By Stephanie Owens

Living at the research station here in Abisko is great but sometimes it can feel like it is hard to find a balance between work and play because you’re living where you’re working. But it is important to remember to take time to enjoy where you are and not work all the time. Recently, LOREX members Sarah, Chelsey, and I hopped on a train and went to Norway for the day.

We caught an early train from Abisko Östra to Narvik, Norway so we could maximize our time there. The hour long train ride was an adventure in itself with every turn yielding views of waterfalls, cliffs, lakes, or fjords. We were excited to cross the border from Sweden into Norway and get to experience a new country! 

Our first stop was a local café where we got coffees and pastries. We then took a walk around the town and ended up by the water’s edge. As all of us are water enthusiasts we were quite excited and spent a good amount of time looking at the small tide pools, observing fish, and discussing science.

After we had walked around for a while and worked up an appetite we headed over to a small Thai restaurant downtown. I was very excited to get some Pad Thai! We enjoyed our meal in the tiny restaurant that was more of a store and take-out spot than a restaurant but it had set up two tables to eat at. The food was really good and it was great to go out for a meal with friends. 

Once we finished our meal we headed over to an outdoor patio where we enjoyed the sun and some live music until it was time to head back for our afternoon train back to Abisko.