Final Days Photos
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2011
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59
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Trip End
May 18, 2011
Moss, Ostfold, Norway
Friday, October 21, 2011
In the months since I've been back in the States, I've noticed that this blog still gets more than 100 visits a month. So, as a reward to you all who still visit it, I'd like to share some photos with you!
Before we jump to the pictures, I'd like to comment a little on the impact that studying abroad has had and continues to have on my life. It's funny how in life, lack of exposure to things different than what you are used to leads to a certain degree of closed mindedness, largely due to the fact that you didn't realize that there were other ways to view things. You see that your perspectives are relative to the cultural norms of your locale. For example, how governments are structured and operate. Though we may look at another country's political system and scoff, the citizens of that nation do view things quite the same, having been conditioned to a certain style of doing things. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we must always persist in our efforts to see things in a different light, for it is then that we can reflect on our own thinking and methods, and work to improve them.
I think about Europe all the time now. Like, multiple times of the day, every day. No joke. I look back on the amazing times I had and the incredible friend I made. It's kinda akin to reminiscing on Christmases of years past. Yeah, there were some parts that didn't shine (like homework, for example). but on the whole, it was the experience of my lifetime. It has, I think, come to define me to an extent. My thought process has been forever changed. Now I think about things that I would have never thought about before. Things that I didn't know existed. Things that I didn't know could be thought about. It's a really good feeling. You feel more knowledgeable, but at the same time, you feel like you know less about the world because you wonder more about it. It's like a Beatles lyric, "The further one travels, the less one really knows." I certainly feel that way sometimes! It's funny, I find it very hard to remember how I used to think and what I used to think about pre-study abroad.
Anyhow, to the pictures... As you'll see, most of them are in park areas. Near the end of my time in Moss, I sent a considerable time outside, walking and exploring the area. It is such a pretty place. Hopefully I'll make it back there sooner rather than later!
I do think I'll do a few more entries in the coming days/weeks. I have pictures from an excursion from Horten I'd like to share as well as pictures from May 17, which is Norwegian Independence Day.
Stay Tuned!
Thanks, Rob
