Yesterday we went to Sweden! No surprise, it's pretty similar to Norway. It reminds me of going to Canada. We went on a GIANT ferry with slot machines (which, of course I did... being 18 is pretty great!) and good breakfast. We went shopping at a HUGE shopping mall (which, of course they said was small... but I guess shopping in at the Diamond Run Mall in Rutland, Vermont is tiny ANYWHERE) and I managed to only spend about fifty US dollars. I got some great shirts and cheap soda and cashews.
Today I stayed home from dance because I think I'm starting to get sick. Solfrid was home today from school sick also.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Quick Notes. . .
School is going really well... We watched a cartoon in historie about the French Revolution, and one woman's dress was ripped and you could see her breasts... I feel silly commenting about this, but hear me out - I remember being in certain classes at Woodstock and having to fast-forward through scenes that contain bad words or even simply kissing. On tv here, there used to be a commercial of a naked woman and no censorship. Also, the middle finger gesture is perfectly okay on television, which, as we know, is always censored on about 99% of programs in America. I just can't help but laugh because of the noticeable difference concerning censorship in Norway vs USA.
Weekend parties here normally last until 2-3 am, but tonight ours lasted until 11:00pm because we are GOING TO SWEDEN TOMORROW MORNING to go shopping because it is cheaper there.
Silly note: toilets flush differently here. :P
And bread is served at every meal.
Today Jon and I watched Shutter Island and yesterday watched a few other films after school. A nice relaxing weekend. I just hope that I will be able to go out soon. I love my host family so much already and love to spend time with them, but I really hope I become closer with some kids at school and get to hang out with them on the weekends or something like that. Next weekend is the district conferance in Tønsberg and all next week is language camp, so I won't be seeing the kids at school. I hope it doesn't affect anything. I know that may sound childish, but this is a new culture. Who knows?
Weekend parties here normally last until 2-3 am, but tonight ours lasted until 11:00pm because we are GOING TO SWEDEN TOMORROW MORNING to go shopping because it is cheaper there.
Silly note: toilets flush differently here. :P
And bread is served at every meal.
Today Jon and I watched Shutter Island and yesterday watched a few other films after school. A nice relaxing weekend. I just hope that I will be able to go out soon. I love my host family so much already and love to spend time with them, but I really hope I become closer with some kids at school and get to hang out with them on the weekends or something like that. Next weekend is the district conferance in Tønsberg and all next week is language camp, so I won't be seeing the kids at school. I hope it doesn't affect anything. I know that may sound childish, but this is a new culture. Who knows?
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Don't Stop Believin'
Yesterday at school, I had one class, then NOTHING FOR FOUR HOURS and then my last class. So, during our time off, a few people from my class and I went into Larvik to the grocery store and bought some things to eat. This is when I realized that, instead of the cafeteria-sized milk cartons we get at school in the United States, the kids here will drink a carton that is about the size of a half gallon. And yes, that would be all at once. I decided to try doing that, but because I haven’t gotten used to the taste of the milk here, I decided to treat myself to chocolate milk or sjokolade melk. At least I caught up with my normal milk-intake hahahahaha. Believe me, the milk cartons served in the US at lunsj are looking quite small in comparison to what is normal here!
We ate pastries and drank milk in the main square, butt he veps (bees) were horrible, so we had to keep walking. I took 3:30 bussen hjem og started my homework!!! Vi er studying the American and French Revolutions, which I have already studied in skole, so I decided to mainly focus on the norsk. I came up with about three sentences for each of the seven questions, which is a lot more than I expected. I think the teachers want us to do at least a paragraph or more for each question, but the teacher told me flat-out that she wasn’t expecting much from me. I worked very, very hard on it, and I hope she is impressed. It took me about two hours. >.< ”
During my homework, Asbjørn, my male counsellor came over with his wife for kaffe og te. We also ate lots av sjokolader og kanel snurrer (or cinnamon buns as I would call them). Jon was out for the night on a class trip to somewhere on an island or something and Eirik was back, but very tired.
Today was ”meeting everyone day” or something along those lines. (note: I am typing this at the dance studio, waiting for Solfrid’s class to end, in the locker room. There are showers in here. There is was a lot of people in here and we were all talking and she just totally stripped down and took a shower next to us. I need to get used to this…) ANYWAY! After our first class, we all walked to the same building as Studio Nille. It is about a fifteen minute walk from Thor Heyerdahl and I walked with Sondre over, talking about this blog and the differences between USA and Norge. When we arrived, a bunch of us hopped onto the piano and played and sang while the auditorium-sized room filled up. We were placed in different groups and listed to DON’T STOP BELIVIN’ BY JOURNEY. Whoa. Like I’ve never heard that song before… Strangely enough (for me), a good majority of the kids here haven’t heard it unless they watch Family Guy (i.e., my host family :P). We listened to it about five or six times and discussed what we should do with it: different lighting and effects. Oh, did I mention that in week 10 we have a big show? Well, DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’ is the opening number.
After that, we all walked down to the beach and grilled hotdogs and ate lunsj; it was a lot of fun! Everyone was around the big grill with their hotdogs and utensils that they brought from home. Then we got back into our groups and did a quiz about all of the teachers and celebrities. . . . . . . . . . it was interesting. Then we went back to school and got all of our books, finally! We have about five books to use for school. I had to make the 2:00 bus, so another boy in my class let me use his locker and even gave met he key because he will be in Italy for a few weeks with an orchestra! Luckily, I made the bus just before it pulled away.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
- an uncomfortable moment of culture shock -
Today I had quite a bit of a culture shock. I always knew that Europeans were more open about their bodies and were okay (to a certain extent) with nudity. For example: my family and I took a vacation to France when I was seven years old. We went to Marseilles to go to the Mediterranean Sea. Most older women there were topless. This is normal for them; it is not for us.
