Robcobblog

Pictures from Skiing! (Finally)

2013-03-17T16:10:00.000+01:00

So I forgot about my blog for a few weeks. Happens, I guess. This languished in drafts for too long, and there is more going on now, so I will try to post again soon enough. Hope you like the pictures

I did not caption all of them this time, since it would take a long time. Anyhow, the rest of this is mostly how it was in drafts for a while:

Hi again!

I wrote a pretty good length post recently, and I promised to try to be better about updating, so here I am! I also promised pictures from the ski trip and more, so this post is devoted to that. On the ski trip, I took some pictures, but others on the trip took much better ones, and we shared all of them, so this represents a selection. Basically, if the picture is really good, it was probably someone else who took it. I like looking through them, so I hope you do too!

That's me, on the ground on the right. I fell on the very flat part, because I am stupid.

The rainbow was cooler when you could see it in person. The camera doesn't quite capture what it was like.

And that's us! More blog to come, if I remember. Admonish me frequently to update, and then I can't help but remember!

A Long Post with Classes and Skiing and Gangs

2013-02-21T02:08:00.003+01:00

Hi Everyone!

Long time no post, huh? I have been busy, so I will maybe try to skip some parts of time, or sum up, in order to catch up to the present all at once. That way this blog thing can be journaling instead of recollecting, and maybe I will post more than once a month! This post is pretty long, because I have been neglecting the blog, so I had to cover a lot. I decided to break it up with some headings, because blogger has that functionality, and I might as well use it.

So when I last left off, I had gone through orientation and taken a very pretty walk. I have now had several weeks of class, the first few of which I spent figuring out which classes I was really taking, gone on a ski trip to Oppdal, and joined a student gang at the Samfundet. Lots more too, but you probably don't care too much about the eating and sleeping and reading, so I'll stick to those three topics so we have some plot points to grab hold of. They also get into the three environments that I spend my time navigating, so I can use them to suss out my ideas about the relation between the three. Hey!

Classes at NTNU

Classes. I am now taking four, but back when this blog was last updated, I didn't know how many I would take, or which ones. At NTNU, students register for courses online, and their choices are not locked in until a few weeks into the semester - this semester, the cutoff was February 15. For the students of this university, that flexibility is just a convenience, but it does not end up mattering too much. Most of their courses are determined by the course of study; a Computer Science major takes the same courses as all of the other CS majors in his year, for the most part, and this way, courses only have to be offered every other semester, or in some cases, every other year.

I do not fit into this system. For one, there is no Computer Engineering major or department here, so from the get-go, I know that my course list will be an amalgam of courses from the departments of related fields. I expected this, I knew it would work, it was fine. I knew that mostly I would be taking courses in the IT Faculty, which is essentially the computing department, but different in ways that I don't understand well enough to explain. As an exchange student, I was free to register for any course I wanted, provided the professor felt I met the prerequisites. On my semester card, where a standard NTNU student would have their Programme of Study, I have "Miscellaneous Courses in Science," which is every kid's dream, right?

The picking and choosing of courses began long ago, before even applying to study here - I had to make sure that they had enough courses in English that fit my plan of study back at UMD to justify studying here (to the UMD advisors, to me, being here needs no justification). In that process, I pre-approved eight courses, essentially ensuring that the credit would transfer back to UMD. It turned out that, in part due to my misreading of the course information on NTNU's site, and in part due to that site's flexible definition of what semester and in which langage a course would be offered, many of the courses that I pre-approved were not offered in English this semester.

So, I did what any curious, somewhat helpless student would in the circumstances: floundered my way into success. I met with advisors from several departments and the international office, attended different lectures, and spent lots of time reading and rereading course descriptions and past course websites. I, at one time, was registered for eight courses, three of which survived the winnowing process that took me to where I am presently. Advisors were somewhat unprepared for the freedom that I had, and the varying degree to which my background prepared me for classes here. For some tracks of courses, I am far ahead of the students here in the same year. In other areas, I am far behind.

