Sunday, June 6, 2010

Ha det bra Norge!

When I first arrived in Norway, all I wanted to do is go home. For the longest time, or so it seemed, that is all I ever thought about. I was sitting in my room all day since I didn’t want to walk anywhere in the cold, I hardly ever saw any sun light and when I did it wasn’t for long because the sun was down by 3, and I didn't really know anyone. But as time went by, I slowly started going places; it just meant that I was wearing layers and layers of clothing. Once I started to get out of my room during the day, I was able to see the sun when it made its rare appearances. I was even making new friends among the international students. Still I missed my family and friends and I thought about going home more often than not.

January turned into February and it snowed all day, every day. It was hard not seeing the sun and having to trudge to school in crappy weather. So I spent a lot of my time reading and watching movies. On the occasional break from the snow I would go and walk down to the beach until all of my fingers and toes were numb. It was a nice break from all of the sitting and thinking about home.

Then came March out of nowhere. In March the snow turned to torrential down pours for a good two weeks. Then the sun came out! There were some really nice days where the sun shined all day long. It was still cold and there was snow and ice everywhere, but I started to stay outside more often to soak up some much needed sun. Some days it was even warm enough that I could walk around in a sweatshirt with a long sleeved shirt underneath. I still missed home, but it was getting easier to forget about going home for longer periods of time.

April came and I could feel the spring in the air. It didn’t rain as much and as hard as it did in March and it was starting to warm up enough for the snow and ice to start melting. I have been spending a lot of time outside at the beach and hanging out with my new friends. I was able to start counting down the days until I was able to go home and that gave me some comfort. By the end of April I was preparing for a busy May and rarely thought about home because I was excited to be done with school and I had a big trip to Italy coming up (a life goal was checked off!). I was to busy and excited to think about going home.

Then May came and went in a blink of an eye. I was finished with most of my classes and I spent 10 days in Italy. When I returned to Italy, I couldn't wait to go home, my Norwegian home that is. For the first time since I've been here, I thought of Norway as my home. I looked forward to coming home to my apartment, no matter how crappy and overpriced it is. I wanted to go back to something familiar, something that was mine. I was tired of living out of my suitcase in Italy, shuffling from one hotel to the next. I needed some stability in my life, and it was waiting for me in Norway.

So now that it is June, and I will be leaving tomorrow morning, I don’t want to leave Norway. I'm excited to see everyone, but I don't want to leave my home. I have enjoyed living in Norway, even though it was really hard at first. I don't like how I have to pick up my life again and start over. I have created my own home here and I don’t want to leave it all behind. It feels like I’m going to go to a foreign country all over again. The food is going to be different, I will be able to shop on Sundays, there is going to be a ton of car traffic instead of bike and people traffic, everyone is going to be in a hurry, and there will rarely be an afternoon where I can just go and lay in the sun reading a book and eating candy out of a paper bag.

Living in Norway has taught me many things, given me many memories, and has helped me grow as a person. I am going to miss a lot of things about my life here in Norway, but I am looking forward to starting a new life in America (once I get past all of the changes and culture shock that I am going to go through again). I just want to say thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me to come here. It has meant a lot to me and has helped me deal with the cultural differences and get me though the times when all I wanted to do is come home. I also want to thank my friends that I have made in Norway, I don’t think that I could have gotten though it without you. You have helped me grow as a person and have given me many memories that I will always cherish.

I will come home a different person. I will have to adjust to American life again. I will have to start over again. But I know that I can do anything with my friends and family at my side.