Today, I had a class called "Ergonomie og Bevegelse". This translates to "gym". Good thing I asked about it last night, because I thought it meant "Economy Class". Boy, was I wrong! My athletic shoes that I accidentally left at home have not arrived yet after a week or so, so I borrowed Merete's shoes for class.
The day started normally... no surprises. AND THEN! On the way to the gym, I was talking with Alice and I asked her if it was normal at this school to shower after gym class. She looked at my shocked that I would even ask! Of course they do. This isn't quite normal for me because at Woodstock there are no curtains on the shower stalls so none of the girls will use them. But, this is Norway! Alice also told me that it is normal to "shower together". There were six shower heads and no curtains. This was going to be a change! (But, I didn't bring a towel or soap, so I didn't have to...)
Gym class consisted of a type of running game where you stuck a rope down the back of your pants and someone would have to rip it away from you and you would go after another person's rope. In gym class at Woodstock, we had belts with flags on them that we could pull without invading, what I would consider, my privacy. haha. After that we broke up into eight groups, four on either side of the gym, and we played soccer and floor hockey.
After class was over, we went back up to the girls' locker room, where there were already nude girls getting into the shower. I had a hard enough time making sure no one could see me changing while all of these girls were totally fine walking around in the nude. That was quite a culture shock for me!
Another class I took today, we began to write our compositions about the hands. It went pretty well so far.
At dance class tonight, Solfrid and I wrote up some notecards from norsk - engelsk.
Quick silly thing: my host father jokingly asked me if I was pregnant LOL! Not serious, of course. I mispronounced the word for "tired" as in "I am tired" and he thought I said "I am pregnant" or something like that. . . I can't quite remember...
Today, I had a class called "Ergonomie og Bevegelse". This translates to "gym". Good thing I asked about it last night, because I thought it meant "Economy Class". Boy, was I wrong! My athletic shoes that I accidentally left at home have not arrived yet after a week or so, so I borrowed Merete's shoes for class.
The day started normally... no surprises. AND THEN! On the way to the gym, I was talking with Alice and I asked her if it was normal at this school to shower after gym class. She looked at my shocked that I would even ask! Of course they do. This isn't quite normal for me because at Woodstock there are no curtains on the shower stalls so none of the girls will use them. But, this is Norway! Alice also told me that it is normal to "shower together". There were six shower heads and no curtains. This was going to be a change! (But, I didn't bring a towel or soap, so I didn't have to...)
Gym class consisted of a type of running game where you stuck a rope down the back of your pants and someone would have to rip it away from you and you would go after another person's rope. In gym class at Woodstock, we had belts with flags on them that we could pull without invading, what I would consider, my privacy. haha. After that we broke up into eight groups, four on either side of the gym, and we played soccer and floor hockey.
After class was over, we went back up to the girls' locker room, where there were already nude girls getting into the shower. I had a hard enough time making sure no one could see me changing while all of these girls were totally fine walking around in the nude. That was quite a culture shock for me!
Another class I took today, we began to write our compositions about the hands. It went pretty well so far.
At dance class tonight, Solfrid and I wrote up some notecards from norsk - engelsk.
Quick silly thing: my host father jokingly asked me if I was pregnant LOL! Not serious, of course. I mispronounced the word for "tired" as in "I am tired" and he thought I said "I am pregnant" or something like that. . . I can't quite remember...
Monday, August 23, 2010
Dance Dance Dance!!!
I canæt remember if I talked at all about my dance in Norway, so here it is!
I am taking a ballet and jazz class at Studio Nille and I am helping to student teach two 4-5 year olds and one 5-6 year old class. Each time I help out at the studio, I become more comfortable with my surroundings and not knowing enough Norwegian to adequately help out. As I learn more and more, I will be able to help more and I can't wait for that! My ballet class was tonight and it was great! They do a different style than what I am used to, which is from England. I think Jill said it was called, "r.a.d.". Something along those lines... There are only six of us and now the room is too small! There is only one barre and the room is approximately 18'x15', I'd say. We will hopefully be moving into a different room or a different time in order to get a different room.
The jazz class that I take is with Solfrid and it is TOTALLY different from the jazz I am used to! I am used to Bob Fosse style dancing with ballet thrown in, while this jazz is always fluid motion and never hitting a pose or using hands as much as throwing arms. I like it, but I was completely caught off-guard!
Back to this weekend...
Saturday we slept in. YAY! That was so great. I can't even BEGIN to explain how helpful that was. I felt like a new person! Friday night, I had the house to myself. That was also great! I just sat and watched TV and worked on my Norwegian. I have found that having alone time is very scarce as an exchange student.
So, back to Saturday. We slept in and then we went and saw Step Up 3D at the local movie theater. Sunday we slept in again and went bowling. That was a lot of fun. It was funny because we saw Line, my second host sister, there as we were finishing up the final round. It was just Solfrid, Jon and me.
Today at school was fun. I now sit with Solfrid until her stop and then Sondre came and sat with me and soon Alice came on the bus. We went into the kantina (cafeteria) where they bought kaffe (coffee) and then we went upstairs to the diverse music room. I had my first individual piano lesson today! Mari, my teacher, was awesome. She showed me these amazing exercises for my fingers to warm up before playing. She said that ten minutes of those exercises is equivalent to two hours of practice. WOW!
After that was composition class. We have a poem that we have to write a melody and piano line to. OMG. I don't know whether to see that as a good thing or a bad thing, yet. The poem is about love and hands.
