Decided!

We've finally decided which apartment we will be renting for our 3 months in Norway! My advisor there suggested that we rent one of the university apartments which are available to visiting researchers and they had 1 unit left (1bed/1 bath), so we decided to go for it. It is much cheaper than renting from a student, plus we can have it for our entire stay. There are 2 apartments on the second floor and the bottom level is rented out for small dinner receptions. It is in the campus area, so it is only a short walk to my building. I can't wait to see it in person! Now that this is settled, we can finish making our preparations like booking flights etc.

Our unit

The bottom entrance

 Dining room rented out for functions

Perfect Strangers

Here is a great example of how nice Norwegians have been so far! I received the following email from one of the apartment owners we were corresponding with. She even marked where the psych department is. I hope we will meet more people as nice and helpful as she is!

Hi! I came to think that I put together a map (see the attachment) for some friends last year, with some of the most important things in Bergen. Hopefully it can make it easier to find a nice apartment. Just let me know if you have any more questions, and I will be happy to help.

Explanation for the map:
A: this is the area where the apartment is located. The neighborhood is close to the city center, but because it is not in the very middle of the city center, it is more quiet. You rarely hear traffic, and it is mostly families with children living here. As mentioned in the advert, there are two grocery stores close by (2 minutes walk), which are also open on Sundays.
B: The psychology faculty.
C: A big park is located close to the apartment (4 minute walk). The park has nice green areas, and is perfect to use for barbequing, games or just relaxing. In the summer it is really popular.Close to the park you can also find a big lake. There is a trail alongside the waterside, and the route is popular for running.
D: “The student center”. This is where the nicest gym is located. Here you can among other things find an indoor swimming pool, different exercising classes and a gym. The gym consists of both open spaces that can be used for different sports, and weightlifting equipment, treadmills etc.“The student center” is run by an organization for students in Bergen called SiB. You can find their contact information here: http://www.sib.no/no/trening/temp/kontakt
E: “the blue rock”: the traditional meeting point in Bergen.
F: Mountain areas, Ulriken. Bergen is in general great for hiking, because the city is surrounded by mountains. You can find a lot of different trails for both experienced and not experienced hikers. I recommend hiking up Ulriken (643 meters above the sea), which is the highest mountain close to the city center. On the top you will find peaceful nature and a beautiful view. The starting point of the hike is located close to the hospital in Bergen (Haukeland universitetssykehus), which is a 15 minutes walk from the apartment.
G: Botanic garden. In the summer it is really nice to use the garden to lie in the sun, or just walk around and look at the nice flowers.

Things I've learned while apartment shopping.

• The bed sizes in Norway are ridiculously small. Now Dan and I have a luxurious king size bed that was the very first thing we bought as a couple. Sleeping is my favorite activity and I take my sleep-space very seriously. Most of the places we've looked at have beds that are 120cm. This is about 7 inches narrower than a typical "full" size bed. I have no idea how 2 people are supposed to share that! So now we are only considering places with a queen (similar to an American queen), which is surprising hard to find in these small apartments.

• Bergen has an amazing transit system. The problem is that it very hard to figure out since most maps and schedules are in PDF, which cannot be translated by google. Dan and I spent over 2 hours trying to figure out the bus schedule near an apartment we were considering.

• Google street view has been immensely helpful. I've virtually "walked" to work from various apartments.

• Bergen is supposed to be the rainiest city in Norway, yet in almost every apartment it appears to be bright and sunny outside. Now this is probably a selection issue, since pictures are probably taken on the best days, but it still seems odd to me. 

• Ikea is very popular and I've recognized many of their pieces while scrolling through apartments. Every kitchen seems to be straight out of their catalog.

• Everyone has generally been super helpful. We have skyped a few people to get tours of apartments and they have been very accommodating (though everything seems much smaller via skype than in pictures).

• Lastly, I learned the hard way not to get over zealous about an apartment. I thought we were all set to go with my favorite place (the one right on the water with gorgeous views). I was mentally already moving in and sharing pictures with different people, but due to a calculation error *ahem* I miscalculated the rent over 3 months and it turns out we can definitely not afford it. So now we are enlisting the help of my host, since we are back to square one. 

Apartment hunting

So one of the first things we need to do is find an apartment to live in for the summer. Here is where we have experienced our first language issue. The two main apartment rental websites for Norway are in Norwegian, so we've been relying solely on google translate to determine what is being said and even in translating emails about different apartments. So far so good, but hopefully this won't be an issue when we actually have to decide on a contract.

I've done some preliminary searching and I've found a few possibilities. The main issue is that we will be in Norway until the beginning on September and most summer leases are only through mid-August. This means we might end up having to stay in a hotel for a week or so.

Here are some of the places I've found so far. (disclaimer: Norway is VERY expensive. As in $23 for a happy meal at Mcdonald's! I am very blessed that I will be getting a stipend to cover such expenses.)

1. This place is gorgeous! It is right on the water with an amazing view! 2 small bedrooms and 1 bath. It is at the top of our budget at 15,000 NOK (roughly $2,600). The major con for this one is that it is somewhat far from the University where I will be working. I would have to take a 15 min bus ride (and walk some) to get to my building. Most major places are not within walking distance, so we would have to take the bus everywhere. I generally wouldn't consider something that isn't within walking distance to the University, but this one is just too beautiful to pass up! I can totally picture myself sitting on the terrace overlooking the water and typing away on my laptop. The rental website said it was for rent until January 2014, but I went ahead and emailed the owner to see if they would consider a summer rental. Hopefully I'll hear back soon.

2. This next one unfortunately is already in the process of being rented. I got an email this morning (in Norwegian!) explaining that they would let me know if the contract fell through. This one is most likely already out of the running but I thought I'd go ahead and show some pictures because it is so darn cute! Look at that gorgeous kitchen!

3. This is one in only a few blocks from the psychology department and it is very new and modern. It is again at the top of our budget at 15,000 NOK. It has 1 bed and 1 bath (a very large bathroom) and a shared deck.

4. This one is more within out budget at around 10,000 NOK. It is about 10 blocks from the psych building and has 1 bedroom/1 bath. It is a little smaller than the others but looks to be very well kept and the price is perfect.

5. Lastly, this one is also around 10,000 NOK and is only 5 blocks from the psych building. It has 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and the kitchen looks very new.

That is what I've found so far. I've only heard back from one of them, so hopefully I'll hear from the others soon. I had to write them in English, so hopefully that won't deter anyone from responding (most people speak English there). We will of course keep looking online and if all else fails I will contact one of the grad students there to help us find something. We still have a few weeks to get this figured out, but we really need this to be set before we book our plane tickets.

More soon!

Rick Steves tour of Bergen

This corny little video has us very excited! History of Bergen anyone?


 

We're going!

So we're going to Norway for the summer! We just found out this week and we are SO excited! We literally have made no plans yet, so I figured I would start this blog and document the whole process. First up: a to-do list.

• Freak out
• Find a place to live
• Learn Norwegian (so I can understand the apartment rental websites and we don't end up living in a basement with a roommate who sells drugs)
• Book plane tickets
• Locate Bergen, Norway on a map
• Find a home for Abbey
• Double check that she really can't come with us
• Google what a fjord is
• Buy raincoat (I've been told it rains there. a lot.)
• Reassure my advisor that I will actually accomplish something this summer
• Figure out how to change the background on this blog so it is less.....pink