Bergen Bound: Day One & Two

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The past week has been a bit of a blur as I set off on my first Norwegian vacation with my roommate Destinee to a city called Bergen. It started kind of badly as neither of us slept very well because there was this huge storm outside making a lot of noise. We also got up really early and thought we had to make it to our 8:00a.m. class. Luckily (as we found out via the powers of facebook), our Norwegian language class got canceled so I had more time to talk to my mom before venturing out. We headed off to get something to eat then meandered down to the train station (via the city bus) and ended up arriving about an hour and a half before we were supposed to leave. To pass the time and not fall asleep, we played some E.R.S. (cards) and then I made a short video with my camera. Once we got on the train with excitement as it was our first train ride, I sat there, listening to my music and watching the world pass by outside as Destinee slept a few seats over. After awhile, I just laid my head back and thought of how lucky I was to be in Europe, on a train bound for Southwest Norway.

We finally arrived in Trondheim around 10:30p.m., after weaving through the Norwegian countryside, watching the small towns in Norway pass us by as the sky started to get darker. And when we got to the platform, I was just excited to get off of the train and walk around a little. It was short-lived as we had to get on the next train to Oslo that departed around 11:30p.m. This one was much older, not as spacious, and was an overnight trip. We got a small pack with a sleep mask (which I kept), an inflatable pillow, a blanket, and some ear plugs. I put on the mask and passed out pretty quickly, but woke around 2:30a.m. with dry eyes, worrying about my contacts. I drifted back off and didn't wake again until 6:00a.m. We pulled into the Oslo train station and wandered around for a bit trying to wake up. We even found a bathroom for 10kroner (yeah our first pay-to-use bathroom), freshened up a bit, got something to eat, snapped a couple pictures, then made a second video out on the platform. Before long, it was time (around 8:00am) to board the next train and once we did, we were surprised to find that there were a lot of Americans in the same rail car as us. Destinee sat in front of me and ended up getting some advice from a resident of Bergen and two couples, one from Utah and one from California, that sat on the other side and were going on a cruise in the fjord. We talked to them a little and when I said I went to school in Alaska, grew up in Idaho, and was over here on exchange, they said "Wow, you are quite the adventurer" and it just brought a big smile to my face.

The ride was kind of long as we didn't pull into Bergen until around 3:00p.m. and our first destination was the hostel. After checking in at Jacob's Dorm and Cafe, we dumped our bags and walked around Bergen a bit, snapping some pictures and getting a feel for the scenery. Then went and got something to eat (a hotdog as that seemed like the safest bet for the night), and then headed back to take showers and unwind. It was quite a hectic first two days, but the weather was pretty nice once we got to Bergen. It rained for the remainder of the trip, but the next few days to come were pretty exciting. To be continued in the next entry...Bergen: Days Three, Four, & Five!

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Photos

Norwegian countryside 1
Ah, evil glare!

out on the platform
Please sir, where can I find platform 9 and 3/4?