Then we had lunsj and after that was NORSK KLASSE. FOR THREE HOURS. I didn't understand anything. But, while the teacher was talking (she told me before class started that she wasn't expecting me to understand most/all of what she was talking about) I translated the poem so that I would know what type of music to write for the assignment.
During one of our many breaks in the three hour long class, one girl came up to me who had been an exchange student a few years back in Ohio! She seemed very nice.
I can't think of anything else, except that I am hungry all the time. I am eating so much peanut butter and bananas it's disgusting. HAHAHAHAHA
I am taking a ballet and jazz class at Studio Nille and I am helping to student teach two 4-5 year olds and one 5-6 year old class. Each time I help out at the studio, I become more comfortable with my surroundings and not knowing enough Norwegian to adequately help out. As I learn more and more, I will be able to help more and I can't wait for that! My ballet class was tonight and it was great! They do a different style than what I am used to, which is from England. I think Jill said it was called, "r.a.d.". Something along those lines... There are only six of us and now the room is too small! There is only one barre and the room is approximately 18'x15', I'd say. We will hopefully be moving into a different room or a different time in order to get a different room.
The jazz class that I take is with Solfrid and it is TOTALLY different from the jazz I am used to! I am used to Bob Fosse style dancing with ballet thrown in, while this jazz is always fluid motion and never hitting a pose or using hands as much as throwing arms. I like it, but I was completely caught off-guard!
Back to this weekend...
Saturday we slept in. YAY! That was so great. I can't even BEGIN to explain how helpful that was. I felt like a new person! Friday night, I had the house to myself. That was also great! I just sat and watched TV and worked on my Norwegian. I have found that having alone time is very scarce as an exchange student.
So, back to Saturday. We slept in and then we went and saw Step Up 3D at the local movie theater. Sunday we slept in again and went bowling. That was a lot of fun. It was funny because we saw Line, my second host sister, there as we were finishing up the final round. It was just Solfrid, Jon and me.
Today at school was fun. I now sit with Solfrid until her stop and then Sondre came and sat with me and soon Alice came on the bus. We went into the kantina (cafeteria) where they bought kaffe (coffee) and then we went upstairs to the diverse music room. I had my first individual piano lesson today! Mari, my teacher, was awesome. She showed me these amazing exercises for my fingers to warm up before playing. She said that ten minutes of those exercises is equivalent to two hours of practice. WOW!
After that was composition class. We have a poem that we have to write a melody and piano line to. OMG. I don't know whether to see that as a good thing or a bad thing, yet. The poem is about love and hands.
Then we had lunsj and after that was NORSK KLASSE. FOR THREE HOURS. I didn't understand anything. But, while the teacher was talking (she told me before class started that she wasn't expecting me to understand most/all of what she was talking about) I translated the poem so that I would know what type of music to write for the assignment.
During one of our many breaks in the three hour long class, one girl came up to me who had been an exchange student a few years back in Ohio! She seemed very nice.
I can't think of anything else, except that I am hungry all the time. I am eating so much peanut butter and bananas it's disgusting. HAHAHAHAHA
Saturday, August 21, 2010
PHOTO MOMENT
"stigs gym"
"my home!"
the rotarians at the party
the green lake
swimming in the green lake
another beautiful lake
the caves!!
inside the cave, can you seen how small it is?
everyone (kristian takes the photo)
essential for hiking ;D
the falls!
fossils
in the falls with solfrid
the landscape of norway!
jon, my talented host brother :)
photo from the party JEG SNAKKER NORSK!! ...litt. o.o"
Yesterday, I decided to try putting my hair the way most girls seem to do their hair here..... with some sort of braid. It ended up looking very nice, so I might get used to it quickly!
At breakfast, Jon, Solfrid, Merete and I discussed our plans for after school. It looked like I would have the house to myself! I was looking forward to that :D
I was a little more awake on the bus that morning, so I looked to see who was on it. There seemed to be about three or four kids from my musikk classes riding the same bus as me! Great! I would have to remember that for looking for my bus on the way home.
Alice and Sondre met up with me and we talked about our plans as we walked into the school. (btw, this school has motion sensor doors. whoa.) We went up to room N417, as usual, and got ready for class. I sat between Alice and Sondre as Henrik appeared to start class. We learned a lot about impresjonisme musikk. My notes go a little like this:
"NYE UTTRYKK
eksperimentering, avantgarde og tradisjoner (pretty simple forstår (to understand) right?)
...
CLUSTER OG STØY
cluster, ekstrem silblanding, fri rytme og tempo, støy, ionisation
INNTRYKKSKUNSTEN I MUSIKKEN
dans i ca. 1890 - ca. 1910
titlene skulle ikke som i programmusikken beskrive innholdet men gi et inntrykk av komponistems opplevelse..." (.....not so simple)
Henrik always made sure I knew what was happening and multiple times asked me a question in English where I would speak norsk-engelsk in order to answer him to the best of my ability. (We also had a fire alarm go off today, so we all went down the four (five, for some) flights of stairs outside. We, interestingly, just stood next to the school. I feel like we have a safer program at Woodstock. They don't take attendance to make sure everyone is out of the building...)
We stayed in the same room and had another class with Anders. This was about leading a band, getting ready for a performance...etc etc. I felt very ready for this course becasue of all of my work with the high school band as vice president. I had to make programs, help set up, advertise... The list goes on. I felt like I knew much more about this than the other kids in the class. We were discussing who would do what to get ready for a huskonsert in October.
We had lunch, which we ate on the second floor in the diverse music room.
