Norway

Today was a good day! Mostly because I actually had human interaction for long periods of time.

I started my day late and headed into town to grab lunch with Grace. We went to this cafe she had heard about from a friend. The cafe is great! The woman who runs it speaks English and they have a lot of American foods to buy like Poptarts and Lucky Charms but they also had a nice cafe menu. I really liked it there! I will most definitely be going back! So Grace and I sat and chatted for about two hours, which was really nice. I am still bombarding her with questions about what to expect in the coming semester and she has been ever so helpful in answering them!

After we left the cafe we headed out in search of a patiserrie because I wanted something baked and chocolate. I actually really wanted a donut but I settled for a beignet filled with chocolate and it was exactly what I was craving! We actually walked around town for quite some time. Then the sun started to set and it was getting colder so we headed back to the seminary.

When we got back, I went down to the common area and ran into Ingvild and she and I talked for about 2 hours. I got a crash-course on Norway and Norwegian culture. It was actually really cool. Here are a few fun facts that I learned from the conversation.

1. You can tell West Norwegians and Swedes apart just by their appearance.
2. Finnish is nothing like the rest of the Nordic languages. It as different as Russian is to English.
3. Norwegian has two official written forms.
4. You can be imprisoned for spanking your child.

One of the most interesting things that Ingvild and I talked about was race, diversity and immigration in the US versus Norway. Interestingly enough in Norway, unless you are Asian or African you are white. So even Arabs, Hispanics or Native Americans are considered white in Ingvild's eyes. I found this extremely insightful. Where is the line actually drawn between white and black? It was very interesting. She also talked about how there is next to no diversity in Norway. Overall, it was a very eye-opening conversation! Also interestingly enough she was able to guess my heritage just by looking at me! So that was pretty cool!

I then had dinner and showered and spent some time relaxing. Tomorrow I get the results of my placement exam and have my first actual class!! So tomorrow should be a busy day!! Until then, au revoir!