The shit's in here...

We had our first visit to the dental school today, and it was...interesting. We first met with a woman our contact person, Gry Ane, described as "our version of Peter Berthold"- the higher up person in charge of the international exchange program. Peter Berthold, she was not, however. She was a hip middle-aged lady who seemed very laid back. She extolled the virtues of the Norwegian welfare state, one chief benefit was that she, a "rich" person, was not robbed on a regular basis since the poor people were pretty well taken care of, so she thought that was a big selling point. She then leaned back in her chair, letting some belly skin hang out and get a little air. As she stood up to take us on a tour, we discovered she was wearing some fashionable acid-washed jeans. She showed us a few labs and conference rooms, then when it was time to see the main clinic area, she pointed to one of the doors and proclaimed, "the shit's all in here". Needless to say, we were very charmed by her.

She kept apologizing for the poor state of all the equipment, which looked brand new to us. She also said that we might be a little puzzled by the way they do some things here; with endodontics, for example, she said we might find their way to be "quite stupid" (her words, not mine), but it would be a good learning opportunity nonetheless. She also reminded us that Norway is a very informal society, so we should get used to addressing our instructors by first name, which will seem a little strange at first. So we are very excited to start clinic next week. We have one day a week off to study and work on our project, so I think we will find the schedule very agreeable.

We also got our fancy white scrubs today, with scrunched ankles and all. They are pretty spectacular. Hopefully we will have pictures soon.