Viking Land

As my family and I continue to undergo the adventures of what is called Family Vacation, we constantly are taking on new adventures. On Monday we ventured to what is called Nordic Inn in Crosby, Minnesota.

From the minute you walk to the door and ring the giant hanging chain doorbell, the boisterous and gruff viking inn keeper (Steinar) and his great dane Thor immediately invite you into viking world. We no longer were Chris, Arden, Kayla, Andy, and Bonnie-but Helga, Sven, Ursula, Bjorn, and Nanna. We drank from horns, ate with knives, wore medieval garb, and listened to Steinar's indecent yet amusing humor (the humor of a true viking). At the end of the night, we were entertained with a home-made viking game and were lost in a world of fun and amusement.

But what makes this so amazing is not just the experience, but how the inn came to be. It started with a dream. Steinar has travelled all over the world and experienced many facets of life; but what remained in his heart was his passion for vikings, as crazy as that sounds. And rather than continuing a lifestyle of vanity, he pursued what made him happy and thus started the inn. And no matter how ridiculous it sounded to others, he didn't let that stop him. And since then he's appeared on Travel Channel, Food Network, battle magazines, ESPN, and just got a job as the mascot for a women's professional football league.

I think Steinar has ahold of something that many of us fail to grasp. Pursue your dreams and don't let anyone else dictate the outcome of your life. Find your passion, no matter how crazy it may seem, and go after it. Steinar is living out a lot of what I've learned this past year in my internship through Go International. I am very happy to have had this experience in many different ways!