Friday Nights

My Friday nights in Norway are spent much differently than I spend them in USA.  On Fridays in USA, I would probably go out with my friends to the movies or hang out at somebody's house.  In Norway, Friday nights are when all of the special one-night-per-week shows come on: reality shows, comedy shows, music shows, etc.  In my first host family, we weren't too interested in watching those shows.  The first time I was exposed to those shows was when I visited Cathrine and Didrik in Oslo in early October.  We spent the Friday night watching those shows and rating the music and laughing at the comedy shows.  The second time I saw the shows was at Alice's house within the next few weeks.  We all sat down for dinner, but ate and watched the shows at the same time.  Here in my second host family's house, we sit down in the living room for dinner on Friday nights and watch the shows while we eat.  Remember, this only happens on Friday nights!

One of the shows that just started again is Eurovision.  This week they were picking people to represent Norway in the all-Europe singing show.  In the 2009 show, Alexander Rybak, a Norwegian, won the show.  Here's the winner performing with Frikar (for those of you who don't remember, it's a Norwegian dance group that specializes in Norwegian dances... kicking hats off of sticks etc):

And don't tell me he's not cute...  ;)  Norway is so proud of him.  I have heard a bit about him.  Also, when we went to visit colleges in Oslo in November, one of the professors sang and played the song. 

The shows have a bit of an impact on the culture that you don't really see on the surface.  It is very cool how proud Norway is of Alexander Rybak and Frikar and winning Eurovision. 

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Saturday to today I spent the night at Alice's house and we watched the new Karate Kid movie.  Phil: add that movie to the Rotary list (if you haven't already)! 

ALSO: I dreamed in Norwegian last night!  I dreamed I was reading out loud from the book Sondre lent me: "Fluenes Herre" aka "Lord of the Flies".

Hidden Sights of Larvik

After school on Friday it was so icy that our bus wasn't running.  Sondre, Alice and I waited outside of school for about a half hour until Sondre called the bus company and we found out that we currently didn't have rides home.  This was the end of a terrible Norwegian day for me.  The whole day I couldn't seem to speak any Norwegian or understand anything people said to me.  I have no idea why that happened, but it was really frustrating.  We went inside and waited another half hour until Sondre's mom picked us up and dropped us off at our various locations; very nice of her and Sondre for driving us. 

I finally cleaned my room for the first time in a while...  hurra.  Mission accomplished!  I got to use this sweet ball that rolls with batteries with a cloth attached to clean the floor of dust, etc.  So awesome!  xD

I can't really think of so much to write, so I'll go by saying this:

Didrik and Cathrine came for a visit from Saturday to Sunday (today)!  It was really fun.  We played UNO until the wee hours of the morning (after which I skyped with Devin and Lauren), went on a tour of Larvik and had pancakes!

Here's some pictures of our adventures!


pancakes!!



bølgen (the wave)



on the porch outside my new house :)

Sorry for the lack of writing.  :D  I have to think of something brilliant.  

Lillestrøm College Fair and Culture Learning

Today started off quite normally - woke up at 7, hit the snooze, woke up at 7:10, put on my face/school clothes, made/ate breakfast, walked up the icy path to the bus stop (it has been a sheet of ice all over Larvik since it rained a few days ago; it is almost impossible to walk without holding your arms out, as if you are walking on a tightrope... okay, exaggeration) and went to school.  Sondre was doing Sudoku on the bus (now that I don't ride the bus every morning, he reads and whatnot instead of helping me with Norwegian) and we talked a little bit about the day's upcoming activities: the college fair in Lillestrøm! 

When we arrived at school, everyone "waddled" inside (only word I can think of to describe how people look like walking on the black ice) and the third graders went through the building to the other side where there were more busses waiting.  We weren't quite sure which bus to get on, so we got on one that didn't look totally full.  We were the only ones we knew on the bus (or at least that I knew).  The teacher on the bus was actually British-Norwegian!  Her Norwegian was really good, but I could see she had a very strong British accent - not like I don't have an American accent or anything...  Regardless, as soon as one bus went by us and we saw some of the kids from our class waving through the tinted windows, we realized that "vi var på feil buss" -we were on the wrong bus.  Luckily, Sondre, being one of the greatest friends I've made here, and I had no problem with the lack of classmates/friends.  Also, we stopped in Tønsberg to pick up Mari and Line!  They are also in that list of the closest friends I've made here in Norway, so it really turned out for the best. 

Sondre showed me Black Debbath: it's this band that has made these hilarious and insightful songs about Norway and it's culture.  One song is called "Traditional Food" which lyrics go: "Baby, you may feel free to leave this room now or you may listen ... We eat a lot of fish, baby, both smoked raw and rotten.  And the taste of a fish that's been six feet under and it's not that easily forgotten..."  Another one is called "The Vikings (Pioneers of Rock)" which lyrics go: "The Wikings did a lot of killing, a lot of raping too, but hey don't you go judging them too hard, no baby .... they didn't have no electric guitars, they didn't have no booze..." As those of you at home can tell, it is pretty funny and interesting! 

