''All fun things have an end, and most of us are now unfortunately back again to the 'hard' work life..... half alive and half dead! Thank you all for a great week!!''
- Mari

Tusen takk to Mari for all that she has done, including the e-mail list that is keeping us trainees in constant touch.

Espen, Nadia and I spent over thirteen hours on the bus en route from Bodø to Tromsø. Liz-Iren travelled half-way with us to Narvik, where her sweetheart Frodo met her to celebrate her birthday. Shannon and Tamsin slept in and missed the bus, but then made the trip back in thirty-five minutes - for less than we paid for the bus - with a stand-by plane ticket. Edmondas hitch-hiked back, and beat all of us for the low, low, cost of 0 NOK.

Since returning and posting the Arctic Week pages, I've received all sorts of e-mail from fellow trainees who have reminded me of more of their fond memories from the trip. I've weaved some of their stories into the seven preceding pages, and the rest of the memories that are fit to print will follow in the articles to come.

Amy sent me some memories of our ''End of the Lofoten Days'' party in Å. She says, ''You're free to mention the fact that I went hillwalking that Saturday morning at about 0330 and fell asleep on top of a rock for almost an hour.'' She awoke only when she ''felt the trickle of spilt beer hit my hand.'' That was her clue that it was way past her bedtime, so she swiftly made her way back to the Cabin Party, ''only to discover that everyone had buggered off somewhere, and I was left all on my lonesome with a half-drunk, flat bottle of Mack Øl and some crushed Cheezy Poofs!!'' But, spoken like a true South Park fan, ''Life is great when you have Cheezy Poofs!!''

Many thanks for all of you who have sent thoughtful comments and kind words regarding this site. It means a great deal to know that you are enjoying these pages. I treasure each e-mail I get.

For those of you who attended Arctic Week, I wish you could have seen Tromsø under the Midnight Sun. Last night, I was out at Cafe Paletten, a rooftop café, with quite an amazing group: Nadia, Mona, and Andrew, a Maltese Medical student here in Tromsø; Kjersti, Liz-Iren and Frodo; and Kristina and Knut of Darklight fame. Although I didn't get a picture at Paletten, here are our two Maltese friends, Nadia and Andrew, under the midnight sun.

I did my best to put together a panorama of the Midnight Sun we witnessed en route to Tunvegen so that you could see what Tromsø looks like when the weather is behaving. It took me five photographs and three hours of work. If you click on the panorama above, you'll get a massive panoramic image that's guaranteed to blow your mind - or at least make you wonder if I ever do anything but play with PhotoPaint.