Student Attempts to Navigate Sweden

It’s hard for me to believe I have been on a different continent for nearly a month and a half. To say I was ready to travel, had any idea of what to expect or really knew what I was doing would be a series of complete falsehoods.

I had hardly traveled around American cities on my own, so this directionally challenged individual was terrified half to death at the thought of navigating various international airports and learning public transportation systems.

As for temporarily integrating into a new culture? Well, I decided I would wait for my long flight over the Atlantic to really give that full consideration.

I left the comfort of my Christmas-y rural Nebraska home bearing a suitcase and a hiking pack filled with the things I thought I might need for six months in the arctic circle.

My expectations were simple; I was going to get lost often, confuse myself frequently, feel very alone amid many languages and wonder why I had decided to leave the places and people I knew and understood.

I was fairly certain my paperwork was where is was supposed to be, so with notes from dear friends tucked safely in my carry-on, I boarded a plane still able to feel warmth from my family’s hugs and well wishes. Thus began my travels to Bodø, Norway.

My expectations have most certainly been met. I got lost my very first day on my way back to my residence. I wandered through an area of my small city in the cold and fading sunlight for over an hour before a nice individual pointed me in the correct direction.

Studying in English has eased the strain of integration though I have found myself thinking intensely about how to speak. I live in a building full of international students, and you would be amazed at how much English we speak at home is slang.

I have also found that exposure to many cultures will quickly teach you many things about the world, and how you view yourself and people in general.

I hope to pick up quite a bit of the northern Norwegian dialect, pass my exams and see the sun shining at eleven PM before I leave the northern country.

For now I have a few more months near the cold sea, surrounded by trees, mountains, moose and some very wonderful friends from all over the world.