Sorry for the long hiatus without any posts.  I´ve been a little busy moving to Norway….

Moving to another country is no easy task.  I´ve never even moved to another city in my own country, just to and from college dorms and houses.  I guess I did move to Oslo to study for a semester in college, but since I was on a sort of exchange program, it was a little different than to move here by myself to live and work.  Well, not by myself, I took my dog with me.  So, I will give you an idea of what it has been like so far to make all the necessary arrangements both at home and in Norway to make this move.

Americans can be in Norway for 90 days without a VISA, so you can really come here without any plan and try to find a job or just travel around for a while if you want to, without making huge arrangements.  However, it is certainly a better idea to have some sort of plan.  So, I got hired working as a vikar (substitute)  for a substitute teaching agency.  I received the arbeidskontrakt (work contract), gathered all the necessary dokumenter (documents) I needed to have, such as attester (letters of recommendation) that described where I have worked and what I have done that relates to the jobb (jobb) I will have here in Norway.  I also of course needed to have a gyldig  pass (valid passport).

As for finding a place to live, I searched for hours and hours on finn.no and zett.no for a leilighet (apartment).  Endelig (Finally), I found one that seemed affordable enough and allowed a dog, so I paid for the first months husleie (rent), even though I would only be in it for 7 days in the month.  Oh well-I was desperate and had to take what I could get.  It´s en liten leilighet (a small apartment), but it´s quite koselig (cozy) for me and hunden min (my dog).  I´ve got all the bare necessities, kjøleskap (fridge), mikrobølgovnen (microwave), vaskemaskin (washer), oppvaskemaskin (dishwasher), TV, seng (bed), bord (table), and such.  There is unfortunately no IKEA north of Trondheim in Norway, so I have bought things like kjøkkenutstyr (kitchen stuff) and a dyne (comforter), puter (pillows), o.s.v. at a store equivalent to Target maybe, but much smaller.

As usual, I am experiencing problems with almost everything, from my cabel TV and internet not functioning properly, to my drains being plugged, to someone else using my sportsbod (small stall where you can lock up your bike or my dog´s bur -crate- for eksempel).  Not to mention getting the esker (boxes) I sent almost 2 weeks ago, registering av min ny adresse (registering my new address).  I shall keep you posted on how I ordne (take care of) these things.  Then hopefully if you ever flytte til Norge (move to Norway), you will have an idea of how to jump through all of the hoops!