From there I went back to room N417 for a class with Endre. This class is about composition. This was pretty simple to understand, except that we had to - at the end of class - tell Endre what he was playing on the piano, which was pretty difficult for me in another language. Instead of first, second, third, etc and flat and sharp, or minor etc. it is:
1 - prim - ren/forminsket/forstavre
2 - sekund - liten/stor
3 - ters - liten/stor
4 - kvart - forminsket/forstavre
...
8 - oktav
and they are written like this: L.2; S.3; R.5 (I had quite a bit of trouble with this part of the class...)
I am very lucky, because Alice is more than helpful. She wrote out all of that for me, and helped me to define words written on the board so I now have a paper that is filled with different words and meanings.
Our next class was in room N436 where we had Historie. We are studying American and French revolutions, so I think I will just study my Norwegian here because I already learned about these, if not many times. This was with Monica. She also did not speak engelsk with me, which was great. I think I will learn much more norsk at school than I will at the house. She spoke about hwat we were going to do for the year, and then we all had to talk a little bit about ourselves. I was really excited about this! I could show what I had already learned!
I was able to give a short overview about me without many problems! YAY!!! I am learning norsk! Jeg lærer norsk! The teacher also said that she heard from some of my other teachers that I am "veldig bra" at the piano. I think I already have a reputation at this school. Jeg spiller piano veldig bra, according to my teachers. :) We were given an assignment to read 9 pages out of a photocopied textbook. She told me that she wasnæt going to expect anything from me for the next class as long as I, atleast, try to read it. She realized that I already studied these topics at school in America.
I got on the bus from school and sat with my new classmates instead of by myself! It was great! I seem to fit in quite easily with them! :D I'm very happy about this.
Well, the bus driver went the wrong way, realized it, went back and then a little old lady took FOREVER, even with my help, to get on and off the bus, so I was very late coming home. Merete and Jon were going out for grocery shopping and golf practice, so I had teh house to myself.
I was able to finally relax alone so I watched TV and called home.
Today, we cleaned the whole house and in about an hour, Jon, Solfrid and I will be leaving for the city to watch a movie and so that they can show me around.
At breakfast, Jon, Solfrid, Merete and I discussed our plans for after school. It looked like I would have the house to myself! I was looking forward to that :D
I was a little more awake on the bus that morning, so I looked to see who was on it. There seemed to be about three or four kids from my musikk classes riding the same bus as me! Great! I would have to remember that for looking for my bus on the way home.
Alice and Sondre met up with me and we talked about our plans as we walked into the school. (btw, this school has motion sensor doors. whoa.) We went up to room N417, as usual, and got ready for class. I sat between Alice and Sondre as Henrik appeared to start class. We learned a lot about impresjonisme musikk. My notes go a little like this:
"NYE UTTRYKK
eksperimentering, avantgarde og tradisjoner (pretty simple forstår (to understand) right?)
...
CLUSTER OG STØY
cluster, ekstrem silblanding, fri rytme og tempo, støy, ionisation
INNTRYKKSKUNSTEN I MUSIKKEN
dans i ca. 1890 - ca. 1910
titlene skulle ikke som i programmusikken beskrive innholdet men gi et inntrykk av komponistems opplevelse..." (.....not so simple)
Henrik always made sure I knew what was happening and multiple times asked me a question in English where I would speak norsk-engelsk in order to answer him to the best of my ability. (We also had a fire alarm go off today, so we all went down the four (five, for some) flights of stairs outside. We, interestingly, just stood next to the school. I feel like we have a safer program at Woodstock. They don't take attendance to make sure everyone is out of the building...)
We stayed in the same room and had another class with Anders. This was about leading a band, getting ready for a performance...etc etc. I felt very ready for this course becasue of all of my work with the high school band as vice president. I had to make programs, help set up, advertise... The list goes on. I felt like I knew much more about this than the other kids in the class. We were discussing who would do what to get ready for a huskonsert in October.
We had lunch, which we ate on the second floor in the diverse music room.
From there I went back to room N417 for a class with Endre. This class is about composition. This was pretty simple to understand, except that we had to - at the end of class - tell Endre what he was playing on the piano, which was pretty difficult for me in another language. Instead of first, second, third, etc and flat and sharp, or minor etc. it is:
1 - prim - ren/forminsket/forstavre
2 - sekund - liten/stor
3 - ters - liten/stor
4 - kvart - forminsket/forstavre
...
8 - oktav
and they are written like this: L.2; S.3; R.5 (I had quite a bit of trouble with this part of the class...)
I am very lucky, because Alice is more than helpful. She wrote out all of that for me, and helped me to define words written on the board so I now have a paper that is filled with different words and meanings.
Our next class was in room N436 where we had Historie. We are studying American and French revolutions, so I think I will just study my Norwegian here because I already learned about these, if not many times. This was with Monica. She also did not speak engelsk with me, which was great. I think I will learn much more norsk at school than I will at the house. She spoke about hwat we were going to do for the year, and then we all had to talk a little bit about ourselves. I was really excited about this! I could show what I had already learned!
I was able to give a short overview about me without many problems! YAY!!! I am learning norsk! Jeg lærer norsk! The teacher also said that she heard from some of my other teachers that I am "veldig bra" at the piano. I think I already have a reputation at this school. Jeg spiller piano veldig bra, according to my teachers. :) We were given an assignment to read 9 pages out of a photocopied textbook. She told me that she wasnæt going to expect anything from me for the next class as long as I, atleast, try to read it. She realized that I already studied these topics at school in America.
I got on the bus from school and sat with my new classmates instead of by myself! It was great! I seem to fit in quite easily with them! :D I'm very happy about this.
