Friday, January 6, 2017

Getting To Norway



Hello All! 

This blog is to serve as a journal of sorts for myself and a way for my friends and family to keep updated on my semester-long stay in Norway.  I am teaching at the American College of Norway and am thrilled to be spending the Spring semester here.  I will be honest; I do not know how this blog will turn out.  I’m not even sure I’ll post on a regular basis, but for now I will do my best. 

Prepping for the Trip – a journey for snacks
As one might imagine leaving the place where you live for a year is overwhelming, but if half of that year is spent in a foreign country it can be a little exhausting trying to get all your ducks in a row. I feel that I have been planning for this trip for 425 years!  In December I packed up my things and put everything in storage and left North Dakota for all of 2017.  I then spent Christmas with my parents and then returned to Omaha just before the new year.  Omaha is my home away from home.  My cousin Amanda lives there and she is letting me take over her basement closet as a second storage unit…and I like her a lot so it’s a bonus that we get to hang out.  The last few days with Amanda were mostly spent in her basement.  I would stare at the enormous pile of stuff that needed to be packed and she would boss me around so I actually packed it.  It worked out great.  I was all packed and then needed to make one more Target run for snacks and a few toiletries.  Then things got interesting…

In Target I was finishing up my shopping.  I had the essentials: Peanut M&Ms, Twizzlers, Burts Bees chap stick, etc.  Amanda and I were going through the food aisles when she pointed out the pop tarts.  I started tearing up saying I would never get pop tarts in Norway.  Then she started tearing up because I was and pop tarts were inevitably in my cart.  I think it is important to note that I don’t eat pop tarts. I probably haven’t had a pop tart in 10 years, but the thought of not being able to get a pop tart until May was too much to bear!  I also hadn’t really gotten emotional about leaving my friends and family yet so that could have something to do with it…you can be the judge. 

Here’s a pic of the infamous pop tarts. Please note they are not the pop tart brand even! 


Other than the pop tart incident packing and leaving went really smoothly.  I had to say goodbye to my precious dog Annabelle.

Here’s a pic of her to prove that she is precious and the cutest dog in the world.



I know Annabelle will be in wonderful hands with Amanda and that is a great comfort.  Amanda then dropped my off at the Omaha airport at 5:00 and away I went.


Traveling…pretty great!

I think long distance air travel gets a bad rap….or is it wrap….probably rap.  I had a lovely experience the entire way from Omaha to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Oslo.  In fact, I’m writing this post on the bus headed to Moss.  Be forewarned I have been traveling for 15 – 20 hours with little sleep so if this doesn’t make sense forgive me. 

Back to the genius of air travel.  First, we are living in the future y’all!  I got to another country in record time, had free wine, a few meals, watched a new TV series, and still had Starbucks in the morning!  It was glorious!  All the airports were clearly marked and I had zero trouble going through customs.  In fact it was more difficult leaving the US then entering Amsterdam!

I should let you know that I did get to take place in a travel unicorn.  You know those mythical creatures that people think don’t exist.  Well they exist people and I experienced it!  I had the entire row of seats to myself on all three flights!  You might need to read that sentence again to believe it, but I assure you it is true!  Isn’t that a travel miracle!  So for the long flight I stretched out over all three seats to sleep.  Here are pics of the flight from Atlanta to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Oslo for proof. 



I’m sure when the flight attendants came around and saw me draped over all three seats with my neck pillow, eye mask, blanket and headphones it was a sight to behold, but one does not dismiss a unicorn!  One sprawls herself out on the unicorn and enjoys the flight.  I also must say that the free wine on the flight is always a bonus.  I also had a South African equivalent of Baileys in honor of my good friend Trudie and it was delicious.  It’s called Amarula. 

Also here is a pic of my first sight of Norway.  Isn’t it beautiful already!

I guess that’s it for now.  I’m sure this post sounds much more scattered then I intend, but I wanted to give an update before I forgot things.  I have about a half hour before I arrive in Moss.  Someone will meet me to take me to my apartment then I intend to crash and be ready for a 10 am meeting!  More later! Sending my love to you all!

Full Disclosure - the wifi on the bus went out as I was trying to post so I've been in Norway for about 24 hours now.  I'm still a little groggy from jet lag, but promise to post soon once I'm more with it.  

8 comments:

  1. Velkommen til Norge! I love your blog already. My favorite line: I got to another country in record time, had free wine, a few meals, watched a new TV series, and still had Starbucks in the morning! It was glorious! ... can't wait to read more. Go to Cafe Riis this weekend, sip coffee...or better...wine...and just take in the gloriousness of being in Norway!!

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  3. Have so much fun on this adventure... and I hope upon hope that it works out for us to come and see you! :) LOVE YA! Be safe!

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  4. Please with sugar on top keep writing this. (How much crap did you take/ship with you? I love logistics.)

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  5. That last comment was from KS Aregood. I have no idea who Dusty is.

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  6. Have a blast! And please post when you can so I can enjoy a vicarious trip to Norway!

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