nye blogg på norsk :)

I et forsøk å ikke glemme alle norsken min, og siden jeg synes det er så artig å skrive, skal jeg fortsette å blogge litt på laurendegroot.blogg.no. Så om du er interessert i hvordan det er å være tilbake i Canada, kan du ta deg en tur innom :)

Home.

Well, I'm back in Canada, with my signed Norwegian flag hanging on the wall and everything unpacked. I flew from Bergen to Oslo, slept at Devin's counselor's house, then we flew out of Norway at 6:30 am on Friday. Flying out of Bergen was sad, but by the time I'd gotten to Oslo it felt like I was already out of the country.

"And it's..........over" were Devin and mine last words in Norway as the wheels lifted off the ground in Oslo. I had meant to buy a bunch of Norwegian magazines to read in the US (more in hopes that another Norwegian would see them and talk to me haha) but I forgot.

Evelyn (host grandma) made us waffles which we ate on the plane to Frankfurt. We were trying not to name too many "lasts" but "last public announcement in Norwegian" didn't go unnoticed. Being in Frankfurt and hearing the announcements in German was odd; I felt like I was back at the beginning of the year and understanding nothing. It's easy to forget how many other languages there are out there.

We got coffee and waited the two hours before my flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. I didn't understand the lady checking baggage passes and automatically asked her what she'd said in Norwegian.

She looked at my ticket, and asked where Oslo was. "Ohhh, Norway! so what do they speak there, umm....Norg...Norrss...Norrrr". That was where I realized I definitely wasn't in Norway anymore.

Devin and I went different directions at the gates in Frankfurt, and I sat down on the floor, ate some more waffles and waited for the plane. The first thing I noticed as I got on the plane was that the seatmates in front of me immediately shook hands and introduced eachother. And then the man sitting beside me did the same, asking if I was on my way home. 

It really hit me walking through the airport in Charlotte, my first time in North America in eleven months. I sat down at the gate and typed this really quickly before my laptop battery died:

• the toilets keep freaking out and automatically flushing, and they dont have dual flush. And you can see through the doors, they don’t go to the ground
• People talk just for the sake of talking, theyre ridiculously friendly. And just talk to people beside them on the plane
• Tried to buy a smoothie with a 5 dollar bill but oh heyy…tax isn’t included and I had to awkwardly use a 20 instead. Why is American money all the same colour?
• oh and noellen some random guy was playing piano man!!
• ....savner Norge allerede :(
• Everyone is dressed so....i dunno, just un-european
• Oh heyy it's almost midnight at home this is sososososososoo weird!

Interesting to compare this to what I wrote sitting in the Oslo airport for the first time. Pretty sure I mentioned that it was dead silent and that the bathrooms were weird.

Definitely what I noticed the most coming back to North America was that everyone was more talkative though.  Like just starting up conversation with people while waiting to get off the plane, or waiting in line. And even the people working in customs, like "how are you today sir, where are you headed". I don't remember noticing the reverse when i went to Norway, but it was really obvious coming back.

It finally got dark in Phoenix, after 22 hours of daytime for me, since we were following the sun ever since we drove to the airport in Oslo at 4 am the day before. Or I guess it was the same day? confusing.

We overnighted in Spokane, then drove back to Nelson on Saturday. Being back home feels so normal that it's weird; it takes a thought in Norwegian or a post on facebook to remind me I actually was gone for a year. 

But what a year! Thanks so much to everyone in Norway and Canada who made it possible for me; it couldn't have been better!

Thanks for reading this blog over the past 11 months and following along with all my ramblings! Since I'm home now and don't have much more to post about Norway, I guess this marks the end of this blog as well. It'll be great to look back on and remember everything in a way pictures alone couldn't manage.

Thanks for reading, and Norway, I'll be back someday!!

"don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" - Dr Seuss

My bags are packed, and I have an hour and a half til I leave for the airport. Tord and Helene left for holidays two days ago, so pretty much all the goodbyes are over with. Strange how it's so hard to leave people you didn't even know a year ago.

I have the same number of bags as when I came; I'm pretty impressed with myself for that. Ski bag, a suitcase, and then a backpack and laptop case as carry-on. Well the laptop bag looks more like a big cooler cause I've stuffed it full of books and papers and souvenirs. And I have three pairs of shoes in the bottom of my carry-on backpack that I couldn't fit anywhere else. I also haven't added the 1.5 kg of brunost to my suitcase, so we'll see how this goes.

I may end up wearing rain boots on the plane or something.

I'm just flying as far as Oslo today, then I'll overnight at Devin's place and we'll fly out of Oslo tommorow morning at 6:30ish. We only fly together as far as Frankfurt, then I go to Phoenix and he goes to Philli.

It hasn't entirely hit me that I'm leaving, although every once in a while I think "this is the last time I'll drink coffee in this spot" or "last time I'll take this bus" or "last time I'll eat dinner with these people".

It's so weird having everything end so suddenly, not just saying goodbye to one friend who's going away, but leaving so many people and memories at once. I never thought that would be hard before I came on exchange, but now I don't remember how life was without all these people.

But this year couldn't have been better, and I have no regrets. So I guess it's a good thing if it's hard to leave. And it will be good to come home. Just strange.

So that was my last blog post in Norway. I'm really glad I kept this blog to look back over, and thanks for reading! I'll probably write a bit more once I get home, but we'll see. My first posts are HERE, so funny to read through, and hard to believe that was nearly a year ago.