Well, the bus driver went the wrong way, realized it, went back and then a little old lady took FOREVER, even with my help, to get on and off the bus, so I was very late coming home. Merete and Jon were going out for grocery shopping and golf practice, so I had teh house to myself.
I was able to finally relax alone so I watched TV and called home.
Today, we cleaned the whole house and in about an hour, Jon, Solfrid and I will be leaving for the city to watch a movie and so that they can show me around.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
første dag på skole!
FIRST DAY AT SCHOOL! (yesterday)
Wake up time: 6:45
Breakfast: 7:00 (all together)
Busset: 7:45
Skolen starter: 8:30
I am taking many different classes, but all the classes are with the same "third graders". Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all! I am taking part in the last year of videregående skole in Norge, which essentially means: I am a senior again. In videregående skole, the students are already asked which career path they would like to take. I, in this case, am going on the career path towards musikk. This means I hang out in the musikk department of the GIANT school. (By the way, did I mention this school has FIVE FLOORS and 1700 students??)
I am taking classes such as: private piano lessons, samspill (small bands), leadership (conducting), musikk i perspektiv (history of music from 1900 - nå (now)), history, and religion. My schedule is different for all five weekdays. I only have four classes per day, which is great!
I got off the bus with Solfid and Jon at their school, Ra, but we had to walk about ten minutes to actually make it to the school from where the bus dropped us off. I went with them because I had to meet up with Helle, the president of the Larvik Øst Rotaryklubb. She picked me up at the school and we went to the politi (the police station) to get all of my papers finalized.
Although I got up at 6:45, school didn't start until 11:00 for me! After going with Helle, she came with me back to the school around 10:00 and we met all of my teachers. They are all very, very helpful and kind. I am mostly being looked after by Henrik (teachers go by their first names), my musikk i perspektiv teacher.
At 11:00, everyone (2nd and 3rd graders) met in the HUGE auditorium that seats 600, and went with our department chairs to meet our classes. All of my classes are on the fourth floor. Of course, I was introduced in front of the whole class just like the movies. And yes, it really isn't fun. But, I am quite happy that I was introduced as "The American Exchange Student" or "American Utvekslingsstudent" because after the teachers were done introducing themselves and they let us free around 12:00, I was bombarded by students who wanted to know me. :D
We all went down to the diverse music rooms (practice rooms on the second floor) and they wanted me to play piano for them and sing and do so many things! All of the kids were so excitted to find out that I play jazz piano. It was great!
I met up with Line (my second host sister) and her friends and we walked into town to the cafe. They are really funny and fun to be around.
From there I took the bus around 14:00 to Kjose.
Today was great! I helped out with to dans klasser (two dance classes). One for 4-5 år and one for 5-6 år. They were adorable and the teacher, Nina, is so happy to have me there to help.
At school today, I had musikk i perspektiv first, and we listened to some INCREDIBLE contemporary music. It was very eerie, but very interesting. Henrik then took me aside and told me everthing he is going to do to help me make my year great! He is a fantastisk person so far! Then another girl named Line was "assigned" to me to help me around school. We went down to the diverse musikk rooms and met up with everyone. It was individual lessons and mine are on Mondays, so I ended up sitting and talking and playing piano with everyone. Alice was very helpful. She is also the piano player. She wrote down many musikk words I should know and helped me with my norsk bok.
A few of us went down for lunch and I saw Line there! The lunsj room is huge. That's honestly all I can say about it. It is on two levels. Wow. Just purely amazing.
We learned about amplifiers etc etc in the next class and then went to another room to do our samspiller. I am in a group with some 2nd graders and two boys from my grade. Our unit is on funk and soul so we are playing the Jackson 5. Some other groups are playing Soul Man and a few other songs from The Blues Brothers.
I am very excited about this school, if you can't tell.
Wake up time: 6:45
Breakfast: 7:00 (all together)
Busset: 7:45
Skolen starter: 8:30
I am taking many different classes, but all the classes are with the same "third graders". Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all! I am taking part in the last year of videregående skole in Norge, which essentially means: I am a senior again. In videregående skole, the students are already asked which career path they would like to take. I, in this case, am going on the career path towards musikk. This means I hang out in the musikk department of the GIANT school. (By the way, did I mention this school has FIVE FLOORS and 1700 students??)
I am taking classes such as: private piano lessons, samspill (small bands), leadership (conducting), musikk i perspektiv (history of music from 1900 - nå (now)), history, and religion. My schedule is different for all five weekdays. I only have four classes per day, which is great!
I got off the bus with Solfid and Jon at their school, Ra, but we had to walk about ten minutes to actually make it to the school from where the bus dropped us off. I went with them because I had to meet up with Helle, the president of the Larvik Øst Rotaryklubb. She picked me up at the school and we went to the politi (the police station) to get all of my papers finalized.
Although I got up at 6:45, school didn't start until 11:00 for me! After going with Helle, she came with me back to the school around 10:00 and we met all of my teachers. They are all very, very helpful and kind. I am mostly being looked after by Henrik (teachers go by their first names), my musikk i perspektiv teacher.
At 11:00, everyone (2nd and 3rd graders) met in the HUGE auditorium that seats 600, and went with our department chairs to meet our classes. All of my classes are on the fourth floor. Of course, I was introduced in front of the whole class just like the movies. And yes, it really isn't fun. But, I am quite happy that I was introduced as "The American Exchange Student" or "American Utvekslingsstudent" because after the teachers were done introducing themselves and they let us free around 12:00, I was bombarded by students who wanted to know me. :D
We all went down to the diverse music rooms (practice rooms on the second floor) and they wanted me to play piano for them and sing and do so many things! All of the kids were so excitted to find out that I play jazz piano. It was great!
