusoe) in the year 1914. Those who didn't get one, were bitter 'til the end:)

After school we went to the Nordic House (Norðurlandahúsið í Føroyum) to celebrate a local troubadour's, Hanus G. Johansen's 60th birthday party. The party had public access and the house was more or less full. The concert was nice, Hanus'es voice could be described as something between Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan. Some of us bought his cd:s and got them signed by the birthday-boy.

Hanus G. Johansen.

The adventure of this event was the following:

Hanus'es beatiful, raven like, goth-daughter announced that there would be a surprise in the other concert hall. I got up and went there. The eager amateur photographer that I am, I decided to sit in the front row (easy access in and out) to get some good shots of the surprise to come. Well, as it happened, Hanus sat next to me! I was a bit uncomfortable because I hadn't thought about that the first row could be seen as VIP places.. And I couldn't really leave either, because that would seem rude. When people came over to congratulate Hanus, they looked at me surely thinking: "Who is this person!?" So I decided to congratulate him and so we shook hands:) He seemed like a nice and happy man!

The birthday surprise was a super-duper hard core thrash metal performance by a band called Synarchy. The concert was actually awesome and Hanus enjoyed it too! This would normally not be my cup of tea, but these young Faroese guys played very well: the vocal range of the singer was awesome (not that I could make out what they were saying) and they were energetic and had a good charisma on stage. I was told that 60% of the people in the concert left, because they couldn't take the "noise":) :)

Haha, well, it all went well in the end.

Synarchy in action.

After Hanus'es party (with the concert, the surprise concert, a huuuuge cake and coffee), we went to get some groceries for Saturday. And then we sat in the harbor, enjoying the last rays of the warm sun, drinking some Koskenkorva (a Finn is not a Finn without Kossu;). Afterwards we went to Café Natur and I stayed out until around 01 o'clock.

Day 10 (Wed): Faroese art

Besides the normal lessons (on Wednesday 16th June) we also had Inger Smærup Sørensen from Listasavn Føroya (Faroe Islands Art Museum) tell us a little bit of Faroese art (see link!). We had a short introduction of the past, history and present in Faroese art.

As for the film industry, even other art forms are very new on the Faroe Islands. Even within the traditional arts here there are strong tendencies to stay within one art form, meaning mainly painting and art on canvas. Painting is in other words the most popular art form here, and some (but few) artists are specialized in sculptures. The art scene is not that big and new blood would probably be welcomed with open arms.

We learnt that the Faroese have developed an art form that they call landscape expressionism and it was nice to look at... for a while! But when it started repeating itself I found it a bit boring (not that I could produce anything like that, but you know what I mean. Maybe I just don't get contemporary art?)

What I have thought about a lot while having the opportunity to stay here, is that there seems to be no interest for photo art or photography over here! There was a gorgeous, large photo piece at the Art Museum and I would have loved to see more of that (I can't remember the name of the artist though, unfortunately)! This land is very special: it has beautiful and dramatic landscapes, the nature is spectacular, the light is wonderful and shifts many times during the day (in the evenings I have to close my curtains and stop myself from going outside and just staring at the beautiful sky..).

This gorgeous nature could also be used for something else than just landscapes. One would think that creativity would bloom and bubble in a land like this!

Day 9 (Tue): Documentary of Gásadalur and horse back riding!

Weather: foggy rain

Walked: about 7km

On Tuesday 15th June we had our language lecture in the morning, but our Norse ballads lecture in the afternoon was cancelled because the teacher was ill. Instead, we watched a documentary movie about the isolated valley of Gásadalur. The documentary was old("ish"), from 1990 and it told the story of 16 valley people living in an isolated valley on the island of Vágar. The documentary was titled 1700 metrar frá framtiðini = 1700 Metres To The Future, that refer to the length of the tunnel that finally came in the year 2003.

We really enjoyed this documentary , because some of the things the people said or did seemed so out-dated and funny to us. F.e. the most important man, the helicopter-coordinator-man, had a cell phone. The cell phone was the size of a brick stone and had an antenna that was maybe 50-60cm long:) Also, one of the men had climbed up the mountain and carried a stove for his kitchen (a real superman!) The valley people had but only one young child: a boy, 9 years old, that lived with his grad parents. He had a teacher come and teach him in periods, during which the teacher stayed and lived in Gásadalur... I really liked this documentary, it was both informative and very pleasant!

