My School! (pictures)

This is it! the front anyway. It is the most modern school in Norway, as we students like to boast :D

Our lockers have outlets in them so we can charge our cell phones\laptops. or plug in lava lamps!

our glamerous cafetria! lol. complete with sofas.

We recycle!

The school parking lot!

Just a little bit different isn't it? lol, you can probally see why the first day was REALLY scary, and also why I love it so much now!

On the way to Flåm, we stopped to see these paintings on rocks. They are sooo old!

We went on a train up and down the mountains. When we stopped I took this picture. all the water comes from the snow melting.

This is the smallest church in Norway! or one of them at least! they really do have services here. It is in a tiny town on the side of the fjord.

This is a Norwegian Stave church- aka Viking church! It was so neat- especially the paintings on the alter, and the wood carved pulpit. I would have taken pictures, but of course thats not allowed.

This is the Fjord in Flåm (say that ten times fast!) We stayed with a family right on the side of this!


It is hard to describe some of these places, but I think pictures do it some justice! It was a great weekend, and we saw lots of things! We stayed with some family friends, and went on a boat through the fjord, went on the "Flåmline" train, and also, on the way we went through the longest tunnel in the world! it took FOREVER and went straight through sever mountians!

A trip "out west"

Hello! This weekend was the Rotary district conferance, and we all went to Kristiansund. You can see it on the map at the left. It is on the West coast of Norway, Where the Fjords are. The exchange students from the Hamar\Oslo Area all flew there, and I found it quite cool flying over the Fjords, because ThIS weekend, My host family is taking me to Flåm, By car, so we will see it all! While we were there last weekend though, we walked around the city on friday (I went with Some other students and Quinn, who lives there, so we got to see all the interesting stuff, not just the historical sites, though we did see those as well) That evening we put together another presentation, only this time for a lot more Rotarians! Saterday we Preformed it, and then That evening We went to a...well, almost a ropes course, but minus some ropes!!! We Put these little harnesses around our waists, and the sent us to climbing through this course. It was Sleeting, and it was completely dark. our last obsticle was a straight down freefall from a log bridgeing two trees. It was pretty cool!

Sunday was the last day, and we took a bus tour of "The Atlandic Road." It is basically a chain of islands connected by Strangely constructed bridges. It is considered to be a Structual Marvel of Norway, and it was quite beautiful! At the top left, I posted a map of the area, so you can picture the Geography.

This week has been a good one as well. Wedensday Was a "special day" (according to everyone, "Just Because") so class started at 10 as usal, only it was in the middle of a forest. All the people in my class just met at this place in the middle of nowhere, and I Don't know how, for if I hadn't have found some class mates earlier, I would have been completely lost. We spent the day in small groups, Identifying trees, finding mushrooms, and catching bugs. It was so suprising, the bug catching. We all had these nets, so it looked like a very bad day to be a bug, but whenever some one caught one, it was placed ever so carefully in a magnifing container, passed around gentley for investigation, and then released in the exact spot it had been taken from. I Imediatly thought of Beth- You would have loved to see these spiders! Class ended at 2, and I went to my friend May Kristin's house, and we drank Hot chocolate until we had thawed out!

Also this week I went with some friends to a fair- Remarkable similiar to ours- And also to A Norwegian rap concert! that was pretty cool. Their name was "Karpe Dium", which I thought was pretty funny- White boys, rapping in Norwegian, with a Latin name. I liked it a lot, even though I didn't understand it! Now I am just relaxing this morning, until I have class at 12. This evening I am going to the Rotary meeting, since the Governor is coming! I will make another post when I return from Flåm. (lots of pictures!)

On the road again!

This is the Viking ship in Hamar. You can see it larger if you click on it.

I took this picture from the lake.

This is from the end of our Geography lesson. It was lots of fun! About thirty kids,

Flying through the city on Bikes, and we would stop at anything we thought was interesting,

sit down in the grass, and our teacher told us about it. We went a pretty good distance

and saw all sorts of things. It is nice because Everyone enjoys it, and you

get to SEE things for yourself, not just read about them, so you learn

much quicker. We rode from our school to a residentail area, a farming district, an industrial area, a city, and then to another school, where we are here.

This is a picture of part of our school Library on an empty day.

It is cool because everyone likes to hang out here- The Library is for the
students you could say. They have Comfy chairs, a coffee bar and a Porch for sunny days.

Me Setting up Nemi. In the back you can see the Viking Ship.

This is one of the "holes" in Helvete.

Hello! it has been quite a busy week, as usual! last weekend I travled to Fefår for a Rotary conference. About twelve other exchange students came as well, and we listened to the meetings, went to the Governor's banquet, and did a presentation on Sunday. It was A lot of fun, and the area was beautiful! It was in the mountains, which are mostly trees and small farms scattered "on the sunny side". After the conferance on Sunday, I went with two Rotary members to a place called Helvete. We paid 15 cronner and hiked down a bit, and came to this really cool place where whirl pools from a long time ago had swirled rockes around until they carved out these vertical cylinders in the walls of the river bed. They were about thirty feet high! We walked down the river bed on these little wooden bridges for a while (trust me, they are not the idiot proof ones you come to expect at tourist attractions!), and then climed up a ladder and then a rope to get out! it was really cool!

This week I have been going to school, naturally, and I am understanding more and more. I am trying to do all my class work in Norwegian if it is possible, and with the help of Eline (Eeleena) or Hæken I can write a paragraph or so. For Norsk (Norwegian) we are reading a book to give an oral report on, and I have checked out a decent sized one, and during free hours, Hæken goes through it with me, with me reading it in Norwegian until I get to a word I don't know. It works out well, because I get a little farther every time! The local elections were this Monday, so we have been hearing about plenty of politics (though I understand hardly any of this!)

