- A Year In Norway -: God jul! Merry Christmas! as well as a sad goodbye and a welcoming hello...

The 23rd was the start of Christmas Vacation here in Larvik. I went to Oslo early to see Sophie and her friend Myrthe!

We met up at Oslo S by BURGER KING (yes, even in Norway...) and looked through the tourist shops and some other stores before meeting up with Didrik. We met up with him at Pepe's Pizza accross from the Grand Hotell.

We had a great time, and when it was time to go, the day just went too fast. I couldn't even believe that I got to see my French exchange student during my exchange in Norway! How cool is that?!

When it was time to go, we waited at the 5 spor and some random lady came up and started talking to us. Now, this is totally abnormal in Norway, because if you don't know someone, you wouldn't THINK about talking to them. So, when this lady came up to us and started openning her purse and showing us her money and cell phone, I thought about mine! I looked behind us to make sure she wasn't distracting us so that someone could go through our bags and backpacks on our backs, but I think she was just crazy. BUT she ended up making my day! She was speaking Norwegian to us and I kept answering her in Norwegian and she came about asking "Hvor bor du i Norge?" or something like that meaning "Where do you live in Norway?" and I was so excited. She just made my day. "Jeg er fra USA!" Then she went on to say "Så flink du er på norsk!...You're so good at Norwegian! How long have you been here? My grandkids are polyglots... blah blah blah" and then we lost her. THANK GOD. But, I WAS SO HAPPY THAT HAPPENED. Some random lady in Oslo, probably a nuts one, made my day. (Besides of course seeing Sophie and Myrthe). Then Solfrid and I met up at her stop on the train and we rode home.

A few days before that, I went out with Kristian and Merete to get the Christmas tree in the woods. Little did I know that the one we picked would be too big for the living room . . .

We spent that night decorating the tree, eating Christmas treats and I attempted to find some Christmas music online to play on the piano.

We had a big dinner with many different things.

The next morning, Jon, Solfrid and I opened our stockings. We had a lot of candy and little games. We ate a big breakfast with all different kinds of Christmas cheeses and whatnot. WE went to church:

and we watched the Wizard of Oz and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Then we had a big dinner with lutefisk and ribb and many other things and openned presents. We openned presents one by one. I gave them some presents from home and some things from Norway. I feel so loved here! I recieved onepiece pjs with the Norwegian flag on it, a sweater from Moods of Norway and a lovely book. (Among other wonderful things from home and my host families . . . )

The next day we had two dinner parties with friends and family and Skyped with my family and everyone at the annual Neisner Christmas Party!

The next day I spent packing and unpacking. It was really hard to say goodbye to Kristian, Solfrid and Jon the day before; I didn't even get to say goodbye to Eirik! :( Merete drove me to Helle and Trond's home and when I had to say goodbye I finally broke down. Then I unpacked and Line and I stayed up until 4am watching movies.

Switching host families is difficult if you have become close with them. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to switch, but I have also become very close and attached to my first host family. I love them all so much. Although I will see them a number of times before I eventually leave for USA, the fact that I already had to say "goodbye" means the real goodbye with be even harder.

<3