My Norwegian Adventure
What a weekend! Friday night I just relaxed an unpacked. Saturday afternoon I met another Rotary exchange student, Julie, in Trondheim. We wandered around the city for a few hours and then went to my house before she had to go. I spent Saturday night watching "Magic City" and "House of Cards" with my host parents. Sunday I met Julie again; this time we went to Rockheim, Trondheim's museum of Norwegian rock music. It's a pretty cool and interactive museum and we had a lot of fun there. First, the tour guide took us through the main exhibit. There's a different room for every decade, starting at the 1950s, all the way to the 2000s. After we looked through that, we tried a few instruments and some karaoke. Overall, a great day and a great weekend.
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Tuesday was an exciting day. Once everyone was up we went to La Roca shopping center. It was huge and there were so many stores!!! We spent the morning shopping and then ate lunch at a Starbucks. After lunch we drove to Barcelona. Our first stop was at Camp Nou, the stadium where FC Barcelona plays. My host brothers all wanted jerseys from the team and I bought some souvenirs there as well (as well as a birthday present for my sister Teresa, who is a big fan of FCB). Then we went to downtown Barcelona. We walked through the city for a bit and then had dinner. After dinner, Sissel, Luis, and Felix did some more shopping while Jose, Mio, Lela, Tata, and I walked through the city some more, in a part called La Rambla. The buildings there were quite old and beautiful. By then, it was dark and time to head home. When we got back to the house, we watched the Barcelona vs Arsenal game. Wednesday we went into Platja D'Aro in the morning and early afternoon. First we went to the park and the boys played ball for a little bit. Then we did a bit of walking and window shopping. We ate lunch at a diner and then walked back to the car to go home. Thursday was my sister's 16th birthday. Happy Birthday Teresa! Luis was supposed to fly home, but forgot his passport, so Sissel and Jose had to go to the airport to give it to him. I went with Lela to their apartment and we went up to the roof where the view was incredible! I felt like I could see all of Platja D'Aro. Then we met a friend of Jose's who will be staying in the apartment with his family and golfing at the Platja D'Aro golf course. When Jose and Sissel got back, we drove to a nearby town called Llagostera to do a little more shopping. When we got there, the shops were still closed for siesta, so we walked around for a bit until the shops opened. Afterwards, we drove back to Platja D'Aro and did a bit more shopping there. Then we went home, had dinner and packed. In the evening I skyped my family for my sister's birthday. In the morning, it was time to go back to Norway. I was really sad to go; Spain was so beautiful and so much fun, I didn't want to leave.
I'm in Spain!!! My host mom and host brothers had flown to Barcelona Friday, so Saturday morning I went to the airport and flew to Oslo, then to Barcelona. I was met at the airport by my host dad's dad, Tata. He drove me to their apartment in a town called Platja D'Aro, about 2 hours north of Barcelona. In the afternoon my host family and I (minus Jose, my host dad) went to a shopping center in a town called Salt. It was a really big mall! When we got back, we ate dinner and just relaxed in the evening. Yesterday, Sunday, we went into the town for lunch and a bit of shopping and to look around a bit. We walked a long the beach for a little bit before going home. We ate dinner and then we went bowling. I am a terrible bowler, but it was still really fun. When we got back, it was more relaxing before bed. Today, Lela and Tata went to the airport to pick up Jose. In the morning, after the boys got up, Sissel and I went into town to do a bit of shopping. We also went to the grocery store. When we got back, the boys went to the tennis courts to play and Sissel and I read until Lela and Tata returned with Jose. We went to Salt for dinner and a bit of shopping. When we came home we watched a movie called "The Big Blue"
Monday I had gym, psychology and English. Nothing special happened in the first two classes, but in English we got out groups and our topics for the discussions we'd be doing on Thursday. Tuesday with Chemistry, Math, Norwegian, and Spanish. Nothing special in any of those classes. Wednesday my psychology teacher was sick, so we watched a movie. The movie wasn't anything special, but it was in Norwegian with Norwegian subtitles, though I felt like I understood most of it. In English we did more prep work for our discussions and in the afternoon I had history. Thursday I had English fagdag and we had to do small group discussions. My group wasn't scheduled until 11:00 am, so I got to sleep in before meeting with my group. Our discussion went really well and we could have gone a lot longer than our time limit let us. After lunch the enter second grade went to the movie theater to watch a movie called "Birkebeinerne". It was about the viking history of Norway, and there was a lot to do with this particular area of Norway. It was a pretty good movie; it was in Norwegian with Norwegian subtitles, but I felt like I understood the majority of the film. Friday I had Spanish, Math and Chemistry. Nothing special happened there either.
