JEG SNAKKER NORSK!! ...litt. o.o"

Yesterday, I decided to try putting my hair the way most girls seem to do their hair here..... with some sort of braid.  It ended up looking very nice, so I might get used to it quickly!

At breakfast, Jon, Solfrid, Merete and I discussed our plans for after school.  It looked like I would have the house to myself!  I was looking forward to that :D

I was a little more awake on the bus that morning, so I looked to see who was on it.  There seemed to be about three or four kids from my musikk classes riding the same bus as me!  Great!  I would have to remember that for looking for my bus on the way home.

Alice and Sondre met up with me and we talked about our plans as we walked into the school.  (btw, this school has motion sensor doors.  whoa.) We went up to room N417, as usual, and got ready for class.  I sat between Alice and Sondre as Henrik appeared to start class.  We learned a lot about impresjonisme musikk.  My notes go a little like this:

"NYE UTTRYKK
eksperimentering, avantgarde og tradisjoner (pretty simple forstår (to understand) right?)
...
CLUSTER OG STØY
cluster, ekstrem silblanding, fri rytme og tempo, støy, ionisation
INNTRYKKSKUNSTEN I MUSIKKEN
dans i ca. 1890 - ca. 1910
titlene skulle ikke som i programmusikken beskrive innholdet men gi et inntrykk av komponistems opplevelse..." (.....not so simple)

Henrik always made sure I knew what was happening and multiple times asked me a question in English where I would speak norsk-engelsk in order to answer him to the best of my ability.  (We also had a fire alarm go off today, so we all went down the four (five, for some) flights of stairs outside.  We, interestingly, just stood next to the school.  I feel like we have a safer program at Woodstock.  They don't take attendance to make sure everyone is out of the building...)

We stayed in the same room and had another class with Anders.  This was about leading a band, getting ready for a performance...etc etc.  I felt very ready for this course becasue of all of my work with the high school band as vice president.  I had to make programs, help set up, advertise...  The list goes on.  I felt like I knew much more about this than the other kids in the class.  We were discussing who would do what to get ready for a huskonsert in October. 

We had lunch, which we ate on the second floor in the diverse music room. 

From there I went back to room N417 for a class with Endre.  This class is about composition.  This was pretty simple to understand, except that we had to - at the end of class - tell Endre what he was playing on the piano, which was pretty difficult for me in another language.  Instead of first, second, third, etc and flat and sharp, or minor etc. it is:

1 - prim - ren/forminsket/forstavre
2 - sekund - liten/stor
3 - ters - liten/stor
4 - kvart - forminsket/forstavre
...
8 - oktav
and they are written like this: L.2; S.3; R.5 (I had quite a bit of trouble with this part of the class...)

I am very lucky, because Alice is more than helpful.  She wrote out all of that for me, and helped me to define words written on the board so I now have a paper that is filled with different words and meanings. 

Our next class was in room N436 where we had Historie.  We are studying American and French revolutions, so I think I will just study my Norwegian here because I already learned about these, if not many times.  This was with Monica.  She also did not speak engelsk with me, which was great.  I think I will learn much more norsk at school than I will at the house.  She spoke about hwat we were going to do for the year, and then we all had to talk a little bit about ourselves.  I was really excited about this!  I could show what I had already learned! 

I was able to give a short overview about me without many problems!  YAY!!!  I am learning norsk!  Jeg lærer norsk!  The teacher also said that she heard from some of my other teachers that I am "veldig bra" at the piano.  I think I already have a reputation at this school.  Jeg spiller piano veldig bra, according to my teachers. :)  We were given an assignment to read 9 pages out of a photocopied textbook.  She told me that she wasnæt going to expect anything from me for the next class as long as I, atleast, try to read it.  She realized that I already studied these topics at school in America. 

I got on the bus from school and sat with my new classmates instead of by myself!  It was great!  I seem to fit in quite easily with them! :D  I'm very happy about this.

Well, the bus driver went the wrong way, realized it, went back and then a little old lady took FOREVER, even with my help, to get on and off the bus, so I was very late coming home.  Merete and Jon were going out for grocery shopping and golf practice, so I had teh house to myself. 

I was able to finally relax alone so I watched TV and called home. 

Today, we cleaned the whole house and in about an hour, Jon, Solfrid and I will be leaving for the city to watch a movie and so that they can show me around.