Mission Polar Lights!

I’m fond of travelling. I think I can say that I have had the chance to visit a lot of countries. My favourite one was Norway and that’s why when my sister asked me to come with her in Tromso, I said « yes » without any hesitation.

I travelled with a Canadian, a Norwegian, a Netherlander and my sister. I can now hold a conversation in English but I have to admit that it was difficult to work out when they were saying sometimes because they had really good English. Norwegian people usually eat between 5pm and 6pm so I needed to get used to this during the trip.

Our goal was simple: see the famous polar lights. We knew that it would be difficult and we would need patience but we were very enthusiastic about it.

On the first day of the trip, we explored the house. It was amazing. As the sun goes down early in Tromso (we only had 6 hours of sun every day), we couldn’t do anything the first day. We were getting to know each other when we received a text from the landlord who was saying that we would have the chance to see the polar lights from our window that night. Well organised, we tried to study the sky and inform the others if we saw something unusual. A few hours later, our wishes came true! We were so eager to see the polar lights. Personally, I was over the moon! My first polar lights! Some people need to wait long hours to see them or do not even have the chance to see them in their lives! We were so lucky! We couldn’t have been happier at that moment.

On the second day of the trip, we drove around Isle Senja. It was an amazing journey. I remember being speechless in front of the landscape. The mountain was reflected into the water. The road went along a beautiful area and when we got back home, we could see the sun going down. The sky was full of different colours : purple, pink, blue, orange… Everything was perfect.

On the third day, we went to a waterfall. It was partially covered by ice. Not surprisingly, the temperature was minus twenty-two! It was so cold that my hair and my lashes were freezing ! Then, we visited the Polar park. We could learn about the animals that lived in Norway like lynx, bears, moose or reindeers.

Finally, on the last day we returned to the airport. It was a nightmare! The weather was awful. The roads were frozen. I was stuck on a very slippery slope. I couldn’t move! Luckily, my friends managed to push the car to help it to speed up and cross the slope. It took forever to go to the airport but we did it!

In the end, it was a rewarding trip. It turned out that Norway was still my favourite country in the world. “Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” (Gustave Flaubert). I can’t disagree with that!