Russefeiring!!

Upon learning that I would be an exchange student in Norway, I recieved information in the mail from Rotary Norway about my upcoming year.  One of the rules - no buying a part in russebil - came as a surprise.  What is a russebil?

Rule # 17:
"In Norway we have a very special kind of graduation celebration, which in most student cases includes buying an old car with a group of classmates/friends. These cars are called “russebil(-cars)” and the graduate students in Norway are called “russ”. As mentioned before Rotary students are not allowed to drive motorized vehicle. As the driving pressure in a “russebil” normally is very strong, due to the fact that most students want to drink while celebrating and not drive, we do not allow our exchange students to buy part in a “russebil”."

Okay, great!  Russ buy old cars with their friends... what's the catch?  And why are the russ celebrating so much before they graduate?  Thanks to Norwegian friends/host families and the internet, I finally understood. 

"Russ" is a traditional name for the graduating students from videregående skole in Norway who participate in a the special graduation ceremony called "russefeiring."  "Russetid" is generally from May 1st to the 17th (it ends on Norway's National Day) but it is normal to have different "Russekro", or clubbing parties, throughout the year.  According to wikipedia, during May 1st to the 17th: "Participants wear coloured overalls, drive matching cars, vans, or buses, and celebrate almost continually during this period. Promiscuous sex, drunkenness and public disturbance on a mass scale has been the most prominent impact of the celebration in recent decades."  (Why do I have a bad feeling my parents just had a heart attack when they read that...) 

As for the Russebiler - the russ cars - my host sister Line bought one with her friends.  The color for our school is red, so their russebil is red.  Each russebil has a theme - this one from russfromtheinside.wordpress.com is entitled "Frustrerte Truser"... Frustrated 'Briefs'...

As you can see, there are many... undergarments... on the vehicle.  Whatever the theme is decided to be for the russebil is how it is decorated.  I am not a part of any russebil, but I'm glad for that because it costs quite a bit of money and time.  It will be very fun to see how all of the cars/buses turn out!

On Friday, we recieved the russeklær, russ clothes, we ordered.  If you notice in the picture above, the russ are all wearing red overalls; this is a traditional part of the ceremony.  These are worn from the 1st to 17th of May and decorated with badges and writings from other students.  We also recieved russeluer, russ hats, which are red with a long tassle.  This tassle has a specific meaning - not the same as a graduation cap in the united states, mind you.  The tassles are very long so that the wearer can put certain "knots" in the cap or special items.  These are acquired only after completing an "assignment".  Some include: spending a night in a tree, eating a Big Mac in two bites, break up with a random 16 year old in public, put a "for sale" sign on a police car... etc...  For sleeping in a tree, your token would be a stick from the tree; for eating a Big Mac in two bites, the token would be a piece of the wrapping... etc...  In the states, if the wearer of the cap has the tassle on the left side, they have graduated (a part of the ceremony); in Norway, if the wearer of the cap has many knots in the tassle, they are worshiped.. okay, maybe not worshiped...

Another part of the deal is Russekorter, russ cards.  They are traded and given away to younger students.  Here's mine for an example:

"Noey" is my russenavn, russ name; my address is Norway, USA; telephone number 362451 (all musikk linje has this); Rotary Youth Exchange 2010-2011; "Hug an exchange student"; "Can you speak more slowly?"; "Don't make me snap in the z-formation; and "I LOVE NORWAY".  As a tradition, you write nonsense on the cards - plus, I really wouldn't want to just give my address and phone number to random kids anyway...

This ceremony is very special and is only celebrated in Norway (by my knowledge).  The differences between the states and Norway for the graduation ceremonies are huge, as you can see.  At Woodstock, we celebrated only the night we graduated, which was a party thrown by the school and monitored by the school to keep us safe, whereas in Norway, Russ party until graduation and the parties are very different, although held by the school-oriented-russ-commitee. 

For those of you reading this in Norway who don't know what graduation nights are like in the states, I'm glad to explain it: we had something at my school called "Project Grad" which was held mostly by parents of graduating students.  This commitee was in charge of getting an event set up for the students the night of graduation so they don't "get themselves into trouble."  My father was on the commitee as well as many parents on my friends.  We had a party at a ski resort's work out center and pool in my town, Killington (which, did I mention, was said on TV here in Norway the other day when they were talking about the Dew Tour and Winter X-Games... I'm so proud).  We had Black Jack tables and other card games, food, drinks, access to the indoor pool and hottubs, a free photobooth, a dancefloor with DJ, a magic show and tons of prizes just for showing up instead of going out and partying.  I remember I won three different gift cards: one to a pizza place and two to Walmart (time and money well-spent...ha!).  The event ended early in the morning and the parents came to pick us all up. 

In Norway, I couldn't tell you too much about the time between the 1st and 17th of May because I haven't experienced it, but I have heard that kids come to school hungover a few times and party on some school nights.  I can tell you about Russekroene, the russ parties before May.  I have been to two and the russeball.  The first one I went to was back in November (November Russekro) which was a lot of fun.  You can click on the link to read about my night.  The second one was last night.  This theme was "Paradise-kro" about a TV show here in Norway.  I ended up just wearing a skirt instead of doing the paradise-theme (didn't really bring so many clothes for warm weather in Norway...) and went to Jani's house before with some other girls from the dance line and music line.  We walked over to Calle (the club where the kro was) which was just down the street.  There were so many people dancing and drinking and having so much fun.  The energy is so great at russekroer.  Everyone is celebrating together and having a great time.  After the kro was over, Line and I walked back up to Langestrand and made another meal at 3AM. 



June 12, 2010: Caitlin, Julie, me, Kelly before we graduated



Didrik and me after I graduated (yes, my big brother came all the way to USA for my graduation!)



Friday, when I got my russeklær!!!

The only thing I can think to sum this post up is: "Who knew there were so many different cultural differences in a graduation ceremony?"

Jeg gleder meg til russetid!  Jeg skal ikke være i Norge for de første ti dager, men det skal være kjempegøy!!