Someone finally gave Norway the heads up that we are in Spring and the much awaited warm weather has finally arrived. After enduring the longest, coldest and snowiest Winter that has occurred in Norway during my lifetime the snow is now nearly completely gone. As you can imagine, Norwegians love the warm weather. Some people spend hours on end sitting in their gardens just soaking up the rays and others work for hours on their gardens (something many care deeply about) now that the snow is gone.

The Winter depression is a thing. When the sun is only up between 9 and 3 and its -20 degress the mood tends to drop a bit. There were days when I would leave for school before the sun was up and come home after the sun came down and it didn’t exactly inspire joyful emotions. Still, it wasn’t something I’d noticed until I was reminded what the Sun’s warmth felt like. Last weekend I just went for a walk around my new suburb for no other reason than to enjoy the warmth and the beautiful day. This last week the maximum temperature has been between 17 and 22 degrees and it has been beautiful. It was during my walk that I realised how peacefully happy I felt, the weather inspired the feeling of complete and utter contentedness. This feeling was not one I had really experienced in Winter, I’d been happy but this was a whole new level.

Norway has always been beautiful in my opinion but now, as the grass is a vibrant green and the flowers are blossoming, it is something else. There are birds here now and the European magpie can be seen nearly everywhere. This warm weather has been amazing and the forecast is looking good for the 17th of May!

Until next time,

Alicia