Budapest!!

On June 7th I flew to Budapest, Hungary to visit Murph, a University and JDC buddy who was studying there. I was actually Murph’s frosh captain during his first week at University and he kind of blames me for his massive drinking problems… meh. Also visiting Murph was Erik (another JDC guy and another guy under my tutelage at frosh), Annie (Murph’s girlfriend), and 2 other of Murph’s friends, Taz and Yas. It was really cool to visit these guys, as I hadn’t spoke frenglish (English/French Canadian combo) in a while.

The first day in Budapest we visited St-Stephen’s cathedral and walked down Andrassy ut, which is a World Heritage site, all the way down to Heroes Square. I believe that night we ate some great Hungarian goulash which was packed with paprika, a very Hungarian spice.

The next day with had a tour of the Hungarian parliament, which is located alongside the Danube River. After that we went to the House of Terror. This museum is located on Andrassy ut and depicts the history of Nazi and communist rule in Hungary and Budapest. Then we all went to the Opera house to take in a play or a nap. Either way it cost 3$ to get in and the inside was beautiful. That night, Murph took us to Simpla, which is one of the student bars he frequented very often during the semester. After a few horrible shots and beers we went to the 24 hour pub near Murph’s place where we stayed until 6am ..ugh.

Needless to stay the next day was more of a relaxing one. We headed to one of Budapest’s famous baths to relax, swim and take a sauna. This was one of the best parts of my trip. After, we hiked up the Buda side of the city to get a nice view of the city. That night we went to this cool rooftop bar that closed at 1am.

The day after we went back up the hill to visit the Royal Palace and Fisherman’s bastion. Since the Euro cup was starting that day, we went to Marguerite Island to watch Spain (the eventual champs) vs Russia in a group match.

The next day all of us hopped on a train to Bratislava, which I will talk about more in the next post.

I was really surprised of how much there is to do in Budapest and it is truly a great city to visit. Having a tour guide that has studied there for 5 months also helps ;)

Take care,

Jason

Land of the Midnight Sun ... 2 months later :P

The day after my birthday, I headed to the land of the midnight sun, the town of Tromso, Norway with some friends and Joyce. On the trip were Gautam (India), Audrey (France), Bernd (Germany), Putri (Indonesia), Alex (Romania) and Gerdina (Holland). All of them were there a day ahead since I decided to take a cheaper flight on the Friday morning. This was bad idea since I went out drinking the night before with other friends to celebrate my birthday ☺ . Once my plane landed, I headed to the campsite where we were staying. Afterwards we went into town to check out the sites. We then returned to to camp site since everyone was exhausted from the night before. We had a nice dinner and went to bed.


The next day, we took the funicular to get a birds eye view of the city of Tromso. Even though it was the end of May there was still plenty of snow and cold weather since we were so far north. The greatest thing about being above the Artic Circle in the Spring/Summer time is that the sun NEVER sets. It’s constant daylight, which really confuses you. However, I wouldn’t want to live here in the wintertime where there is no sun at all. After the funicular ride we took a fjord trip. The first part of the trip was by bus and the last part was by boat. Along the way we say some amazing scenery and drank some beers on the boat. After the fjord trip, which ended around 10:30pm, we headed to Driv, a cool bar in Tromso. The weirdest thing about this bar was that when you stepped out on the patio at 2am with a beer in your hand, it felt like it was 7pm because it was so bright out!



The next morning/ afternoon, we went on a small hike where we met local kids that were playing soccer. These kids were really cool and the approached because they wanted us to play soccer with them. You can tell that these kids come from a small town and they are not used to seeing tourists in their small city. After that, Putri, Joyce and I went to the Polaria Museum where we got to see actual seals in a swimming tank. It was great and Putri and Joyce were freaking out like little kids :p After the museum we returned to the camp site where chef Bernd prepared a great meal.

The morning after I returned to catch my 7am flight ..ugh .. and actually went to work that day. Tromso was really cool as I’ve always wanted to see the midnight sun ever since I came to Norway. Maybe I’ll be able to see the same thing in Northern Canada one day…hmmmm.

Take care,

Jason

Update

Hey everyone, 

Just a small update, I am alive and well :P.  I have been on hoidays the past few weeks and I will post my picuteres and will describe my trip to Switzerlnd, Autria, Bratislava and Budapest in my next few posts. 

Also, I will talk about my trip to Tromso Norway that I took at the end of May. 

Hope everyone is doing well. 

Jason 

I look like a guy who looks like the guy from TOP GUN!

Hello everyone,

As I came into work Monday morning and opened my e-mail, I noticed the subject line of one of my e-mails from my colleague Nuno was: Jason/Dragonfly. Since this e-mail was sent to a mailing list, and there is another Jason in the office, AND that Opera is releasing a product caled Dragonfly soon, I figured that this would not concern me for a few reasons.

1. I'm not working on the Dragonfly project
2. The other Jason in the office is a lawyer, so people tend to want to talk to him more then me.
3. People around here usually call me dude, you, or stupid Canadian, instead of Jason.
4. Who the HELL is Nuno?

So here is what I saw when I opened the e-mail:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXeiusUdc3k

Apparently Nuno thought that this Tom Cruise impersonator looks like me! ME! Well, he wasn't the only one. A few people around the office actually thought it was me in the video :eek:

Although it isn't me, we do have a few things in common as I do fly and eat planets :yes:

I'll let you be the judge.

Other then that, nothing really exciting has been happening , haha. Just working hard and looking forward to my summer vacation :)

Have a good week, miss you all. 

Jason

Back to Oslo...

Well, it's been a real long time since I've posted something on here and since then I've been back home to Ottawa. Before starting my new contract with Opera I had to take a break, so this was the perfect opportunity to go back home and catch up with family and friends for 3 1/2 weeks!