After school we had arranged for a 2 hour horse back riding tour. It was outside of town. The riding instructors had prepared 10 small Icelandic horses for us to climb on: and it was so much fun!!! Loved it, loved it, loved it! I'm considering going again, when the course is over and I have some free time.. We'll see..

Fog and mist on the paths above Tórshavn.

The sensation was ancient!

Day 8 (Mon): Faroese movies

Weather: cloudy, mostly clear, no rain

Walked: 6 km

The most interesting bits of this day was delivered by Jan Berg Jørgensen, a young and friendly movie- and media dude (see link to Wikipedia;). We were given an introduction to the Faroese movie industry and movie culture. It couldn't be called anything but an "introduction" because the movie "industry" is very small and still taking small baby steps into the big wide world.

In the lecture we were presented with the idea of the Nordic region as something which is politically motivated and hence socio-politically "constructed". This construction has it's roots in the history that the Nordic countries have together - and Denmark's still existing colonialism over the Faroe Islands (from now on FI for short!). In my opinion, geographically speaking, The FI could very well be a part of Great Britain, Iceland or "The United States of Greenland" (or be independent).. But at the moment, the fact is that the FI are a part of Denmark, and via Denmark (together with its geographical location), the Nordic region and Scandinavia.

We also discussed whether or not the Nordic countries have something uniting them, something beyond the history that we share, and I believe we all can agree on that we share some similarities in how we perceive ourselves: we see ourselves as something peripheral, the Faroese probably even more than the other Nordic countries (pure geography, I'd say). So there are similarities in the identity of a Nordic homo sapiens, and to some degree these similarities can be seen as a product of nature in this part of the globe. We draw upon these similarities, they help us when we try to interpret and understand pop culture from another (Nordic) country.

The Nordic countries have always (when not in war with each other;) lent a helping hand to their neighbors and therefore the co-operation of Nordic countries is something that the rest of world sees as a very positive thing.

When it comes to co-operation within the movie industry, and here discussing mainly the FI and Nordic countries, we must see the facts and admit that some ties are more natural than others. Here I'm pointing at the fact that what we call "Nordic co-operation" means different things, depending on the country that you live in. For Finns it means (often) joint projects with Swedes, for the Faroese it means getting funding and help from Denmark.

The Nordic co-operation is a positive thing. BUT within the movie industry it also hinders the FI from developing an independent and a national "filmographic" identity. BUT on the other hand, this country is (still) too small to produce good quality movies on its own. So some compromises have to be made.

According to Jørgensen, the Nordic co-operation is willing to lend a helping hand when a movie project is aiming to produce a movie with uplifting and prestigious qualities. Therefore art(istic) movies are not a priority when granting funding.

Also, according to Jørgensen, the FI are mentally too locked in reproducing the few good things that have come from this country (as in, "we have made it once, we have proved this to be good, this is a best seller") and/so thinking outside the box is hard (and difficult to finance).

To complete the guest lecture we saw the movie Bye Bye Bluebird (1999), a road movie by Katrin Ottarsdóttir. The film tried to combine this small country with the big world through some pop-culture references, such as Thelma&Louise and David Lynch's movies. Some questions arose during the movie but they were never answered. It wasn't marvelous, it wasn't a masterpiece, but I liked it!:)

Nokia. Connecting people.

Even on the tiny island of Nólsoy!

Day 7 (Sunday): church and boat trip to Nólsoy

Weather: cloudy but no rain

Walked: 8,5 km, mainly on Nólsoy

... and on the seventh day she did not rest.

