Sunshine on my way to work and back home

And that is next to the house I am living in.

And that is back home in Moholt. The snow is still present and one regularly meets people with skis, because a bit higher up, there is still enough snow to go skiing.

This map shows the most important metallic natural resources of Scandinavia. In Norway they predominantly mine(d) base metals like Cu, Co, Ni, Pb and Zn.

With a touch of geology - like this flower box out of rock.

And finally, after my small explorer tour, I went into the building to start my soil sample sieving work in the lab. Everything from the architecture focusses on light, is very clean, well-kept and reminds of IKEA.

Searching task for you: I hided two items, which are typical for me, in the picture. Do you find them?

On the middle left part of the picture, you see a tiny dark rock-like "think" in the fjord. It is Munkholmen - a small island. One can go there by boat.

Do you see the photographer in the picture? Just waving to you

Just great this view! These contrasts...

Behind the building, maybe only 100m away, there is again the sea. One also finds a bench there where one could have a rest - as the curious person in the picture found when looking around in the surrounding of the main building. ;-)

where one enters the building.

where I put my bike,

That are the buildings from NGU where I work at,

Nice to live so close to the sea - and to have a trampoline. I think, especially for children it is great to live in Norway.

Again a picture including myself. ;-)


I think I was not is such a rush arriving at work. Here in Norway, the people teached me how important sunshine and daylight is and how important it is to use the time when both are present. Thefore, I was looking around tried to capture some of the picturesque impressions to share them with you. ;-)

And that is what can actually be seen...

That is and example of what I see.

On my way to the NGU, I only see what I want to see. So, the cars passing by on the street do not disturb that much.

A nice combination: field, forest, mountains snd the ocean in the distance and active people.

Middle of March - spring is coming?

All in all, it was really great! :-)

A1, a British pop band made the girls scream. ;-)

And for the concert, different singers were hired that sang for free.

Or showing their expertise with a hula hoop


There were small children walking around like a mayonnaise tube...

For example this concert on Saturday, the 12th of March. It was a free event, which aimed to make people give doantions for cancer reasearch. There were a couple of people walking around with plastic boxes for collecting money. Many many people did so. Probably because of two main reasons: Norway is a quite social country and the atmosphere during the event was very positive: Many companies had provided different products dike drinks and food for free. And this was distributed to the public.


What else to do? I finally had a look at the university's climbing wall. But I don't feel in the mood of climbing. There are too many other activities that can be done and are more fun for me at the moment.

So, I do it. With some music and people around it is kind of nice. But I should avoid going there too late in the evening. My eyes look quite small and sleepy... °_°



And what do people do when spring approaches? ... Yes, of course: They go sieving!
I started a student assistant job at the Geological Survay of Norway, NGU. In fact, my task will be to do tracer tests in relation to a project which aims to investigate an additional source of water supply for Oslo city. At the moment, they rely on lake water. However, since the population still increases, they want to use another lake, which demands some pretreatment to lower the actual water treatment costs. The aim is to inject the lake's water into the soil and pump it up afterwards to use the natural filter effect.
To investigate the aquifer's properties, tracer tests are planned.
But why sieving then...?
NGU also wants to analyze Norwegian soils for the elements contained. The especially search for rare earths since China, which is the main supplier for Europe by now, will more and more need the elements for their own growing markets.
So, my very challenging task is to sieve countless samples through 2mm sieves -and that as soon as possible since they need to hold a deadline (The samples will be sent to Canada for analyzing them cheaper and they need the results by June...).

At least the snow starts to melt here and there. (Maybe you remember this place close to the fjord. I often go there.)

Middle of February - winter again

But that is something really sad and annoying. There was a party in the basement of our student appartment. Probably someone was drunk and slitted the front tyre of my bike. That was the one with the good and expensive spikes for about 50€ and this cut is too long to be repaired... :-(


Smiling or not - not sure what you prefer to see. So added both. ;-)

And that is something for the ones who wonder how I am looking like. Yes, in some respect I am teachable. After having had one red, thick hurting ear for some days, I now sometimes wear a hat. ;-)

The picture should show how hilly it is, with possibilities for skiing and tobogganing nearly everywhere - a paradise for winter (sport) lovers.

And this is back in Trondheim - evening atmosphere.

With a fireplace

That was also a very nice cabin during the trip.

The sparse vegetation has its own charm...



And again, it is quite hilly everywhere. So no "real" cross country skiing.

There are always cabins around where it is possible to take a break.

On Saturday, the 20th, a Dutch-Australian student, one from Singapore and me went to Bymarka for cross country skiing. I thought it was great that the one from Singapore stood up again and again after each fall when we went downhill. He did never complain and always stayed in a good mood. He also told me a lot about his country, which was really interesting. :-)



In the evening of the 19th of February, I went for a walk and met the first elks I ever saw! We looked at and understodd each other without words...

In front of the church, countless marmelade glasses painted by children and filled with candles were arrainged in a star-like pattern. That looked really impressive. Here, one of these glasses. Due to the light, the painting looks like a face...

In the week of the 15th of February, there was a festival (IsFit) in Trondheim. Within this event, there were different concerts, workshops, discussion rounds, exhibitions, etc.
One evening, I went to the city. I liked how the cathedral lookked like - even if the picture taken is rather dark...

In the cabin, there was also a nice and cosy fireplace where we rested and warmed up a bit.

And then uphill to Estenstadhytta, a cabin from which you have a nice view over the city.


Here, Rune, a Norwegian friend of mine, and me were skiing in the same area - across a deeply frozen lake.


The picture after this shows the view from the hill left from the house.

Even if you call it cross country skiing, it is quite hilly. So, a good chance for beginners to train the skills in walking uphill with skis (fishbone shape of the skis) and going down without falling.

The following for pictures were taken in the area behind Dragvoll, one campus of NTNU. It is very close and as beautiful as the images show. Especially when the sun is shining.