Last week in Norway!

Can't believe my stay here is coming to an end. I am ready to leave and very excited to go to London:) This week I spend time in the hospital. Monday I was in the recovery room so rather boring. Tuesday, I was in the postoperative room where the more severe surgeries come to recover and may need to stay over night. At 10:00 I went to watch surgery for the rest of the day and got to see a nephrectomy (kidney removal)!!! very interesting. Wednesday I spent the day in the actual ICU. It was an amazing experience and I learned so much from just one patient. Thursday I spent the whole day in the post operative unit and got to see an epidural put in two different patients....looked very painful! I spent most of my evenings doing homework which I am not excited to say I have finished. Tonight (Thursday) Kristin and I went out to eat for the 1st time (that we have had to pay for) at a little restaturant by us. The food was absolutely delicious...but have I said anything about how ridiculously expensive everything is here?!?! This is why we saved the one time we were going out to eat until the end of our trip...to treat ourselves. Tomorrow we are hoping to take a ferry around to an island (weather permitting) and also walk on the pier. Then off to bed early because our plane leaves at 7:30 a.m. Saturday morning for London!!

Hospital

IV Pumps

Dialysis machine

Recovery and Postoperative "rooms"
There were about 7 of these "rooms" in one big room.
Not much space or privacy!

ICU "room"
They do not have single rooms for ICU patients either!

In our surgery scrubs



In our awful hospital scrubs



"Working" with our patient in the ICU.
(Nurses in Norway don't use stethoscopes-only the doctors can)

DELICIOUS food: kylling kebob (chicken) and baked potatoe
They eat corn on so many different things!

Week 2 in Bodo

             Another week has flown by and I am ready to start my 3rd and final week in Bodo. I'm getting VERY excited to go to London on Saturday:) Last Thursday the sun "returned" so everyone was very excited about that! In December and half of January they sun "goes away" and there is only a couple hours of  light (which is not true sunlight). While this is miserable during the winter time, in the summer the sun never goes down!

             Anyways...a little about my busy week. On Monday(Jan. 10), I had orientation for international students because that is when all the other foreign exchange students came (boring). However at night we met our teacher from Augustana for supper. A cheeseburger and fries have never tasted so delicious. Needless to say, I went home stuffed! I was very excited to see and talk to someone familiar and American! On Tuesday we went to a very nice rehabilitation center that was about an hour away. They gave us a tour and told us about what they do there. Rehabilitation centers are for people who suffer from a disease or condition, such as stroke, obesity, diabetes etc. and need help getting better so they can go home. There are a lot of people that work at these places such as nurses, doctors and many different therapists. At the center we went to on Tuesday, they had a big pool and also horses. Studies have shown that horse therapy can benefit patients in rehabilitation. Crazy! Tuesday night we went out for supper with a couple of the professors from the school here in Bodo, a couple students and our professor. I had a steak and fries...also very delicious. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it because it was about a $65 meal...and it was not big portions like the U.S.! Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, I went to the Bodo rehabilitation center and followed around therapists and nurses. The nurses here did a lot of work that I do as an aide. Nurses in the U.S. can do many more skills than nurses here. Also, they did not have much to do, so there was lots of sitting and coffee drinking! Thursday night we experienced the Sami culture. (A lot like Native Americans) It was such an amazing experience and very cold. I could not feel that I had toes after I was done. The Sami people lived off of reindeer. They used every part of the reindeer either to eat or as a tool or clothing. We got to experience the food. We had reindeer stew which was actually really good. However I also tried reindeer heart and tongue and it was not so good.  Friday night one of the teachers from the school here invited us to her house for supper so we had a great time there! She is from Texas so it's nice to have an American to talk to! Last night we went and hung out at the house of one of the students and met her friends. This week I will be in the ICU Monday-Thursday so I'm very excited for that!


Pool in the rehabilitation center I visited on Tuesday




Horse Therapy




Nordland University




In our scrubs at the rehabiliation center in Bodo




Bodo Rehabilitation Center: Where they store their medications




Patient room at Bodo rehabilitation center




Patient bathroom at rehabilitation center




Tipi where the Sami stay during the warmer months.
They travel and take this with them.




Reindeer meat smoking above the fire in the tipi.




"House" where Sami stayed during the winter.




Reindeer tongue on the top and sausage on the bottom




Inside the Sami "house" eating our reindeer stew!




Picture with the Sami guy and his annoying dog.