Last Sunday was a very nice day. A few in the group had agreed on meeting at the Tórshavn Dome church at 11 o'clock. We went and listened to the Sunday mass and to my surprise I actually understood quite a lot of the ceremony! I understood the priest's metaphorical language:)

Tórshavn Dome Church

Dome Church inside

To my surprise the Tórshavn community actually had a women priest: I had understood from our previous lectures on politics and religion, that women priests working in the church would be one of the controversial issues on the Faroe Islands - the issue being that some of the traditional and conventional male priests refuse to work with women priests (there are some examples in Finland, too, so some parallels can be drawn). Apparently Tórshavn wants to be modern and set a good example for the rest of the Faroe Islands. Go Tórshavn!

At the church we saw that one of the servants was a researcher from the University and he had given a lecture about Faroese names. After the sermon he gave us a private tour of the church: he told us about the history and the artefacts in the church. We also got a chance to climb up in the small bell tower! Tórshavn is a small town and it's all about who you know ;)

Inside the bell tower!

After church I had refreshing coffee in the harbor, after which I was ready to go with a bunch of other Finns (and one Swedish girl) to the nearest island called Nólsoy, just 20 minutes outside Tórshavn. We took an easy Sunday hike on the beautiful green hills and had coffee at Kaffistovan. The coffee was good and we had fun when the local men (a bit tipsy) eagerly tried to have a conversation with us. We saw the church, Nólsoy Páll's memorial site and collected sea shells at the shore.

View on the "flat side" of Nólsoy

Cute little "angora" hen from Nólsoy

Fish outside drying.

Day 5: friggjadagur (Friday) politics & movie night!

On the day of Frey (an ancient pagan god of fertility), also known as Friday, we had our regular lectures: language in the morning and literature in the afternoon. An extra bonus was thrown at us at the end of the day, when we were all very tired and hoping to get home. We had man called Heini Í Skorini speak about religion and politics on the Faroe Islands. I expected a dull and boring lecture, as, for me, the title gave such associations. Surprisingly, the lecture was really interesting!

This country is part of Scandinavia, a part of the Nordic heritage (both in language and genetics), but the attitudes and the belief systems are so traditional, christian and conventional, that parallels between the Faroe Islands and southern States in the U.S. can easily be drawn.

Info gathered from my notes (please correct me if I'm wrong;) :

- there are 160 churches in total on the Faroe Islands

- 83% are a part of the national (lutheran) church (Fólkakirkjan)

- 16% are a part of some other religious movement (Jehova's, Adventists, Baha'i, Catholic)

- muslim and other "foreign" religions are very, very rare

In politics the traditional and conventional (= very strong) Christian religion plays a significant role. The Faroese parliament is a place for old men, where heterosexuality is a norm. Hence, homosexuality is taboo here. According to Heini, when (re-)forming the Faroese constitutional law and discussing the word forms in the Human Rights Declaration (second paragraph about discrimination) 2005 and 2007, the words for "discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation" were omitted. The debate was fierce, and as I understood it, the Faroese constitutional law still lacks the specific formulations that declare discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation as illegal.

Other strongly debated subjects here are alcohol politics, abortion and pornography. These sensitive matters demolish the so-called "two dimensional party system". The parties are divided according to a) whether or not they support the idea of independence from Denmark and b) whether they are left or right wing parties.

Heini offered geographical isolation and the harsh nature (forcing the islanders to focus on survival (nowadays a more historical remain), as possible explanations to why the islanders are so rigid in their beliefs.

This lecture really woke us up to see the differences and the similarities in the Faroe Islands and our home countries and we were eager to discuss and ask questions of Heini. An interesting lecture, I'd say!

After school we did all sorts of things that the traditional Faroese society would frown upon:

- we went to the local ALKO = the monopolized store for alcohol

- we were modern and ate pizza (no lamb meat or fish included)

- we saw a decadent Danish movie called "Barbara". I recommend the film to anyone who's into Jane Austen movies, although, "Barbara" is not so romantic, but the costumes and nature were nice:) End of school week one!

Day 4: lectures and city bus tour

Engineers, take notes: bronze murials are not to be placed

outside in humid weather conditions,

especially not on white walls.

They leak.

