Officially the first night of the Midnight Sun in Tromsø is 20th of May.  However, the residents since, at least, the Iron Age have counted it from when the sun can still be seen over the mountains to the north, which is about the 23rd of May.  However, if the sky is cloudy and the [...]

I’m always amazed at how many people show up to 17 May celebrations.  With all of us squished into our little Storgata it is a wonder how any parade gets through.

The Russ never fail to please with their bright red cars and wacky sense of humour.  It rather resembles a pride parade than a school [...]

It is 2am.  I’m thinking I should be in bed but the sun is shining and the birds are chirping.  The house down the road has smoke coming from its chimney and a guy walks around his car and looks at me wondering why I am standing in the middle of the road taking pictures. [...]

At this time of year it is hard to be at home when outside is filled with lovely sunshine, Easter blues and thick, fluffy snow.

Everyone has a sledding hill in Norway.  Ours is at the end of the street.  Especially when it’s a sunny Winters day you’ll find all the neighbours up on the hill playing with their kids.  Snowmen are made, jumps are moulded, and somehow in all the chaos, an advanced, intermediate and kiddies track appear.

It’s a [...]

Sometimes life takes you in extrodinay directions.  Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be sitting at a sewing machine making Samba costumes for a Samba Parade above the Arctic Circle in Norway.
I am currently production managing the world’s most northern Samba Parade.  This year we have incorporated many Brazilian parade traditions like [...]

Every university has bike racks to allow students to save both the environment and their money. But what do you do when the snow is three feet deep and riding your bike suddenly seems less desirable? Tromsø University had a simple solution: Install a ski rack. This one at the entrance to the Medical faculty [...]

Today, 21st January, is soldagen (the sun day) when the sun officially returns to Tromsø (for about 2mins over the mountains).  It can be seen from the centre of town, on the top of the island and on the south shore.  If the sun can’t be seen due to clouds then the celebrations are held [...]

Firstly, I’d like to say, how wonderful the UiT danseklubb performers were last night.  The dancers were beginner-amateurs of Swing and have only had a handful of Swing lessons before signing up to be performers.  Even though they weren’t professional dancers, the audience was none-the-wiser.

Being a trained/educated stage manager, I tend to have very high [...]

Everyone understands the ‘lost in translation’ concept when people of two different languages communicate. However, another dimension of this concept is Chinese-whispers. For convenience, a translator appears in the middle (usually your other half) who relays shorter, faster information for everyone’s convenience. This is the literal side of lost in translation. In [...]