Farewell, Norway!

It has been a few days now since I left Norway and I still can’t believe it. I already knew before that I would miss everyone and everything, but it hit me harder than expected. My farewell can be described as an ocean of tears and it felt a lot worse than my departure from Germany one year ago. Probably because I knew I would come back sooner or later. But now I don’t know when I will travel to Norway again. I really hope soon. I miss my home up north <3

I still don’t feel very comfortable here in Germany, it’s just different from my peaceful Norwegian life and I am not used to the poor air quality, the unbearable heat, all these people and cars on the streets, the tense mood, noisy construction works everywhere, the nasty gnats or just the fact that nobody talks Norwegian and I don’t have to clean my dishes by hand anymore. Even though I will appreciate our dishwasher in no time ;)

The worst is to wake up confused and disoriented, in the expectation to be greeted by the gorgeous fjord panorama in front of my window. Then I realize that there are no mountains and no water far and wide, that Artur, Barbara, Lena and Oleksandr are miles away from me, and that I am stuck in a neighborhood sweltering in the oppressive heat. What remains is an empty or numb feeling, even alone and kind of lost, although I am surrounded by people.

Obviously, I can’t just go back to my old life as if nothing ever happened, because it did. I already figured out that it is difficult for people, who didn’t have a comparable adventure, to understand what kind of experience I had and how it changed me. But that is fine with me, we all just followed different paths that life offered us and I am happy with my decision, hopefully everybody else too :)

Nevertheless I may sound a bit negative and somehow depressed, but I am sure it will get better soon. And it is not as if everything is bad about being back in Germany. The food is delicious, the selection in the supermarkets large and I have a bike with two functional brakes at last. Moreover my friends and family are a plus point, although I barely have time for them. My to-do list seems to have no end and I really have to keep up with organizational matters for my studies.

Unfortunately time is a scarce good these days. I couldn’t even finish my blog yet, sorry for that. And I still need some time to readapt after this huge adjustment. One year is a long time and of course not everything ran smoothly, in fact a lot of challenges had to be overcome, but on the whole it was the best experience I have ever had and I would recommend it at any time. I am incredibly thankful for the time I got to spend with my crazy bunch of people in the most beautiful country I have ever been to <3

I never had the opportunity to talk several languages at the same time before, never got to know that many amazing people from different cultural backgrounds and never learned so much about myself as during this year. I will always keep my EVS in best memory and take this precious experience with me, wherever that may be. It definitely wasn’t my last stay abroad. On the contrary, it is just about to start. I haven’t been everywhere, but it is on my list :D

Until then, thanks a lot for following me through this year and all the positive feedback I got. I will keep you in the loop about any future plans concerning going abroad and report back to you. I hope you enjoyed reading about my EVS as much as I enjoyed my EVS itself. And if you ever have the chance to travel, take it. "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." – Mark Twain

TUSEN TAKK!

Best regards,

Alisa