Settling Down
Behind the Photo: Taugata Street | My time in Stavanger, Norway 🇳🇴
28th December 2023
Settling Down | Taugata Street. This was the street where I was riding an e-scooter with a pillow slung on my back, hanging on for dear life to my backpack by a carabiner. And it came off somewhere along this street. I remember hearing a loud thud, stopping the e-scooter, looking back at the fallen pillow, looking around, realizing that I was alone, and having a good laugh at it. I wish I had a photo of it (you can swipe to see the aftermath of the pillow case).
This summarizes my initial journey of settling down very well. This was one of the many “fail” moments I had while settling down. Buying ground salt instead of regular salt, realizing that I could have bought my pillow 10 minutes walk away instead of having to ride an e-scooter for 16 minutes, or riding the city bike drenched in rain to work. Fortunately, most of the fails weren’t too costly and ended up being great memories and lessons. I guess its part and parcel of settling down. As I got used to the city better and settled well, I managed to avoid many of such moments and lived a lot smoother. Although sometimes (occasionally), at the back of my head, I miss the feeling of being overwhelmed by my surroundings and being confused in an unfamiliar city.
Author’s Note: About a year ago, I parted ways with the city of Stavanger and the country of Norway after spending nearly half a year there alone, and I headed to the United States for my student exchange. I left behind countless memorable moments and penned several reflections based on photos on my travel account. Now that I’m back home in Singapore and have some time to spare, I hope to continue documenting and reflecting on the other stories and feelings I experienced throughout my life so far, capturing each moment as best as I can :)
