It is rather difficult to classify things by seasons when one spends their life moving between two hemispheres, but for the purpose of this blog I will go with the season that I am physically in.
I will say that I think this semester has been enriching in that it has given me a look at entirely different climate and .. er .. “distance from equator”.
Bergen is supposed to have a mild climate, with the most notable feature being constant rain. I don’t know if they are just wildly exaggerating, or if it was a particularly dry semester .. but it does NOT rain that much here. It’s been five months now and I would say that it was what I would call a “normal” amount of rain by Australian standards – Australia being the driest (inhabited) continent on Earth. Though I hear that this year there has been an unusual amount of rain in Australia, adding to my yet-to-be-completely-disproven theory that drought actually follows me. Maybe I have certain osmotic properties.
The icy apocalypse that was European Winter 09-10
Stockholm & Kiel
A rather unlikely combination of destinations, but were facilitated by the ever-faithful Ryanair with its 5 euro flights. Actually that was the most expensive flight – I also got some in this bunch for more like $3. This is why I now find it so painful to look for flights over summer that are around the $100 mark >.<
My journey went something like: Bergen – Oslo – Rygge – Skavsta – Stockholm – Skavsta – Lubeck – Kiel – Schleswig-Husum-Sylt – Kiel – Bremen – Haugesund – Bergen.
I was rather keen to get out of Bergen by the time I left – 17th February – thanks to STILL not having any classes at university despite being there for a month and a half, and the fact that the freezing snowy weather refused to abate. Turns out my travel destinations were almost as bad, but at least they were new and entertaining.
After an epic day of the train to Oslo, waiting at Rygge airport, and then transferring to Stockholm proper, I spent a couple of days cruising around. I managed to stay with Sanna and Elias – who had been on exchange at UWS last year – in their devastatingly cute little red wooden house in the countryside. It was really nice to enjoy their hospitality and get a bit more of an insight into local life (e.g. watching the Biathlon in the Winter Olympics). Stockholm itself was very pretty in the (again, unusual amount of) snow, and not quite as slippery as Bergen underfoot, but it was very cold and I had to constantly keep moving in order not to freeze.
Feeling like my face was getting frostbite
I was so excited to see that Stockholm was actually alive despite the miserably cold weather. They had an iceskating rink, amongst other forms of wintery entertainment, and the streets were actually *gasp* CLEAR OF SNOW .. sometimes.
After a scare that I might not be able to leave Stockholm due to unusually heavy snow, I did manage to get away and fly to Lubeck where I could take a train to Kiel to stay with Ingrid. Turns out Northern Germany was also inundated with an ever-so-unusual amount of snow, and many of the roads were covered in thick ice. We had a great time doing day trips to the surrounding seaside areas and enjoying beeeeeeer and pizza and other wonderfully cheap treats. I stocked up on cheese and various other little products, and found a new jacket and various things with which to decorate my room. All of which were stuffed into my 10kg Ryanair carry-on allowance with great success.
SNOW! ON A BEACH! My apocalyptic winter dream-come-true
I left Ingrid’s via Bremen, which had a very cute old town centre – as well as some excellent discount shops – and then it was time to fly to bustling Haugesund 3 hours south of Bergen. It turned out that my flight landed 15 minutes after the last bus to Bergen left, and that accommodation in Haugesund – at the very cheapest – was about 600 kr or $120 a night. Thus .. I turned to couchsurfing and managed to find a girl who could pick me up from the airport and host me for the night, which was very nice of her. It was interesting to hear about her job on an oil-rig, requiring hours of flying to get to – but she works for something like 2 weeks on /4 weeks off … I could definitely enjoy that. She didn’t seem too strapped for cash either, given that I was granted an entire floor of her 3-storey house which she owned by herself … In the end I had a great week, enjoyed some refreshing and lovely hospitality, and had a break from the devastatingly slippery footpaths of Bergen. I cannot emphasise enough how much I now appreciate traction. I had hoped to return to Bergen at the end of February with the snow finally melted … but what is this … no … in fact it had snowed MORE than it had before I left, and everything was freshly re-dusted with snow.
Thus this semester I have concluded that 6 weeks is my official time-limit on snow. The coldness does not bother me as I enjoy winter clothing and tend to overheat easily, especially when exercising, so I find it balances me out. Furthermore I realised that my nose is actually evolved for dealing with this kind of weather, and that I only find it difficult to breathe when I breathe through my mouth. So useful. Even my extremities –normally permanently cold, to the point that I have sought medical advice on it – somehow adapted and at one point my hand was so warm it was STEAMING in the cold air. So the coldness is not the problem … it is the snow underfoot, and the blinding reflection of the sun. No can do.
Thank Odin for snow fights
The Netherlands
I conscientiously censored my trip to the Netherlands on Facebook, given that I know various people who are visiting there and did not want to deliberately cause offence by not visiting them. Though I am not going to censor it here as it was a fantastic trip, and I feel entirely justified in my decisions. If anyone has any further enquiries about it they are free to discuss it with me. Doubt anyone reads this blog anyway.
