April

Hello again,

It's already May and 52 more days to go until I will be flying back to Rotterdam (and 38 until my parents come to visit and we will do a road trip around Norway)!

52 more days to go until I will be flying back to Rotterdam

They actually told us that the weather will be getting better and that Norway (and especially Bergen) has the best weather off the whole year in May as then all the students have to study... haha! But since it has been May we have only had rain, it actually is raining now since thursday continuously day and night. On Friday it was really storming, almost like a Taifun i would say, except that they don't have them here... but maybe now they do as with climate change and everything! But it was actually really cool to watch, as you could see another storm cloud rolling in from the sea and watch the rain pouring down over the fjord and then reaching the first houses before it reached my kitchen window and I couldn't see anything anymore... just gray! That was one of the heaviest rain falls I have ever experienced, no rain jacket or boots could keep you dry and I tried it and was soaked after a few minutes :))

But on that stormy friday I also had my first exam! From university in Rotterdam I am used to multiple choice exams and writing as short and to the point as possible. But here at NHH, exams are essay style and the more the better, so I wrote 20 pages... 20 pages about finance, a subject I actually don't know much about (although I am a business student!!). But anyway, I think it went quite well and now I have to wait for my grade to see if I am right. My next exam is not until the end of May and then two more in June and then this semester is already finished again. Well, this Friday, I also have my oral Norwegian exam and then a week later the written exam, but I don't get any points for that, so just for fun :))

The last weekend of April, before exams started, I went with a few other exchange students to Stavanger, a city about 200km south of Bergen. To go there we rented a car and drove about 5hrs.

At this point a little something about driving in Norway: first of all, you cannot really plan how long it will take you to get from one point to the other as sometimes the street just stops and you have to take a ferry to go on (from Bergen to Stavanger you have to take three). As the streets only have one lane for each direction, you never know if your stuck behing a truck and might miss the next ferry and then you have to wait upto 45min for the next one. Furthermore, we took the fastest way to drive and it had a speed limit of 80kmh and was more comparable to a mountain road than an actual highway. But this was one of the biggest and busiest roads in Norway!! All the other roads we drove were sometimes so narrow that they now and then had a widening where you could wait for the cars coming from the opposite direction. However, it also more often happens that there is no such widening when you meet another car and then one either has to go backwards or you have to drive past each other really slowly!

But other than that, Norwegians really know how to build roads, tunnels and bridges. To Stavanger we went through three tunnels that go underneath the fjords. They are about 9km long and you first drive down with a steepness of about 8-9% and then when you reached the lowest point underneath the fjord your ears pop and then you have to drive up again with 8-9% steepness. The deepest tunnel was 260m below sea level!!

In Stavanger we went on a salmon safari were we had to wear a wetsuit and a survivalsuit and some goggles and then went floating down a river snorkeling and looking for fish. Unfortunately, it wasn't the salmon season so we didn't see any fish but floating down the river like you are a rafting boat was still a lot of fun!

We also went to Preikestolen, a steep cliff that falls 600m down into a fjord! It is really scarry when you are up there and look down... creepy! Some people actually go and sit on the edge and make pictures but my legs just blocked about half a meter from the edge and I couldn't go any further :)) But still, we had a fantastic view from there over the fjord and the mountains. Our last night in Stavanger we also spent in a mountain cabin near Preikestolen were we experienced one of the most beautiful sunsets, it was raining a little, so there was a full rainbow over the lake behind the cabin and the sky just stood on fire from the setting sun... really amazing and just one example why Norway is such a beautiful country.

