My First Day

My first day went very well. I arrived in Stavanger, Norway around 10:00 and I met Ellen outside of baggage claim. When we went outside to walk to her car, I was greeted with beautiful sunshine, warm weather, and a slight cooling breeze; it was a beautiful day! So we hopped into Ellen's Porsche convertible and drove down the smooth winding roads of Stavanger to her house. When we arrived to her house in order for her to park the car in her car port, she had to very carefully back the car down an alleyway that did not give her much room for error because of the stone wall on the passenger side of the car. In other words, I doubt 85% of the readers of this blog could have completed the task, including me. Then we got out of the car and proceeded down to the guest room where I was to be staying.

 After I dropped off my luggage in my room, Ellen and I went on a walk. Accompanying us on this walk was her dog, pronounced Vee-go. I have no clue how they spell it in Norwegian. Haha I personally like this name because every time I say his name it reminds me of the Bud Light commercial with the dog named “We-go” haha So, as Vee-go, Ellen, and I walked around the house, up hills, around lakes and back. We talked about our different cultures, languages, and names for places in the city. When we got back from that, we had some lunch. I had four small slices of bread with a slice of either ham or salami on it topped with Norwegian cheese and cucumber. To drink, I had a nice glass of water and honestly probably the best water I have ever had. With no ice or anything it comes from the faucet pretty dang cold and crystal clear. After that, I laid down for about an hr power nap.. I couldn’t take the sleep deprivation anymore at that point I had been up for about 22 to 23 solid hours. When I woke up, I walked back to Våland Tårn, which is a tower close to her house where there is a beautiful view of the city and fjords.

When I came back from a nice walk, I got online and talk to my girlfriend and parents on Skype for a while until the internet timed out and was gone. The internet here is just like Starkville, where it decides when it wants to work or not. Finally, that night Ellen made a great dinner of chicken and vegetable stew with a side salad and to drink fresh squeezed apple juice. This juice was amazing, fresh apple juice with no sugar, no concentrate, nothing. PURE. 

When we finished dinner, I helped her clean up then I retired to my quarters where I fooled around on the internet unpacked then went to sleep around 21:00. Of course with the sun still up.