Well, as most of you know, I’ve returned to my lovely
homeland of Omaha, Nebraska, and I’m just about settled in. This last post
shouldn’t be too long—I just thought I’d do a little wrap up regarding what
I’ve been writing about the past few months.
Being home has been a strange mixture of so many emotions.
I’m sad to have left a country have fell in love with, homesick for my lovely
apartment in K4G, and missing my European friends like crazy. On the other
hand, I’m so glad to be back, seeing friends I’ve known since I was little,
starting summer classes at UNO, etc. This past week I’ve eaten a lot of food, a
very small amount of which has been healthy. I haven’t even had time for
Netflix because I’ve been reuniting with so many people, and everything’s been
a bit chaotic getting ready for my brother’s wedding next Friday. My Winnie the
Pooh blanket and I are now back together, though, so that’s happy.
Since I’ve been back, I have noticed a few cultural
differences that I wasn’t able to see before. For one, I forgot how friendly
Midwesterners are. Walking through the Chicago airport and seeing everyone
smile at me, say excuse me, apologize, etc—that was really interesting.
(Norwegians, no worries, this does not mean that I think you are mean or cold.
This is a note about how overly friendly Midwesterners are, not judgment of any lack of friendliness I experienced over there ;) )Also, Americans all walk on the right. This is actually
one of the first things I noticed about Europe—in public places, there is no
order to the way people walk in public places. They just go where they need to go
at leave it at that. If that means that people need to duck and dodge to avoid
getting hit, then so be it. They’re like the freshman that just get into high
school and think you can walk wherever in the hallway (Millard South kids, you
get me.) On the other hand, Americans ALWAYS walk on the right side. It was
beautiful walking in the Chicago airport, because all I had to do was follow
the crowd, not dodge in and out of it while lugging my three pieces of luggage.
On a completely related note, our toilet bowls have way too much water in them.
And it’s amazing not having to pay to use a bathroom. THOSE DOOR CRACKS
THOUGH--We need to fix the fact that I can stare into the eyes of someone while
they wait for me to finish my business. That's just weird.
The things I miss the most involve the beautiful town of
Kristiansand and the water that was near my dorm. I miss looking out my window
and seeing a river, so that’s been a bit difficult. It was especially tough to
not be there to celebrate Norwegian independence day (17th of May),
but I lucked out in that respect—I instead got to celebrate another event with
my lovely future-sister-in-law by attending her weekend long, Kansas City
bachelorette party, which, by the way, was totally amazing and I don’t care who
you are you should be SO JEALOUS. ;)
I’m not sure it’s fully hit me that I won’t be returning to
Norway anytime soon, and I don’t think it will before my summer gets going a
bit more. I’ve been telling everyone that I just feel like I’ve been dreaming
for the past semester, and that Omaha paused in time and started again when I
woke up. I just can’t even get over how lucky I was to have the experience that
I did, and I’d just like to recognize all the people who helped me get there,
and all the people who have supported me through jetlag and messed up emotions.
Norway is a beautiful, beautiful country that I highly recommend everyone visits if they get the chance.
I’ll definitely be returning one day, but, hey, don't get me wrong--there really is no place like Nebraska. Now I just have an additional place I can call home. Skål.
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