A story behind every door
I live in the coolest place ever. I don't just mean Stavanger; I mean specifically my house. It feels a bit like a college dorm, except that we're all young professionals and go to bed early. Tonight, I didn't get dinner until 9:30 because I spent a good chuck of time talking to one of my housemates, then another, then another.
W is from the middle of Norway, and he's really interested in wine and spirits. Not just drinking them - tasting them, knowing their history, how they were made, how they were grown. He's participated in the Norwegian Championship for wine, and for one event in the competition, he had to taste a wine and tell what region it was from, what grape it was made from, and other ridiculously detailed bits of information. For one of the wines, he guessed it was from a town in France directly adjacent to the actual origin. He was off by less than 100 miles. Who does that?! And oh yeah, he's also trained as a professional waiter.
Then there's T, who grew up in the Svalbard archipelago. That means she spent her childhood at one of the northernmost settlements in the world! You can't live closer to the North Pole than that! When she was born, her mom had to come down to the mainland to give birth, because the hospital on Svalbard is not equipped with life-saving equipment for infants. If something goes wrong, there's no back-up plan. You also can't live on Svalbard if you are elderly because there is no way for you to be taken care of. Her parents already bought a house on the mainland in preparation for retirement.
THIS is why I travel, my friends; this is why. My mind was blown twice in the space of a few hours, and the best part is that I get to live with these people! I'll continue to pick their brains over the next 6 months and learn as much as I can from them about facets of life that I otherwise would have never experienced.
EYES WIDE OPEN
W is from the middle of Norway, and he's really interested in wine and spirits. Not just drinking them - tasting them, knowing their history, how they were made, how they were grown. He's participated in the Norwegian Championship for wine, and for one event in the competition, he had to taste a wine and tell what region it was from, what grape it was made from, and other ridiculously detailed bits of information. For one of the wines, he guessed it was from a town in France directly adjacent to the actual origin. He was off by less than 100 miles. Who does that?! And oh yeah, he's also trained as a professional waiter.
Then there's T, who grew up in the Svalbard archipelago. That means she spent her childhood at one of the northernmost settlements in the world! You can't live closer to the North Pole than that! When she was born, her mom had to come down to the mainland to give birth, because the hospital on Svalbard is not equipped with life-saving equipment for infants. If something goes wrong, there's no back-up plan. You also can't live on Svalbard if you are elderly because there is no way for you to be taken care of. Her parents already bought a house on the mainland in preparation for retirement.
THIS is why I travel, my friends; this is why. My mind was blown twice in the space of a few hours, and the best part is that I get to live with these people! I'll continue to pick their brains over the next 6 months and learn as much as I can from them about facets of life that I otherwise would have never experienced.
EYES WIDE OPEN
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