Living in Scandinavia

Hey all;

After 2 months of living abroad, figured it was time for an update. Initial travels went great - flight to Holland was nice, spent 3 days relaxing and meeting some new friends at my Hostel in Amsterdam, then just a short 50 minute flight to Bergen, Norway. A very generous friend of mine (thanks Steph!) was nice enough to let Hilde and I use her apartment and car while she was in South Africa watching the World Cup, so we had a comfortable place to stay immediately upon arriving.

First 3 weeks in Bergen were spent fighting jet lag, apartment hunting, and subsequently buying furniture to furnish said apartment. Despite many news stories reporting on how impossible it was to find an apartment in downtown Bergen, we found a beautiful 1 bedroom right next to the University, which means less than 5 minutes for Hilde to get to University each day. Additionally I found a great cafe (Cafe Opera) also 5 minutes from our apartment, which has good internet and a great atmosphere. It is funny how much you may dream of working from home, only to then spend every day trying to find somewhere else to actually go :)

I have had mixed results in my goals so far. Travel has been good - it feels like we have spent every every free moment going somewhere or seeing something. We took a 3-day roadtrip down the east coast of Norway along a single-lane highway with zero barrier and a several hundred meter drop off the side. We took a week backpacking trip to Latvia and Estonia with an amazing group of friends. And we travelled to Voss (extreme sports capital of Scandinivia.. apparantly) to go river boarding. In the next 2 weeks I will travel to Oslo, Iceland, Belgium, and then back to Calgary.

On the language front things are a bit of a struggle. I have been presented with many situations where I have been totally immersed in all-Norwegian conversations, and my comprehension is hit-and-miss. Some days I feel great about my progress, other days I am incredibly frustrated. To be truthful though, I definitely haven't applied myself as much as I should. I do try and conduct all my conversations with strangers in Norwegian, but between Hilde and friends, everything else is English. I am planning to begin Norwegian class again in October, and am going to try and commit myself to having a Norwegian-only day once a week.

Time flies - hard to believe it has been 2 months already. Tomorrow my mom, sister, her mustachiod man-partner (or husband), and my niece are all flying to Norway to visit for a week. Very exciting!

Goals moving forward:

- Continue to travel and see new places/cultures whenever the opportunity arises.
- Work harder on language studies and becoming fully fluent.
- Be more active!
- Never take for granted how amazing life is.

Matt