goodbyes are hard

I woke up this morning at 4 AM to get ready to leave London.  I haven't written anything about the last week of Eurotour, but I really need to get this out on "paper" while it's still fresh.

GOODBYES ARE SO DIFFICULT!!!

Not only was everyone sleep deprived and sick of each other, but no one wanted to say goodbye because we love each other so much.  In the words of Devin Goebel, my dear friend from Ohio who is doing his exchange year in Oppegård, "...now we're like a little cozy family."  Throughout the trip, we all had our up days and our down days from being around everyone, but were okay after our little snaps to be friends again.  I will admit, I had some breaking moments as did most others... but we're all so close now, that we know we'd forgive each other for almost anything.  All we do is get on each others nerves... like siblings.

I can't believe that it's May 10th and I'm titling my blog post "goodbyes are hard" without capitalization.  I figured that I would say goodbye the last week before leaving and at the airport when I left.  Goodbyes this early put things into perspective.  My time is really winding down.  I have 65 days left in Norway - about nine weeks.  Before this year, I had never been away from home for more than four weeks at a time.  Now I'm complaining that I have too little time before returning home and it's over double the amount! 

Last night, Kate, Nina, Devin, Hannah, Miki, possibly a few others and I tried to pull an all nighter to get the last few moments in.  We ended up dyeing Kate's hair (which looks awesome) and waking each other up.  Although we saw some amazing and beautiful once in a lifetime things on Eurotour, I know that I will always remember last night.  I may not remember my feelings when I saw L'Arc de Triumph, but I know I will remember the tight friendships I have made with the other exchangers.  The Eurotour was not designed to just show us Europe, but to strengthen the friendships we have made at language camp, winter camp and onward to have a closer feeling to the world as a whole.  I now know that I have some very close friends who live thousands of miles away from me, but will always be in my heart. 

This is getting really gushy... but I just wanted to say THANK YOU NORWAY ROTARY EXCHANGERS!  And thank you especially to Gunther, Tove ("Mom"), Morten ("Commandbro") and Manfred for making this an experience of a lifetime. 

Here's a few moments I captured during the eurotour that will always make me laugh:

And you can't forget our crazy tour guide from the beginning.. He was explaining the meaning of "anal retentive"... don't ask me why.  xD

One more for good luck.  Here we're all touching the statue so we can come back to Prague. 

<3
Rotary forever :)

A few pictures from Europatur! (so far!)

VENICE



Fransisco and me climbing the alps




Miki and me at a ski resort in Austria



The whole group in Prague

Nina, Miki and me during our drive through the Alps

Prague - Vienna EUROTOUR PART 2

This morning we walked around Prague in the POURING rain!  It was quite miserable at first, but then after Kate and I got a coffee and hot chocolate at Starbucks, everything was fine again!  We walked around aimlessly at first, but eventually got on track to Albert (grocery store) and found some of the others there.  Then Kate and I were on our own again, looking through the tourist shops... again... :D

We met up in front of the clock tower and ate lunch at the same restaurant again. 

After lunch, we had to walk through Prague to the bus and we were off to Vienna!

On the way to Vienna, nearly everyone slept, but then we were all awake after our first pit stop for bathrooms break.  We stopped on the border between Czech Republic and Austria for dinner/shopping.  Nina and I got our hair cut for 15 euro!  She got between 6-8 inches cut off (super cute) and I got a (sort of) trim.  I'm not TOTALLY happy with it, but that's just because it's too short.  But, it's just hair :D 

Now we're in Vienna and tomorrow we're going to go to see The Sound of Austria and then drive to Salzburg :) 

Again, sorry for the shortness of the posts and for the lack of pictures!! it's touch when we don't have the best internet :D

EUROTOUR PART 1 and RUSSETID PART 1

RUSSETID PART 1:
Wednesday was the first day of RUSSETID!  We wore our russebuskene to school inside out, which was, by the way, really uncomfortable, but fun to see everyone in the matching pants.  Our first russeknut as a class was that we trapped a first grader in the bathroom - which was SO FUNNY. 

