The Fubright Begins

This past Monday and Tuesday I attended orientation for the Norway Fulbright grantees. There are 28 of us - 14 scholars and 14 graduate students - the largest group of Norwegian Fulbrights to date. It was a chance to get to meet each other and the staff of the Norway Fulbright office in addition to learning loads of information about our host country.

As it turns out, at least two of my Fulbright colleagues are blogging the experience:

Lauren has an excellent summary of the entire orientation on her blog:

...when Norwegians lose some of their shy tendencies to make new friends (not in class, at work, or on the t-bane), what I can do to beat the winter blues without eating all the Freia chocolate products (which I already love!)...

And Kathee touches on the formal reception that was given in our honor:

...After the reception, Anne Kjelling, the Head Librarian of the Nobel Institute, gave us a tour of the building. She focused on the room where the Nobel committee deliberates and explained the process to us...

It was quite inspiring and humbling to be in the atmosphere of the Nobel Institute for two days. The whole range of emotions flowed through the days from elation and excitement to fear and inadequacy. I mentioned these feelings of inadequacy to one of the Norwegians that I met at the reception. He had been a Fulbright scholar in the US decades ago. I was anticipating having to go to the podium in front of the entire audience and announce myself. When I expressed my disbelief that I was worthy of this honor, he looked at me with a big smile and said “You sound just like a Norwegian.”

I have uploaded a few pictures of the Nobel Institute.