My Norwegian Adventure
This week has been pretty tame so far. Sunday night, after we got back from the cabin, I got to skype with my family for the first time since I left, as a sort of birthday treat for my Dad. It was really nice to be able to see and hear all of them, instead of just reading emails. It also made me really miss them, but they say that that's normal. They also updated me on how things are going back in Wisconsin. It sounds like school, work, the farm, and the fire department are all going well. As for school this week, it's been going pretty well. Monday, for gym class, we did a few games as warm-ups, and then did track stations in small groups. I did really well at the 60m. and 100m. sprints, but not so well at the long jump, shot-put, or tennis ball throw. Oh well. I wore my Science Olympiad sweatshirt to school yesterday, and got compliments from my Chemistry teacher. After I explained the joke about "Bad at spelling", she tried to spell out the school's name using elements, but was unable. She did laugh though when I explained that I went to Slinger, not Slingaar. I had the Norwegian language course (Norsk kors) again last night. Because of Høstferie (Autumn break) next week, and the teacher being gone the week after that, we don't have class for the next two weeks. Today I had a presentation in Pyskologi that went okay. The teacher was fine with me saying my part in English, so I didn't have to worry about pronunciation. Now I'm getting ready for tomorrow's fagdag (subject day). I have International English, and we'll be writing a five paragraph essay. The topic is kind of a difficult question, especially when you've experienced English in both a native-speaking country, and a country where it's a foreign language. For those of you who are interested, the task is: "Discuss the idea that the native speaker of English is, and always will be, the ultimate authority on its usage." I think that will go well though, tomorrow, since I'm really good at writing essays. Also, since today is my Dad's birthday, I have to wish him a Happy Birthday, or, as they say in Norway, Gratulerer med dagen!
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So, after a weekend of candy, good food, and relaxing, I had gym class first on Monday. We had a running test, similar to the mile, I guess, where we had to run for 12 minutes and see how far we got. Unfortunately, I have a very athletic class, so I was the slowest person. But I made it, and I didn't die too much! (: Then, yesterday at my Norwegian course, we got to explore the town! I was partnered with another exchange student from Germany, named Carolina, and we had to find two spots in Trondheim and take pictures. We had to find the Trondheim Kino and Ravnkloa. We found both and took pictures, and then walked through some shops before returning to share our pictures. Also, today, at school there was a college fair of sorts. Several international colleges and universities came and had a table set up with pamphlets for the students. My friends say that it's very popular in Norway to study abroad; almost all students do at some point in their lives! It was nice to see some American colleges, and because most of the colleges there were from Australia, England, or America, there was a lot of English being spoken! I found one college I was actually interested in; the American College of Norway. Students spend one year studying at the college in Norway, and then finish their American degree at one of four universities in America. I spoke with the representative, and it sounds very interesting to me.
Thank God it's Friday! Though, the week wasn't too bad, and definitely went by quickly. I had two tests today at school. The first one was a Spanish (Spansk) vocabulary test. I think it went pretty well. Like any test, I knew a good portion of the words, there were some I think I maybe knew, and there were others that I was completely clueless on. I also had a test in Chemistry (Kjemi). It was part multiple choice, part short answer, and all Norwegian. I was able to figure out a few of the multiple choice on my own, but the rest of the multiple choice and the short answer I had to ask my teacher to translate for me. She was really nice about coming over and explaining the question, and letting me write in English. I was really nervous for this test, even though it's pretty basic stuff, but I think I did okay. And I finished half an hour early, so I got to go home early. YAY!!! Nothing like starting the weekend early to make you feel good, even if the weather's crummy. Yesterday and today it has been raining, except that it's really more of a heavy mist than actual rain. Yesterday, my host mom took me to eat at Ikea. I had meatballs (kjøttboller) with vegetables, potatoes and lemon flavored fruit water. It was really good and filled me up, and then Eli and I got ice cream (iskrem). The ice cream is so good, with such a rich, yummy flavor. It almost puts Wisconsin ice cream to shame. This week I also finished filling out my college applications. I applied to Ripon College, Marian University, UW-Green Bay, UW-Washington County, and UW-Milwaukee. It was a bit of a struggle since the UW application only worked when I was on the school internet, and I had some issues paying the application fee and the fee for sending ACT scores, but it all worked out. I'm just waiting to hear back, hopefully with good news. So that's been my week. Hope everyone has a good weekend. Ha Det.Today I went to my first Rotary meeting. I had to miss my afternoon History class because of it, but I didn't mind. I gave a brief introduction in a combination of Norsk and English. I didn't understand the speakers, but I was glad I could go and meet my host club. Speaking of Norsk, here's some of the post-its around the house. I also sent out some postcards today.
I've discovered that learning a new language while trying to adapt to life in a new culture is a lot harder than I thought. Norwegian hasn't been too hard; a lot of words are similar to English, and my friends and host family have been super helpful. I definitely know a lot more than when I first arrived, but I still don't know that much. Even though I know it's illogical, I keep imagining that one day I'll just wake up and be able to understand my host family and my teachers and friends. For now, I have to keep working and learning. Today was the third week of my Norwegian Language Course with 6 other exchange students nearby. We're all making good progress, and becoming good friends too. In addition, I've been doing some individual work to learn Norwegian and my friends have been introducing me to new words all the time. This weekend my host mom wrote down the Norwegian names of things around the house on post-it notes and stuck them all over. I can't wait to learn more Norwegian and become fluent!!!I was so relieved when Friday came. It's been a long and tiring week. Friday evening didn't consist of much besides relaxing and being lazy. Saturday, Ylva's school band had a flea market fundraiser, so she worked at that all morning. When she got home, we went for dinner at Burger King. Norwegian Burger King is actually pretty similar to American Burger King. I had a cheeseburger and a small soda, but it was refreshing to have something that tasted so familiarly American. Not that Norwegian food isn't goo, because it's fantastic! Saturday night was some more relaxing. This morning, I made French Toast for Eli and Ylva. It turned out pretty well, and we even had left-overs. That's about all for now. Ha det.So, yesterday and today my school did something called Grundercamp. Basically, everyone was divided into 4 groups, which were further divided so that everyone was in a group of 4-5. My group had 5 people, and we were at the science center. We had to think of a way to make the center more interesting for teenagers. First, we got to play in the science center. There was some pretty cool things, like a floor projection that showed a pond. When you stepped on the projection, the water rippled, and I kept trying to step on the fish. There was also a robotic arm that could play up to three chess matches at once. I lost the game I played, but it was pretty cool. After we were done playing, we had to work on the project and prepare our presentation. So today, our group had to present our idea in front of three judges. Then we had a bunch of free time, so I worked on some college applications, and was able to submit 2! Next we had a large assembly to wrap up Grundercamp. They announced the winners of each of the four groups. My group didn't win, which is okay, because the winning group had to present their project in front of everyone. After that, I didn't have class, so I got to go home almost an hour early! I also have some pictures that my host mom took when we were in Røros.
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