Rakel, Birgette, Me & Kristin



First Week in Bodo

            I can't believe this is the start of my second week in Bodo!! It went to fast. This first week we had a lot of classes, which was kind of a drag, but learned some interesting things. I took classes on the Norwegian language (so I can speak a few words), Norwegian ethics, nursing theories and the most interesting was about hypothermia. We have been taught by some very smart and important people. They are all doctors and have published many famous books and articles in national magazines!
           A few highlights of the trip so far was our adventures on the bus. On Thursday night (Jan. 6) we attempted to go downtown on the bus but were unsure where downtown was. We got off at City of Nord, which is a shopping center, so we still found plenty to do. However we froze in the bus stop for almost an hour because we weren't sure when the next bus would be coming to bring us back. Friday night we went to a couple students house and stuffed ourselves with American food! (pizza, chocolate and ice cream) Saturday Kristin and I attempted for the 2nd time to go downtown and succeeded. Since it was Saturday, many of the stores were closed, but we still got some good shopping done:) Another adventure was hiking up the mountain...very hard work in the snow. It was cold and I have never experienced so much wind in my life. But it was all worth it when we got to the top! Tomorrow starts week two in Bodo and we will begin our clinicals at the rehabilitation center. My professore from Augustana will also be flying in tomorrow, so I look forward to seeing her and meeting her for supper tomorrow and Tuesday night!

At school in our classroom

Waiting for the bus

Bus Stop

City Nord Shopping Center

Eating our crackers, peanut butter and jelly

Care package we got from the college!

At the top of the mountain

Hiking up the mountain

Arrival in Bodo

Before we left Haugasund on Monday (January 3) Kristin and I walked down to the ocean which is just right outside the village we were staying at. Here's a few pictures from our adventure.

After we left our friends house to go to the airport we had no idea how awful the next 30+ hours were going to be! Our plane in Haugasund was delayed 45 minutes because they only had one person checking our luggage in! (It's a very small airport) So when we arrive to Oslo we had 10 minutes to get our luggage, check it back in, go through security, go to our gate and board the plane. Obviously we did not make it. We went to the ticket office to board the next flight out, and of course they would not cover our ticket because our teacher booked our flights with only an hour lay over and the airline would not cover it. After politely arguing with the lady we asked her when the next flight was and how much it would cost. Her answer: 5:15 PM and approximately $450! So we went on a search for a new airline to fligh through. We ended up getting a flight at 8:25 the next morning (Tuesday morning) and it only cost us about $150. (Still not happy about it though) We then spent the next 13 hours in the airport attempting to sleep which did not go so well. We ended up arriving in Bodo an hour late due to all the snow. We went straight to the college to meet everyone and have lunch. Then we went to Norwegian language class (just Kristin and I....on no sleep). It was interesting, but would've been more interesting after a full night's rest. We had class until about 3:30, then headed to our dorm/apartment. there are three bedrooms with single beds, 2 chairs, a closet, desk and coffee table, a kitchen, bathroom with sink, shower and the only mirror in the whole house, and a room with the toilet and a sink in it (all pictured below). We have not met our roommate yet, but his/her name is Ismael so we are assuming it is a guy and we're not really sure how that can be okay. So we're going to ask about it tomorrow. Since we have no food we decided to venture down to the grocery store. It is about a 5-7 minute walk there and about a 15-20 minute walk to our school from where we are staying. And let me tell you it is a VERY COLD walk and lots of wind! The grocery store was both an interesting and frustrating experience. First of all, everything was in Norwegian, so it didn't go too well trying to figure out what the food was since it is very different from American food. And secondly, everything is SO expensive. We walked out $40 later with some break (not normal American bread), cheese, meat (not sure what kind), jelly, peanut butter, eggs, soup which is made from a packet, and something like Ramon noodles. Guess this would be a good time to start that diet. After a VERY long night and day I am calling it quits for the night. I have more Norwegian language class tomorrow morning!

My room

Closet

Bed



Computer desk and Coffee table filled with my junk already:)



Shower which was gross.
Notice how the whole floor of the bathroom
is the shower.





Sink in the shower room (with the only mirror in the whole house)

Add caption

Kitchen

Last days in Haugasund

I have been spending my last couple days being lazy and hanging out with my friends here. On New Years day we watched movies and ordered Chinese for supper. The people over here dress up much more than we do back home. We all hung out at Anna's house again, but everyone still wore dresses. Today (January 2), was another lazy day spend watching movies and just hanging out. For breakfast/lunch we went to Solveig's house and had tebriks again. We also visited the beach which was beautiful! Then for supper I experienced another interesting Norwegian meal: polse (alot like ring balogna), calarabi, komle (baked potato with flour), baked potatoes, carrots and bacon and leftover dessert from our New Years Eve meal. I leave tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. to fly to Oslo and then to Bodo which is where I will be doing my clinicals and staying for the next 3 weeks.

Anna, Kristin, me, Birgitte & Solveig
on New Years Night





Ocean



Me and Kristin at the beach





Supper we had on January 2: polse, carrot, calarabi (yellow), baked potatoes (the one on the left has
other stuff like flour on it) and bacon