The Adventure Continues!

Velkommen! 

 ~ Steve ~

If I'm totally honest, I'm not entirely sure where to start with this post! So many things--both big and small--have happened since our last post that it's difficult to choose the beginning. Though firsts things first... WE PROMISE THE ROOM TOUR WILL HAPPEN SOON! There's been lots going on in the apartment and certain pieces arrived at different times, plus we picked up a few other items along the way, so we've almost got everything in its perfect place. Stay tuned for that, hopefully this weekend.

Last weekend was a blur, often times filled with rain, rain, and just a little bit more rain. A common trend, as you have probably noticed already. We did our first big shop on Saturday, hitting up two different stores: Rema 1000, a cheaper store that suited most of our needs and was only one train ride away in Paradis, and the MENY store in the Fantoft student village, a slightly more expensive store for some items that's not only conveniently located but is stocked with our favourite new brand "First Price"! Is "First Price" a brand we'd recommend? In its taste, not always; although its price cannot be beat, think Walmart prices but cheaper. We stocked up on 2kg of chicken, tons of pasta and rice, frozen veggies galore (since fresh produce is disgustingly priced), and loads of different sauces so we're not eating the same meals every night. The shops will get better as time goes on, but for now, it's a start! We're fed and satiated and that's what matters most.

We also explored more of the student village we're living at, discovering the lounges, certain viewpoints, and the games room where we can play pool and more. As people started arriving this weekend, all these locations became more alive--a far cry from the desolate scene we arrived to. It's a nice change of pace to hear other voices, regardless of language, filling the other dorms and hallways, and seeing people walk the paths connecting all the buildings. We started our exchange here feeling a little lonely but I'm happy to say that those feelings are starting to dissipate. 

Exploring the gym nearby our apartment was one highlight of last weekend too, in both its affordable price and what it had to offer. With a massive weight room, fully-fledged cardio room, squash courts, rec gym, and even golf simulators (why though?), it'll be a nice place to go to avoid the weather and schoolwork. Anna and I have had two workouts there and I think it may be my favourite gym yet!

And the last big piece of news from the Fantoft student village itself would be the events that we have attended and the people we've met! There have been two events so far, being a Fantoft introduction, where we met a friend playing pool before the presentation, and a Speed-friending event, which turned out to be a great success!

The introduction presentation was a pretty standard university event, with too many young folk gathered in too small of a room without many chairs. We learned more about the area, where to put garbage and recycling, some background on Norwegians themselves (the trick to getting them to open up seems to be getting them drunk), and that brewing your own beer is the cheapest way to buy alcohol. They even told us where to do it. Norwegians, eh? All-in-all, it was a nice event and it was even nicer to see so many people there! We were living under the impression that no one was living on campus save us...so it was a nice surprise to be in a crowd again.

Then the Speed-friending! It was only last night but we're still buzzing from it. After spending so much time in the apartment, it was awesome to meet so many new people, mostly Germans though as they make up the majority of the people here, likely outnumbering the Norwegians in Fantoft too. What started as a silent pact to leave around 9:15pm turned into us having a hard time saying goodbye well after midnight. We made a hiking group, Anna met a fellow Greek, found the other Canadian in Fantoft (she's awesome), and had a wonderful time being lively with such wonderful people. And thankfully, so many of them were excited to meet us too! I think we can say that we may have a few more connections now, which has relieved many of our worries regarding our social lives here.

But as for what many of you really want to hear: what adventures did we go on?! Well...just a couple, really. And that's OK for us. After an action-packed few days, we needed some time to recoup and more importantly, look after ourselves and our apartment. We took a few more trips downtown to grab some last minute things for the kitchen and the living room, joined two friends on another trip to IKEA, finally did some laundry, unpacked Anna's last suitcase which finally arrived last Sunday (after she survived with only one pair of pants for the week), and put the final finishing touches on our living spaces as I mentioned earlier. 

Yesterday before the Speed-friending was our big adventure; we went up our first mountain in Bergen via the Funicular: Fløyen! And what a spectacular mountain that was. It was very touristy, which fit the bill for the day. We went up with an American friend we made a few days prior, starting out in downtown Bergen for a quick bite to eat. We headed North towards the Funicular, which is basically a scenic train ride to the summit. And the views, as you can see, were spectacular the entire way up. 

The top gave us (and the hundreds of others up there) an amazing view of our home-city for the next several months and more. We took many pictures before getting some ice cream to enjoy with our view. It gave both Anna and I the urge to tackle another mountain right away. We later hiked down the mountain through the switch-back path that weaved through the forest and through some picturesque houses! The architecture was incredible. We ended our journey getting a sneak-peak at Bryggen (our main picture on this blog, an area we are itching to go explore) and relaxing on the train back to the apartment. An awesome day with some pretty great memories. 

This week has a lot in store for us, particularly in the next few days. Tomorrow is the faculty orientation for psychology on campus, so we'll be attending that in the morning and praying that it isn't long and tedious like these introductions usually are. Saturday we're planning a hike with some new friends, and Sunday has another Fantoft-hike in store (though it's back to the Funicular, so we'll see if we go again). It'll be a busy time, but we're looking forward to our days being a little more filled.

We'll be sure to update the blog soon with a room tour, hopefully by Sunday morning! The apartment is finally feeling like home, and we're excited to show it all off. 

That's all for now, hopefully you enjoyed this all! As always, if you know of anyone who would want to keep up to date with this adventure, please share it far and wide! We'll do our best to answer any comments and questions below, thanks for all the kind messages! They really help with the homesick feelings :) Until next time, Ha det bra!