Tag Archives: Norway

01/31/12

Room-mates.

So coming here to Norway is the first real time that I’ve really lived on my own – cooking and cleaning for myself, especially. I was a bit nervous about it… feeling more like a kid who doesn’t know how to take care of herself. But within one week of staying in Aas, I’m adjusting quite nicely. I’ve gotten groceries (albeit still working out how much I eat in a week and staying under budget), done laundry, cleaned, and cooked decent enough meals for myself. I could probably be a lot faster in the cooking department, but that will get better with time I’m sure.

I currently live in a flat of six people, which consists of two Norwegian guys W and E, one Norwegian girl C, one Nepalese guy H, and a recent addition to the flat, a French girl D as well as myself. They are all very nice but most keep to themselves and their own circles of friends. W and E are pretty tight and are actually moving out in the coming weeks, leaving me, D, C, and H left in our flat – a nice change from a male majority to a female one. If it’s one thing I’ve noticed, a flat with boys isn’t the cleanest flat. And if I’ve learned anything in the last week, I have a certain level of cleanliness I need to maintain where I live in order to be comfortable. Twenty years of living under my mother’s care has given me this.

My interactions with my flatmates consisted mainly of talking and joking with W + E as they were out in the common area the most. I hardly saw C and I only really caught H when he had company over or if we happened to be cooking at the same time. So all in all, it wasn’t the most cohesive of units. I didn’t mind too much because I made friends fast with others in rez.

I finally ran into C today as I was making dinner and we finally got to talking. She is very nice – not shy, like I assumed her to be because I saw her so rarely (according to W, no one had really seen her around even last term). As I talked with her, I grew to understand that one of the reasons she kept to herself (and even showered at the gym instead of in the flat) was because she was sick of cleaning up after five guy roommates all the time. They had started a cleaning schedule long ago, but the guys hardly kept up with it, leaving C all by herself to keep the flat tidy. I assured her that I would do my best to keep the place tidyand I talked about setting up a cleaning duty list on the fridge. She smiled and I kept chopping vegetables for dinner.

When I came back out after eating in my room, I found that C had already made up a cleaning duty list of all the rooms, with her name jotted down nicely each week in one of the four boxes (Floor, Kitchen, Bathroom, Garbage). I guess she was very relieved to have more girls in the flat as opposed to boys. Don’t get me wrong, W + E + H are all very nice and reasonable, but they aren’t necessarily the tidiest bunch.  I always envied my other Canadian friend, S, who came here with me that had been put in a flat with mostly girls. Their flat was very neat and cozy. Hopefully with me and D in the picture, we’ll keep our flat nice and clean. 🙂

After dinner, D – who had her other French girl friends over – invited me to watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother with them. I happily joined them until I decided to tuck in due to jet lag.

So this is my life now – where I call ‘home’ at the moment. How everything is organized is still in the works but every day turns out brighter with a new conversation, clean counter-tops, and a busy common area.

Looks like I’m well on my way to taking care of myself and living with others.

01/2/12

Hello and Goodbye

It’s the start of a new year, which calls for a moment of reflection of who I am and how far I’ve come – especially with the advent of my departure to Norway drawing closer every day. The fact that I’ve been planning this adventure for over a year and that I’m about to embark on it all on my own in just a couple of weeks is surreal. Classes in Norway. Backpacking through Europe. Field Research in Tanzania. I’m about to leave everything I know behind to explore what is unknown all on my own. The idea is exciting and terrifying at the same time. But if I think about it, anything worthwhile I have ever done or accomplished in my life has felt the same way: exciting and terrifying. This year-long exchange is no different.

When you know that you’re going to be leaving home, you start to appreciate everything that you have so much more. For me, it was a number of things: my favourite pair of shoes, being woken up to my parents chatting downstairs during breakfast, the jingling of my dog’s collar – even my brother’s tendency to tell me interesting facts and tidbits at inconvenient times. Even the routine of transiting to UBC or heading off the work and taking in the soothing smell of pool chlorine seemed all the more precious to me. I started to count ‘lasts’ in the latter months of 2011: last Imagine Day, last day of teaching swimming lessons, last Halloween, last day of classes, last time I’ll see my friends until next year. All of these little things in my ordinary life seemed extraordinary and I realized just how much everyone I’ve met and everything I’ve experienced have shaped me to be the person I am today. And as this person, I will grow to change even more with this new adventure.