Right after school, Line, Mari, Håvard, Alice and I walked over to Meny to get brus for the night.  The entire walk (along with the entire day) was spent blowing our russ whistles and being a total annoyance to everyone around us.  The night was spent cooking hot dogs, being baptized by the russ priest, watching lots of drunks running around, going to Calle, and lots of dancing! 

We also got special names that we write on our russeluer (russ hats)... Alice is Tetris; Sondre is 7/8; Line is Englebarn; I'm Titt-titt... etc etc These names have to do with parts of our personalities or something funny that has happened to us.  Alice is Tetris because she plays Tetris a lot during class and is really good at it; Sondre is 7/8 because it's his favorite time signature; Line is englebarn because she is the angel child; and I'm Titt-titt ("peekabo" in Norwegian) because of something funny that happened with the word (you can only imagine how confused I was when my teacher was repeatedly saying "Titt-titt"...)

The next day I went to school after Line and Mari slept over and we got home around 2 AM with my SUITCASES to go to BERLIN TO BEGIN EUROTOUR!!!

EUROTOUR PART 1:
Miki, Nina, Victoria and I took the same train to Gardemoen Flyplass in Oslo to meet up with everyone to fly to Berlin.  We met up with Tove, or "Mom" as we call her, who kept track of us and stays with us throughout the entire trip.  The first exchanger we saw was Sara in the bathroom and then slowly we saw everyone else, got our tickets, checked our bags and went through security.  We ended up sitting around the terminal for a while because we were quite early, and then we were off.  Kate sat next to me for takeoff and later Miki sat with us because the lady next to Kate moved.  When we touched down in Berlin, we were ecstatic!!! 

We rolled our suitcases through the airport to the bus where we met our busdriver and boarded the bus for the first time.  We drove a bit through the city and went to the hostell, which was especially for internationals.  We found out after we ate dinner of sandwiches that there was a large group of Rotary kids who are living in Germany this year, also visiting Berlin.  I immediately thought of Shannon, from my district, who is living in Germany this year, but she wasn't there because they were split up into different larger groups.  I was in a room with Monica, Kate and Connie at that hostell - a room with bunkbeds. 

The next morning we drove around the city for a long time where we saw so many interesting things, but the coolest thing was our guide!  He was originally from California and he was just plain hilarious as well as interesting.  We had lunch in the end of the tour, strogenoff, which was delicious.  After our tour was over, we went around shopping for a few hours before dinner.  Kate and I went alone and got some things that we really "needed".  Dinner was in the hostell and then a bunch of us went to the park and played some games before we came back and went to bed. 

We woke up pretty early the next day to start driving to Dresden.  When we got on the bus, we found out that one of the kids was sick, so they were going to stay in Berlin in the hospital with one of our chaperones.  We left to go to Dresden after that.

The drive was quite normal and slow.  We sang some songs on the bus, played some games, slept, etc etc.  When we arrived in Dresden, we got out and walked around a castle with Gunther showing us around.  Then we stopped for lunch and had cabbage, bread and meat for lunch in a "traditional" German restaurant. We boarded the bus after that for Prague!

Our hotel in Prague is quite like a hostell - communal bathrooms and only hand towels provided.  I'm rooming with Miki, Connie and Jessica.  Last night we settled in and ate food at a restaurant that we walked up to through the woods.  We had two kinds of pork with cheese on top and lots of potatoes.  Afterward we had some AMAZING banana-flavored icecream, thanks to Gunther! :D

We woke up and ate breakfast together and boarded the bus into the city.  We walked around a lot of the city and saw some amazing sights.  We got to see the changing of the guards in front of one of the castles and took lots of pictures.  We had lunch together in a restaurant in the city and then we had a few hours to shop.  Kate and I bought lots of stuff along with checking out the wax museum... what a waste of 3 euros!  We got some local foods and had some Starbucks before meeting up again with everyone.  We took the subway to a bus station then a bus to the bottom of the hill where our hotel is.  We walked up, had an hour to do whatever, then we all ate dinner together at the same place again.

Tomorrow we're on our way to Vienna! 

(I'll add photos when I get good internet!)

To Tønsberg!

