My Norwegian Adventure
Thursday I had Psychology fagdag. For the first half of the morning we worked in groups researching for our presentations. After a short break, the second half of the morning, we presented what we had researched. In the afternoon I had Norwegian.
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Today I started my morning with Psychologi. After that, I had English class. We discussed multiculturalism in the UK and the US. My desk partner and I had a really good discussion about America's multiculturalism, immigrants in America and the role of America in world history, mostly modern world history. After lunch my history class went to a museum and looked through an exhibit about local viking history in the Middle Ages. The exhibit was pretty cool, but not very exciting. When I got home I worked on catching up on my English reading. We started reading the book "White Teeth" by Zadie Smith before Juleferie, but I got really behind when I had to go home, so now I'm trying to catch up. It's kind of a strange book, but so far I think I like it. I took a break and drew Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones, which I'm currently reading.
Yesterday, my host Rotary club, the Trondhjem Rotary Klub, celebrated its 90th anniversary. To celebrate, there was a large, fancy dinner at the hotel where the meetings are held. At six pm, Jose and I went to the Britannia Hotel. There was a presentation about the history of the club and then we went to the dining room for dinner. There was salmon for an appetizer and dinner was duck. There was live music and several people gave speeches. Then we had dessert and could go home. The night was really late, but very nice and I had a nice time. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, sorry!
After I arrived in Trondheim, I decided (and received permission from my host parents) to stay home on Wednesday in order to catch up on sleep and finish unpacking. So my first day back to school was Thursday. When I got to school, a lot of my friends and classmates came up to me and gave me hugs and their condolences. I had English fagdag and we watched the movie "Crash" and then discussed it in class. There was a concert during lunch that I didn't know about until afterwards, and Norwegian class was cancelled. Today, I got my schedule mixed up and went to the wrong class in the morning. When I was the only student there, I went to the library to work. Then I had Math. I understood the lesson pretty well, even though I can't remember ever learning it before. I also made an appointment with my teacher to get some extra help, mostly with going over what I missed. In the afternoon, I had Chemistry. In the evening, Sissel, Luis, and Felix all went out and Jose was working, so Mio and I watched some movies together. There's still a lot of snow on the ground, though it hasn't snowed in the last few days. The temperature has been pretty good; just below freezing. It hasn't taken me too long to settle back into my Norwegian schedule.
Hey everyone. I'm back in Norway! It was a fun and rough two weeks. I enjoyed seeing my family and friends, but would have preferred not to, given the circumstances. I know it's been a while (two weeks) since I last posted, but here's a summary of what I did:
January 1: I added 7 hours to my day as I flew from Norway to Wisconsin. Sissel, Jose, Mio, and Roar took me to the airport. I flew from Trondheim to Amsterdam to Atlanta, GE to Milwaukee. The flights were long and I was extremely tired, but so glad to see my family and Madeline once I arrived in Milwaukee. Once I got home, I pretty much went to bed. January 2: Linda Luka, Renee and Miles, Amy, Dylan, and Mason, and Marilyn came over to help with pictures for the funeral. Rich helped load stuff and take it to the funeral home. Jenny stopped by to say hi. Linda Edwards took Teresa and I clothes shopping and then we stopped by Carol and Josh. I was surprised by how excited Sebastian was to see me. In the evening, we went to church as a family and then visited Grandma Wolf and Marilyn. January 3: In the morning, Mary stopped by for a little bit. Later, Jenny stopped by too. The fire department had a memorial service, but we didn't go. Instead, we stayed home and prepared ourselves for the wake. Visitation was from 3-8 pm. There were so many people. Because of the cold, the funeral home staff was looping the line through every room in the home! They said it was the biggest funeral they'd had. There was an honor guard posted by the casket. The local fire departments also came and did a walk-through. They also did a page like they had for Grandpa Wolf's funeral. I was surprised how many teachers and friends came. Most of Adam's teachers were there, and some of mine and Teresa's too. All of us had friends come too. January 4: The hearse drove by the farm with the ambulance so Dad could come home one last time. Then we went down to the church for another hour of visitation before the mass. A few of my friends skipped school to come again, for which I was extremely grateful. Mass was very good. Mom gave a "brief" eulogy. All of us kids went up there with her, but she got through it just fine. It was very