The advisors did not really know how to respond to the open ended questions of mine, "Which classes that I am prepared for are the most interesting?" "Which professors should I try to meet with, who are really great?" The numeral prefixes on my registrations are correspondingly out of sync. I have an 8, two 4's, and a 3, matching courses at three levels of education, across a range of five or so years.

I ended up with four classes that I like and am mostly prepared for, that are offered in english and will hopefully transfer credit back to Maryland. Compiler Theory, Software Architecture, Computer Architecture 2, and Philosophy of Neuroscience. The philosophy class won't fit with my major, but it is cool enough to make it worth taking. We read dense and interesting things, and then discuss things about the brain, the mind, the nature of vision and memory, and the process and patterns by which philosophers and scientists go about furthering our understanding of these. The computer classes are interesting to me, because I want to know about that stuff, but what we actually do in those classes might be less interesting to you, so I won't go into it.

So yeah, that's one corner of my life here; going to class, reading for hours and hours and more. Learning doesn't stop outside of the country, and it is mostly reading. I can't copy here all the things I've been reading and learning, and I won't try, since you're probably eager to here about the skiing and the gang. Shall we?

Ski Trip to Oppdal

The ski trip was arranged by one of the international student groups - there are several, and most of the international students are somewhat active in multiple. Fifteen of us went by train from Trondheim to Oppdal early on a Sunday morning, the first weekend in February. I have mentioned before that the circles that people run in here are divided very clearly - this trip was for international students. We were four from Germany, four from France, one Spanish, one Mexican, one Armenian, one Chinese, one Bangladesh, and me, an American. That doesn't add up to fifteen, so maybe there were five Germans? I have been struggling to tally people in my mind for a few minutes and I can't get it straight, so... Ah! I remember, there were indeed five Germans! I am unreasonably proud of myself for counting to five, but nonetheless.

For some reason, early February was too early for the proper ski season at Oppdal, so some of the lifts were closed. However, as it was too early for the season, the fifteen of us had all of skiing to ourselves. We stayed within walking distance of the slopes, although the walk was a half an hour each way. The living arrangements were cozy, with four to a room, but each had their own bed or bunk, and the deal was spectacular, without even considering Norway's extravagant prices. We put our packs in our rooms and were skiing by noon that first Sunday. If you haven't skied before, or didn't like it because you fell on your ass lots, I don't know if I have the facility with words to adequately describe the experience of skiing, with the whole mountain to yourself, in a foreign place, on a cold and sunny day.

I sometimes dream of flying, and occasionally I think that skiing might be as close as people come to the sensation that flying might be like. For one, it is fast and effortless. By doing nothing, you accelerate. By moving your weight, by leaning, you zoom to the side. High up on the mountain, and facing out, everything and everyone is below you, and you are looking out over it, moving through it. There is a wonderful aloneness. At once, you feel as powerful as you ever can, and far smaller than you usually do. Looking across the valley, you see other mountains in the distance, more bleak and enormous and desolate. You see the town, so small, crawling along the valley floor. You are a flying, speck, totally in control of yourself, and totally dominated by the landscape. I liked skiing.

We skied each of the five days, and hung out and lived together and ate and drank and slept when we were not skiing. Oppdal is a little town, and in the strange, midwinter offseason that we arrived in, there was not much else to do except ski. We went bowling one night and visited a pub another - interestingly, there was a crowd at bowling, but the pub was empty, save for us. I don't know what to make of that, more than it is interesting. We amused ourselves.

I am particularly proud of the game we played one night, as it is my own invention and was a rollicking success, and I now have a forum to share it, so maybe it will spread. The game is called rules. There are none. Or at least, there are none when the game starts. The game is drastically different every time it is played, and I don't want to prejudice your possible future invocations of the game, but I will offer some details so that you get a fuller sense of how play typically proceeds.

Rules

The game has no rules, so it is up to the players to decide what those rules are. How to make them, how to enforce them, the object of the game, the duration - all of these are up to the players to decide. Of course, like all games, the rules end up being what people agree to abide by. In our game, we proceeded around the circle, each submitting a new rule to the group. If a majority liked the idea, it would become a new rule.

