Our last stop on the wanderlust journey with school was to Kristiansund, a fishing and oil town on the west coast of Norway. To get there we took a four hour ferry ride from Trondheim. The trouble was that it was a stormy day and we got to experience some fun waves. It was the best towards the end of the trip. There was a couple times where it felt like my ass left the seat in the moment of going over the wave. IOt was almost to much fun, but I know that some other passengers did not fare so well and well... you get the idea.
Our place to stay was a campground. Not in the familiar sense of tents and all, but rather cabins. Of course we didn't really get cabins, but instead two mobile homes complete with (amazingly) three bedrooms, living room, kitchen, toilet, and a shower room. For as tiny as that place was it was impressive how much they fit in there. Adding five guys to the mix though made it a cramped, but homely stay.
Our tasks of the town included a visit to the media house, a tour of the oil drilling museum, a visit to the vice mayor of the town, a tour of the subsidised opera house,and an invitation to hear the the Kristiansund symphony play at their final rehearsal before their performance on Sunday.
Kristiansund was a fun town, but because it was at the end of the week it was also very tiring. The weather was also rainy so we had to figure out how to deal with the spare time in free sheltered places like the church or a small art gallery. The town had the feeling of coastal business with a harbour for ships to restock and repair in. It is also a hub for the regional oil drilling in the North Sea.
The drilling exhibit was actually really interesting for me because I have gained this perception of the evils of oil thanks to Bush and his fellow oil ties. The thought of oil just makes me cringe sometimes. The exhibit was biased towards oil drilling though and provided a matter of fact way of telling about how the process of drilling happens. It was a good tid-bit of info to learn even if it was sometimes hard to swallow. They didn't seem to care to much about the short term availability of oil, but rather that their technology allows them to squeeze out more oil than before. When a spot dries up they can just drill in another area and it wouldn't be that big of a deal at all.
It's a good thing to think about though because so much of Norway's wealth comes from the petroleum fund. So whether or not I like it Norway has saved up $359 billion USD due to oil. At least they have an ethical committee attached to those funds so that business like Walmart that support unethical treatment of humans can't touch any of it.
Overall the trip was grand. It was great to get out and see other parts of Norway and be able to come home to Hamar and to feel truly at home.
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