Another interesting thing: Yesterday I went shopping with my friend from school, Ida (Eeedah) and then we went to Dog show training. She had asked me if I wanted to go and I said sure, assuming she meant to watch, but I actually got to take a dog and learned how to show her! her name is Nemi, and she was last years Top B sized dog in Norway, if anyone knows what that means? I don't, but the explanation confused m more than the answer! Anyway, i have posted some pictures of it. The training was at the Viking Ship in Hamar, so that is what you see in the backround.

I leave again tommorow at 11 (No school for me!) and take a plane to....Kristansound? (I spelled that phonetically, but it is wrong so I will correct it when I know!) it is the Norway Rotary conferance, and all of the exchange students will give their presentations and Go to some Rotary sessions. Then the weekend after that, I am going to Flåm with my family, and will post more on that later!

A post from School!

Hello! I am sitting in the library (biblioteket!) between classes, and had a bit of spare time, so I thought I would make a quick post! I am lking this school more and more everyday, as I am learning my way around and meeting people. Today our class is going on a 20 kilometer bike ride for geography! We all brought our bikes to school, and will ride until about five. lastFriday we did not have a geography lesson, so that is why we are staying longer today. It is starting to get a bit colder here- the trees are starting to change colors, and I am no longer sleeping with my windows open!

one cool thing here is the computers- rather than have a computer lab, there is a vault of laptops that people can check out in the library, and bring to the classrooms to use. It is pretty cool! Also you can get on the library's desktops when ever you want, like I am now.

Gym class is also interesting. Yesterday we had it at a place very much like the YMCA. It was pretty cool- indoor pool and lots of soocer fields outside. We played Frisbee for a really long time.

Well, I better go here and head off to Naturfag- still not sure what that translates into English!

Settled In!

Hello! It has been a while, but I have plenty to write about! I have been trying to figure out school mostly, which has turned out to be much tougher to do than I expected! Not the people, but the schedule! It is very different from American schools, which I expected, but not the details, as usual =) For starters, a group of about thirty people make up a "class" we Stay together for all of our classes, except language courses (Spanish, french, etc). We have different schedules every day of the week, and the classes are never in the same room! math, Politics, and Languages are held in auditoriums with about 100-200 students. you are completely on the honor system to show up. The other classes, Earth ans Atmosphere, Norwegian and English are in different rooms. Wednesdays are special For our class- School starts at 11, and from 11 until 3:15 we are all taking one subject, such as Norwegian, for the entire day. This is made for projects and Field trips mostly. The cool part- every third week we have Wednesday off! Tuesday and Friday school starts at about 9:30, and as soon as the teacher is done teaching, you can leave. Between classes we have quite a bit of free time- anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. Usually we walk a mile to the mall, here you can go to the Maxi centrum and by a croissant for lunch, and browse the shops until your next class. Classes however, are much more concentrated, and the students are very focused. It seems like we spend half the time in class, but learn twice as much. Even when it is in Norwegian! I have made quite a few friends here already- Mary, who has an Icelandic pony that she has let me ride, Eline who is my best Norwegian friend and who ALWAYS seems to know where we are supposed to be and when! Eda, marta, and May Kristen who Eline and I hang out with between classes. Then of course there is Ole, my "brother", Marn, Helena, Hilda and Pedder, But i do not see them very often since we have different schedules.
The school itself is the most modern (not to mention biggest!) one I have ever seen. It is quite nice- mostly all glass. All of the lights are Motion activated, so If no one is in a hall, the lights go off, which is quite nice! Thee is no intercom system- instead, in all the halls are giant plasma TVs with announcements and other information playing on them. It is very cool, but took some time to get used to. I still wouldn't be able to find my classes if it wasn't for Eline and Mary!
Outside of school, I first felt pretty unsure of what to do with myself- Usually I would head straight up to the barn, or do something with Julie or Ride, and It is quite strange to not come home and ride a horse! Now I am getting used to it, and finding other ways to entertain myself. I usually go exploring, one way or the other. I have a cell phone now, So My host parents don't worry so much about me getting lost. I like to go off on the bike and find public trails, of which there are plenty, and see what there is to see! Yesterday I came across this huge old Paper mill turned into a museum. That is a picture of it at the top. Also I go up to the Barn here and hang out with Mary and Eda, but the trouble is the weather, since it is very unpredictable and the barn is a considerable distance away!
The weekends have been quite full as well! I have been to My host Rotary club and told a little about myself, and one of the members took me and My councilor out on his speed boat on the largest lake in Norway. Also I have been to the Hamar Music Festival, The Farmers market, The opening of a huge new Golf course, Several hikes, and I have met the Bishop and Norway's biggest country star, both without realizing it until some one told me who I had been talking to!
The weather here, as I said earlier, is quite unpredictable. It is sunny, and then it rains, and then it is Sunny....It is very pleasant for the most part though. two mornings ago there was frost on the ground! the next two weekends I am traveling to go to Rotary Functions, and in three weeks my host family is taking my to Flum, in western Norway, to see the Fjords and other Norwegian Sights! My family here is great- They treat me just like a family member, and are always taking me some where! My host brother Ole was a huge help in the beginning of school, showing me where my classes were and helping me figure out the bus system. I am really enjoying myself, and learning more every day. I am catching on to Norwegian now, and can make the sounds of Ø Æ and Å, which was the hardest part for me at first. Norway is definitely a good place to be!