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.

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