This week, 5 classmates of mine and myself who study at University of Kalmar in Sweden have embarked on a landmark trip for us which will take us cross country through Norway. Yesterday- April1 , we left Kalmar Central Station by train and took a train trip for 12 hours, stopping in 2 different cities..Alvesta, Hallsberg on the way to Oslo. The trip was not as bad as we thought and we had a chance to talk a lot and learn a lot about each other. Upon arrival in Oslo, we had a two hour wait and took the opportunity to see a bit of Oslo at night, which was nice and interesting to see this capital city of one of the world's most touted and respected countries. I was really surprised about two things on the way to Oslo, 1. the difference in the way Sweden looked, because I have only seen the south of Sweden and Stockholm but this journey took us through the middle of Sweden and it looked very rural and almost like scenes from American Western movies. The second surprise was that while we walked in Oslo, just around the station, the city teemed with foreign faces, more so that the expected Norwegian ones, an obvious sign of high immigration, legally or otherwise to Norway. We caught the night train which was not as comfortable as we anticipated but we made ourselves comfortable and prepared for the 8 hour trip from Oslo to Bergen. I had a bit of a problem getting to sleep because I was very anxious about the trip, getting there etc and I was amazed through the night as a full moon, very bright shone down on us and we passed through areas of Norway covered in thick sheets and walls of snow ....Norway has the most amazing landscape I have seen in Europe, definitely beating back Sweden. We arrived in Bergen to find a beautiful city on the coast, an ex-capital of Norway and significant location for trade in the Hanseatic League. We took the Funiculare to Mt. Fyren in Bergen and were able to see a nice view of the city. Norway is an extremely expensive location however, so we will endeavour to spend as little as possible. We also visited the city Fish Market and had the opportunity to taste whale. We are all tired but just had a simple pasta lunch and tomorrow we head out on a 24 hr trip by train to Bodo and we will catch a boat from Bodo to Tromso.
Keep posted for updates.....
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