I met up with Line (my second host sister) and her friends and we walked into town to the cafe. They are really funny and fun to be around.
From there I took the bus around 14:00 to Kjose.
Today was great! I helped out with to dans klasser (two dance classes). One for 4-5 år and one for 5-6 år. They were adorable and the teacher, Nina, is so happy to have me there to help.
At school today, I had musikk i perspektiv first, and we listened to some INCREDIBLE contemporary music. It was very eerie, but very interesting. Henrik then took me aside and told me everthing he is going to do to help me make my year great! He is a fantastisk person so far! Then another girl named Line was "assigned" to me to help me around school. We went down to the diverse musikk rooms and met up with everyone. It was individual lessons and mine are on Mondays, so I ended up sitting and talking and playing piano with everyone. Alice was very helpful. She is also the piano player. She wrote down many musikk words I should know and helped me with my norsk bok.
A few of us went down for lunch and I saw Line there! The lunsj room is huge. That's honestly all I can say about it. It is on two levels. Wow. Just purely amazing.
We learned about amplifiers etc etc in the next class and then went to another room to do our samspiller. I am in a group with some 2nd graders and two boys from my grade. Our unit is on funk and soul so we are playing the Jackson 5. Some other groups are playing Soul Man and a few other songs from The Blues Brothers.
I am very excited about this school, if you can't tell.
Monday, August 16, 2010
THE CAVES OF NORGE
First of all, I would like to say thanks to everyone who wrote me lovely e-mails! I enjoy mail, so don't stop writing! ;) I'm sorry I cannot write back to all of you, but I will try to as soon as I get my own computer and, therefore, have more time to reply.
My host family invited about twenty people to their house to celebrate my arrival: the 2290 district chairman for RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange), my two other host families, my counselors, various rotarians, and even the HEAD OF RYE FOR NORWAY showed up!
Before the party started, I fell asleep for a while - about three hours - because of the terrible jet lag. When I woke up, I met Solfrid, my host sister! She is so kind and helpful når jeg lærer norsk. After that, the party began!
All the women wore dresses and the men wore collared shirts. I was introduced to everyone, Helle Stabel, my second host mother and the president of Larvik Øst Rotaryklubb, talked quite a bit about how thankful she and everyone was that this was finally coming together and they presented me with a few gifts from my three host clubs. They included: a troll, a planner, and some stylish red knitted mittens! We ate and talked and I eventually met my third host sister, Charlotte. She seems very eccentric and ready to help me learn norsk and to take me out to enjoy and learn more about Larvik. I sat between Jon and Solfrid and accross from Charlotte and her father while we ate our barbequed shrimp and scallops with various vegetables and salads. (It was a cook-your-own style meal.)
Something interesting about Kjose and Larvik - there are a ridiculous amount of bees (vesps). We ended up catching quite a few in our glasses of soda and Jon caught 24 in a little trap he made. This was all in a short period of two hours! Jon was also stung by a bee on the bottom of his foot because he stepped on one in the grass. I'll talk more about that experience later...
I showed most guests where Vermont and Killington are on the atlas that Kristian lent me. I can't quite remember who it was, but one man said that they knew a couple who started a hotel B&B in Vermont! The world is so small.
We ate dessert and cleaned up the house outside from the beautiful party. Solfrid, Jon, Henrik (Jon's friend) and I sat in my bedroom and talked for a long time after.
YESTERDAY!!!
Yesterday, Kristian and Merete took all of us "kids" on a trip. We drove for about an hour to get to a beautiful GREEN lake! It was freezing, but we had to have a dip; it was a tradition that I was glad to uphold. On the walk to the lake - as we carried our hiking backpacks that consisted of swim suits, towels, sandals, extra clothes, cameras, jackets and headlamps - we found wild blueberries which we ate in pleasure.
We got back into the car after our body-paralyzingly-cold swim ^.^ and drove up to THE CAVES. We hiked up the short distance to a flowing river surrounded by rocks. We put on our jackets, sandals and headlamps and prepared to go into the cave. I found the cave, which went right INTO THE EARTH WHERE THE RIVER WENT. I couldn't believe that my host family was trying to kill me within the first week! ;)
I followed Kristian into the tiny opening with Jon behind me, Solfrid behind him, Eirik and then Merete. I was literally on my stomach, crawling into the opening with water all around me. Over a short waterfall, we could stand. I think one of the most amazing things about the river cave was that it was not slippery at all! We went about 7-800m into the earth, walking or crawling the whole way. It was one of the most amazing natural things about the earth I have ever experienced, honestly. I followed Merete out of the cave tunnel the whole way back and we took some pictures at the opening.
As we changed out of our wet clothes, Merete honored me with a giant FIRKLØVER chocolate bar for trying new things and for finding the cave. My mom is going to be SO JEALOUS when she reads this!!! ;D
We hiked back down to the car and drove to the waterfalls! It was a very delicate and steep walk down to the falls, but totally worth it. The falls were beautiful. We all went under the powerful waterfalls with our bathing suits on for a shower. Then we sat on sheep skin blankets and ate a barbeque of hotdogs and burgers with vegetables - and, of course, shrimp.
We got ice cream on the way home. "Soft-ice"with "tutti-fruiti" - Soft-serve with sprinkles. I was a mess, but what's new?
TODAY!!!!!!
Today I went to Thor Heyerdahl Videregående Skole, or MY NEW HIGH SCHOOL! I will officially be a third grader, or in the tre klasse. This is the equivalent of being a senior...again! I went with Helle and Kristian to meet with Ellen at the school. She is going to try to help me include some history and science classes into my busy musikk schedule.
