On August 12th I said goodbye to my family and got on a plane to a new life. It was the first of many planes. I traveled for over 24 hours before arriving in Stavanger a day and a half later. The journey was long but well worth it in the end. My first week was a lot of sleepless nights and following around my host brother Lars. I live in an area full of white houses so I definitely spent my fair share of time wandering around very lost in August.
Week 1: August 14th - 21st
My first week in Norway included: a trip to Preikestolen, getting familiar with my city and starting schools. Preikestolen is a famous Norwegian view that was, unfortunately, obscured by fog. None the less it was a nice "family" outing. There were signs at the trail head warning people not to wear heels on the hike. This is because the hike attracts so many tourists that may not come prepared.
After Lars showed me the way I was able to manage to go into the heart of the city and find my way back home. One day my host mother, Kamilla, informed me of a concert in the city center so I made my way down. Upon arriving there I found many kayakers in the docking area of the cruise ships playing what looked like kayak basketball. I quickly learned that is was a televised championship of canoe polo, despite being played in kayaks. I thought they were crazy, as they played without even wearing gloves, in the frigid Norwegian ocean. It was a huge event and I eventually found an organizer who was able to explain to me what was going on. Later on the concert started. It was fun but it started raining shortly so I headed back on home.
On the 20th I started school at Bergeland. On my first day I got lost getting to school and ended up being a little late. Even once I managed to find the school I couldn't find my class. After wandering around aimlessly for awhile I found someone I could ask for directions (boy was I glad everyone spoke English at this point). It was a very confusing first day that I spent nodding along to everything and responding with "Ja!" (yes) to any question that was asked of me. The class I was joining have been together for 3 years now so I was a little nervous coming in. However, once we went to get our lockers , a teacher pushed me to pick mine first because the girls wanted to meet me. It was a pleasant surprise as I was told that the people in Norway would be very cold and unwelcoming. After getting acquainted with the girls I headed back to my new home.
Week 2: August 21st - August 28th
My 2nd week I was actually able to get some sleep, which made for a much more enjoyable week. I met with the other 2 rotary exchange students staying with me in Stavanger. There is a girl named Maria from Brazil and a boy named Zach from U.S.A.. The girls in school have been very welcoming to me. They took me on the bus with them and showed me the neighboring city of Sandnes. The boys however didn't introduce themselves and I was left to ask around and occasionally guess. Although we are taught in Norwegian, my friends speak to me in English. They will however test my Norwegian and every so often give me treats when I say things correctly.
I met my second host family this week as well. Host parents Marit and Kjetil and my two host brothers Olai (18) and Hans (15). They have a beautiful house out on Ormoy island. Their family is a sailing family and have many boats and their backyard is literally the ocean. They have a boat house where they keep their smaller boats. Across the fjord is where they keep their larger sail boats and where my host brother Olai has his sailing club.
My fellow exchange student Maria and I attended a food festival in the city one day. We got to try foods from Iran, Greece, Brazil, Norway, Turkey, India and China. There were also traditional entertainment from each country including dancing and music. It was a fun way for us to become a little more familiar with our new city. After the food market we went and visited the main chruch in Stavanger, which opened in 1150. It's a great building with dark grey stone on the outside and bells that toll on the hour.
This was also the week that my host brother Lars left Norway for Canada. I was so excited for him. He is staying an hour and a half away from my home town of Vernon in Summerland. As much as I was excited for him I was also little nervous. He had really been a life line to me my first few weeks in Norway. He helped me get around, buy things and introduced me to some of his friends. One night he had his friends over to make pizza, where I learned that Norwegians put ketchup on pizza and eat it with knife and fork.
It wasn't the most exciting week as I slowly adjusted to my new life here. Lots of time with the cat, training my ear to Norwegian and getting lost around my neighborhood. On the 28th however I met with Maria and Zach and we headed to Lyngdal for our welcome camp with the other exchange students.