We played for a few hours, and the list of rules grew long and convoluted. For instance: music was playing from someone's laptop, and whenever the song changed, everyone was required to dance. Julien, in particular, had to stand on his chair. After the dancing was done, whoever's turn it had been when the song changed was required to make a toast. If they forgot, they had to sing a song. And so on, with many rules governing the creation and maintenance of the rules themselves.

It feels quite good to come up with a particularly clever rule, or to find a particularly drastic flaw or consequence to someone else's rule. As you might imagine, playing also results in some terribly hilarious situations. The game is also rich with metaphor for the way other games work, the way we deal with other people, how society is built, etc. As I said, I am quite proud of it.

I will look back at the ski trip with many fond memories for years to come. I remember thinking on the first day that I would remember this forever, and that it was in many ways, a collective dream fulfilled. For many upper-middle class, educated Americans, this 'skiing in Europe with young people' is a fantasy, an image that we conjure up of what college and youth are supposed to look like, if you have the money and the time and the opportunity, and everything works out. And then I was there, in the dream! I lived it, the thing that many people want to live! It was as good as it is pictured, although much more of the details filled in, and slower. Not the exultant rush, but the measured, built up satisfaction of 'I am where I am supposed to be and everything is alright.'

Anyway, it was certainly a dream of mine, and I am glad to have done it. Check.

Boy, I get verbose! I start writing, and then I don't stop myself, and I hardly even edit! At least not for content, I try to keep the spelling and grammar in line. Sorry for the essay if you just wanted to see what I was up to! Anyhow, number 3,

Mom, I Joined A Gang

So yeah, I am a gang member now. It's pretty cool, I guess. I like to think that I am some kinda cool punk, and I really like that the gang is called a gang, but it's a student group, and almost, but not quite, the very opposite of the common notion of 'gang.' DG, Diverse Gjengen, Miscellaneous Gang - we do the maintenance and construction work that needs doing down at Studenter Samfundet, NTNU's member-owned, volunteer-run Student Society.

The Samfundet is an awfully cool organization, and as a member of DG, I am at the beating heart of it. The Society puts on concerts, lectures, festivals, and all kinds of Various Events that they come up with. In the Round Red House, our building, there are several venues for concerts, a full restaurant, three bars, and countless rooms for the volunteers who make the place run. For all you Terps, this place is like the Stamp and Route One, Frat Row and SGA and the Diamondback, SEE and CSPAC rolled into one massive, student run operation. I like it. It doesn't do student housing or sports, and there are academic societies and some groups that operate outside of it. But with nearly 10,000 members in a city of 170,000, it dominates the social scene. You can look it up, it is pretty neat.

DG takes new members at the beginning of each calendar year, and I was fortunate enough to find out about the Samfundet and the gang in time to apply. I had an interview, which was terribly intimidating, as there were about 10 Norwegians sitting around me, and me, an American with not too much experience building things, bravely answering the questions. They let me in!

On Mondays and Fridays, we work for several hours, fixing doors, building tables and benches, changing lightbulbs, repairing blinds, fixing circuits - it is the wrong way to go about it to list all of the things we do. We fix things that break, remodel things that need remodeling, build things that need building. We are super cool. I am learning tons of very practical things to complement my book-learnin, such as how to use a table saw and other power tools, how cabinet hinges work, taking measurements and carrying things, planning for small projects and big projects, and a smattering of Norwegian.

I am slacking in learning the native tongue. Everyone speaks English, mostly very well. I speak no Norwegian, so when we communicate, conversation naturally falls into English. Still, hanging out with Norwegians, I pick up phrases, and hopefully by the time I'm done, I can at least introduce myself and beg forgiveness for my lack of grammar, vocabulary, and accent.

I thought I would have more to say about what it is like being in DG, but describing a group's dynamics seems difficult, almost like I am sharing someone else's secrets. It is enough for you, reader, to know that we get along well, that it is like a family, that although the active term within the group is officially two years, there is almost never a time when alumni, called pangs, are not around on a work day. We have our own space, our hybel, on the lowest level of the Samfundet, where we hang our coats and lounge and have our workshop. We have relations with other groups, in particular with Regi, which is something like the stagehand group - they do the lights and production work for the shows and concerts. I have fun, the people are new and have a group culture, a history, a purpose, a place. I am still a partial outsider, because I will only serve a quarter of the active period, and I miss lots of in-jokes and meeting dynamics because I do not speak the language. It is a good thing, a time-structure, a recurring activity that I can lean on to shape my weeks. It is important, and I am glad I found it here.