In my class at school, 3mdm (third class, music line), the majority of us are from outside of the city of Larvik.  Almost every person lives in "Larvik" but some don't even live inside the borders.  Line and Mari live in Tønsberg, which is about 40 minutes away from Larvik.  I have been there numerous times with Rotary and whatnot, but never to actually visit them... until yesterday/today!

I've been planning on visiting Tønsberg to see Line and Mari for a long time, so I can't believe it only recently worked out!  For those of you who understood what Mari wrote on my blog a week or two ago, she said that she wanted me to visit her and Line over Påskeferien, so we immediately planned it.

Else Britt drove me to Tønsberg to the Berulfsen home and we sat outside in the beautiful sun for a while.  We have had the greatest weather in Larivk for the past two or three weeks.  Lately we have had temperatuers in the low 20s Celsius (high 60s, low 70s Fahrenheit) which has been a fantastic transition from winter!  When we got inside, we ate dinner with their family who is extremely nice.  Then afterward, Because of the good weather, we went on a walk to their old school and around the neighborhood and bought ice cream and chocolate.  Then we took a short hike up into the woods where we looked for trolls and saw a beautiful view over a bit of Tønsberg.

We then watched Oppdrag Nemo på norsk (Finding Nemo in Norwegian).  We used subtitles in Norwegian as well, which did not match what they were saying at all, but Line and Mari figured that it was because they made the subtitles directly from the spoken English of the movie.  Soon Håvard called (Håvard is another person in the class who does not live in Larvik - he lives in Horten, which is 20 minutes farther away than Tønsberg) and he and his three brothers came over (they are quadruplets).  We sat around and talked and watched Pirates of the Caribbean until pretty late. 

The next morning we ate breakfast and watched a little TV and took the bus into town!  Mari, Line and I were matching; we had our russegenser (russ sweatshirts) on, Converses and "Ray Bean" sunglasses.  When we got to town, we walked through all of the shoe stores in a mall and then walked into the main part of town.  We stopped and got Happy Meals and ice cream from McDonalds.  While we were waiting in line to order, it seemed like everyone was staring at me while I was talking, so I said in English, "Why is everyone staring at me?" And everyone turned back around, so I was right!  The girls said they noticed it too... It was so weird!  I never get looks like that at school when I'm waiting in line in the katina for food! 

From there we walked up to a market square and I starting getting "flashbacks" from my weekend in Tønsberg with Rotary in September.  We started looking at more Ray Bean modelled sunglasses and after we walked away, we all said we wanted a pair, so we turned back.  I asked him how much they cost in Norwegian and he replied, "femti", which means fifty kroner, but I didn't hear him so I asked the girls and they didn't know either, so the man replied in English, which I thought was histerical because the twins are not native English speakers.  So we stood there picking out sunglasses and the man looks at me and asks, "Snakker du norsk?" "Do you speak Norwegian?" And I said, "Ja..." So he went on to say that his daughter is our age and is an exchange student in USA so we could take all three pairs of sunglasses together for 100 kroner.  We ended up spending about six dollars on a pair of pretty good sunglasses, thanks to me being an exchange student ;)  hahaha!

We spent the rest of the day up on Slottsfjellet (the castle mountain) taking pictures and soaking up the sun.  We walked back down into the town and got some godteri (candy) and walked to the train station where we met up wth Nina from Australia.  We walked around and talked for a while, then I was back on the train home to Larvik. 

Everytime I move in Norway, there is a day or two in which I am not home afterwards.  It's always that returning home that "seals the deal" with my host family.  If it feels nice to "come home" to "my bed", I know I feel at home.  It also depends on how the family reacts to my return.  All three have been koselig, so I have nothing to worry about.  :D

On Wednesday (only two days away!) I leave for Eurotour!!!  We're going to Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Venice, Lyon, Paris and London by bus until May 10th.  Tomorrow is the first day of Russetid for us at THVS, so I'm really looking forward to that.  We're having a kro that's called "Vrengekro" where we have to wear our Russebuske inside out to school and then we're "baptized" by the russeprest and we go to Calle for the night.  I'm very excited!!

Rekkevik

Påskeferien has been absolutely wonderful.  It's a nice break from school (not like I haven't already had a bunch of those...) and it's an introduction into the week before Easter. 

