Godt nytt år!

Back again!

After three of us went home for Christmas and only Vincent stayed in Stavanger (but don't worry - his mother visited him, so he was not alone) the house is now full again. Well, almost.
At least one has returned and now the French guy and the German girl are patiently waiting for the others to come back and revive the house with joy and liveliness. After 17 degrees in Germany (I know - climate change is crazy) and something like Christmas-in-New Zealand-mood, it was almost a shock to return and find Stavanger in deep winter: -2 degrees and frozen puddles everywhere! But very sunny and a clear sky! I am happy wear my skiing jacket anyways.
Actually I did not return to Stavanger immediately. The first stop was Bergen. There I celebrated New Year's together with other volunteers from Voss, Aksdal and Bergen. It was great! Although we had almost no daylight and forgot to buy enough food, we had a fantastic time and watched the big fireworks in town. Very nice way to begin the new year.

 And when we had to say goodbye, we all were a bit sad, looking forward to seeing each other again in February at the midterm seminar in Oslo. I took the bus from Bergen to Stavanger, so I was able to see a fantastic landscape and the sun again. Also because the flight from Germany to Bergen was a catastrophe - a huge storm caused serious troubles, turbulence and the closing of Bergen airport right after our plane landed... Not the best day to travel.
The bus trip back to Stavanger was definitely more relaxed. Vincent and I had a lot to tell each other and of course we went to town in the evening to meet all the other people and catch up with what had happened during the Christmas break. On Monday our daily routine started again and we had our first days of work. And all our Coworkers seem to be in a very positive New Year's mood. Actually, it is way easier to start working that way:)
And the cold is slowly getting more intense: -6  degrees today and hopefully snow at the weekend! Just perfect for welcoming the others back home. All the lakes here are frozen now, the seagulls do not know where to take a bath anymore and we are waiting for polar bears to invade Stavanger.
Well, actually the temperatures are pretty normal for winters in Europe, are they not? And we were told that the temperatures are much lower in internal Norway. Or in the north, where they are currently having the eternal night.

So Vincent and I are glad to live in "the South", where we get at least the glimmering shine of the winter sun sometimes. Vincent even took a bath in the fjord on New Year's day! Together with some other crazy people he jumped into the ice cold water and did not even get sick. I am deeply impressed. It is crazy by the way how early school starts again here. They do not even have a holiday on the sixth of January. So for us the work
begins early, too. But unfortunately a lot of other institutions are still closed. This is the case with Folken and we already miss the Folken crowd. It is great to hang out with them, but at least most students are already back in Stavanger and soon Folken will open its doors again! And the language course is starting again... Good, because it is true: Our bosses and coworkers started talking in Norwegian :O
Much to learn, much to come in 2016! :)