Two Months

I have completed two of the three months for my Fulbright visit to Bergen, Norway. I am going to say something sort of unexpected by saying that two months feels about right. Those first few weeks, especially the Winter Seminar and Ski Weekend, feel like a very, very long time ago. In the past week there has also been a slight warming in Bergen and the sun is being seen more frequently. Things are very different now than when I arrived two months ago.

I am still keeping busy with my work at the university. I gave a tutorial/workshop on a machine-learning (ML) based research methodology that has been a frequent component of my work. I have been making slow but steady progress on the research project during the last couple weeks. I am still feeling behind as to where I need to be by the time I leave, but work is getting done. The sharing of information is going the other direction as well. Today, I attended a training program involving AI/ML for members of the research center at the University of Bergen. I still have ambitious plans for this last month. In two weeks, I’ll be doing a long-weekend trip to Tromsø. I am also eyeing two one-day trips from Bergen. I feel like I have been trying to keep pushing the pace during the first two months to maximize my experience. Pushing the pace will undoubtedly feel even more present during the third month.

In previous posts, I shared how the length of the day, sunrise, and sunset times have changed since I arrived. After two months, it is worth updating where things currently stand. There is now 14 hours of daylight in Bergen. March 21^st was the Boreal (Northern Hemisphere) Vernal (spring) Equinox. The “equi” stands for every spot on Earth, except for the poles, experiencing 12 hours of day and 12 hours of night. The days are longer than 12 hours after March 21^st for everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere. The days are even longer the further north that you are located. Therefore, I am now experiencing longer daylight hours than likely everybody reading this post (everybody who lives south of 60 °N). If curious, here is the latest table listing the sunrise, sunset, and length of daylight thus far in my visit.

Daylight	Sunrise	Sunset	Length
Feb. 8	8:37 AM	5:09 PM	8:32
Mar. 8	7:17 AM	6:23 PM	11:06
April 8	6:42 AM	8:40 PM	13:58

Bergen is also changing in more ways than just having longer daylight hours. There has been a clear shift towards a presence of the tourist season. I started noticing more tourist activities during the week before Easter. There is a shuttle van that is regularly parked near the harbor to take people to the gondola for a ride to the top Mount Ulriken in Bergen. The red City Sightseeing hop-on/hop-off bus is now being seen frequently around the city. The fish market is setup next to the harbor and tables and chairs have been brought out for patio dining in Bryggen.

Seeing the tourist activity in Bergen has reminded me of my first two visits to Bergen. My first visit was on my second trip to Norway. That trip was done during the summer after my first year of teaching high school. I took a three-week vacation to England and Norway, with the middle 10 days in Norway. I was living on the budget of a first-year teacher, which meant traveling as cheaply as I could. I got around Norway with a train pass. The three primary spots that I visited were Oslo, Trondheim, and Bergen. The second time in Bergen was four years later. It was on that trip to Norway that my parents were with me for what was their first, and only, trip to Europe. We spent a day in Bergen and hit all of the common sights to see, many of which are now a part of my daily journey from my apartment, to my office, and back.