OSLO MASSACRE 22.07.2011



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 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

One Week

 

I had a very nice visit from Line and Mari yesterday and we ended up taking pictures out around the beach and watched Dan in Real Life.  I also made Kraft Mac and Cheese which they liked and we kos'd with potato chips, eventyr brus and små godt.  Tomorrow Didrik and Cathrine er hopefully coming to visit, but Didrik said he was getting sick, so hopefully he's better by tomorrow!  And I'll be visitng Hege tomorrow as well :)

I'm officially down to one week left in Norway.  I am SO thankful for everything that has been offered to me this year and for all the people I have met and for everything I have had the chance to do in Norway.  I have learned Norwegian.  I have befriended an entire class.  I have moved three times in eleven months.  I have climbed high mountains and swum in frozen lakes.  I have made a network of contacts here in Norway.  I have made lifelong friends.

I just needed to write something nice because I've been feeling like-----honestly, I've been feeling like crap today.  It's a scary thought that I won't be seeing these amazing people everyday like I have been for the past eleven months.  But at the same time - as my mother keeps telling me to make me feel better - I have people in the states waiting for my return.  I can't wait to see my American friends again, but it doesn't outweigh the goodbyes yet to be had with my Norwegian friends. 

On another note... I was interviewed by the newspaper the other day and here's the article from Østlands Posten:

....so that's where I'm at.

Fourth of July - Norway Style!

Today is Independence Day, or best known simply as the Fourth of July, in USA.  Gratulerer med dagen!  Happy Fourth of July, USA!!  It's pretty much the American version of 17. mai and if you want to read about the differences between Independence Day in USA and Constitution Day in Norway click here!

Yesterday I drove up to Oslo with my host parents and Toffee because in Vigeland Park was going to be a celebration for the Fourth of July.  On the way there, we stopped at a rest area where there was a STAGE set up (weird, right?) and people were singing and playing instruments and if you waited at the gas station for an hour, you'd have a chance to win a car... That was something I have never seen or heard of before!  We didn't wait at the station, just stopped for about twenty minutes and had boller and coffee and got back on the road. 

I met up with Devin at the staircase to the castle and we walked around for a little while and then got on the trikk to Vigeland Park.  I'd say there were a few thousand people there, and they had some "American-themed" stands.  They were selling sloppy joes, bearington bears, had a batting cage (baseball) and a stage with dancers and singers.  They even had some 18-wheelers...you know, the big scary ones from the US?  One stand had both democrats and republicans voting overseas... that was interesting.

There were many things that didn't feel "right" about it, like the fact that we wouldn't be doing any of this stuff on our Fourth of July at home, but that's not what this was.  This was an area of Vigeland Park that was pretty much just "American-themed" as I said before.  There wasn't NEARLY enough red, white and blue to be a real Fourth of July celebration and the pony rides and hundreds of people wearing cowboy hats threw the "theme" over the top.  But, at the same time, it was very cool to see how Norway thought of the US. 

We ended up leaving after only an hour because there wasn't too much to do, and we took jump pictures with the norsk and amerikansk flags we brought and then went to eat kebab, got slushies in coffee cups and sat on a fountain in a roundabout talking.  From there I met up with Åse Beate, an older host sister of my third host family, and we walked to her apartment were my host parents were. 

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!! :D 

Sommer

Mom and Bauer have left Norway a few days ago, after their flight was cancelled and rescheduled.  We had a lot of fun together, I just wish we could have done more things. 

Lauren was just here on a visit from Wednesday to Friday night.  We spent a lot of time tanning and sleeping as well as cooking and baking.  It was the perfect vacation.  We ended up getting burned... but we baked pumpkin pie and brownies and made a lovely grandiosa/salad/pasta dinner. 

I also lost my phone over the boat yesterday.  I was trying to balance holding many things, my phone in my pocket, and I slipped, dropping a can of fish, and as I reached for it, I slipped again, and knocked my hip on the side of the boat right where my phone was in my pocket and it slipped over the side into the water.  That SUCKS.

While my mom and brother were here visiting, my grandmother passed away.  I love her very much, but know she's better off now. 

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I can say this hasn't been the greatest summer of my life.  I have not seen any friends from school in over two weeks now and the weather has been less than perfect.  Not seeing my Norwegian friends gives me more time to think about going home, which I can't deny anymore - it's going to happen.  I have been talking to a few friends at home and am now beginning to get excited to see all of them again.  But, at the same time, it is going to be so difficult to leave all of my friends here. 

When I left Boston on the Twelfth of August, 2010, I knew I wasn't saying "goodbye," but simply "see you next year."  When I leave Oslo on July 14th, 2011, I don't know when I'll be back here, and I know that there are a lot of people I will never see again - so I can only say "see you" and hope that it's a true statement.  For most exchange students that I have talked to, saying goodbye at the end of the exchange is much more difficult than saying goodbye at the beginning.  Who knows when I'll be back here?

And of course I'll be back to Norway, but it will never be the same.  I won't be the exchange student, I'll just be a visitor to Norway.  It feels selfish to be thinking this way, but come on, I'm sure I'm not the only exchanger feeling like this! 

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While my mom and brother were here, they brought two extra bags with them for me to fill with my stuff.  I filled both of them up to the weight limit and have two empty bags here for me to bring everything else home in.  It's amazing how much STUFF one person can obtain over the course of a year.  When I arrived in Norway, I had two bags and a carry-on.  Now I have sooo much more stuff, but, I will always have these things to remind me of my year in Norway - my troll, selbu votter, Holmenkollen bell.... etc.

<3