David's Journal

I’ve been back home from Norway for a couple of weeks now and its high time I recorded my impressions. Norway, much like its women, is achingly, impossibly beautiful. We arrived to a city covered in snow which we trudged around aimlessly for a while, having forgotten to print out directions to the hotel. A short visit to a mexican restaurant that was oddly enough also an internet cafe sorted that out and we arrived safely, though exhausted. During a final walk which was an effort to stay awake till a reasonable bedtime it snowed. The biting cold, ice falling from the sky and beautifully lit main street was perhaps one of my most romantic experiences ever. Well it would have been had I actually been with a girl and not been with my colleague Jesse, who didn’t really want to hold hands. One can’t have everything I guess.

Workwise it was great, we got to put faces to a lot of names and in general learned a great deal about the new company that we are working for. Tell you what though - those Norwegians sure know how to drink. Thursday night was a huge company wide party at which I confess I got rather toasted and payed dearly for it the next day. Unfortunately a camera was on hand the whole night - the contents of which has provided my workmates with hours of mirth upon our return.

The times we ventured out of the city were amazing. The countryside was incredibly beautiful. Imagine driving through the rolling New Zealand countryside, except its covered in white, complete with cottages buried up to their hips and trees groaning with snow. One of these trips was to Hemsedal, where we staying in cabins on the mountain and snowboarded all weekend. Afterski on saturday night was another demonstration of the Norwegian drinking ability I mentioned earlier and involved drinks on the company and a bar that must have violated the fire safety code for maximum occupants by at least four times. It was awesome. Snowboarding was an exercise in balance, skill and pain tolerance and was a great deal of fun. The views from some of the high runs were breathtaking.

Other highlights involved seeing the viking ship and kon-tiki museums, falling into deep snow unexpectedly while walking down the 1952 bobsled track, seeing how all the stuff our company makes is put together and just hanging out with all the lovely Norwegians that we met. In short we had a great time and I definitely hope to visit again sometime. Perhaps I’ll go easier on the aquavit next time though…