Life Update

Today is April 13th, 2015. I completed my year abroad to Larvik, Norway with the Rotary International Youth Exchange Program July 14th, 2011.  It has been 3 years and 10 months since I returned home.  That means it has been 1,369 days since the end of my exchange. Funny how life goes on...

Let's see, what have I been up to?

For starters, I'm about to (finally) graduate from college.  Let me say that again: I'M ABOUT TO GRADUATE FROM COLLEGE.  I have spent the last four years of my life living in St. Louis, MO studying business at Saint Louis University's (SLU) John Cook School of Business (JCSB).  On May 16th, I will walk across the stage a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with Concentrations in Leadership & Change Management and International Business.

There's the obvious connection to my yearlong exchange.  I have decided to keep up the international relations part of my soul by studying International Business (IB).  The youth leader I grew into while studying abroad is the Leadership & Change Management (LCM) part of my soul.  Becoming a youth ambassador through Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) was the best decision of my life.

Living in Norway for over eleven months showed me how I can adapt to a new culture; it proved to me that I could network in a completely new environment, all on my own.  I became an ambassador for cultural and emotional intelligence between the two cultures and learned many things I could not learn inside of a classroom.

My decision to attend SLU was mostly based on the fact that I wanted to live in St. Louis.  I had never visited campus before my welcome week and I do not regret that one bit.  If I had held out for one of the schools I had visited, I would have been sorely surprised and would not have found my correct niche.  RYE taught me how to adapt in these types of situations.  SLU quickly became my new home as I joined different social and sports groups and met another new network of people.

I am about to leave this city after moving here a month after returning home from my exchange four years ago.  I have grown as proud of this city as I had for Norway during my yearlong exchange.  There may have been some societal problems occurring during my time here, but all it shows is a need for change and, after all of the drama and violence, I am glad I was here to witness it.  That is another thing you cannot learn in a classroom.

What's next for me?  My hometown.  This is the most scared I have been in my entire life.  I was excited to move to Norway, excited to move to Italy, Spain, St. Louis... But returning home?  I'm absolutely terrified.

I left my hometown of Killington, VT for Norway in 2010 and have not lived an extended period of time there since high school.  I am excited to live near (or with) my family again, but I know how small the town is and especially how few opportunities for IB and LCM exist there.  I am afraid I will get stuck there and not do anything exciting with my life.  I have spent extended periods of time in Europe during high school and college and briefly did some volunteer work in the rain forest of Peru, and there seems to be no big life changes besides returning to what I already know.

Who knows what will happen?  I know I need to keep an open mind, but it's hard when I lived there for 18 years and know just about the entire town, with no prospective jobs in sight.

I'm thinking about saving up for a year and leaving on another adventure.  Whether that adventure is a job or a trip, I have no idea.  All I know is that I will go absolutely crazy not having anything big coming up in the future.  This is the first time I have had little-to-no plans for the future.  Who knew I'd be so stressed about no plans?

My biggest dream is to become a business consultant.  This requires a lot of job experience, so that's my first goal.  I have so much receptionist and waitressing work under my belt, but it is not applicable to what I want to do.  SLU has given me the greatest education I could have asked for and hopefully having that on my resume will be enough to get me into some entry-level office job.

I'll take this year as a blessing.  I get a chance to work on me and purely apply to jobs and save money.  I won't have any homework getting in the way, for the first time EVER.  I can focus on being happy, relaxing and applying to jobs.

Let's just hope something good comes out of it.

I can adapt.  I can overcome these obstacles.  I am a Rotary International Youth Exchange Rebound Student.  I can do this.

Madrid!

Heia alle sammen!

I'm currently taking a semester study abroad in Madrid, Spain!  Here's a link to my blog about my activities and school life while living in Spain:  http://noelleninmadrid.blogspot.com/ .

Exchange Student Life

OSLO MASSACRE 22.07.2011



scoop.it

 I'm writing this post to talk about a few things.  As everyone knows, today Oslo and Utøya were victims of terrorist attacks.  Not only was this a HUGE surprise to everyone in Norway, but to everyone around the world.  Norway is seen as one of the most peaceful countries in the world and the people in the country even more peaceful. 

I woke up this morning to my mother coming upstairs to wake me up to tell me that there was an explosion outside of the building containing the Prime Minister of Norway's office.  I thought she was joking.  The first words that came out of my mouth were, "Are you serious?!"  The reports were all over the place, as they always are directly following something this huge, so my mother told me she thought it was a pipe leak that somehow exploded inside the building.  She also said she had talked to Mari and Line on my computer and that Didrik was safe. 

I immediately came downstairs onto my computer to look up everything I could on google news and turned on the tv to the different news channels trying to get any information I could about the bombing.  Within the hour after I came downstairs, a newscaster online reported that there had been a shooting on the island called Utøya at a youth Labour party meeting.  We got a call from Didrik saying that he and Cathrine were alright and I spent the next few hours checking everything out on facebook and trying to contact people and talking to various people online regarding the attacks. 

I must have watched the news for three and a half hours today, switching between BBC on my computer to NRK to MSNBC on tv.  Seeing the pictures of the debris all over the city was unreal.  It wasn't calm Oslo anymore, but a scene right out of the middleeast.  I also remember that right after Didrik left USA as an exchange student, 9/11 happened and, now, right after I left Norway, this tragedy happened.  It feels as though a hole has been ripped in my heart.  And it's very scary for my parents because I was just in Norway, in Oslo, eight days ago. 