The Balance

Balance is to weigh evenly, but it is also the result, what remains after you put things together and take things away. While these three spheres - Class, the International Community, and the Norwegian Community at the Samfundet - do not cover everything, and I did not nearly do justice to covering all of any of them, they do seem to have a nice way of fitting together. It always comes back to that question of Why Norway? What Am I Here To Do? And if the answer is to learn and grow and develop, well, I am expanding in all directions. I am studying brains and computers in lecture, teaching my hands and head how to fix things and build new things with DG, and getting a good dose of culture from meeting people from so many different places, and seeing how they interact, how they deal with situations. If the goal is to enjoy myself, then I think I am doing an alright job of that as well. To 'make the most' of the experience, to 'live it up,' to 'broaden my perspective.'

I inevitably make comparisons, between different circles of life here, and between my life here and at home. I still owe the blog a good bit about Norwegian culture, and probably some more about the unique and strange situations of all us aliens together in Moholt, but I feel pretty good about this post now, so I will leave it alone. It catches us up to the present, which was the idea in the first place.

I miss you dearly, and if I haven't been great at keeping up with you while I am abroad, it's because I am busy living here, not because I don't love you. Now you've read all this way, go ahead and send me a message! Having a conversation usually feels very good, and offline I can share all the things that I can't get to in the blog, me only posting so often. Also, mention that you messaged me because of the blog; otherwise, I have no clue whether this is a good way of soliciting news from home!

In the effort to be better at maintaining a blog,

Next week, a picture post with things from skiing and more!

Hope you are doing great, and thanks for reading - else, what am I writing this for?

Rob

The bus stop near Moholt where I catch the bus to take me to class or downtown.

Moving in and Orientation

2013-01-30T00:46:00.000+01:00

Hello again!

I am still writing about ~~ten~~ fifteen days behind the present, but hopefully I can catch up soon and then get on a regular schedule for posts. This post is about moving in to where I'm living, the orientation for the new international students, and some more insights into the culture and how I'm trying to adapt to it. Hope you like it!

So up until now, I stayed in the Pilgrimsgard and then the Bruns Botell, both cheaper than most of the hotels around, but still a bad drain on the wallet. While they were both pretty close to the city center, they each had their downsides; the internet in the Pilgrimsgard was flaky, and the room in Bruns was on the fourth floor, with no elevator - not a big deal most of the time, but bringing suitcases up and down was a drag. Neither had a kitchen, and I had them both all to myself - it was pretty lonely! Needless to say, I was excited to move into the apartment, with its kitchen and roommates.

NTNU is divided into several campuses. The largest, Gløshaugen, where the big main building is, houses most of the science and engineering classes. Dragvoll, several miles uphill and to the south, has the majority of the humanities. Other campuses - Valgrinda, Tyholt, Kalvskinnet, Oya - have medicine, music, architecture, and various other studies. Between these campuses lie student villages run by SiT, the student welfare organization, as well as neighborhoods and shops.

http://www.ntnu.edu/map/map-of-ntnu/ highlights the locations of the campuses, although google maps is prettier.

My apartment is in Moholt Student village, about halfway between Gløshaugen and Dragvoll, and Gløshaugen is about that far from the city center, so I grabbed all of my things and took a taxi up to Moholt, got my key from the SiT office, and moved myself in.

My roommates were all still on winter break, so I did not see any of them for several days, but I will describe them here, as it is as good a place as any. Andrew, who has the bedroom next door to me, is from the UK and is a master's student studying Condensed Matter Physics. Ola, from Nigeria, is studying the same thing, although he is in his first year of his Master's, where Andrew is in his second. Udhap, from Nepal, is getting his Master's in Urban Planning. Needless to say, a very interesting group to live with.