Well by the time I set off to the Netherlands at the start of April, I was well and truly ready for another break from Norway. It now seems that Norway is only tolerable if it is left on a monthly basis. It really is lovely in many ways, but .. I guess a lot of people here would at least know what I mean.
My trip again started with a pilgrimage to Oslo and Rygge. This time I spent a day in Oslo beforehand, checking out their palace and whatnot. I did find Oslo a welcome relief from my contemporary concerns with Bergen – mostly that Bergen was becoming completely deserted as Easter drew closer. Oslo was fairly bustling and there were lots of things to see – though it was still very cold, snowy, dreary and not nearly as busy as it should have been for a city of over a million people.
As I flew out of profoundly miserable rainy and snowy Oslo … I was greeted with WARM and SUNNY and BUSTLING Nijmegen – my first and somewhat obscure stop. Even this fairly small town was absolutely full of people, and I ran into the first supermarket I saw – and I could have almost cried with happiness. So much variety! So many good things! And… I can totally afford anything here! I may have gone a little nuts. Nijmegen had a really cute little historical centre and a harbour on a river, and even in the sporadic downpours – everyone stayed outside, not batting an eyelid. Fantastic.
I then went on to Utrecht where I stayed for 2 nights, and absolutely loved it. It had a nice balance of old, traditional intrigue and prettiness and modern convenience and socialising. It was riddled with pretty canals, and going on a walk around the outer ones was lovely with parks and walking and cycling tracks. The place was absolutely crawling with young people, and more BIKES than I could have actually imagined – and I did imagine a lot of bikes. While Bergen was apparently closed and deserted over Easter, Utrecht was absolutely bustling – with people on the streets enjoying the sunshine and meeting with friends in the TONNES of cafes and bars. At that point I was thinking … if Bergen were not SO SO beautiful nature-wise .. I’d be kicking myself and wishing I’d gone on exchange to Utrecht. Maybe I am kicking myself anyway .. heheh. Though really I think the lack of real wild nature around The Netherlands would have bothered me after a while as it did in Italy … but I LOVED Utrecht. Just wanted to make that clear.
Me & Utrecht from its tower – I don’t have any photos that succinctly capture the Utrecht awesomeness
Once Ingrid joined me in Rotterdam we set about on our epic series of day trips. We started with a ferry trip down the river to Dordrecht. I may not have bothered but I was absolutely desperate not to spend another afternoon in Rotterdam. Dordrecht was lovely, with little canals and houses and all the rest. I had always thought Venice was fantastic, but the little cities of the Netherlands really gives Venice a run for its money. This is a compliment coming from me.
Our next massive day trip involved a morning ferry trip to the windmills at Kinderdijk – very picturesque – then an afternoon train trip to Delft – again another cute little Dutch city (TM), and then seeing as it was only 4pm and Nicola can’t handle going back to Rotterdam, we went on to Den Haag for the rest of the evening. Den Haag was eerily empty – it was Easter Sunday after all – but I still really liked it and could tell that it must usually be bustling.
Kinderdijk
Our next trip took us out of Rotterdam (huzzah!) and up to Amsterdam via Keukenhof via Leiden. Leiden = Cute Old Dutch Town with all the usual trimmings, Keukenhof = huge rip-off. I managed to come up with some deceptive photography to make it look like it is nearly as flowery as its promoters would have you believe. But let it be known – house of lies!Amsterdam was actually very beautiful as far as Cute Old Dutch goes, and very bustling… though it felt very touristy. The city smelt of pot – from the tourists excitedly puffing away at every opportunity they got – though the Red Light District was actually fairly entertaining. Something sadly intriguing about the prostitutes bouncing away in a window, luring in customers. On our last day we took a trip out to Haarlem – another Cute Old Dutch town, which had a rather impressive cathedral.
Amsterdam in a wine glass. I so arty.
Basically the Netherlands was the perfect antidote to three months of an unusually cold and snowy Norwegian winter. A blissfully small, flat, warm, flowery, bustling, affordable, architecturally-beautiful country. Wales
But a mere weekend after having returned to Norway with Ingrid in tow – showing her Oslo, and then taking her and Dom to Norheimsund and Bjelkeroy – Dom and I were off to Wales for a week. This is what happens when I have another three weeks without law classes. The infamous Icelandic volcano erupted a day or so after we left – and my scheduled flight back to Norway coincided with the first morning that planes were allowed again. Karmic win. I am now paying for that karmic boost in Czech visa dramas.
Wales again was an excellent antidote to Norway – with even little old Swansea bustling and lively, not to mention very warm and sunny and completely devoid of rain. But of course.. it’s my osmosis again.
No seriously, why does it never rain?