I have never left home on my own for so long in my life. Two weeks were the longest I’ve been away just from my family. I feel like nothing more than a coddled child if I had to be perfectly honest. This exchange, if anything, will force me to grow up very quickly. I have had days where I would curl myself up under my bed covers because I was afraid of taking such a big leap out of the comforts of bubble called home. Often I feel like I know nothing and would have nothing to offer when I would have the opportunity to meet and work with people abroad. But then I stop myself to think about what I do know and what I have experienced. I think about the place that has shaped me and the wonderful people that I have met. And then I realize that I have nothing to be afraid of. Every person has different experiences that have shaped their identities and I have mine. No, I have not travelled extensively. But I’m about to. All I can do is offer the best of myself and that’s nothing to feel inadequate about – I should in fact be proud of it.

This coming year will not always be easy – even more so because I will be mostly on my own. And yes, I will feel small and ignorant at times. But I am willing to trip and fall over and over again in order to listen, observe, and learn. If I lose confidence in myself, I will remember that I chose to step outside my bubble and to take part in this exchange. By the end of this journey, I will have left behind new friends and new places I would have once called home. I will be a different person when I come back home to everything and everyone I know and love. So even though I might be scared of such a drastic change, I welcome it with open arms. I will be brave and step outside my bubble. I will get on that plane on my own. I will remember that I am following my dreams and living my passion. And then I will smile with my head held high.

11/6/11

Home, yet homesick.

Nowadays, I wake up in one of two ways: I wake up wanting to hop on a plane to Norway that very morning or wake up being utterly terrified of leaving. Today, I was more of the latter.
I had my eyes closed, even though I had been awake for awhile, just listening to the sounds of the house: my mom washing dishes downstairs, my dad and brother chatting in the kitchen, the bell-like jingling of my dog’s collar as she explored the house – I realized in that very instant that in a little over two months, I wouldn’t wake to these familiar sounds. Suddenly, images of myself alone on the plane landing into Oslo crept into my head. At that moment, the mere thought of stepping away from everything I’ve ever known into cold, wide abyss called the unknown terrified me. I was reminded just how precious every day at home was to me; the thought never leaves my mind with my flight date drawing nearer.
When my mom fusses or nags over me, I let her without grumbling. And when I do get annoyed, I say it out loud and we end up laughing over it. I savour every bite of homecooked food, feeling my mother’s love inch down my throat to my stomach.
When my brother barges into the room like Kramer from Seinfeld, I let him babble. I retort back with amused comments and keeps going on and on about what he loves most: talking about things he’s read or heard about online (mostly to do along the lines of video games, movies, and technology).
When my dad asks the rare question or comment to me, I answer and make small talk. We never talk about anything and he’s never been a man of showing his affections in words. But on the days he picks me up from the skytrain station or when he asks me if I’m back after I’ve come back from work for a good hour, I dig deeply into what made him say these things to me. Small talk, routine greetings, and a willingness to fix anything that breaks on me – it’s through these actions that I feel that my dad cares about me. That and what I hear from my mother.
When I hear my bedroom door quietly open and hear the pitter patter of muffled little footsteps on the carpet, I shuffle over in my bed and let my dog snuggle up next to me. I give my dog a big smile when she comes running to the door to greet me when I come home, and balance her on my lap when I’m sitting in front of the computer.
There will be other little things I miss at home: from just sitting silently in the living room on my own with a cup of tea to walking around my neighbourhood to take in the fresh air. So here I am – at home but yet already homesick – before I’ve even said my good-byes.
One year is a long time.
10/25/11

UMB Update!

Finally got an instruction email from UMB regarding my housing application! I have officially sent out my application and am now playing the waiting game, which is nerve-racking and exciting at the same time.

I’m going to have to pay rent for a full six months before January 1st… so that’s about:

$500 x 6 months = $3000 that I’ll have to make an international bank transfer plus service charges. Time to put yourself to use, bank account!