Yesterday, in addition to being Valentine's Day, was also the Norwegian Mother's Day. My host mom worked in the morning, but when she came home I gave her a card I'd made and a candle my family had sent. Then she took my host brothers and I to her mom's for dinner. When we got back, I took another card and candle to my first host mom. Friday evening I hadn't done much except relax. Saturday I met some friends for a quick lunch and a bit of shopping. I also picked up a package from my mom. It was the last Christmas package; it had arrived late, when I was in Wisconsin, and was sent back before I returned because I hadn't picked it up. So it finally got back to Norway, the second time. I spent the evening relaxing at home again. Sunday I worked on some homework and relaxed in the morning and evening.
I spent Sunday unpacking and organizing my things and trying to catch up on all I'd missed during the week. Monday I went back to school. I had gym class first; we played some fun games. Not exactly the same as those in the US, but they were similar to Red Rover and Tag. In Psychology we watched a movie called "The Experiment". It was based on the Stanford Prison experiment and was kind of frightening, honestly. In English we gave short presentations on multiculturalism. When I got home from school my host family had already eaten, so I ate alone. Tuesday I had my usual classes: Chemistry, Math, Norwegian, and Spanish. Wednesday I had Psychology and English. In the afternoon I went to a Rotary meeting. The hotel the meetings are currently held at is closing for a few years this summer, so they discussed new locations they could have their meetings. After the Rotary meeting I went with my counselor to the Granåsen, where the World Championship in ski jumping was held. It was really cold, but also really cool to see the ski jumpers. I'd never be able to do something like that! The winner was a guy from Slovenia. The Norwegians were all really good, but didn't place in the top 3. There was one American, but he didn't qualify for the final round. Thursday was Math fagdag and I had a math test. I think I did okay. In the afternoon I had Norwegian. In the evening I went with Sissel and Jose to make sandwiches at the soccer club my host brothers play at. It was relatively quick and easy, though we couldn't find a cheese slicer until the end, when we found some in a cabinet. When we got back home Sissel started teaching me how to knit! It's fairly difficult, but by the end of the night I felt like I had the hang of it. Friday I had Spanish, Math and Chemistry.
This past week I was at Winter Camp with almost all the other Rotary exchange students in Norway. I left Trondheim on Saturday and met two other students, Jose and Julie, at the airport. We flew together to Oslo and met other students and Rotarians there. It was about a 2 hour drive from the airport to Nesbyen, the town where the camp was held. We had dinner and then I spent the rest of the evening catching up with my friends and getting to know the new Australian/New Zealand students. Sunday we got started with our camp. We were split into three groups and each group went out for a cross-country ski. I had never skied before, so it was a new experience for me. At first I really struggled, but by the end of the ski, I had gotten the hang of it. By the end of the camp I was even better and found that I actually enjoyed it. After our ski on Sunday, we got to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing until dinner. After dinner I went to another cabin and hung out with a few of the other students. Monday my group went to the alpine center to learn how to down hill ski. I panicked when I got to the top of the hill, so I only went down once with some help from a Norwegian rebound student. We ate lunch at the alpine center and afterwards I took pictures of my other group members. In the evening we went to a Rotary meeting. Everyone introduced themselves and then we did a little entertaining. All the Americans sang the national anthem for the Rotarians. Tuesday our group went for a cross country ski in the morning and came back for lunch. In the afternoon we got snowboarding equipment and got to try snowboarding. I wasn't very good at that either, but it was fun and something I had always wanted to try. Wednesday we did the same thing as on Tuesday, just reversed; we snowboarded in the morning and skied in the afternoon. I was a lot better at skiing this time, though I still fell on occasion. For dinner we had a "barbecue". Thursday all three groups went to the alpine center to ski. I chose to take my snowboard equipment and worked on snowboarding some more. I still fell down all the time, but my balance was improving and I was more comfortable snowboarding down the hill than skiing down. We had lunch there and continued skiing afterwards too. When we went back to our cabins I went in the sauna with a few other girls. Friday we had a big cross-country ski trip with all three groups. We skied out and ate lunch on the trail. It was really cold so the fire felt really good. After lunch we could choose to take either a short way back or a longer route. I went the shorter way with some of my friends and got back quickly. We had most of the afternoon free. Before dinner most of the other girls were dressing up for the Good-Bye party we were having after dinner. I ended up having my makeup done and after dinner also had my hair done. The party we had was pretty fun. The group leaders presented each student with a certificate for finishing the winter camp and learning to ski. We danced as well and when we had to leave the cafe some of us went to another cabin and talked for a long time until we went to bed. Saturday morning we had breakfast and everyone finished packing and cleaning out their cabins. There was a large van-full of us that went to the airport and I flew back to Trondheim with Jose, Julie and Theo.
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