Also in April, Richard visited me again for a few days and this time we didn't have any rain, but really nice weather. We went on a fjordcruise, called the "Norway in a Nutshell Tour" were we first took a train for two hours to Myrdal and from there an old train down to Flam. This train went down 900m over 20km, so it was pretty steep and everyone just hangs out the windows making picturs because there is really beautiful and dramatic scenery. From Flam we were supposed to take a boat that would take us to the narrowest fjord in Norway and then to Gudvangen, were we had to take a bus back to Voss and then again by train to Bergen. But, when we reached the boat they told us that there was an avalanche that morning and the whole valley was cut off and no other road reaches Gudvangen. So we only did half the boattrip and then had to go back to Myrdal to get the train back to Bergen. Although, we did a lot of traveling that day it was still worth it as the trip really shows you Norway in a nutshell!!

With Easter we had a week free from university and I went on a trip to Russia that is organized every year for all exchange students in Scandinavia and so we were about 110 exchange students from all over the world. With the group from Bergen we first went to Stockholm for a weekend, from where we had to take the boat to Helsinki on Sunday night. Stockholm and Sweden is really different from Norway, it is a really big city with lots of people and noone is wearing any hiking or sports clothes. There are more cafes, which are packed again and it is less expensive. But I am kind of used now to nature, vew people and so it was kind of shoking how noisy a big city can be! For the time we stayed in Stockholm we slept in an old prison, which was a prison until the 70ies and then got renovated and converted into a hotel and hostel.

On Sunday we met all the other students and took an overnight ferry to Helsinki, were we had a day to visit the city. The first weird thing was paying in Euros again without having to convert and calculate every time. Helsinki was really cold and it snow-rained that day and as I had already been there, not that interesting. But although it is a European city it doesn't really look European more Russian with Russian style architecture.

After the day in Helsinki we took a night train to Moscow where we arrived the following morning and immediately made a 3h guided bus tour through the city. Moscow is really impressive and huge. But we first had to get used to all the Russians and their way of doing things, and they never smile, not once! There is so much police and military and so many big and expensive cars, especially extra long BMW 7series all in black with blackened windows and a blue light on the roof! Those police cars you see every where. And the atmosphere in the city is really tense as if everyone expects something to happen or that Stalin will rise again! And Moscow is still stuck in the Soviet Union I think, because all the old buildings and monuments still exist with the Soviet symbols on the wall but they are just being used for other purposes now. For example, the old KGB building in the middle of the city, still has the Soviet Flag above every window and the prison rooms in the cellar but is now just used as office building... well, enjoyable work atmosphere!! But still everything is really impressive and very interesting!

We spent three days in Moscow and then again took a night train to St Petersburg. But instead of sharing a cabin with 4 people we now had one huge compartement with 60 or so beds cramped into it and we were spread out over the whole train... so kind of weird sleeping together with all strangers and you really had to watch your stuff. In St Petersburg we again had a 4h guided bus tour through the city. St Petersburg is more western and Russians here even smile now and then. And it is really funny: as often as our Moscow guide mentioned Lenin, as often did our St Petersburg guide mention Peter the Great. St Petersburg also seems more historical than Moscow although it is the younger city, but the czars built all these palace-like buildings that make St Petersburg seem really old and rich. Of course we also went to the Winterpalace and the Eremitage to see all the art and riches they collected and it is truly amazing!

After two days in St Petersburg we took a bus which drove us over night to Tallin, were we again had a day to explore the city before taking the boat back to Stockholm. But we were all so tired and exhausted that we only stayed in the old city center and sat on a terrace enjoying the sun! But overall, it was truly an amazing and very interesting and impressive trip. Especially Russia is so different from everything I have experienced until now and Russians, especially in Moscow, are really enthousiastic about their city and think they have the greates life there!

But now I am back in Bergen and enjoying my last weeks here, studying and going on short hiking trips every day (who cares about the rain) before my parents come to visit in June and I'll fly back again on June 30th.

Take care everyone and talk to you soon!

Har det bra

Christien

PS: short update on the lenght of the day: it is now clompetely dark at around 11 and sun rises again at 5, but days get longer 5min each day until 21st of june! That is still light at 10 kind of ruins my whole rythm as I just keep thinking its only seven :))