This is what you get when you have serious lack of aptness to choose titles

This weekend I experience a typical norwegian trip to a cabin. Almost everybody in Norway has a cabin, either by the fjords or by the mountains. I went to one on the mountains.

During the stay, I realized that it’s impossible to take a bad picture in Norway. You can come to the very same conclusion by looking at my last post.

Another thing I’m already aware of is that whereas in Portugal we talk about the weather to someone sitting next to us in the bus, in Norway you don’t say a word to someone you don’t know (unless you’re in the middle of the nature) and you keep the topic weather to 95% of the conversation with your friends and relatives.

Of course this is not serious, Norwegians discuss all kind of topics, they are aware of what is happening in the world and they take some time every day to read newspapers (Norway is the country in the world where more newspapers are bought per capita).

Although Norway is a very rich country, people are aware of how lucky they are and the discussion is not about if they should or not help the less fortunate countries but finding the correct and sustainable way of doing that. After the dinner, on the cabin, I got the opportunity to share some ideas and point of views in a deeper level than until then, in Norway. I talked politics for one or two hours and understood that there are some similar concerns in Norway and in Portugal. For instance, Norwegians complain that the Family Minister is a single man that doesn’t have kids and Portuguese don’t agree with the choice of an Agriculture Minister who has never studied agriculture or worked on anything related to that, although she is quite sure carrots are orange.

Tour i dag

Some second impressions

I’ve been having some very positive feedback about the blog, especially from Norwegians. My existence was already forgotten in Portugal, although my mother keeps skypeing me. I’m just kidding. I hope you forgive me mom. The thing is I have to keep this space open, democratic and impartial and perhaps I’ve been a bit tendentious. So this time I will complain about what is wrong in Norway:
In this outstanding country, when two people meet they just say “Hei”. In Portugal we give one or two kisses in the cheeks, sometimes we hug. I think it’s an outrageous shame when all the girls in Norway are so pretty that you don’t adopt this kind habit.

Some first impressions

I’m in a country that was blessed by Nature. Tap water is free and is tastes very well; the very small part of the country that I’ve already seen is beautiful and green.

You get a laptop from your school that is vital due to the independence you’re given to work by yourself instead of being carried all the way until University as in Portugal. Schools have a virtual platform called “itslearning” that is pretty much like “moodle” but people actually use it. The summaries, information about what we’ll be doing in the next class and websites that teachers consider relevant and related with what we are learning are there.

People keep asking “Why Norway?” which is a hard question even for me because there isn’t a major reason although there are lots of small ones.

Although I’m in the wealthiest area of Norway, people bring their lunch from home. They call it “matpakke”. This is due to the fact that it’s expensive to eat out but what I mean to say is that for instance in Damaia, a very poor area of Lisbon ( tip number 1: Visit Lisbon. Tip number 2: when visiting Lisbon, don’t go to Damaia) with a high rate of unemployment and a seriously big rate of poverty, that idea would be reason to some serious laughs.

Norway is much more of an equal society than Portugal and I’ve been realizing that the differences between men and women in Portugal are also, although not totally due to women’s behavior. In P.E. classes in Portugal girls sit together talking with the excuse that they’ve got their period. In Norway girls participate in the same way boys do and they aren’t concerned about sweating and getting their clothes dirty. I would like my portuguese friends to keep this idea. And believe be, none of this will make of less gorgeous or classy.

ainda nao tirei muitas fotografias. esta e a partir do hotel onde fiquei durante o arrival camp

hei

so the first day at school was nice except for the fact that my name is misspelled in all the documents from my school. people eat and facebook on classes all the time which is awsome just because it makes the fact that i'm in a norwegian class a bit less awkward. i'm the norwegian guy that happens to be a bit more toned. har det bra