From there, Kristian and I went to the police station to get my resident permit, which I will have to go again and get tomorrow. After that, we went out to lunch at an Italian Ristorante where we saw another rotarian, whom I met.
We quickly got home and I was, again, in the car, but this time with Solfrid and Merete as we drove to Studio Nille, where I will be taking dance classes this year! I tried out a hip-hop class, which I enjoyed very much and talked to a teacher there about helping out with a stepp (tap) class. They were very impressed. Solfrid is so much fun to hang out with and I am so happy she is welcoming me into her dance studio :D
I finally got to take a HOT SHOWER tonight!
My host family invited about twenty people to their house to celebrate my arrival: the 2290 district chairman for RYE (Rotary Youth Exchange), my two other host families, my counselors, various rotarians, and even the HEAD OF RYE FOR NORWAY showed up!
Before the party started, I fell asleep for a while - about three hours - because of the terrible jet lag. When I woke up, I met Solfrid, my host sister! She is so kind and helpful når jeg lærer norsk. After that, the party began!
All the women wore dresses and the men wore collared shirts. I was introduced to everyone, Helle Stabel, my second host mother and the president of Larvik Øst Rotaryklubb, talked quite a bit about how thankful she and everyone was that this was finally coming together and they presented me with a few gifts from my three host clubs. They included: a troll, a planner, and some stylish red knitted mittens! We ate and talked and I eventually met my third host sister, Charlotte. She seems very eccentric and ready to help me learn norsk and to take me out to enjoy and learn more about Larvik. I sat between Jon and Solfrid and accross from Charlotte and her father while we ate our barbequed shrimp and scallops with various vegetables and salads. (It was a cook-your-own style meal.)
Something interesting about Kjose and Larvik - there are a ridiculous amount of bees (vesps). We ended up catching quite a few in our glasses of soda and Jon caught 24 in a little trap he made. This was all in a short period of two hours! Jon was also stung by a bee on the bottom of his foot because he stepped on one in the grass. I'll talk more about that experience later...
I showed most guests where Vermont and Killington are on the atlas that Kristian lent me. I can't quite remember who it was, but one man said that they knew a couple who started a hotel B&B in Vermont! The world is so small.
We ate dessert and cleaned up the house outside from the beautiful party. Solfrid, Jon, Henrik (Jon's friend) and I sat in my bedroom and talked for a long time after.
YESTERDAY!!!
Yesterday, Kristian and Merete took all of us "kids" on a trip. We drove for about an hour to get to a beautiful GREEN lake! It was freezing, but we had to have a dip; it was a tradition that I was glad to uphold. On the walk to the lake - as we carried our hiking backpacks that consisted of swim suits, towels, sandals, extra clothes, cameras, jackets and headlamps - we found wild blueberries which we ate in pleasure.
We got back into the car after our body-paralyzingly-cold swim ^.^ and drove up to THE CAVES. We hiked up the short distance to a flowing river surrounded by rocks. We put on our jackets, sandals and headlamps and prepared to go into the cave. I found the cave, which went right INTO THE EARTH WHERE THE RIVER WENT. I couldn't believe that my host family was trying to kill me within the first week! ;)
I followed Kristian into the tiny opening with Jon behind me, Solfrid behind him, Eirik and then Merete. I was literally on my stomach, crawling into the opening with water all around me. Over a short waterfall, we could stand. I think one of the most amazing things about the river cave was that it was not slippery at all! We went about 7-800m into the earth, walking or crawling the whole way. It was one of the most amazing natural things about the earth I have ever experienced, honestly. I followed Merete out of the cave tunnel the whole way back and we took some pictures at the opening.
As we changed out of our wet clothes, Merete honored me with a giant FIRKLØVER chocolate bar for trying new things and for finding the cave. My mom is going to be SO JEALOUS when she reads this!!! ;D
We hiked back down to the car and drove to the waterfalls! It was a very delicate and steep walk down to the falls, but totally worth it. The falls were beautiful. We all went under the powerful waterfalls with our bathing suits on for a shower. Then we sat on sheep skin blankets and ate a barbeque of hotdogs and burgers with vegetables - and, of course, shrimp.
We got ice cream on the way home. "Soft-ice"with "tutti-fruiti" - Soft-serve with sprinkles. I was a mess, but what's new?
TODAY!!!!!!
Today I went to Thor Heyerdahl Videregående Skole, or MY NEW HIGH SCHOOL! I will officially be a third grader, or in the tre klasse. This is the equivalent of being a senior...again! I went with Helle and Kristian to meet with Ellen at the school. She is going to try to help me include some history and science classes into my busy musikk schedule.
From there, Kristian and I went to the police station to get my resident permit, which I will have to go again and get tomorrow. After that, we went out to lunch at an Italian Ristorante where we saw another rotarian, whom I met.
We quickly got home and I was, again, in the car, but this time with Solfrid and Merete as we drove to Studio Nille, where I will be taking dance classes this year! I tried out a hip-hop class, which I enjoyed very much and talked to a teacher there about helping out with a stepp (tap) class. They were very impressed. Solfrid is so much fun to hang out with and I am so happy she is welcoming me into her dance studio :D
I finally got to take a HOT SHOWER tonight!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
I HAVE ARRIVED
I'm using Jon's laptop to write this right now, so I will make this quick.
My flights were both delayed, the second one more severly than the first one, but I got to Norway without any other problems. It should take about one and a half hours to drive home from the Oslo Airport, but it took us nearly 3-4 hours because we hit rush hour and stopped a few times. NORWAY IS BEAUTIFUL!
