The first few days

I am here. Finally, I am here. After some trouble during the 24h trip with the car, airplane and bus I arrived in Nordfjordeid at seven o’clock in the morning on August 25. The managers of my EVS organization in Norway, Eid Frivilligsentral, and one of the previous volunteers, Almudena from Spain, picked Barbara from Hungary (another volunteer I got to know at the airport in Oslo) and me up at the bus station. After a short interview of the local journalist and breakfast in the office of Eid Frivilligsentral they took us to our apartments (Barbara is staying elsewhere) and we had time to move in. I can only say: sweet place and a breathtaking view of the fjord out of my window!

At noon organizational matters have been done and we were shown around the town as well as the school, my work in the first place. It contains an opera house, a cinema, a record studio and so on. It is just amazing, never seen something like that. The pupils themselves had activity day to get to know each other and due to that we were invited to a barbecue which has taken place at lunchtime. Afterwards we checked on the supermarkets in town and enjoyed the sun throwing a special light on the fjord. You may be surprised by that because sun and Norway seems like fire and water, but honestly, the sun was shining.

But trust me, it was just a little dropout – Norway didn’t want to make us leave right away – the next day it was raining cats and dogs. And forget about the umbrella, the wind will smash it in no time. Anyway I had to get out and find my way to the office to get even more organizational matters done and then prepare a public reading by the author; unfortunately we could not understand what he was telling his audience. After cleaning up we had the day off and went shopping – but if you are thinking about coming to Norway, do not convert the prices when you are here. Just as a little advice ;)

When I came home Almudena invited me to a little trip with her friends from Spain (they were visiting her) and we drove to Måløy with that old and big car (it is more a bus) we can rent from the school – believe me, not only the car was an adventure. The roads make any oncoming traffic impossible – so have fun! Finally we got to the ‘Kannesteinen’ – a rock that has been sculpted for thousands of years by wind and wave – and my clothes were wet in less than five minutes. But it was nice to see it. Back home again a cup of tea helped against the cold, but the manager who is mainly responsible for us volunteers, Astrid, promised me that I will drink coffee till the end of my EVS because all Norwegians do so. We will see.

On Saturday I slept a lot to recover from the long journey without sleep and cooked my first meal in the new home – and I didn’t burn the kitchen (so proud of me)! At noon I walked through the town to get to know it better and met Barbara; together we compared all four supermarkets (yes, four – for only 3000 residents; but there are more than ten hairdressers too…I really do not know what is going on here). Now we know that ‘REMA 1000’ is the cheapest, ‘coop’ the most expensive one, ‘Bunnpris’ something in between and ‘Europris’ small and crowded. I guess REMA is going to be my favorite ;)

Today I woke up because the sun was shining on my face, it was really nice. And it was even nicer to be invited to a trip to the ‘Briksdal’ glacier by my housekeeper Agnar. He and his wife took Barbara and me to an amazing road trip through the Norwegian landscape and finally we saw the glacier after a short hike. It was beautiful, though a bit cold. But it didn’t seem to matter to the Norwegians, their motto was something like: “The sun is shining! Great! Time for a t-shirt and shorts!” – I felt a little bit like an Eskimo beside them…

But altogether the Norwegians (and their country) welcomed us really warm-hearted and I look forward to my stay. I am excited what it is going to be like to learn the Norwegian language and the tasks I have to fulfill. But I am sure I will have a great time and I am going to report you as soon as possible more about Norway, its people and my new life here up north.

Greetings, 

Alisa