Just warning my parents (and others with "tender ears") it does mention some things you may not be too fond of, but I find that it works quite well with the nature of the music and text. 

Either way, we laughed most of the way to Lillestrøm.  This is what's so cool about the program, apart from making great friends and wonderful memories: learning different things about the culture in a seemingly strange way!  I never thought I could learn more or realize that I was experiencing cultural things THROUGH A SONG!  Thanks, Sondre! :D

We arrived in Lillestrøm about two and a half hours after leaving Larvik.  We were at a building that was HUGE that normally houses exhibitions and world trade events.  We were greeted by tons of flags in the windows.  All Scandinavian flags were grouped together and the others were seemingly scattered, but it reminded me why I'm here.  It's good to get a strong reminder like that sometimes.  I thought about the flag ceremonies and how I felt on the first day I arrived here in Norway.  I was overwhelmed with people when I arrived, especially without much knowledge of the language, and here I was, walking into a one km long buildling with thousands of teenagers, teachers and college kids inside and I was feeling fine! 



Mari, me, Hege and Line

A college fair is a college fair, but it was pretty neat to see how similar it was in Norway!  There were a lot of exchange programs for colleges represented; one I found very interesting was about doing one year of school in Norway and then completing in the states.  It was interesting to see all the different University and College choices in Norway and how they were presented.  (Sorry, I felt too nerdy taking my camera inside and taking pictures, so sorry for the lack of extra entertainment...)  The rest of the time we spent eating, talking and laughing outside of the big room. 



Norwegian braid... random pic haha

 I have a great life here (not like I don't have a wonderful one at home too...).  I am so happy I can say that.  I feel loved, comfortable and secure here with my Norwegian friends and host families.  I have gotten so lucky!  There are downs as well as ups, but all in all, I am one lucky Rotary Exchange Student. 

Here's a picture I just took of the beautiful moon outisde with an orange ring around it.  The moon is so bright I couldn't get it to capture correctly, but here's the best one:

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I recieved a package from Maddie today!!  Thanks Maddie!  I loved it! Especially the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree Kit :) <3

Moods of Norway

I recieved a lovely blue sweater from Kristian and Merete for Christmas (which I absolutely love) from a store called "Moods of Norway".  I had seen it before and all the exchange students were talking about it when we first arrived at language camp.  We thought it was some sort of tractor race haha.  (Most of the pictures on the clothes are of tractors.)  It is a quite different style of clothing, but quite interesting!  Here's the "story" from the tag of the sweater (I typed it exactly as written - the grammar and spelling mistakes are not mine):

"moods of norway

"clothes inspired by urban norwegian everyday living

"With it's 4,5 million inhabitants, 385 639 sq. miles, and a resistance against continental drift, Norway is a land of great diversity.  Whether it's due to the hilarious infinite access of oil or that the county itself is being as far stretched as the last gin-tonic at 5 AM in the morning, there is no doubt in the presence of some genuine Norwegian moods.  Being in a cocktail mood, Norwegians put themselves along with their behavior patterns in a small box and ship it to Denmark.  But if yhe streets are to moody, the average Norwegian farmer tends to enjoys a casual bottle of traditional family moonshine.  Chilled of course, by the ice from a glaciers trouble with heavy rain and German tourists.  So, whether it is the fjords as deep as the prime minister's pockets on election day, or the colony of Laplanders which eats anything as long as it is reindeer: if Norway was a person, it would be, without a dpoubt,a strange fish indeed."

I thought that it was quite funny and interesting so that's why I'm sharing it with you.  It hilariously says a lot about the culture (and Norwegian accents!) in only a few words.  I hope you enjoyed it!

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Random note: fell on the ice yesterday.  Nothing bad (little bruises), but just wanted to share that it took me FIVE MONTHS to fall on the ice in Norway.  Take THAT! xD

Russeball and the week leading up

It's becoming harder and harder to keep up with the blog, seeing as everything is so normal to me now, that I don't think of much to write.  To all of you at home, many of the things I write about cultural differences will seem quite different, but now they are quite normal for me. 

SPECIAL NOTE: I've been here for a little over five months now and it doesn't feel like it!  But all at the same time, I feel like I could have lived here for years with the number of friends I have here and how close I am with my host families.  I am more than satisfied with this exchange so far. 

The past two Mondays I have had Mari's brother instead of her for my piano lessons.  It was neat to have him as my teacher because he is much more of  a jazz pianist than classical.  He also took my lessons in about 90% Norwegian which was pretty difficult for me to follow, but interesting to hear.  He taught me about a different way to perform which I like a lot: feeling the absolute silence before playing a single note and hearing perfection in my mind before laying a hand on the keys.  My work feels much more musical now.

I also finished my arrangement of "Moonlight in Vermont" for Musikk fordypning this week.  I am really proud of it.  There was one chord I couldn't get right in the song that was preventing me from finishing it, but thanks to Alice and Sondre it was fixed and finished.  In a few weeks, we're going to conduct a band in Stavern with our arrangements/compositions.  No more Sibelius-quality instruments!  I don't think I could have ever done all of that at home. 