hard to go to the cemetery to bury Dad. Afterwards, there was a luncheon in the church basement and then the Wolf cousins had a get-together at the fire station. When we got home, Mom was nearly done sorting flowers. There was an abundance of leftover desserts and the house smelled very nice from all the plants. January 5: Teresa and Adam went back to school. Mom and I took some of the desserts over to the shop. We also visited Grandma Wolf and Marilyn. One of Mom's co-workers came over to give her a massage, which she needed. January 6: I visited Slinger High School. I mostly wandered to different classrooms with my friends and said hello to my teachers. I talked for a bit with Mr. Sievers. I really enjoyed spending lunch with my friends; I had missed the way we all joked with each other. After school, I crashed an Ac Dec practice and took a practice test. January 7: Mom and I didn't do much. We went to the fire station and she talked with Bruce. January 8: Mom and I went to West Bend Station 1 since she really wanted to talk with the guys who transported Dad to Milwaukee. It was good to see how much those guys care for and respect Mom and Dad too. After that, we went to the attorney to discuss and fill out some paperwork for me. Mom had a short doctor's appointment. Then we got Culver's take-out and visited Renee, Tessa, and baby Miles. Miles slept the whole time we were there, but Renee showed us their new house and Tessa and I played. In the afternoon, Teresa, Adam, Mom, and I did a bit of shopping and dropped off Joe's oranges at Station 3. We also got to see the new ambulance. When we got back home we watched Treehouse Masters and Duck Dynasty. January 9: We went to the Wagner family Christmas party. It was really fun to hang out with everyone. In the evening, I babysat Sebastian, which was so much fun. January 10: We went to Declan's Confirmation Candidate mass. In the afternoon, Grammy, Grampy, Carol, Candace, and Linda Luka came over to help with thank-you cards. Tim and Adam went snowmobiling and Josh and Sebastian came over after their naps. I watched some of the Packer game too, and was so happy when they won! January 11: Mom and I had some appointments to get things set for me to go back to Norway. January 12: Mom and I had some appointments and then I went to the Rotary meeting. The Neon, which hadn't worked properly for a while, was picked up. Mom had donated it to Rawhide Ranch. I was surprised to see Elysia and Andrew there, but they were Rotary students of the month, so it makes sense. Afterwards, I visited Grandma Wolf before going home. January 13: I went to the Middle School and gave a presentation to the two World Cultures classes. I focused on Norway and what it's like to be an exchange student. The kids seemed pretty interested, which was cool. January 14: I have two more presentations in World Cultures. The kids again seemed interested. In the afternoon I met with Elysia, Jacob, and Nikhil to go to the Milwaukee Public Museum. They had an extra credit assignment in AP World with the Crossroads of Civilization exhibit. After they finished their work packets, we walked through the Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit, then headed home. January 15: Grammy and Grampy took Mom and I to lunch at MJ Stevens. Afterwards, I went and cleaned by Grandma Wolf. Then Mom and I went to the funeral home for yet another batch of thank-you cards. We also met with Matt to discuss options for the gravestone. He sent us home with a granite sample and book of ideas. January 16: After lunch, Mom, Teresa, Adam, and I discussed ideas for Dad's gravestone. The only thing we have for certain is the stone, which comes from Norway! We also picked out some things for mementos of Dad. In the evening, I went to a party at Madeline's. We played some card games and watched the end of the Packer game. It's a shame they lost; I was getting excited. It was really nice, again, to catch up with my friends and just laugh and feel at peace. January 17: My last day in Wisconsin for another 5 months. I went to church in the morning. In the afternoon, we went over by Carol and Josh for game day. Declan was working, but came at the end. Grammy and Grampy left early, and so did Rich. Candace and Zach were also there. We had a lot of fun playing Uno, Old Maid and Skip-bo. In the evening, Teresa and Adam worked on homework and Mom and I relaxed. January 18 (and 19): I got up early to say good-bye to Teresa and Adam. Amy stopped over for a while and then Mom and I drove to the airport. It was really hard to say good-bye, maybe even harder than the first time. I had a short flight to Detroit and then a flight to Amsterdam. The flight to Amsterdam was really empty, so I had a whole row to myself, so I was able to stretch out, though I didn't get much sleep. After I got to my gate in Amsterdam, I slept some more. The flight to Trondheim was pretty full, but not completely, so I had my own row of seats again. I didn't stretch out this time, but I did sleep. Sissel and Jose met me at the airport in Trondheim and took me home. I called Mom. I started to unpack, but ended up falling asleep until now. |
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