Our first full day in Bergen was an adventurous one!
We began the day with a trip down to the University of Bergen for a guest lecture by Dr. Raquel Herrero-Arias, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Development. The lecture was titled “Parenting and Family Life in Norway from Migrants’ Perspectives.” As a migrant parent herself, Dr. Herrero-Arias was very well prepared to inform us of the context of parenting in Norway. She talked us through the four discourses on children and parenting in Norway: (1) no tolerance for parenting practices involving violence and force, (2) the child is a subject of individual and equal rights, (3) good parenting is child-focused and dialogue-based, (4) Norwegian child welfare services — authoritative but also contentious in family matters. Herrero-Arias’s lecture was very well done and brought about a group discussion in the end, making comparisons between what we know of the US and what we just learned of Norway.
After our organized class activity, we made a plan for our free afternoon. Some of our group made it back to Hostel Montana to make ourselves brunch! This was quite the endeavor as we were cooking in a large, community kitchen with cookwear we were not quite used to yet. In the end, the food was delicious! We whipped up some chocolate chip pancakes with berries and syrup, eggs, and bacon.
Around 2:30 pm, after cleaning up the kitchen, some of our group decided to go for a little hike in our backyard. A “little hike” to us meant climbing Mount Ulrikken, the highest mountain in Bergen at approximately 2000 feet above sea level. The hike up was a tough one, many of us wishing we had worn shorts in the 30°F weather, climbing about 1400 stairs to reach the top. When we started walking, the terrain was very green and dry, but we slowly came across snow, ice, and much colder temperatures. Anyone on this hike can attest to the reward that came at the top. While we may all have been complaining about our legs and how hot we were on the whole way up, the view was well worth the effort! We truly embraced the Norwegian discourse of friluftsliv.
Finally, to close out the day, we made a spaghetti feast for dinner. The community kitchen at the hostel helped us with a little team bonding to end the day, bonding over being starving after climbing a whole mountain. We pooled together to buy pasta, sauce, zucchini, and garlic bread. Everyone played a part; while some people had larger roles, like making a massive pot of pasta, others were just as important, put to work as taste testers.
In the end, we had a grand spread, with plenty to go around (and plenty for lunch later on). Today was a great beginning to our time in our new home.