The theme of hanging out with other international students rather than Norwegians continues for a little while, especially for the international student orientation. Whether by chance or by design, the international students are together in classes, where they live, and, at least at first, for their activities. Even before arriving, I got notices from three different international student groups.

The Orientation Days were put on by the office of International Relations, the office that handles all incoming and outgoing studiers abroad. First, we listened to representatives from that office and several other groups tell us about life here at NTNU, in Trondheim, and in Norway in general. Students from several organizations informed us about the different athletic, academic, social, and cultural opportunities available to students. Caring adults told us where to find a doctor or seek counseling or other support if we needed it. Basically, a few hours of everything you need to know to get by here, which was also conveniently printed in the folders we all received.

The information session was followed by a scramble to hand out semester cards to each of us - proof that we were indeed registered for the semester. Picture lots of awkward milling about and forced conversations that seemed to all follow the familiar pattern of "Where are you from? Oh, I'm from... What are you studying? I'm registered for... Okay, maybe I'll see you around!" in varying levels of English competency. Sprinkle in a few clusters of kids from the same country chattering away in German or Chinese or Latvian. We were all scared and excited, we were all in the same boat - far from friends and family, or anything we know, recently overwhelmed with leaflets and speeches encouraging us to get involved in a hundred different things. Just like college orientation, except we had been through it before, and knew the stages. We knew that everyone would be friendly now, but we wouldn't necessarily shake out our real friends for another few weeks.

Once we had our semester cards and waited for our new acquaintances to finish getting theirs, we walked to the house of the International Office and had a winter barbecue on the lawn. We ate fishburgers and potato salad and played an old Norwegian game called Kubb (rhymes with tube), where teams of six try to knock down each others wooden blocks with sticks. Like many old and simple games, it was hilarious and entertaining.

After the barbecue and games, we took a trip downtown to the Pirbadet, a large swimming facility by the harbor. I didn't take any pictures, because I was swimming, but google image search gives you a pretty good sense of it: slides, tubs, pools, diving boards, and huge glass windows overlooking the fjord and the Munkholmen. About a hundred twenty-somethings from all corners of the globe, new to a place, frolicking. If you have seen little kids at the pool, you might understand the confused joy. My favorite parts were the rock wall, where you could climb and then fall back into the pool, and the outdoor jacuzzi, where the bubbles were much colder than the water, as they came from the air, which was freezing.

https://www.google.no/search?q=trondheim+pirbadet&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=w1YIUbbJPIrPsgba_IHYDA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAA&biw=1278&bih=620

The second day of Orientation had only one activity, a hike, and in ways that the first day couldn't, communicated what it meant to be a student at NTNU. We took a bus from campus out of the city, and into the semi-wilderness. We stopped briefly to walk around and look at the site of the 1997 Nordic World Ski Championships, and I took a few pictures that you can check out in the pictures post. Very cool spot.

We got back on the bus and moved on to the next destination, the main event: the hike. A beautiful several miles in the woods, talking with interesting new friends. This was what I wanted, what I came to Trondheim for - snow, a cabin, and people very different from me and the people I know.

We ate a traditional Norwegian oatmeal with cinnamon and waffles at the cabin at the end of the path, and explored a little bit of the surrounding area. While there hadn't been any snow recently (This has apparently been the worst winter for snow in 40 years), the surrounding forest was replete with ski trails, and quite beautiful. We lit and released sky lanterns (if you haven't seen these or made them, you're missing out, so look them up!)

We waited for it to get dark before we walked back - not that we had to wait long - and lit our way with procession torches, which was beautiful in another way. All in all, it was a magical day, and it holds the promise of many magical days, spent surrounded by beauty.

Well, that about covers up to through moving in and Orientation, which is what I planned to cover here. I will have to wait until a different post to talk more about Norwegian culture, as we were told about it and as I have experienced it. I hope to follow this post up soon with one about the first week or so of classes, but as you might be able to tell, I struggle to get the posts out of the draft box and published on any sort of schedule. Anyway, I'll try to do better for you. Thanks for reading, and remember that I love hearing from people, since I miss them, so take the initiative and message me! You won't regret it!

