1. Some people are super generous with their food.
I've only been here for nine dinners and already I've gotten three free ones! People on my hall were cooking and invited me to join them. Not only was that really welcoming, but the food was tasty too! I've had fish, omelettes, waffles, curry chicken, and berry crumble. All thanks to the kind people on my hall.
Here is a picture of the WHOLE fish. And yes, I messed up and cut the fishes head off in the photo.
And here is a photo of the chef herself!
2. Bergen is much, much prettier when it is sunny.
Here's my evidence. I think this speaks for itself.
Cloudy and depressing.
Sunny and absolutely wonderful!
Bergen has a great public transportation system which includes a light rail trail. In Norwegian, the word for light rail is bybanen (pronounced bee-bahn-inn). It's pretty much an honor system where you're supposed to swipe your card or ticket when you enter, but I'm sure some people ignore the ticket purchasing policy. To fight this, the security police randomly enter the cars and check to make sure you have a ticket. If you don't, you get a hefty fine. Some people can go for days or weeks without ever getting checked. I've already had to show my pass twice. Luckily I'm a law-abiding citizen so I avoided having to pay any penalty.
4. Flowers can grow despite the cold!
I guess this is fairly obvious. I've been to the Arctic Circle and it certainly had flowers. But still, I was surprised my first few days here when it was rainy and gloomy, yet there were so many flowers in bloom! They definitely help to brighten the mood.
Flowers and a gazebo downtown.
The most prominent church in Bergen sits atop a hill so you can easily spot it from most places downtown. Apparently it's also a good meeting location. "Meet for lunch by the red church!"
Here's the church on a beautiful spring day!
WHAT IS THIS?
On bridge overpasses and downtown buildings all across the US, you see evidence of people leaving their mark. I remember seeing lots of graffiti in Reykjavik too. Some of it was pretty creative. Bergen follows the graffiti trend too. The following photo is more like art than graffiti. I think it looks pretty cool.
Art near the bybanen stop near my dorm.
My student housing for the summer is a set of buildings called Fantoft. This is where the majority of international students live during their time in Bergen. I've met people from all over the world -- Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Australia, Nepal. But very few Norwegians live here. I'm not totally sure why they avoid it. I mean, it's not that great of a place, but it's a decent location since it is so close to the bybanen. And it's not too expensive. No complaints here.
Here's my building! I live in the tall one. Luckily I'm only on the second floor so I can avoid walking up 17 flights of stairs.
Anyone that knows me well should know that I love to feed ducks. I'm happy to report that there are plenty of ducks here! Whether downtown or the lake near my dorm, I can always find ducks if I need some quiet time to myself.
Two ducks downtown.
OK well this probably isn't true. But it is definitely pretty nice. The people are friendly. The downtown is cute. And there are plenty of hiking trails where people can get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. I went hiking on Saturday. It was quite a climb since we went up one of the seven hills that surround Bergen, but the view from the top was worth it!
Me with a deer statue.
View from the top of the city and the blue water.
View of the rest of the city.
Me at the top!
Oh and here is one final photo to prove how nice Bergen is. This is the lake that is just a few minutes walk away from my dorm. And it has a path all the way around, so quickly becoming my favorite place to to when I have spare time.
View from across the lake.
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