By Annie, Maddie, Otelia, and Lena
Annie: Stavanger is not only a beautiful city, but quite a walkable one, too! Our hotel is in a very central location, and we’re able to travel to countless restaurants, grocery stores, and local businesses in just ten or so minutes. The only issue with travelling everywhere by foot is the ice covering the roads that inevitably comes with Norwegian winters. While walking to group dinners like Friday’s birthday celebration, many of us slipped and slid on the streets — myself included! I’d argue that slipping is nearly as inevitable as the ice itself, based on the amount of tourists and locals alike I witnessed wipe out on the paths near the harbor.
Maddie: Following our wonderful birthday celebration dinner at Phileas Fogg, a group of us decided to go ice skating at an outdoor rink near the Petroleum Museum. As we left the restaurant, we joked that the sidewalks were a pre-ice skating experience as we made our way over the slippery cobblestones. When we arrived at the rink, we all pulled out our wallets to pay, but to our surprise their card reader had broken and it was free to skate! However, they had a limited amount of ice skates so many of us ended up with too-big skates, causing us to wobble around as we laughed at one another. The ice was well-worn and somewhat chunky, and you could quickly tell who was an experienced skater. After an hour, a couple of falls and lots of laughs, we all huddled together at the end of the rink as a friendly Norwegian teenager and his friends took our photo. We all giggled as he took lots of pictures, making sure to get both vertical and horizontal images without being asked to do so. We all shouted “takk!” as we made our way off the ice, and decided what our next adventure would be.
Otelia: On the note of who was and wasn’t an experienced skater, I am proud to say I was not. With my only experience being temporary ice rinks once a year during the holidays, the extent of my skills was heavily challenged by funky skates and chunky ice. Nevertheless we skated, taking it one step (or skate) at a time. I went from slow steps to smooth glides and right when I got too confident and sped up, I fell on my butt. I wobbled for quite some time before actually hitting the ground, making it that much more painful to endure. That being said, I got up with a smile with the help of Kathryn and Annika, brushed off the snow, and continued on. In some ways I see this fall as an embodiment of the trip so far. We all may wobble and trip in a new county, but at the end of the day we have each other to help us embrace this new experience!
Lena: When we decided to go skating, we discovered that someone in the group had never been ice skating before! We all saw this as a great opportunity for him to be able to experience something new in a foreign country. What better place to learn to ice skate than Norway? Although he was hesitant at first, we convinced him to try it out. Eventually he got the hang of it despite the rough ice conditions and plastic skates. Together we were all able to support one another with our varying skating capabilities to make it a memorable night!