I think I have about 100 photos of puffins
Upon returning to Norway the snow had FINALLY melted (though it did snow occasionally in the following weeks, rest assured) and the inhabitants of Bergen were slowly starting to crawl out of their winter hibernation burrows – or maybe they were just forced off the skiing mountains. The month of May has seen an increase in temperature just enough to make the place come back to life after being completely browned by the months of snow cover, and now the place is beautifully green and flowers are springing up in the grass. Unfortunately I now have to study for exams, fellow exchange students are leaving, and I am up to my eyeballs in Czech Visa crap. I had hoped to spend June doing some travel around Norway, but it is just so amazingly hard to plan anything – and then when a potential plan can be found it is so amazingly hard to PAY for it. In angry defiance of Norway I instead booked a mid-June trip to Latvia and Estonia – at least keeping with my theme of Northern and/or Hanseatic locations this semester. Though it has been well over a month since I last left Norway .. and despite being initially very happy with my return to more Springy weather .. I am starting to feel that the Baltics trip should have been booked a week or so earlier ;)
Well that was an epic entry to keep me procrastinating for a while. Really though, there is nothing to study for American Law other than the lecturer’s idle chitchat about juries and abortions.
Czech Consulates – Australia – Norway - United Kingdom
I could throw in my continuing dramas about Czech visas here while I’m at it? Yeah why not. So… step by step … summarising as much as I can
- Never heard that I had been accepted because my uni had not sent my transcript as requested back in MARCH. Well now I finally have my acceptance letter for the university at least. Then I discovered I need a copy of my (lack of) criminal record, with an apostille, translated into Czech. This process alone has been over a month in the works now, and after posting a bunch of forms to the Federal Police, sending my brother in search of an apostille which can only be issued in Australia, and finding a Czech translator with a reasonable fee who will issue such translation with only an electronic copy, and $150-odd later… all such documents are IN THE POST and should hopefully arrive here soon. But my god the Norwegian postal system is so slow >.<
- Then apparently once you actually haul your documents triumphantly to a Czech consulate which I had thought would be the one in Oslo – a wonderful 7 hour train trip away – it turns out that they will only actually give you the damn thing TWO MONTHS later. Well done Czech Rep, you are more of a pain in the ass than Italy. Oh Italia, perdonami, adesso vedo che sei molto molto organizzata *lauda lauda*. Well, now this is no help if I’m leaving Norway at the end of June … so I then planned to apply in London when I arrive on the 4th July, as it is fairly easy to return to London from wherever I might be in Europe two months later. Though London is far less helpful than Oslo as apparently they have more to do with their time so I went about making sure I had everything I needed for them and arranged to spend a couple of days in London sorting things out.
- Czech Cultural Lesson #2: They have national holidays on the fifth AND sixth of July. And to celebrate .. the consulate in London is taking the whole week off. What a festive lot. Marvellous, really. So actually I can’t apply in London, as if I apply after that week, the two months coincides with something like the SECOND WEEK OF CLASSES in the Czech Republic.
At this point I was becoming somewhat hysterical with the continual barrage of slaps in the Visa face. Then .. ok … if I can get everything posted to me in the next week or so.. and I haul myself to Oslo.. AGAIN, before I leave.. and then just come back sometime after two months and pick it up *shudder Oslo shudder* .. then it will be ok. And yes… apparently the Czech consulate there can actually translate any extra docs that I might need, unlike London.. oh praise be. BUT .. oh yes, BUT … the woman in the Oslo Consulate is going away for three weeks soon. I want to get me some of this Czech holiday spirit. BUT .. things .. MAY actually .. work out. MAYBE. Though then she did say she wanted a letter from my bank – which at this rate would not arrive in time before I leave Norway. AAARGH. Accept my damn bank statements, puny currency.
So it remains to be determined which will be the most annoying country to deal with exchange-wise :P. Italy was amazingly vague in its information that it will provide over the internet, announced its orientation meetings like two weeks before they were on, had no semester dates or predictable exam structure, the hilarious farce that is a permesso di soggiorno, as well as had a very picky visa application (BUT at least it was free and issued within a week after applying – and the permesso di soggiorno can be completely ignored). Norway was the exact opposite – very good arrival, orientation and semester information, fairly easy visa application – but expensive. However Italy can get away with being an administrative nightmare given its vibrant social life … Norway is a little lacking in that regard. Late May is proving far more vibrant than Winter.. but come on people you can’t live your life like that. Somehow Italy’s complicated way of doing things didn’t aggravate me nearly as much as Norway’s idiosyncrasies either… maybe I’m just permanently old and grumpy now.
Looking forward to see what gems the Czech Republic can come up with haha. In any case, none of these countries are as depressing as sitting around in Western Sydney trying to work out why your supposed lifetime accumulation of friends won’t reply to your text messages.
Thank you and good evening.
KITE! KITE KITE! With volcano haze
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