10/13/11

I started vlogging!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRZO_COZLuM

First time ever vlogging! This video was a test run to see if I could even manage to record myself, edit, and create a vlog. I only took one take and used what I had to make this… instead of studying. I’m planning on doing periodical videos on my exchange abroad to Norway. I’ll probably have one done more closer to my departure date and one when I get there. We’ll see how things go. 🙂

10/7/11

I booked my flight ticket today.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 || Icelandair # 680:

  • Seattle/Tacoma Intl (SEA) to Reykjavik Keflavik International (KEF)

Departure (SEA): January 24, 3:30 PM PST (afternoon)
Arrival (KEF): January 25, 6:45 AM GMT (morning)
Class: Economy Seat: 18C

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 || Icelandair # 318:

  • Reykjavik Keflavik International (KEF) to Oslo Airport (OSL)

Departure (KEF): January 25, 7:35 AM GMT (morning)
Arrival (OSL): January 25, 11:05 AM CET (morning)
Class: Economy Seat: 15C

One-way ticket for $466.

The difference between YVR (Vancouver) and SEA (Seattle) was about $150, hence why my mom is driving me 3+ hours down to Seattle for my flight. That’s going to be an emotional road trip.

My classes officially start on January 31st and end in late June. I have about a week to get settled at UMB before the real game begins.

I may not know shit about travel logistics, but I’m slowly getting everything together piece by piece.

Breathe, Megan, Breathe.

09/25/11

The Opportunities of Exchange Abroad

Earlier this week, I went to a Go Global Country Session, where you get to mingle with incoming and outgoing exchange students from every country you can think of this week. I experienced a number of things through this event:

1. People appreciate my keen attitude. Someone commented that I was much more outgoing and talkative than a lot of the exchange students who had come back from exchange. I see it this way: if I can’t be open to being social and keen at UBC in my home of Vancouver, how can I ever expect to do that just miraculously when I arrive in Norway? Practice is key!

2. There are really people from all over at UBC. First person I approached was a girl on exchange from Edinburgh, Scotland – who was originally from Germany. Rad. 8)

3. I met an Oslo native! Her name was Jannicke (cannot pronounce it for the life of me) and she was on exchange from the University of Oslo in Norway. She was very helpful in answering all my questions about Norwegian culture, people, and most importantly, how to eat decently in a nation with one of the highest per-capita GDP in the world. She also offered to give me a tour of Oslo when I arrived as she would be back home as well. 😀

4. I met a returned exchange student from Norway! His name was Robbie, and he had actually done a semester in Bergen, Norway (on the other side of the country from where I will be) AND a semester in Australia afterwards. He was super helpful in telling me about how to get cheap airfares, figuring out cell phones, addressing financial concerns, and basically any exchange planning logistics that I was fuzzy on. Plus it was super interesting to hear about his travels in between his studies: he went to Ireland, Russia, Egypt, and to places as far as Japan as well as stopping off in Iceland and exploring Norway. He even admitted he was all over the place. I could tell he really enjoyed his year of adventure though.

5. Ask ask ASK! It never hurts to ask even the silliest (or what you think is a silly) question. Requests to reiterate and explain something further are perfectly fine too compared to the alternative: nodding like you understand so you don’t lose face. : I had to overcome that initial ‘oh, I probably seem really annoying with all of these questions…’ and the ‘oh, I really don’t know anything and they might think my questions are just really stupid…’ It gets easier the more you do it. Besides, chances are there’s another person with the exact same question, who is too afraid to ask it for the same reasons.

6. There’s a girl I know who’s going at the exact same time as me! Her name is Sam, and she just transferred into the same program as me. She’s doing the same field course in Africa with me too. 😀 It’s wonderful knowing that I won’t be so alone, but I am glad that it’s not like 20 other people from UBC going at the same time as me. I would never be able to connect with UMB students if I was being smothered by UBC exchange students.

7. I have free reign of doing whatever I want for school credit from October-December 2012. The field course in Uganda according to a friend is just from August-September. I have a choice to do one of the following afterwards:

a) go back to UMB and take a couple more courses (because I did pay for 15 credits).

b) go back to UBC and do an independent course for the rest of my credits (but that would waste money).

c) complete a research paper or do some field research under the guidance of a UMB prof with possible funding – at this point, I have no idea where this would be (but this is the most appealing option for me – what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! :D).

Option C has been the route for many GRS students before me: I know girls who have gone to Tanzania for independent field research, their findings and papers being sent to governments and institutions to advocate for policy changes. There are so many doors of opportunity to choose from with this exchange of mine and I cannot wait to go abroad now more than ever!

All I need to do this keep my open, keen attitude. That is my key.