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John Savio paintings
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So long, Hurtigruten!A journey with a Hurtigruten ship
I was so fortunate as to have the chance, during my year in Norway, to do an internship on the MS Kong Harald for about two weeks. I had a little berth on the ship, ate with the crew and worked about six hours every day. For that, I got the trip for free. I had to do all kinds of tasks, washing up, serving food, selling postcards etc. There was enough time left to stroll the ship, sit on the upper deck which has all glass windows so you can enjoy the landscape, or look at the cities you stop at. Many times, in smaller places, the ships will only stop for an hour or so, but in places like Trondheim you will have about six hours. Of course you need to be back on the ship in time!
I saw marvelous places, the more north we got, the more exciting! Sometimes there would just be an icy coast for a long time without houses to be seen. I liked Hammerfest. Kirkenes definitely felt a long way from home! You were practically in Russia! Something magical in the evenings that we got to enjoy quite a few times was the northern lights in the sky. I did the trip in February so it was the right time to see them. Spooky!
When we had crossed the arctic circle, two of the cooks gave me the traditional "polar baptism", i.e. they poured a pitcher of ice water and ice cubes down my back. Ahhh!
Doing an internship on the ship was fun, interesting, and for me really the only way to pay for the trip since it is very expensive. If you can afford it, it is absolutely worth it, though. I think those internships are very hard to get, a teacher at my Norwegian school organized them for a few students every year.
