The Diva Has Landed

Well it’s my first night in Bergen and I still have a smile on my face. Yesterday afternoon I said goodbye to Calgary and began on my adventure abroad! As I waited for my plane in Calgary, I realized that I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and it was terrifying, yet exhilarating at the same time. There wasn’t a lot that happened during my plane trip to Amsterdam. I watched movies and fooled around on the computer (thanks to Keevin who fixed my computer when it crashed the day I left!). When I got to Amsterdam, I went through Customs which was an absolute PLEASURE compared to trying to get into the USA. My favourite moment at the Amsterdam airport was when I was going through security. I had to take my money belt off, and my shirt came up a bit so the guy who was organizing the line said “You know, feel free to keep going. I have a long day ahead of me.” It was great. Two seconds later another security guy asked me how old I was after finding out my plans for Friday night. (He was....45, maybe?) All I said was “too young for you!” He laughed, I laughed. The world was happy. Then, before I knew it-I was in Norway!!
Oh my goodness, I looked out the window and felt like I was in Narnia. This place is seriously so beautiful, I can’t even handle it. Side note-Mom, there is a lot of snow here. I didn’t really come prepared with footwear. Anyways, I got on the airport bus at 4:30 and the sun had already set. It was CRAZY! Then, I got off at the city centre bus station because I was supposed to walk to the student centre to get my keys to my apartment. In an e-mail, my exchange advisor had suggested I put my bags in a locker at the bus station while I get my keys. However, I could not find a locker for the life of me or anyone to ask anything to, so I figured I would just take my two giant suitcases with me! BAD IDEA. I don’t know what it is about me and hills, but they just love me so much that they can’t LEAVE ME ALONE! I basically trudged through the snow and sleet up a giant hill that would NEVER end. Eventually, three young lads came to help me! Two were from Belgium: Olivier and Jan (pronounced “Yan”, not “Jan”. We discussed this.), and Alexis from France. While at the student centre getting our keys, we met Laura and Juliet from France, and Evaline and Alise from Holland. Some were staying at Fanfoft, but five of us were staying at Hatleburg (the name of the building that I will be residing in for the next six months!!). Anyways, we all went to Burger King together, and then we made our way to Hatleburg. I’m not even going to try to explain to you how difficult it was to get to my “flat” because it was actually crazy. We were walking on abandoned roads in pitch black, climbing over construction materials and...well a lot of things went wrong. However, among all the chaos we met Rocher from Switzerland! He seems like a swell guy-I felt so bad for him because the airline lost his luggage.
After I finally got into the building, I couldn’t open my door and that’s when I met Simone (pronounced Simone-eh) from Germany. She’s just fabulous. Anyways, all of the Hatleburg crew is going into town tomorrow so we can see the city in daylight and get some essentials from IKEA for our rooms. Speaking of which, I love my room! Even though I only have a twin bed, the room feels so big which I like and I have a lot of space to put my clothes and such. My view is also really pretty! I will post pictures/videos soon! I don’t have internet yet so I’m not sure when this will actually be posted, but hopefully by tomorrow!
Love and miss you all!
Annika the diva