Friday was extra special because a bunch of us went grilling on the beach and after that, it was onto the Easter activities, plus a few extra things.

Some of the family came to visit, including young children.  It is very cool to understand and be able to communicate with the younger kids, because when I first arrived I had no idea what they were saying.  It really helps that I had the younger ballet classes with Nina and Karoline, because if I can understand the dozen kids running around and yelling, then I can understand two or three. 

Sunday night I went to a birthday party for Linke and her friend Andrea.  We rode on the trailer of a tractor into the woods and cooked hot dogs.  Then we came inside and ate tons of cake, boobie-styled cupcakes, ice cream, chips, soda, etc etc.  It was so much fun!!! 

Monday was spent outside on the porch with Helle and Trond's family sunbathing and reading.  The weather has just been so deilig.

There was always new candy in the giant Easter egg in the kitchen because the Easter bunny came everyday.

Tuesday was my last full day on Langestrand at Helle and Trond's house.  It was very bittersweet as the day was spent packing.  I also got sick of packing and watched Star Trek and Rat Race.  We had a very nice dinner of steak as our last dinner together with me as the exchange student. 

Wednesday (yesterday) was also spent packing and getting everything together to move to Rekkevik with the Bugges.  As soon as we pulled up with the car I started getting teary because I knew I had to say goodbye.  Helle and Line dropped me off and they were a bit teary as well. 

My new host family is: Harald, host dad; Else Britt, host mom; and Charlotte, host sister (19).  They live "across the fjord" from Langestrand, but close enough to the school that I think I will be biking everyday.  They have a dog named Toffy, seven birds and two goldfish.  It really feels like home with the pets! 

I was shown around the house, had the normal first day/night questions answered, skyped with my grandma and Lauren and I started unpacking.  But I didn't get very far before Charlotte and I started to get ready to go out to Calle for the night.  It was the 18 and over night at Calle last night and it was a blast.  I was so tired from yesterday that I just fell asleep when I got home. 

Here's a picture of me with Charlotte before we went out.

--------

One of the most difficult but rewarding things a Rotary exchange student does is switch host families.  Although it really sucks to have to pack up EVERYTHING and move across town and start over with another family, you gain such a greater understanding of how the culture works in the country and your family grows bigger.  I know there are very big differences between my three families, but there are also many things that are the same that define the Norwegian culture.  I am very lucky to have had so many host siblings - five in total.  I have had three younger, one the same age and now one older than me.  I have also had host parents with very different jobs and social lives.  On another note, I am so lucky to have the friends I have made in Norway.  I just can't wait for my mom and Bauer to come to Norway and meet all of these amazing people. 

So, here's to another new beginning living in Rekkevik next to the beach...  and here's to only SIX DAYS before Eurotour!!!!!!!!

griller på stranda

Yes, I'm posting AGAIN this week... 

Today was the last day of school before PÅSKEFERIEN or the Easter Break! 

In our first class, I brought in apple pie that I made last night.  It was a pretty good hit, I think...  :D 

Henrik gave us an "Easter quiz" which was in teams of three to four about genres of music, composers, periods of time, etc etc.  It was a lot of fun!  Normally in Norway, the team that wins these quizzes is the only team to get a prize (normally chocolate of some sort), but Henrik was sooooo nice and got little easter eggs full of godteri (candy) for all the teams! 

The rest of the day was pretty normal except that we were planning to grill hot dogs on the beach!  Line, Mari, Linnke, Håvard, Dina, Alice and I went to the beach down next to Farris Bad after school and cooked hot dogs and had it very koselig. 

Besides almost catching Håvard's head on fire while trying to light the grill, it was a pretty successful day!  It's days like these that make me realize that I have made lifelong friendships with these people here in Norway.  When we first walked down to the beach, I began reminiscing about the first week in Norway when we (the music line) went to the beach and I didn't really know anybody.  I felt a little bit outside for the most part, but now I feel like a part of the gang.  On that day at the beach in August, I never thought that I would be running around, falling, rolling on the ground, jumping around with these classmates.  Here I am!  I have made strong friendships and ......... had a GREAT DAY AT THE BEACH!  hahaha I WON'T talk about leaving.  I WON'T!