Until next time!

Pictures from the First 10 Days

2013-01-16T00:18:00.001+01:00

Hi!

I am gonna try a thing where I post pictures and text separately so that you can read everything without scrolling terribly, and you can just browse pictures if you hate reading. Here's the pictures part!

I am putting one picture in each text post, but all of the pictures are going here, so that's that. Also, these pictures are closer to real time, since I am doing them in batches, so they may contain spoilers about the next 'real' post, since they are the pictures from those events... You get the idea. Pictures:

From the Airplane, of the north edge of Denmark. Planes are the coolest.

The view from my seat! I was excited, it felt like magic. It looks the way you would expect magic to look!

Another from the plane. The region I flew over, the gulf between Denmark and Norway, is called the Skagerrak. Read about it!

After getting my stuff from the airport, I took a bus to the city. Some blurry photos resulted. I was trying to get the fjord, but the gaps between the trees were small and my photography skills are not much.

This one turned out beautiful, despite my efforts. This is a pretty country.

The snow is almost ready to harvest

Trondheim and its surrounding towns are picture-book idyllic. If I were a modeler, I would have a miniature Trondheim in my basement. It would be tough to do those clouds, though.

In the comments, please let me know if I should play more of an editing role and leave out the photos that aren't any good. I just put them all here.

E6 is the major north south highway in Norway. It has an interesting history, too. It used to go all the way down to Rome.

Still on the bus from the airport to the Sentrum - Downtown Trondheim. Cognates make life so much easier.

Nidaros (The River Nid) from the path down to the Pilgrimsgard.

The view across the river, standing on the bank of the peninsula upon which downtown Trondheim rests.

Munkholmen (the Monk's Home. Cognates, right?) from the Trondheim shore. An island in the middle of the fjord seems isolated, peaceful, and beautiful, but very cold!

From the dock, peering into the clouds and fog.

A look back at a nook in the harbor.

St. Olav peering out at Munkholmen across the fjord.

Looking sharp, Olav.

The medieval architecture is incredible. Look at that!

Nidaros Cathedral. It's even bigger in person, and the bells make the whole city reverberate.

Nidaros Pilgrimsgard, where I stayed the first few nights. Very cozy! NTNU, looming in the background.

Even the ducks are different colors!

It must be cold being a duck. Huddle together!

The city is safe and built for wandering. This footpath took me down to the river.

NTNU takes care to keep the campus beautiful. This is from the top of the hill in front of the imposing Main Building

This is a pretty city, and pictures from hills are easier. This one is also from the path in front of the Main Building.

That green steeple is Nidaros Cathedral.

From another spot on the river. The small towers to the left are those of that old Main Building.

Granasen, site of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in 1997. If you can make it out, skiers would jump from the thin ramp and land 150 meters down the big one. My poor photography does not do justice to the scale.

Week 1: Falling Down

2013-01-15T23:07:00.003+01:00

Hi Friends!

I am still in catch-up mode here on the blog, I have been trying to get courses figured out, and haven't sat down and wrote about last week. More on now later; now, then.

I left of with an almost reassuring account of finding places to stay for a few days before my apartment lease kicked in, and with some complaining about prices here. I have been doing lots more than sleeping and buying things! Mostly walking around, and, just for you, taking pictures. I am splitting up the text posts from the pictures posts, so watch out!

Another thing I did lots in the first few days was fall. The sidewalks and paths and roads in the city accumulate snow, the snow melts with rain and traffic, and the subsequent ice becomes a death-trap. Not being accustomed to these conditions, I fell many times. At first, I was innocent of all blame for slipping - I wasn't used to looking for ice, I was lost or distracted, sometimes dragging and carrying my luggage. I must have been the image of winter tourism in Trondheim, falling over my luggage, trying to find out where I was going on the distinctive pink-bordered tourist map.

Later, the falls were due to arrogance. To combat falling (maybe to help tourism?), the city puts small, gritty, black gravel on the streets, which, when it inevitably gets mixed with the snow and ice, provides some small amount of traction for the attentive pedestrian. After a day or so of trying to stick to the ice-free parts of the sidewalk, I began to experiment with walking on the treated parts of the ice. As it was fated to be, I fell many times more, refusing to learn my lesson despite the frequent reminders.

