Norwegian Culture by Tori

Welcome back! This week we'll chat about the Norwegian culture and day to day life. Do you want to read about the Aurora borealis first?; read last weeks blog using the links at the end of this post!

The Norwegians live a very care-free, stress-free lifestyle. From taking regular long-weekend vacations up to the ski fields for a family retreat to actual government schemes which stress personal and relaxation time, the Norwegian lifestyle is very comfortable.

They have a range of recreational activities that are usually done as a family unit like bike rides and soccer but many people there are very skilled at long and short distance skiing; not surprising considering the geography and their national sport.

One in particular that we were lucky enough to try out was dog sledding. Dog sledding is literally 5 dogs connected with harnesses and ropes, pulling along a wooden sled which held 2 people; the driver and the passenger. We followed closely behind our guide who led the dogs through the pitch black countryside for around 2 hours.

Dog sledding is a major part of these northern European countries and countries close to the Arctic circle and is still used by people who live in under these same extreme temperatures.

We also got to go out on a small boat a few days later hoping to see some Killer whales. They didn't come up to the surface for very long or very close but we did see glimpses of the whales.

After all this, I can easily say that Norway is such a beautiful and unique place and can't wait to visit again.

- Tori

Don't forget to read other Norway posts and stay updated:
Introduction to Norway 
Aurora borealis

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My details: Victoria Porreca (44920216)

Iran By Poorya

Iran

By Poorya Mahdavi

Hello and welcome all, My country of choice is Iran, I have chosen this country as I like to think of it as my second home as majority of my family relatives live in Iran.

I hope with the information you will gather from my posts you will learn many things about Iran and its beautiful culture.

A bit of background

Iran, also known as Persia is a country in the middle east, I visit Iran almost every year towards December as that is when Winter starts for people residing within Iran, In my own opinion winter is the best time to visit as it is beautiful to see the city enveloped in snow.

image source: http://i.imgur.com/L7mlE.jpg "Tehran Covered in snow"

The cities I have visited within Iran are Tehran, the capital and the largest city, as well as Aligoudarz a much smaller city about 500 km away from the capital, but just as good as this is where I spent most of my time when I was a child vacationing in Iran with my family, as well as Shiraz and Isfahan.

Above is a picture of me and my sister in Shiraz, playing with a bird that picked out a tarot card, which was passed to a man whom would read our fortune.

My love for Iran comes from the culture, people and definitely the food however we will be getting further into that in later blog posts so stay tuned!

- Poorya