The first night I went to bed early so I can’t tell anything about what happened after the ceremony and the dinner. But I’m going to tell you a little bit about the lavvo instead.

We were sitting there in the lavvo, baking our pinnbröd over the open fire and talked a little bit, and I think we got something magical to drink in our kosor because after that dink songs came from everywhere. One song that everyone seemed to know was Father Jacob. I myself thought it was kind of cool that we could sing it in so many different languages. Another song that seemed to follow us was aaaaa..aaaa.., this was a song that gave us many laughs. I don’t know when I got to bed that night but I know that I was very tired the next morning.

I, and I think I share this opinion with many others, thought that the lecture about Breaking Barriers was very good, because if we don’t dare to break barriers we won’t get anywhere in our lives.

During the week I broke many barriers. One thanks to my Danish friends, who sang karaoke with me, something that I never thought I would dare to do. Another barrier was to speak English in front of so many people. And then of course there was the water skiing. I think there were many who broke barriers this week and I hope to continue breaking others in the future.

Whether to become a mother or not when you have a rheumatic disease can be a hard decision. There are probably millions of questions that are spinning in your head. The lecture about pregnancy and motherhood gave me many answers. I think that many agree with me when I say that the time in hand was too short. I also want to say that there probably were just as many questions in the heads of those who wish to become fathers and I think that it was a pity that they ended up a little bit in the shadow.

I think it was a good idea to have a one-day break and I really enjoyed the boat trip on the Norwegian fjord. It was a splendid day for a trip on a Viking ship. For me it was extra funny because only a week before I saw a ship like the one we went on and said to my boyfriend that I would like to go on a big boat like that someday. And it happened quicker than I expected.

This week gave me a lot of energy and I made a lot of new friends, who I hope to see soon again. Before I finish these lines I would like to mention a little about the last day and the unbelievable funny night. The last day we were all sitting in a circle, all very quiet, and anyone who felt like saying anything to the others could do so. Many tears fell and many words were said during this hour. I never thought that it was possible to make so many contacts in one week; I really didn’t want to go home.

In the afternoon we had some spare time, and we in our house were tired and laid down in our beds to rest for a while. We weren’t supposed to sleep so we didn’t set any alarm clock. Lucky enough everyone didn’t sleep too deeply. Half an hour before dinner Linda came into our room and asked if we were ready to go. But we weren’t, we were still sleeping. And now we all got up in a hurry.

When we finally came to the dining room the tables were set and we had to take our places and wait for the delicious food (fish). During the dinner there were several good speeches, for instance one from Richard (Great Britain) who also had noticed the fish that constantly seemed to appear on the table. After the dessert there was time to get one more memory to bring back home. We got a book with a picture of each of the participants in. Under the photos were a few short descriptive lines, our names, addresses and so on. I think it was good to get everyone’s e-mail addresses so you can easily mail all your new friends.

Later on I had a marvellous evening with many stupidities to laugh about. I would like to thank everyone who was there and made this night so funny. I really hope that I will get to experience another IOYR Congress. I wish all of you plenty of luck with your work at home and I hope that you all are just fine.

Published in Newsletter no. 7, August 2001

More articles about the IYC 2001:

Articles from Newsletter no. 7 - August 2001

• IYC 2001 is over, by Dorte Rønsler, chair of IOYR

• Once upon a time, by Gábor Kürtösi, Hungary

• The week was too short, by Signe Bicule, Latvia

• You are accepted, by Ingrid Kósová, Slovakia

• A sense of belonging, by Richard Jeffery, United Kingdom

• Heavy, cosy and relaxing by Lucinda Blauw, Sylvia Langbroek and Juul van der Veen, the Netherlands

• The whole wide world at one place, by Tina M.-L. Mortensen, Denmark

Other articles:

• At my first IYC, by Halla Hrund Himarsdóttir, Iceland

• Youth rheumatics breaking barriers in Norway, by Lars Espen Rath Vestad, Norway

• Meeting of Young Rheumatics in Norway by Romana Lukasova

• More to come - if you have any articles please mail them to postmaster@ioyr.org.

More about IYC 2001