Hello rainy Bergen!  Today I believe I am seeing the ‘real’ Bergen... it’s been raining all day!  (except this evening as I've ventured out for internet... it's glorious.  I'm beginning to see a trend- you never know what the weather will be).   Fortunately I needed to do some laundry and get a few things at the store so I’m staying local and enjoying a little rainy grey fjord view out my window.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and I ended up hiking all day.  Students are returning to NHH so there are a few new friends on my hall.  I was in the shared kitchen for breakfast yesterday morning along with Paul and Johnny, two guys from Norway.  We were talking about what I might do for the day and I planned on checking out the ‘Floibanen’, Bergen’s popular funicular climbing 1,000 feet to stunning views of Bergen.  Johnny had to go to work but Paul didn’t have plans for the day so he joined in the excursion.  We ended up walking from NHH to Bergen city center on lovely hiking trails.  Paul showed me a few great finds like the public library where you can get 3 Kroner coffee ($0.50) and they have printed publications from around the world to read.

Then we headed toward ‘Floibanen’.  In addition to the funicular, there are hiking trials up to the top of the Floibanen.  So we hiked!  Norwegians are very outdoorsy people.  As Paul mentioned, when the sun is out, so is everyone in Bergen.  Also, interestingly enough, being physically fit usually goes hand in hand with career successes (but is not exclusive to career successes).  He explained people in high positions within companies do a lot of ‘training’.  My first thought was additional career training.  Nope, he means physical activity training.  Fascinating!  There is a big cross-country skiing competition amongst top business leaders in Norwegian companies and better times garner bragging rights.  Ahhh good friendly competition.

1,000 feet above Bergen!

The photos doesn’t do it justice, Norway has majestic countryside and Bergen is a beautiful and historic city.  While I know I will miss things about home, I’m excited to live here for a few years.  Learning about other cultures and being in good discussion is a welcomed activity.  

A few recent accomplishments-  

I learned how to recycle plastic bottles!  Here they have a little recycle machine in every grocery store and your get 1 Kroner back on small bottles and 2 Kroner on large ones.  Then you can use those as credits at check out to reduce your bill.  As a result, Norwegians call it ‘getting their money back’.  Potato, patato, recycle, money back.... I’ll take the Kroners.

I purchased a ‘Grandiosa’ frozen pizza which is apparently the official pizza of Norway.  Every good student eats them.  I’ll give it a go.

I find it entertaining on the nutrition label of food they call ‘calories’ ‘energy’.  I like he idea of ‘energy’ better