The Final Move

I managed to once again pack my life away into a suitcase to make the move to my final host family.It is insane how much one accumulates in a year--my suitcase is beyond stuffed with just about everything. My new family was so nice and welcoming, and I already feel at home. My new host mom, Elsa Marie, works at the city hall up in Gjøvik and my host dad, Svein-Arne, works for an electric company. I have a host brother, Gjøran, who is 15 and a host sister Tonje (but she is on exchange in my hometown Eureka woooo!! So she isn’t living at home). The weather has lately been rainy but hopefully it takes a turn for the better soon.  I am living now, right by the lake—the perfect place to go running or to take a nice walk along the water. In a month or so the tide should rise, and that means boating season!

Welcomed into my new home with some local Old Town Eureka made chocolate mmmm :)

The new room

The House out in Kapp

The backyard

Her lives Elsa Marie, Svein-Arne, Tonje and Gøran

We recently met all the students that are to traveling out of Norway to be exchange students in other continents such as:  South America, Australia, and North America.  We had a meeting with them, and all of us current exchange students, to let them know everything they needed about a year abroad.  Because we are now the experts on how to be an exchange student.

Iben and me

All of us current exchange students and soon to be

All of the students traveling out. From Left Magnus to Ecuador, Lars to Brazil, Solveig to Canada, Marthe to USA, Lena to Argetina, Ingrid to Argentina, Eirin to Australia, and Ingrid to Brazil

It is now reaching Russetid in school. This is a tradition that all high schools in Norway have had for a long time. All the third year students celebrate that they are done with school and exams, and this involves a lot of partying. It is a seventeen daylong celebration, which begins on the 1^st of May and goes to the 17^th of May. It ends exactly on the national day.  During this time all the students have a pair of red overalls which they must wear everyday, during the seventeen days, and they are not aloud to wash them. These Russ students commonly drive red cars and buses. They have tasks that they have to do for each day, one tradition is to swim in the lake on the first of May and basically they play a lot of pranks on the lower classman. It is their time to have fun. Unfortunately I will be missing a majority of the Russetid because our exchange trip is at the same time, but I do get to wear my Russ overall’s on the 16^th and the 17^th!

The Russ overalls

The typical Russ bus

Only a week to go until the big exchange trip. From the 2^nd of May to the 15^th all of us exchange students will be traveling around Europe.  We will be visiting Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, France, and London.  It is definitely going to be a trip that none of us will ever forget. I cannot wait!

Here is a link below to our itinerary for the Euro tour.

http://forumreiser.no/index.php/gruppereiser-a-firmareiser/rotarytur-2011.html

A snowy Easter

Finnskogen

We spent a weekend out in a place called Finnskogen. It was a rotary organized weekend involving hiking, swimming, and making a music video about, “our Norway”. The first night when we got to the cabin we settled in and then prepared ourselves for a night of bathing in the ice-lake. And I can assure that it was one of my coldest experiences. We went from the ice lake to the sauna, and repeated this three times and when we came out of the water for a third time we actually felt warm. It was a refreshing experience and that night, sleeping was no problem.

The following day we took a hike up to a lookout point, which crossed over the border and into Swedish territory. The weather was beautiful. We grilled hot dogs up at the top for lunch and relaxed before the trek back down. The area where we were staying was owned by one of the Rotarian's. His family has owned Finnskogen (the Finn Forest) for many generations.

Sweden

The final day we made a music video that touched upon our impressions of Norway. It is in Norwegian so it might be a little difficult to understand but you can enjoy watching all of us exchange students showing off our bi-lingual abilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RsNybpQfMw&context=C4a08b67ADvjVQa1PpcFPCbKmpocKjOmapShryW4roXGh5o4oQ3bc=

Easter Vacation

My Last week with my second host family was spent up in the north of Norway for Easter vacation. We flew from Oslo to Tromsø, a two-hour flight. Coming into Tromsø was like stepping into another country. There was snow everywhere! Where I have been living the snow is completely gone but up here, above the Arctic Circle, there were many meters of snow. When we got off the plane we were picked up by my host mom’s sister, Marit, there we spent our first day of vacation. The following day we drove out to my host mom’s parent’s house, in Finnsnes. It was about a two-hour drive. My host mom comes from a family of six siblings, and four of those siblings live in Finnsnes with their families. They actually all lived in the same neighborhood, all walking distance from one-another. Each of the families has at least four kids, and when we were all together we were 37 people, a majority of those being little kids. We spent two days there and then we packed up and spent some days out at their cabin, which was around an hour from their house. 

Flying over Tromsø

View from the House

The Søreng's house (my host mom's parents)

The neighborhood

Those four days were dedicated solely to skiing. And I have to admit that those four days topped all the skiing I had ever done in my life! The first couple of days we took a few ski trips of around 15 km or so.

Out at the cabin

Sina and I getting ready for sledding

Kristin, my host mom

Håvard

My host mom's mom, Evelin, Marte, me, Johanna, and Sina

Grilling hot dogs after skiing

The third day I took part in my very first ever ski race. It was the 26 km cross-country Easter ski race. It was a great experience and a lot of fun to be a part of. I know I will for sure miss all this skiing!

Me, Simen, Håvard and Marit after the race

The following day we took a 7-hour ski trip to the top of one of the mountains. I definitely felt like I was taking part in an extreme sport. We literally made our on tracks through the snow and we trekked all the way up the mountain, getting to the top was exhausting and a little bit scary, but it was a good thing I am not too afraid of heights because it was super steep and a little icy. Once we finally made it to the top, the view was unbelievable. We were completed surrounded by mountains. None of my pictures justify how it actually looked; it was honestly magical and unreal. It was one tiring trip to the top but the way back was almost all downhill, and that was definitely rewarding. 

Sina, Johanna, and Mathilde

Sina and Johanna

A little bit tired

On the way to the top

My host sisters and I on top of the mountain

Mathilde, Amanda, Marit, me, Sina, Johanna, and Kristin

I have come to realize that probably 90% of all Norwegians are crazy active. They love skiing, backpacking, and hiking more than anything else. It has got to be the most fit country there is! The next day we drove back to Finnsnes and we had a huge birthday celebration for Håvard and three other cousins. There were cakes galore, and tons of family. We were a total of 37 family members all in one-house. 

Some of the cousins

Håvard opening up his birthday presents

Johanna and Tomina

Kamilla, Amanda, and Mathilde

Little Mari

The last day we took the Hurtigrute, a famous Norwegian tourist boat, back to Tromsø where we caught a plane back to Oslo.

The whole Tosterud family and me

The Hurtigruten boat

We got back to Lena on Friday and the following day we met up with family of my host father. We had a big lamb and potatoes dinner with everyone and afterwards we had an Easter egg hunt out in the yard.  On Sunday, the first Easter day, we attended mass in the local church. On Easter Sunday it is typical for Norwegians to eat Skolebrød. It is a sweet roll filled with custard and sprinkled with coconut flakes. Sunday is my last full-day with the Tosterud’s and tomorrow I will be moving to my final host family, the Sørum’s.  I have had an amazing time with the Tosterud’s and it is sad to switch but I am also excited to live with the Sørum’s. Unfortunately it is time to start packing…