Well, what I'm really here to talk about, is RUSSEBALL!!  It's a ball for all russ at THVS.  It was about 500 kr to go, along with costs of getting there and back and dress etc.  I actually came home from school about two weeks ago to a dress Helle borrowed from a store in town that was so beautiful and she bought it for me!  (TUSEN TAKK HELLE!)  I got my hair cut and styled yesterday morning.  It turned out really nice!  Also, it was my first haircut in FIVE MONTHS.  o.O  The girl who cut my hair talked a lot like Lauren (who is in Bergen).  She would say "kah" instead of "hva" for "what", etc.  At first it threw me off, but I realized right after that it was a very different dialekt.  All of the hairdressers there kept complimenting my hair color and curls.  Not many people here have curly hair, but many people get perms or curl their hair. 

Afterwards, I went to Andrea's house to get ready with Line and all of their friends.  This is another reason I like living with a girl my age: more people to meet and hang out with!  All of her friends are really nice and helpful, too.  More and more people showed up and we all got ready and took pictures with Helle. 

People here seem to be more keen on the idea of dressing up and going out, whereas at home the kids copmlain and the boys rarely get out of the house with a collared shirt on.  Not only do the boys not complain about wearing ties, they'll even DANCE when we get there!  It's like a parallel universe...

We piled into a taxivan to Sandefjord, where the ball was taking place.  We were all singing and taking pictures the whole way there.  When we arrived, everyone was at the coat check and taking pictures on the stairs.  When we went upstairs, we got a picture, handed our ticket to a lady and she exchanged it with champagne.  Let me tell you, I'm still not used to alcohol supplied at a high school event!  We all waited around and finally got to go into where we were dining.  There was a lot of entertainment, which included a comedian and musical performances by kids in the third grade.  For dinner, we were served roast beef, potatoes, carrots, asparagus, etc and for dessert we had icecream with berries.  It was PERFECT!  I sat with Dina and a bunch of new kids I had never met before.  After we ate, we went downstairs and danced.  The DJ was really good, but he played the same songs over and over...

We took a taxivan back to Larvik and were quiet for the first time that day, we were so tired.  Line and I got home, opened a package from my aunt (thanks Aunt Meleny!) and took out all 54 bobbypins from my hair.  Yes, 54. o.O

All in all, it was definitely better than any prom in the States could have been.  Not only was dinner included, but there was entertainment!  I'd never heard of a comedian at a prom, but here it was perfect! 

Also, our waiter was from Quebec, so he talked very, very simillarly to the way we talk back at home!  It was a little bit strange to hear my own dialekt, but at the same time, very cool! 

Snø kaos/Snow chaos X)

Recently we have recieved a lot of snow from the snow gods in Norway.  We've had a couple of twenty-inch-snow days.  The only thing that I see as a problem about it... (seeing as I don't drive) is that snowdays are non-existent.  In Norway, if you recieved four feet of snow in the hour before school is suposed to start, along with the eight feet overnight, you would still be expected in school on time. 

It's so funny because before you come to a country, you really stereotype people.  I remember when I went to France when I was about seven years old and I thought that all the women there would have hairy armpits and legs, but in reality almost no women were like that.  Well, the stereotype I'm talking about is the love of snow and cold.  This is how cold, snowy winters make Alice feel:

Yes, Norwegians seem to always dominate most winter sports and are always out on the weekends, but it doesn't mean they all enjoy the cold and snow. 

Whenever it snows, I hear and see people outside moving snow.  It's different than Kjose because people there have plows to do the work (no public plow system, but local farmers and whatnot with their tractors); in Langestrand and more populated parts of the city, the plows go down the main and side roads, but driveways are your own business.  They have these little sled/shovels that most people use to move snow and they do it in such a neat manner!

Today was Trond's birthday!  Gratulerer med dagen, Trond, and sorry Helle and I almost ruined the cake!!! xD



cute picture i forgot about from Tid



quick update

Sorry I haven't updated in a while...  I have been between projects. 

Here is a picture from Oslo when I visited Sophie...

I am really enjoying my time in Langestrand in Larvik with my new host family.  It's neat to see a different family dynamic.

New Years was very fun.  I went to a friend's house with about 15 other people and we ate a very nice dinner she cooked and then walked down to see the fireworks all across the fjord.  It was really amazing.  I was lucky because I was able to call home right after midnight Norway-time.  After standing near the fireworks on the windy night, we decided to walk back to the house.

Larvik was a different town that night.  Norwegians tend to be quite "cold" if you don't know them.  If you seem lost or in need of help, no one will come up to you to help you, you'd either have to ask or figure it out yourself.  But, New Years Eve, everyone had been drinking.  Everyone was yelling with joy, setting off fireworks and wishing each other a happy new year.  It was a little strange at first, but I guess they needed that little extra "push" to seem more open towards others.  It was a special night in Norway. 

I slept over Hege's house and we didn't get back until around 4 AM.  Needless to say, we woke up around 3PM the next day... -(o.O)- 

GODT NYTTÅR ALLE SAMMEN!!