My host parents Kristian and Merete and my youngest host brother, Jon, who is 13 came to pick me up at the airport. It was pretty cool: at first I met a girl who approached me at baggage claim who was once an exchange student to Finland. Then, we thought that our bags didn't make it onto the plane, so we both were a little worried. Then we found them on another baggage claim belt that wasn't labeled from Reykjavik. I was so happy she was there. She introduced herself as Caitlin.
There are so many tunnels through mountains on teh roads all near here.
When we arrived in Larvik, we stopped near a train station where there was a large gathering and found Eirik, my other host brother who is 15. From there, we went grocery shopping quickly. At the seafood end of the Grocery store, there was a big tub of cooked shrimp where we could just take one out and eat it! Believe me, it was great!
We arrived in Kjose at lake Farris to my host family's home. They had a giant sign on their house that said "Welcome Home Noellen" and also two American flags. I had a tour of the house, was introduced to my room, and played their WHITE BABY GRAND PIANO. (forgot my music at home...)
We went down to the lake to bathe because their well is almost dried up and then ate a lovely dinner outside of crab and shrimp. (It was a very messy meal!)
The only problem I have so far, which will hopefully sort itself out, is that my host family is speaking to me in English. If, a few days from now, they have not stopped, I will let them know that I would prefer them to speak only in Norsk. It is nice for the first few days, but after this, when I am settled, they continue, I will talk to them about it.
Other than that, they are very welcoming and nice! They also had a birthday cake for me last night and some presents.
I am slightly overwhelmed, but it will wear off soon enough.
My flights were both delayed, the second one more severly than the first one, but I got to Norway without any other problems. It should take about one and a half hours to drive home from the Oslo Airport, but it took us nearly 3-4 hours because we hit rush hour and stopped a few times. NORWAY IS BEAUTIFUL!
My host parents Kristian and Merete and my youngest host brother, Jon, who is 13 came to pick me up at the airport. It was pretty cool: at first I met a girl who approached me at baggage claim who was once an exchange student to Finland. Then, we thought that our bags didn't make it onto the plane, so we both were a little worried. Then we found them on another baggage claim belt that wasn't labeled from Reykjavik. I was so happy she was there. She introduced herself as Caitlin.
There are so many tunnels through mountains on teh roads all near here.
When we arrived in Larvik, we stopped near a train station where there was a large gathering and found Eirik, my other host brother who is 15. From there, we went grocery shopping quickly. At the seafood end of the Grocery store, there was a big tub of cooked shrimp where we could just take one out and eat it! Believe me, it was great!
We arrived in Kjose at lake Farris to my host family's home. They had a giant sign on their house that said "Welcome Home Noellen" and also two American flags. I had a tour of the house, was introduced to my room, and played their WHITE BABY GRAND PIANO. (forgot my music at home...)
We went down to the lake to bathe because their well is almost dried up and then ate a lovely dinner outside of crab and shrimp. (It was a very messy meal!)
The only problem I have so far, which will hopefully sort itself out, is that my host family is speaking to me in English. If, a few days from now, they have not stopped, I will let them know that I would prefer them to speak only in Norsk. It is nice for the first few days, but after this, when I am settled, they continue, I will talk to them about it.
Other than that, they are very welcoming and nice! They also had a birthday cake for me last night and some presents.
I am slightly overwhelmed, but it will wear off soon enough.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Keene
Who knew that meeting someone for the first time could feel like you've known them forever? Tor Stensrud is the type of person who, when we met, felt like we were being reunited after a long absense of each others' presence. I went up to Rachel's house today in Keene to say goodbye to her and meet Tor for the first time.
When Tor arrived at Rachel's house about twenty minutes after I pulled into her driveway, instead of shaking hands and having a very impersonal greeting, we ran to each other and gave each other a big hug. Immediately, we began talking about Norway, USA, sports, food... everything! It was really great. Rachel, Tor and I drove down to a swimming hole and swam there for a while and went into town to get bagels, all the while Tor told us about everything Norwegian and about himself. We exchanged pins and he gave me a great book all about Norway and Norwegians entitled, "norsk, ikke sant?" which means "norwegian, right?"
Ever since I was little growing up around Rotary Exchange Students, the blazers and pins have meant so much to me. Tor ended up giving me SIX (seks) PINS in total! Wow!
Two of them read: "Skikkelige mannfolk vil ha kvinner med egne meninger" and "Snille piker kommer til himmelen, vi andre kommer dit vi vil!" These are pins that only girls would wear or have. The others have to do with nature conservation and one literally says, "STOPP NARKOTIKA". He also gave me one with a Norwegian flag on it.
I hope that those of you involved in Rotary who are reading this will meet Tor while he is here in the United States on his exchange. He is very funny and a great kid to be around.
(Photos: Rachel going to Spain; Tor from Norway; and the three of us saying goodbye.)
Thursday, August 5, 2010
One Week Left :)
Tor Stensrud, my "would-be" host brother is arriving in Keene, NH for his exchange year tomorrow. I will be going to Keene to meet him on Monday.
It's interesting: I haven't felt sad saying goodbye to anyone thus far. I think that I am much more excited to get my year started than I am scared and sad to be leaving.
Well, that was my first attempt at "My Year Abroad Blog" and hopefully I will be able to post about once every two weeks or once per month. :):)
I need to start packing . . . . . . . . .
(Pictures: Emma the night before she left for Brazil; Andrew the day before he left for Switzerland.)
EXTRA NOTE: Watch carefully as I acquire more and more pins from around the world and place them on my blazer as I meet teen ambassadors from various countries. This is a very special part about the Rotary Youth Exchange Program.)
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