Welcome to Norway!

Wow it certainly has been quite a day, and it’s not even 1:00 pm yet (by Norway time). I woke this morning (technically yesterday morning by this point – such a long day!) to immediately become a big jumble of nerves. I’ve never done anything this big before by myself. I’m scared to leave my family and friends for an entire summer. At my insistence, my parents and I arrived at the RDU airport extra early. After a tearful goodbye, I was officially off on my summer adventure.

The first flight – Raleigh to Detroit – went by so quickly. If only all of them could have been like that. I did notice one gross thing about the Detroit airport. The gate that connects the airplane to the terminal had dead birds in it! Why wouldn’t the worker take them out? :(

My next leg of my journey was the long one. Over seven hours from Detroit to Amsterdam. And I didn’t even get a window seat so I couldn’t sleep at all. Once I got to Amersterdam, I noticed that the airport looks exactly like the Copenhagen airport. Did someone design and build a bunch of European airports at once? If so, that must have been a nice commission check. After I got over my feelings of déjà vu, I had a two hour wait until my final flight to Bergen. While it was the shortest of my three flights, it dragged by so slowly! I was so exhausted by that point, time felt like it had stopped. All I wanted was a bed. And to straighten my legs. That seven hour flight was a killer.

Happy sign in the airport welcoming me to my new home!

I’d have to say that the high point of my travel over here was the food. I was pleasantly surprised. I got a full dinner on the flight to Amsterdam that included chicken, a salad, and a mighty tasty brownie. They also passed out breakfast of a nasty egg sandwich and a banana. The nice old man next to me (though not nice enough to give me his window seat!) gave me his banana since apparently he hates them. On the short flight to Bergen, we got a small sandwich and an apple pastry. I decided to hoard mine, so I haven’t tried it yet. That can be my lunch tomorrow since I haven’t made a full grocery run yet.

Though my flights sound like they may have been oh so thrilling, the real fun didn’t start until I reached downtown Bergen. I needed to take the light rail trains (yay public transportation) to my student housing, but the machines wouldn’t read my credit card. Or my debit card. And of course the machine only took coins while I only had bills (thank goodness I at least had the foresight to exchange some money at the airport! Otherwise I bet I’d still be stranded downtown). Finally I made it to my home away from home for the summer – only to find the reception locked. Then I found out my key wasn’t where I was told it would be, which was conveniently located a two minute walk from my dorm. Instead the key was downtown… Luckily my international phone worked and my parents were able to give me street by street directions to the office that actually had my key. Not only did I not realize how hilly Bergen would be, it’s also soooo much colder than I was prepared for! I could even see my breath when I got off the plane in Bergen!  Temperatures in the low 40’s. Constant rain. And pretty decent winds. All this makes for a very soggy and cold Melissa.

Some cute buildings I passed on my quest to get my key.

I’m happy to report that five hours after landing, I finally arrived at my destination! I have a room all to myself and my own bathroom, which is a happy surprise! There’s a fully stocked kitchen and the people that I’ve met on my hall so far are super nice. Maybe all those tears and saying how I didn’t want to come was for nothing? Though I guess I should see how tomorrow goes before I make any judgments. Fingers crossed for less rain!


NOTE:  In case you didn't notice, this is the same blog I used for my amazing summer trip to Alaska and Iceland.  Feel free to read about my past adventures! :)