One thing I have noticed about this is that when I go back to Norway, it will not be the same country as when I left it.  I remember after 9/11 the country was healing as a whole and more and more American flags were popping up around towns and cities.  Now, today, just hours after this massacre in Oslo I noticed something.  Norway has become very patriotic.  I remember talking about how few Norwegian flags I saw out and around Norway throughout my year and how many we have around the states.  But, we have also survived a giant terrorist attack in NYC and Washington D.C. ten years ago.  Our country healed as a more friendly and community-based country.  Now we all talk to each other in public places and are very friendly with one another.  Norway, a country who has NEVER experienced an attack of this kind is bound to have changes in their culture.

The first thing I noticed was that virtually everyone who had ties to Norway or was Norwegian changed their profile pictures on facebook to a picture of them with a flag.  I was also "invited" to three or four different events to light candles and keep the flag at half mass.  This is a huge step for Norway in the healing process, and it has already begun.  This is how I know Norway will be a different country when I come back to visit over the next few years. 



washington post

 After experiencing an attack at this scale, there is no way that the country can heal to the exact same way it was before.  Now Norway will probably take many more measures regarding national and public security, just as we have in USA.  I have also seen many pictures of Norwegians helping each other in the face of this tragedy, which is another big step.  They may not have talked to each other at bus stops a week ago, but today they are helping each other out of burning buildings and cleaning each others' wounds. 

Something that Meg sent me today was really powerful, but also reminded me of how USA healed:  "Nå får mor Norge vise hva hun er laget av. Hold hodet kaldt og hjertet varmt."  This means: "Now mother Norway get so show what she is made of.  Keep a cool head and a warm heart."  As everyone knows, terrorist acts are performed in an attempt of scaring people.  We were told the same things; don't let them get to you, or they have already won. 

Well Norway, this was a horrible day for you, but I know that the healing process will make this country even greater than it was before.  I send out my prayers to all families and friends of those injured and those who have lost lives. 

Hold deg sterk, Norge!  Norge er i mitt hjerte for alltid <3

Home Again

Let's see... in the past week I have: flown 10 hours, driven back from Boston, seen friends almost everyday, had a goodbye and welcome home party, seen my dad for the first time in 11 months, dislocated my shoulder and been living it up.

The night I came home, Brittany and Rachel were at my house waiting for me and my brother had made signs welcoming me home... then suddenly while I was showing them a ton of my Norwegian stuff, Michelle, Kyle, Matt and Alyssa walked through the door.  We ended up eating mac and cheese and s'mores out at the chimineah (sp) until 2 AM.  As soon as my head hit the pillow when we went to the back bedroom, I was out.  We also spent Sunday at Echo Lake and then to Kyles house with a campfire in the woods. 

Here's a few pictures from my week.  Savner alle dere i Norge sykt mye! 

Coming back home is so strange. It is oddly normal.  There is no other way to describe it.  It feels almost as though nothing has changed.  I'm happy to see my family and old friends, but it's just a strange feeling of wanting my "new norwegian life".  Hopefully I'll get over that soon.  It's been a lot of help to talk to everyone on facebook, msn and skype, though :D  <3

Next on the list for me is college and then real life.  It's hard to believe this year is over.  Plutselig it's over.  Now it's time to start LEARNING.  But, I spent this year learning a different kind of curriculum than college.  I learned how to effectively live in another culture and learn another language with a lot of help from my friends and host families.  Those are things you can't learn in just one year in any other setting other than an exchange. 

TUSEN TAKK TIL ALLE SAMMEN SOM HAR HJULPET MEG I ÅR MED NORSKEN MIN OG UTVEKSLINGSÅRET MITT!!!!!  GLAD I DERE <3

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS HELPED ME THIS YEAR WITH MY NORWEGIAN AND MY EXCHANGE YEAR!!!  LOVE YOU GUYS!!! <3

Snakkes ;)

Final Post in Norway

denne har vært den BESTE siste dagen i norge!! ♥ jeg kommer til å savne norge og nordmenn SYKT mye!!!! jeg har fått så mange gode venner og en stor norsk familie.... jeg er så heldig!!! dette året har vært helt fantastisk og jeg gruer meg til å dra fra dette landet... men jeg veit at jeg kommer tilbake ganske snart! :D VI SEES, NORGE!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

TAKK FOR I ÅR :D kommer til å savne alle sykt mye...
 
jeg MÅ legge meg!!  jeg står opp i bare fire timer nå!!!

Final Days

Okay... so since the last time I posted, I haven't done too much.  I went to Tønsberg to see Mari and Line :D  We walked around town for a while and then went back to their house and watched a movie and then a couple of episodes of friends :D  It was very koselig <3

Devin and Lauren have gone home now too.  It is weird to think they're in a different time zone now, because we would talk until 3 AM a lot...  It's also interesting to hear about how being home is like for them.

I also watched the quarterfinal women's soccer game - US against Brazil... I was so happy that US won after all of that bull!  I haven't played soccer since coming to Norway, and I realized how much I missed it. 

I spent one evening down by the sea and another day out side on the porch in the sun.  I've been having a very relaxed vacation before I go home and try to work my butt off before school starts.

Tomorrow I am having a get together at my third host family's house before I'm back across the ocean on Thrusday night.  I don't really feel like writing, seeing as I just finished packing and spent the day baking and writing letters, but I figured I'd just get a little bit down on "paper" now before I regret it later.

Snakkes