Norway Adventures: 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!