This is one of the prettiest cities I have visited. There are trees and green lungs everywhere – and the weather is super-nice. I must admit it was kind of a shock coming from 10 degrees Celsius in Norway to the heat and humidity of Washington – but hey, I´m not complaining.

As I am writing I have finished my first week of the Smithsonian Scientific Diving Course, and I have never participated in such a thorough diving course before – we will all be super-ninja-marine biology-divers after this, no doubt. The first two weeks we have theory lessons each morning, and pool sessions each afternoon, and then we are all off to Key Largo, Florida for the 12 open water dives (which includes a chamber dive). When we thought our instructor, the Director of the Smithsonian Marine Science Network, Michael A. Lang,  couldn´t think of any more exercises for us – he pulled hula-hoops out his sleeve!

We were supposed to slip out of our equipment underwater, and then swim through two hula-hoops lined up after each other – while holding the equipment in front of us. Well…very few of us managed to do it ninja-style, and some of us even ”chose” to walk through them instead. But it was so much fun, and we can´t wait to see what the instructor wants us to do next week.

Of the 10 participants, we are actually three from Norway. In addition to me, two from the Baromedicine and Environmental Physiology research group in Trondheim, Norway joined in. Their research is on diving physiology – and they are one of the few groups in the world who focus on the mechanisms behind bubble formation and its consequences. Luckily, they let me crash in their apartment, so I am living in beautiful Georgetown for the whole stay in Washington, which is awesome, so thank you Andreas and Marianne for letting me pester you for 2 weeks.

Since we were 3 Norwegians staying together, we desperately needed help from some of the locals to experience some real Washingtonian culture. And it wasn´t hard to find. Our fellow course participants were more than happy to help – so last Friday half our group headed out to the National Gallery of Art, Sculpture Garden for some free live jazz music. The concept is genius. People just bring their own blankets, sit down wherever they want in the Sculpture Garden and listen to great music.

This first week in Washington just flew by, and now I need to finish my homework for tomorrow´s theory lesson before I go to sleep. Catch you later!