In my last blog entry I wrote about day 2 & 3, before the introductory program had even begun. I haven't had the time (or the motivation) to post since then so now I'm going to summarize the events of the past week quickly before moving on.
The introductory program began on Wednesday and it continued on through the weekend before wrapping up on Monday with a tedious lecture on sources in the morning and a nice candlelit lunch at the student house in the afternoon. The highlights of the introductory program include making many new friends (most of them from Canada!), a nice sightseeing of Tromsø by bus, the fantastic Norwegian waffles at Cafe Bodega, a visit to the University museum, and the free Second Hand Market on Saturday.
I'm slowly finding my way around the city, I even invested in a monthly bus card to make traveling cheaper and easier. I've also taken the time to explore the island a bit on foot. On Saturday after the Second Hand Market I went hiking with my friend Adam from his apartment in Elverhøy to my place in Ørndalen. We followed the ski path most of the way, that's going to be a nice thing come winter. The path is incredibly well maintained and it's even lit by streetlamps at night. We saw lots of things on the way, the walk was about 6 km. Lakes, mountains, hockey rinks, ski ramps, soccer fields, and plenty of Norwegians out walking, jogging, and biking.
On Sunday I stayed home and relaxed while most of the other international students went on an excursion to a place called Grøtfjord. In hindsight the trip probably would have been fun. I went on my own little hike on Sunday to the summit at Ørndalen. It's steep but only about a 10 min walk. There's even a little book at the top that you get to sign when you've made it all the way up.
Other things of interest, we had a totally spontaneous pizza party at our place yesterday. Mike (my Canadian housemate) invited a bunch of people over and we made pizzas from scratch. A good time was had by all and the pizza crust was some of the best I have ever had. It was made by an American expat who's been traveling abroad for about 8 years. Apparently he worked at a bakery at some point during his travels, he even knew how to toss the dough up in the air like a pro!
Today I tried to go to my first lecture on Sustainable Energy only to discover that I didn't have a lecture today. Oops, well at least I know where the Physics campus is now.
On my way back from town I saw one of the cutest PDA's. I've already noticed that Norwegians seem to be much more open and warm than Finns are, Public Displays of Affection seem to be well accepted here. Today I was riding the bus and it stopped by the hospital to let passengers off. There was a doctor there in scrubs waiting for someone. It turned out that he was there to meet his girlfriend/wife. She had a dog with her, a cute spaniel that she carried in her arms off the bus. It was so cute to see how the guy first took a picture of the girl and the dog with his phone and then gave them each a kiss and a hug. Now that's the kind of guy that I'm looking for, someone who's just as happy to see me as he is to see the family pet.
I also stopped at the Horse (Horze) store in the Utsikten plaza and browsed for a bit. After walking around a bit I also discovered that the Stakkevollan swimming hall is only about a 10 mins walk from my house. That's going to come in handy during the dark months.
There we go, that's life here so far. More updates should come soon as I've got lots of plans for the weekend. Tomorrow should be my first lecture as well. For real this time!
To do list:
- Visit Sivertsens Kafe downtown, supposedly the only vegetarian restaurant in Tromsø
- Find some jogging buddies, I need some motivation to scale those hills on a daily basis
- Figure out where the nearest riding stable in the area is, I need another horse fix
5 months ago
No comments:
Post a Comment