First Impressions of Trondheim

I've been in Norway for almost 48 hours as I write this, and a great deal has happened so I'll try as best I can to explain all that I've done so far. I've arrived in Norway with the intended purpose of doing research at NTNU, but I'll try and keep technical discussions of what I am doing for research to a minimum. If you are interested in following what I will be researching, look at my other blog that I am doing as a requirement for the exchange program:

https://depts.washington.edu/vallelog/blog/index.php?/categories/120-Werner,-John

I wanted to look down on Norway as I flew into it, but i was so tired from lack of sleep and constant traveling that I promptly fell asleep once aboard the plane. I did wake up the last half hour of the flight but found the countryside blanketed in clouds so there was nothing to be seen. When I first got off the plane, I stepped down a set of stairs onto the tarmac took a deep breath. The air smelled fresh and clean, and it was cold out. I made it through customs with no difficulty and found the airport bus, or flybussen, that would take me into the center of Trondheim. I made my way on board and enjoyed finally sitting down with a proper amount of leg room (non-exit rows in airplanes: not comfortable).

As we drove the 30 kilometers to Trondheim, we passed through three very long tunnels. These tunnels had one lane of traffic in each direction, and the opposing traffic passed very close to my bus. The dark and narrow tunnel with lights passing very close to the bus while I was in a sleep-deprived state made for a surreal experience. I got off the bus at the train station and walked the half kilometer to my temporary housing, Bruns Botell. This may have been the longest half kilometer of my life. I had about 165 pounds of gear that I was either carrying or dragging, and I was so very tired. I guess I could have tried to find a cab but that would have been so incredibly lame. I persevered and finally made it to the place I was staying. The quality of the room was good enough, except for its smell. The entire building smelled of cigarettes and gross.

I slept for 8 hours or so, woke up and got ready for my day. I was meeting with one of the professors that I would be working under, as well as had several different places to go to and fill out/turn in paperwork. I walked to the NTNU campus and met Professor Tore Børvik, one of the lead professors at the SIMLab, the Structural Impact Laboratory that I'll be working in while in Norway.

The project that I will be involved in is related to impacts on pipelines. An Italian company produces elbow-joint fittings for pipelines that the Norwegian oil company, StatOil uses, but the Italians made a mistake in the production of these fittings. They are made from a two-alloy stainless steel that was cooled improperly, resulting in a third steel precipitate to form in the fittings. This third component, which they refer to as the "sigma phase," makes the pipe sections much more brittle. If a section of this pipe is impacted by an oil ship, it is important to deform and be somewhat flexible in order to prevent a disastrous oil spill. These more brittle fittings greatly increase the likely-hood of such an event happening. The project I will be involved with aims to better understand how different levels of this sigma phase precipitate affects the performance of the steel, specifically under impact. The bottom line: I get to be part of a project that will break a bunch of test specimens with a gigantic hydraulic hammer. This hydraulic pendulum impactor, or kicking machine, is huge. I don't know its specifications, but I know that it is used to simulate car impacts, so it is VERY powerful. A picture of it is below:


I haven't yet had a chance to tour the SIMLab, something I am very excited to do. I'll get my opportunity to do so on Monday. I have an office space to call my own, where many of the visiting scholars stay. One of these, Rafael, helped me enormously by showing me where I needed to go for the rest of the day. It has been an excellent experience so far because everyone is very helpful and welcoming here.

After a day of running around filing paperwork, getting keys and meeting people, it was time to move to my permanent residence for my stay in Norway. I'll post the address soon. I realized that I didn't want to travel the 2.5 miles from my temporary place to my dorm room with all my crap, so I took a cab. It turns out that my driver was a very colorful character that, upon finding out that I was from the not-so-united states, he climbed up on a soap box to tell me everything wrong about the U.S., as well as the European Union. The cab ride was relatively short, but angry. He wins the award for least welcoming person I've met so far.

I arrived in my room, and though it was small, it did not smell bad and was comfortable. I need to get some sheets and a pillow for my bed, currently I am using my sleeping bag and a rolled up sweatshirt. So far, I have only met two of my three roomates. We each have our own rooms but we share a common room/kitchen and a bathroom. There is Hanning, from Germany, and Omit, from Iran. I have yet to see the third roommate who is Sebastian, and I am not sure where he is from. Each of the two roommates that I have met were brief encounters and I have not seen them since. I've kept my door open for most of the day today and no one has surfaced yet. I'm hoping to at least have some interaction with them soon, because I need to figure out how certain things work in the dorms, like waste disposal, laundry, and other things like that. I also am hoping that they don't stay in their rooms all the time, and interact with me. I may try and lure them out by cooking dinner for us all. If they continue to live like hermits, I'll have to start experimenting with how to best draw them out of their rooms and closed doors.

My first impressions of Norway, specifically Trondheim, are that it is cold and wet. When I arrived it was 35 degrees F, and it has yet to go above 40 degrees F. Now, you might think, "John, why did you go to Norway to stay through MIDWINTER if you think that is cold?" Don't worry, I have appropriate clothing for the cold, it was just unexpected that it was already this cold. It is also very wet out, with constant and varying degrees of precipitation. It is very much like Seattle in this regard. One difference is the humidity. I think that it's been over 80% humidity since I've arrived. I've experienced how humidity can make it feel much hotter than a thermometer reads, but this is the first time that I've experienced humidity that makes it feel colder than it actually is. Add in the wind-chill factor, and it makes for very chilly weather indeed. Also, I have yet to see the sun, and have only once seen a patch of blue sky for a maximum of 15 minutes. At least there's daylight still. I took a picture during one of the brief pauses in rainfall, when I was on a bridge looking over the river (look for the tiny hint of the rainbow going over the cathedral):


One of the other things that I have noticed in my stay so far is that many times Norwegian announcements are followed by the same announcement in English. This makes it very nice except that while many times this is done with other languages, usually the first statement is given, a pause is taken, usually for a breath, and then the statement is again said in the other language. My experience so far is that there is no pause between the Norwegian and the English, and they are crammed together in the same breath. This means that if the person talking has a strong accent, you have to listen to every word in order to make sure you catch the entire announcement when it starts in English.

I also have realized that Norway is very expensive. There are more taxes going on, which means that they don't pay for insurance and other such things, but it increases the prices of goods. When they don't have to pay for other things, they can spend more money on the goods they buy, so I guess it works out. I know that I only really need to pay for food and lodging for myself, so I am not worried, it was more just a culture shock than anything. This morning I went out to the store to buy basic necessities, and it turned out to be $61.00 USD for about 3 days worth of food. Is America ready for this? I know that some people would object. Still while it did surprise me, I recognize that it works, and the following months will demonstrate to me how it could be beneficial.

Sorry for the length of the post, but its been a flurry of activity for me the last two days, so I wanted to make sure all the important points were covered. I'm sure they weren't but I'll continue to add things as they happen or occur to me.