This advice was given to you by

a humanities student (no charge!;)

Weather: cloudy, windy and cold (but no rain)

Walked: 2 km

Today's lecture's were:

1. Faroese language (numbers and weekdays)

2. Faroese literature and post-colonialism.

After school we planned to go to the Museum of Natural History, but fortunately I checked the museum's homepage beforehand and it was already closed. So instead we went on a free bus tour on the Tórshavn city bus, route number one. We waited quite long in the cold breeze and chatted up some guy at the bus stop. He was clearly amused that we wanted to go and were so excited about going on a bus ride across Tórshavn:) Aww. The boy at the bus stop was kinda cute:)

We ended up taking a full circle with bus route number one. We got on bus route two, but when we got to the center the tired looking bus driver walked up to us. He asked skeptically if we were really going to Argir, a township nearby, nowadays a part of Tórshavn. We looked confused, and he explained that he was going there, but that at this hour the tour would take a break in Argir which would mean 20 minutes of walking and/or freezing up in the hills. So, thanks to the nice bus driver, we thought it to be better to get off in the city centre and walk home.

At home I ate some more Wasa knäckebröd and Fanny had made some delicious rhubarb pudding. Yumyum!

Day 3: old norse ballads

A world map (in Faroese) hanging in the corridor at the University.

Weather: sunny and beautiful!

Walked km: 5

On Wednesday we had our first real language lesson. We tuned our ears to hear and understand Faroese. We went through some basic sentences ("Hi how are you, what's your name" etc.) and got some home work.

It seems to me that Faroese is a very vowel based language. It has very distinctive diphthongs (combinations of vowels, for those who are not linguists;). The teacher said that Finns should have no problems learning the vowels, because Finnish also has these vowel combinations (diphthongs).

Also, most definitely is the Faroese language not pronounced as it is written! There are a lot of rules about pronunciation. In pronunciation they have fricatives and other sorts of aspired consonants: hopefully I'll learn the rules for those in three weeks... In some instances knowledge of Icelandic helps me, but in some cases it only makes me more confused.. Here is a link, if you are interested in reading more about the language.

In the afternoon we had a lesson about Faroese traditional ballads: singing and dancing also known as kvæði . I think that it must have something to do with my upbringing and my fathers side of the family, but I find traditional music and (Scandinavian) folk/world music very appealing. There is something in the music, the rhythm, the melody played in minor keys.

Eivind, our guest lecturer, was a hearty old man. He looked like a captain of the old days with his white beard:) We sat and listened to the cd when the electricity shut down. We were glad to have Eivind sing the lead and we tried our best to fill out the chorus of Regin smidur. Check out the version made by the Faroese heavy metal band Tyr. Will try to capture our dancing on video the next time.

After the lessons I went and bought the 1.000DKK (140€) grammar books:/ And bought some more food. I blame it on the fresh weather and being outside walking: I'm constantly hungry as a Norse Wolf!:)

Day 2: Tuesday 8th June

Weather: rain in the morning, cleared out by noon, sunshine in the evening

Walked: 6.5 km

Had a lovely day with lectures in both Faroese literature (in the morning) and Faroese names (in the afternoon). Luckily the university lecture halls are close to home, which makes it easy to go home home for lunch.

After the lectures I had a quick nap but awoke to the sun peeling through the window panels: the sun was shining beautifully and this was an opportunity not to be missed! Took our my camera and headed downtown via the Old Fort.

Lighthouse at the old fort

In the harbor I sat outside for a couple of hours reading my Faroese novel (for the course, a pocketbook in Danish). Had a cup of not-so-good-regular- coffee. When I looked up, the clouds seemed to avoid the harbor and somehow stayed close to the hills surrounding Tórshavn. Also, I have never seen clouds moving so fast! Like in a movie, just before storm breaks. I can easily imagine how fast a storm can move in...

Café Kaffihusið in the harbor

View from the café towards the harbor

After coffee we had a group meeting at Hvonn , the restaurant we ate the day before. Had a glass of red wine. The restaurant was packed! I don't couldn't tell if it was because of the lovely weather or what.

Thought I was tired, but when I got home I decided to go out for some more photography. It was still very light at 23 o'clock, but the sun had set behind the hills, so it really didn't make any cool shadows. Came home and quickly jumped into bed.

The View to Nólsoy, near our house. About 23 o'clock.