The trip was really amazing. Lots of cold, snow, great food and parties. It felt like I never left which, I guess , is a good thing. It was great to catch up with friends that haven't really changed. Sure most of them have either moved out, bought their own place or got engaged but for the most part everyone was the same.

Now it's back to reality. After a 14 hour journey, I arrived back here in Oslo. My flights were all real smooth and it felt like spring as I landed in Oslo. The weather has been no less then -5 compared to Ottawa's -20. I've slowly settled back in to my routine of going to work, going to the gym and all that good stuff. I'm really looking forward to an extra year here in Oslo as it will give me one more year of precious work experience and more chances to travel :)

All is good on my end so hopefully everything is well with everyone.

I leave you with pictures of a snowboarding competition I attended here at Holmenkollen in Oslo with my friend and colleague Espen. It was a really cool time. These guys are insane !!

Take care,

Jason

Paris, Gothenburg Sweden, and Bergen Norway

Hey everyone,

Well it's been a long time since I've wrote so here goes.

In July, my parents came to visit me and it was a great treat from home. It had been almost 6 months since I have since them (in person). They came just in time for Canada Day so it was great to celebrate with them with a BBQ in Vigeland Park here in Oslo. They also came right after that great Senators playoff run so they brought me a nice Eastern Conference Champions T-shirts :) With them enjoying Oslo for the first week of their stay I was working but I then got a week holiday so I can travel with them to Paris and Gothenburg, Sweden.

Paris:

My mom always wanted to go to Paris so it was great to be able to go with her and my dad. We visited the Eiffel Tower, the Chateau de Versaille, Le Louvre and all the other typical tourist stops in Paris. The city is truly beautiful and VERY busy compared to Oslo. It's a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there. It was also nice to eat terrific food!

Gothenburg, Sweden:

I was really looking forward to this trip as I had never been to Sweden and it was a chance to visit my favorite Senator player, Daniel Alfredsson's home town. This city was very similar to Oslo and my parents and I took a boat tour of the city. Too bad it started pouring rain 10 seconds after we started the tour. NO REFUNDS . Sweet. Anyway, we had a great time getting to Gothenburg by train which is a 4 hour ride.

I had a great time with my parents as we had many laughs and great memories.

Bergen, Norway:

Well I attended an AIESEC conference last weekend that was held in Bergen Norway. As a intern myself and other interns from around the world got the chance to visit the city. We first went to Bryggen which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Bryggen is a series of very old traditional Norwegian houses that have now been turned into shops and restaurants. We then took a funicular to the top of a hill to have a view of the entire city. The next day the interns went to visit the RosenKrantz tower which is one of Norway's oldest structures. Bergen is a little smaller then Oslo, but it is a great town to visit for a weekend. I find more beautiful then Oslo.

Three great trips in one on this post. I can't wait for the next one. I am going to the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic between Xmas and New Years. I hope to catch Canada vs Sweden on December 29th . Look for me on TSN haha.

I have posted pictures of all 3 cities in my albums and Facebook.

Take care everyone!

Jason

Fjords and Football (soccer)

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is doing well back home! Sorry for not posting anything for awhile. I am having internet connection problems at home and I have to do everything internet related from work (after I actually finish work of course ;) ) The last few weeks have been really cool because I got to experience few firsts in my life. In late August I went on my first Norwegian fjord tour and last weekend I went to my first ever soccer game.

Geiranger Fjord Tour

With summer coming to an end, I thought it would be a great time to experience one of Norway’s most famous attractions, the fjords. There are many fjords to choose from but I chose to see the Geiranger fjord, which, I was told, was one of the most beautiful in Norway. I made the trip with Ruben, a Dutch friend who is also on an internship in Oslo. We were the only ones who could make it that particular weekend.

Geiranger is about a 7 hour train ride Northwest from Oslo, but the town is so remote that we had to switch trains once, and then we had to take a bus into the valley where Geiranger is located. On the train/bus ride to Geiranger, you get to see some beautiful scenery along the way and it is definitely worth the trip. Once in Geiranger, the views are amazing. Beautiful mountains look like they have risen from the river. The crystal clear water is a beautiful tiel green color that I have only seen in southern beaches. Once there we took an 1 ½ hour fjord tour that explained the history and the reason why this fjord was named a World heritage site by UNESCO. Along the tour we say farms that were abandoned due to the danger of avalanches, many waterfalls and crevices in the mountains. It’s impossible to explain the beauty of the nature, that seems to be untouched in centuries, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

First Soccer game

The last time I was in Europe for my exchange in Amsterdam I didn’t get to see a soccer match. This time around I promised myself to go. Luckily enough my ex-roomate, Bjorn, asked me to go see a Norwegian soccer league match that saw Vålerenga vs. Start. Vålerenga is one of Oslo’s 2 teams that actually share a stadium! Start is a team from Kristiansand. The stadium was about ¾ full (roughly 12 000 people) because Bjorn told me that these teams were at the bottom of the standings. Now I’ve been to hockey games in Ottawa and Montreal with over 20 000 fans, but even with ¾ of the open stadium full, the fans were crazier and louder then any hockey game I’ve ever been to. They actually had chants going the ENTIRE match. The game was pretty exciting with Vålerenga winning 3-2. There were 2 penalty kicks in the match, one for each team, and it was much more exciting than watching soccer on TV. The game made me miss going to Sens games, and I can’t wait to go to one once I get back. All the normal trash talking from the fans was present but only in Norwegian. Bjorn gladly translated for me. OH! I almost forgot to mention that beer wasn’t even sold at the stadium!! WHAT THE HELL? It was still a good time though.

Take care everyone,

Jason

(Pictures will be uploaded soon)