Settling Into Life in Bergen

I have made it to Bergen. I arrived Saturday evening after leaving Denver Friday morning. There was a slight delay and an extra flight in making it to Bergen. My flight into Frankfurt arrived nearly two hours late after waiting for de-icing at Washington Dulles airport. That resulted in me missing my flight from Frankfurt to Bergen. It appears that Lufthansa only has one flight a day from Frankfurt to Bergen. They instead rebooked me on Finnair going through Helsinki. I only saw Helsinki from the airport but I will say I was impressed with how at-home everything looked with winter.

The departure from Denver was fairly uneventful, other than being consumed by taking care of all of the details for being away for over three months. I ended up taking Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday off of work to focus on packing and getting things done around the house. Fortunately, I have a nice tenant living in my basement and three great neighbors. I figure if anything comes up while I am away that a solution will be found with their help. Packing for being away for 3+ months was a little tricky, especially considering the variety of weather and activities I will likely be enjoying the next three months. I leaned on a significant layering strategy as well as a large variety clothes. I was happy to see that I came in 22 pounds under the 2 x 50 lb checked bag limit. My friend Kristen drove me to the airport. I have generally found it a bonus to be dropped off when going away on extended trips and I appreciated her effort in taking me to the airport.

I arrived at my apartment in Bergen around 8:00 PM on Saturday. I decided to get an apartment in the center of Bergen to take advantage of this unique opportunity of spending three months in a European city. The central location has certainly made it easy to find restaurants within easy walking distance. I am slowly getting settled into the apartment. That night, I watched the Winter Olympics women’s ski jump with the Norwegian coverage, which was fun, even if I had no idea what they were saying. I’ve also managed to figure out a way to watch the NBC coverage of the Winter Olympics.

I have a busy first week in Norway. In addition to getting settled into my apartment, jet lag, and the routine with my daily work, I am flying to Oslo Wednesday evening. Thursday is the Fulbright Norway Mid-year Seminar. Most of the Fulbright Norway recipients have been here since the start of the academic year and this is a time to check-in on how everybody is doing. On Friday we are going to outside of Lillehammer for a Fulbright Norway ski retreat weekend. I get back into Bergen late Sunday evening. Clearly, it will not be until next week that I start getting into a routine with my life here.