Saying goodbye to my dream job and hello to...no job???

For the last two years, I have been working at an International Adoption Agency in Denver, Colorado. I have helped many orphaned children from Ethiopia find loving homes in the United states, I have become friends with some of the most amazing people in the world, and I even got the opportunity to go to Ethiopia, twice. I love my job, because I love these children. I love that I had the chance to be a part of giving these children a future. Although they may never know who I am, I will never forget them.

After two years at IAN, I had to say goodbye. This was one of the hardest things I've ever done. The children, families and staff started to feel like my family and not being able to see each child come home to their forever families is heartbreaking to me!! While this was a great part of my life and something I was 100% committed to, I was starting to find wrinkles that a 27 year old girl should not have. I hope to keep in touch with many of the people I met and love from my time at IAN. I have felt sadness, confusion and mostly guilt about leaving the agency. But, I know that there is a wonderful group of people with an equal amount of love for these children that will keep the program running strong.

Why Norway? The title of the blog, or my name might give me away. I'm Norwegian. My dad moved to the US when he was in college and met and married my mom. His entire family still lives in Norway, including a big group of amazing cousins, aunts and uncles and my wonderful Grandma. It's shocking that we have become so close, being that they live on the other side of the world.

I've spent two years explaining to adoptive parents how important it is for their adopted children to know their culture and hold onto their language, but I am yet to do it myself. With a middle name like Solvor, I should experience Norway.

The main reasons are clear, a nice change of pace, my Norwegian family, my culture and well, why not??

I am leaving in January for Norway with optimism and a very open mind. I would love to find a great, long term job in Bergen but I'll be taking it one day at a time. I am planning to come back to Colorado for my little sister's wedding in June. And I will just have to asses then if I'll be back in Norway or somewhere else at that point..

There are 29 days until I hop on the plane. Stay tuned for what is sure to be an interesting journey!!