It's good to be done with my studies, because I can take advantage of beautiful weekdays now. I took a nice hike in Nordmarka today, which was magical with the frost and low light. Norwegian forests remind me a lot of Maine forests, but while Maine forests are ominous and inspired many of the stories of Stephen King, Norwegian forests have a different, more mysterious quality that made them the home of the trolls.

I think Nordmarka is especially wonderful because of how close it is to Oslo. I've said countless times that Oslo feels like a city being overrun by the woods, not the other way around. Somewhere near half of the city of Oslo's total area is wilderness, it's insane, I can't think of another major city in the world like this. The fact that I can walk out my door and find myself alone and away from civilization in ten minutes never stops amazing me.