I feel in many ways, in this early part of my experience, like a toddler. More than the physical awkwardness of learning a new environment, I struggle to communicate with the people around me, I don't know how to meet my needs, I am scared and frightened and dependent on other people to help me. When I approach someone at a register in a store, they speak to me in Norwegian, not recognizing me at once for the foreigner that I am. As I am, in a terribly American way, completely hopeless in the native Norwegian, I have to stop them and abashedly ask that they repeat themselves in English. Thankfully for me, English is standard in Norwegian schools, so most everyone has enough of my language to hold a functional transaction.

Like a toddler, I am learning how to navigate a new place. While enough of the institutions are familiar that I didn't starve or freeze, so much is very different. I will write more about the cultural differences when I post about orientation - for now I will say that, while friendly and helpful, it is difficult to make friends with Norwegians.

My wonder at this new place and my excitement at my growth through the exploration of it are also childlike. While each moment is not so different from any moment at home, the shape of all the moments together is radically so. Everywhere I go is a new place to me, even if it had centuries of history engraved in its old Norse bones before white folks settled in America. The ancient church, Nidaros, next door to where I spent my first four nights in Trondheim, took 250 years to build, and has a look of austere magic. I am impressed and surprised when I think about the history of this place, where I am so new.

My hope is that for the next few months, I can keep hold of the childlike mindset. I want to grow to be more independent; to understand how people interact here, and how that interaction compares to interaction elsewhere; to explore the landscape and history and culture, and to learn about this place that seems to hold such mystery and magic. The North.

Thanks for reading, this post got more introspective! The pictures post coming soon will have fewer thoughts, and more pretty things to look at!

Next post will cover moving in and the Orientation NTNU put on for the new International Students.

You are clearly passionate and intelligent since you read this, so have an amazing day!

Rob

The treacherous path down to the Nidaros Pilgrimsgard. Above the hostel you can see the beautiful main building of NTNU across the river.

Welcome to Trondheim

2013-01-12T18:07:00.002+01:00

Hi Everyone!

I am Rob. If you are reading this, you probably already know me, how about that! I am studying abroad in Trondheim, Norway this semester (January-June 2013), and I think it might be easier to keep in touch with everyone if I can update in just one place. Please contact me, either in some kind of comment or an email or on facebook, or whatever else you want! I miss home, and hearing from friends and family makes me feel great!

I have actually been here for a week, but I have been trying to get settled in before starting in on a blog. I have lots of pictures from the traveling and the first week, so I will put them up in a soon-to-come follow up post.

From the beginning then:

I flew from Washington DC to Newark, then the big Airbus330 to Copenhagen, and finally another little plane into Trondheim. Travel was as pleasant as it can be - I didn't miss any flights and got where I needed to with minimal stress. I didn't get much sleep on the plane, and my sleep cycle here has been off since. What can ya do.

Coming to a brand new place, far from anything or anyone I knew was scary. I was not sure where I was staying, how to get anywhere, how I would get food and pay for it, or if Norwegians did indeed speak enough English for me to get by. Fortunately, all of those things worked out in my favor. I found a couple places to stay in the first week - the Nidaros Pilgrimsgard, essentially a hostel for pilgrims to the big, beautiful Nidaros Cathedral, and Bruns Botell, an apartment building some of whose residents rented rooms on the cheap. My American debit card works at ATMs ("Minibanks" they are called here, appropriately) and sometimes at shops and restaurants - when it fails, I pay cash.

Norway may be the most expensive country in the world - that is not hyperbole. It took me a few days to get to the point where I converted from kroners to dollars in my head, partly because I thought I made a mistake most of the time. A Mcdonalds big mac meal? 85 NOK? 17 Dollars!?! I was surprised to say the least.

I have lots more to tell about the first week, but I want to keep the posts somewhat concise, and I want to post it to make sure it works!

Thanks for reading, I probably miss you, and I will post again soon!

Rob