- A Year In Norway -: Russetid update and a little from Europatur

Yesterday we had a formal russelunsj (Russ Lunch) at school. We didn't have to go to the last block class and got to go without russebuksene for the day (if we wanted to). We had lasagna and salad and the principal talked to us. I met him on the first day of school, but haven't talked to him since then haha. It was a lot of fun.

Here's a little thing I found on youtube from Alt for Norge featuring Americans who want to meet their Norwegian families. They had to do a russ challenge, which was really cool to see from other Americans' point of views:

(if you skip to around 45 seconds, it has English for the non-Norwegian speakers)

EUROTOUR:

Salzburg:

Sound of Austria! We went to a show when we arrived in the city where five people sang and danced for us during dinner and one man played the piano for the music. It was really fun, as they invited us up on stage and we knew almost all of the songs because of the Sound of Music.

Venice:

We stayed in a hotel in Lido di Jesolo next to THE BEACH!

We stayed on the beach for a few hours before dinner the first day after the long drive...
The next day we were up early and went to VENICE! We had to get on a REALLY crowded bus to the boat, but it went well. On the boat we saw some exchange students on their Eurotour from France! That was really cool! We had a guided tour in the beginning of the day and the church was actually flooding while we were inside. I have been to Venice before because I was a short-term exchange student in Ferrara, Italy three years ago, but I loved it just as much again! I was going to meet up with my host brothers, but something happened so they couldn't come :(

Kate and I walked all around the city during our free time and saw the beautiful glass works and hidden sights of Venice.

And got gelato, of course! ;)
On the way back we were soooo tired!

That night we went to the beach for a while and a couple others met up with the other exchange students who were in a hotel on the same street as us!

Lyon - Paris:

We were pretty much only in Lyon to sleep, so there's not much to say about it.

Castle of Versailles:

Walking around the castle was a lot of fun. We didn't have a tour, but it was really neat to see everything. I loved walking around and speaking Norweigan because no one could understand us... xD

After Versailles, we drove into Paris to our hotel! Our hotel was just off of a street where we could see the Louvre. Great placing! The first night, a couple of kids and I walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower and back which took between 2-3 hours.

It was totally worth the walk, no doubt!

On the way back, I got a nosebleed. I know that if I don't mention this, someone who was on the walk will, so I'll just say it. We didn't have anything to stop it with (I had been having bad allergies since arriving in France, so it was bound to happen), so I had to use a recipt. Then - if anyone has seen She's the Man with Amanda Bynes, you'll understand the true meaning of what happened next - I used a tampon to stop it. One of the most embarrassing moments of my life. Here's a grusome picture of the turnout of that night:

The next day we drove to L'Arc de Triomph and then went up the Eiffel Tower! I have also been to Paris before, when I was eight years old (ten years ago - exactly), but I have never been up inside of the Eiffel Tower before! When we were standing in line, Artur and I thought it would be funny if he spoke to the people walking around selling Eiffel Tower keychains in Norwegian because it would throw them off. It was hilarious! They didn't know what to do!

We took a boat ride on the Seine, where Kate and I both ended up falling asleep. We did see a bit more of Paris, but it wasn't very interesting, and we couldn't see much of the buildings the robot voice on the boat was explaining.

After that, we had the rest of the day free! We ate lunch near the Notre Dame and then I met up with SOPHIE!!! I'm so lucky, I've seen her TWICE during my Norwegian exchange! What are the odds of that??

We went to the Louvre, where I got to see the Mona Lisa for the second time in my life. I never thought that would happen more than once! Sophie brought her Brazillian exchange student along as well! His name is Jonas and he was so funny and cool! We had so much fun!

We ended the day with a french dinner and went out on the park in front of the Louvre and kos'd us for the night.

London:

We left for London early the following day. We took a ferry to London, but before that, we had to go through customs, using our passports for the first time. That was long and boring, but the ferry was quite fun! While Artur and I were in line at the DutyFree, we were talking about how cheap candy is in Sweden, and the people in front of us were Swedish! They were buying candy that was about four times as expensive as back home for them! hahaha You'll understand if you're Norwegian... ;)

It was so strange to hear so much English! Everytime someone spoke loud in English, I turned my head and thought, "Wow! Where are they from? ...Oh wait... English-speaking country.. riiiight..."

We had a guided tour the next day where we saw the Big Ben, the church where the marriage was, the changing of the guards and many other things:

The rest of the day was free, so we went to the Canadian/Australian/New Zealand/South African store! I bought Kool-Aid packets, canned pumpkin (I've been so lucky with that) and "REAL" chocolate pudding from a Jell-o box. ;)

^^Last dinner together.
That night we also dyed Kate's hair and attempted an all-nighter, but I fell asleep around 2 AM and we woke up again around 4 AM to go to the airport.

Oslo:

Arrving in that airport again was bittersweet. I was excited to get back to Larvik, but very sad to say goodbye to everyone. I was overtired and overemotional as were others, so a lot of tears were shed saying goodbye. Nina, Miki, Victoria and I took the same train back home, ending the trip the same way it started, except with goodbyes.