If you click HERE it takes you to a photo album I made on facebook summing up my year. You don't have to have facebook to see the pictures; it's a public link.

Tusen takk for meg Norge!!!!

Things I will miss - Part 2

• That tax is included in prices. Back in August I bought a cheap hair straightener for 300 kr, and paid the cashier with two 200 kr bills when I clearly had another 100 bill in my hand. She looked at me like I was crazy, but it never occurred to me that when it says 300 kr, you actually pay 300 kr. It makes life sooo much easier when you don't have to estimate how much tax will be, and always pay in weird numbers leaving you with awkward amounts of change. 

• Subtitles on TV. I've gotten so used to having Norwegian subtitles on English shows and movies, and read them subconsciously even when I understand what they're saying. I was watching a movie a couple weeks ago and the subtitles were partly off the screen, and it felt really uncomfortable not being able to read the Norwegian text, even though the movie was in English.

• Public transportation and having a bus pass: It's so nice to be able to think "hmm I want to go to IKEA" and just get on a bus, transfer to another bus, and get there. The system here is far from perfect, and that particular bus from IKEA was half an hour late. But for my purposes the bus and train system here is amazing. 

• Being able to act both foreign and native: Being with other English speakers walking around the tourist shops is so different from being with Norwegians and just waiting at the bus stop. It was so fun to get all the strange looks speaking loud English with Marlies and Annalea while we were hiking, yet it's also amazing to buy a pack of gum at the grocery store and knowing the cashier assumes you're Norwegian. Whenever I talk about speaking English I feel the need to add in "loud", but it's true, English speakers talk way louder. I feel so conspicuous speaking english here, especially on the bus or train. 
• Although that doesn't mean it's unusual to hear english; in the center of Bergen it's everywhere now with all the tourists. I was in a curious mood while hanging out with a couple exchange students the other day, and asked several english speakers where they were from. They answered in a a far less excited tone than mine; I guess another person from an english speaking part of the world means nothing to them. I guess I've just been kinda isolated from tourists over the winter? Plus that North America feels so far away after being here so long. It blows my mind that someone can just go to the US for a week and come back, it's like Norway has been mentally drifting further and further away from home since I came.

As usual once I started writing this I forgot all the other things I was going to write, so I'll leave it at that. 

Right before I came on exchange, due dates on food were so exciting. I could think "by the time this milk goes outdated, I'll be in NORWAY!!" The same is happening again, but feelings are much more mixed. Of course I want to go home, and I'm excited for that. But it's not easy to build up a new life and then leave it behind again, especially when goodbyes here really could be for good. At least when I came to Norway the goodbyes were only for a year.

It hasn't hit me at all though; that this time next week I'll be in Nelson. That I'll have spent eleven months of my life in another country, and that I'll no longer be an exchange student. So I just keep going through the hugs and goodbyes feeling like they're only for a week. Because the concept of years, and in many cases forever, is way too hard to grasp.

...Thank god for facebook and skype and technology in general!

I could ramble sentimentally on for hours, but I'll spare you guys and give a quick update since I last posted.

The last day of school was Wednesday the 22nd, which was fairly uneventful. I just got back from visiting Noellen one last time in Larvik, where we enjoyed the sun which finally came out, made brownies and pumpkin pie, and went fishing in the ocean with her host family.

Night train both ways equals very little sleep

Found a bag of chocolate chips....for 10 bucks!

Shrimp sandwich picnic for lunch

Fishing in the ocean

I took the night train back on Friday without managing to sleep more than half an hour, came home and slept, then had one last little goodbye party with some friends. We hung out here for the evening, then went out around eleven. I got the most amazing goodbye gifts; brown cheese, earrings, a little troll and chocolate, so perfect! I'm so lucky to have made such amazing friends here! It was a fun night.

Today we had our last Sunday dinner and I got even more gifts...seems a little backwards to me! Taking me in for so long has been plenty of a gift. But they were all so perfect! Cheese slicer, black licorice, more brown cheese which I hope I can get home, and a cute card from Liv. And some amazing knitted mitts from Evelyn!

Did I mention I have an amazing host family?

So that was the last little while here in Norway, 4 days until I leave Bergen, and 5 until I get to North America. So weird to write that down. crazycrazycrazycraaaazyyyy

...I should probably go to bed!

natta <3

460 800 minutes later....a picture review

Starting a blog post at 12:30 am is always a bad idea. But ehh, who needs sleep?

Over the past 320 days....

From the beginning...

To the end....

I've:

Taken countless jumpshots:





Taken the train from Bergen to Oslo 3 (soon to be 4 ) times:

(bt.no)

Walked to school at sunrise:

...and seen it never really get dark:

Learnt a new language:

Seen more rain than I ever thought possible:

Ran up and down these stairs approximately 145 times:

...but eaten enough brunost

waffles

....and other good food to far override any exercise I've done.

Met people from all over the world:

Gotten two new familes:

And lots of new friends:

Spent hours talking on skype:

And hours outside hiking and skiing:

...and exploring new cities:

Shown three friends from home around Bergen:

Completed an extra year of high school, in a different country and language, just for the heck of it

Not gotten a haircut:

 (September)                                                 (June)

...besides a couple unsuccesful attempts at trimming it myself:

Taken more busses and trains than the rest of my life combined:

Travelled all over Norway

...even above the arctic circle

....and had an AMAZING year!