Bergen - Norway

Well I thought I should try and keep a bit up to date with a travel blog while I am away this time.
I have been in Bergen now for two weeks and am loving it. The city is small enough to be friendly but large enough to be practical, and the surroundings are so beautiful and different to what I’ve seen before, especially with the snow. The weather has been unusually great for two weeks now, with clear sunny days and beautiful snow on the ground.

I have met lots of people and continue to meet new people every day. Everyone is keen to get involved with their new city and new friends so there’s always something going on, or if not it’s just a few metres to the next building where you can look for some people to entertain you.

It took a while to get used to the sun going down at approximately 4pm, especially after coming from Summer where it will set at about 8pm, as I start to feel sleepy and ready for dinner at 3pm, but there’s actually more sunlight than I had anticipated seeing as this is so far north.

A popular conversation topic in and out of Norway is how “expensive” it is. I can understand some people complaining after being in Germany where I could buy a tonne of groceries for about $5, but I don’t know what people from Australia are talking about. Plenty of products are actually cheaper in Norway than in Australia, or otherwise about the same or a little more expensive. Beer and meat are an obvious exception where Norway is definitely more expensive.

Furthermore I try to point out to people that rent is about half what you would pay for a nice share-house in Sydney, and I have a great little room in the student residence with everything I need immediately nearby, as well as a (slightly expensive) supermarket right out the front and a gym next to that. Buses are constantly arriving out the front to take you the short trip into town, waiting no more than a few minutes during the day and no more than 10 minutes at night. The bus pass for the month seems expensive as a one-off payment of approx $70 but I would pay at least twice that for my monthly transport around Sydney. My Norwegian mobile phone costs just 5c for a text message, and only 11c for an international text message – even cheaper than Skype and a fraction of what I pay in Australia. I can go to all the student gyms in town, which includes equipment, classes and a swimming pool for $160 a semester, which is a FIFTH of what you would pay for a comparable deal at a university gym in Australia, and maybe even a TENTH of what you would pay for a regular gym.

In short, it is my belief so far that no Australian can complain about Norwegian prices :P

In other news apparently Norwegians are all about enjoying the outdoors, which sits very well with me. I have already been up Floyen which looks beautiful covered in snow at the moment, with penguin-like kids rolling around in the snow and sliding down the paths on sleds, as well as Ulriken, Bergen’s highest mountain with fantastic views out to the horizon in all directions. Yesterday I went on a different hike to Veten, somewhere near Asane just out of Bergen, which was also really beautiful. I still have not nearly mastered the art of hiking in deep snow, constantly falling thigh-deep in snow drifts and then spending almost my whole descent of Veten crouched over and sliding on my shoes with just my hands for steering.

Well I think this has been a long enough entry for now. I think Norway seems like an interesting, yet sensible place. I think I easily identify with a lot of Norway’s “values” but I am looking forward to meeting some real Norwegians some time in the future so I can learn more about them. So far my time has been spent in this little enclave of international students which I am really happy about, and is actually something different from my experience on exchange in Bologna where I was mostly interacting with Italians, but I do hope to integrate with “Bergen” a little bit later on.

I would end this entry with something cute in Norwegian but honestly I have not learnt anything other than “pose?” (bag? – at the checkout) yet. I may read through my “Learn Norwegian” book today. Au revoir.