Just another blog post

Random note before I get going:  I decided I want to start writing more in Norwegian, and that this would be a good place to do it. Since this blog is mainly intended for people back home to hear what I'm up to though, I'm not going to clutter up this part with Norwegian. So, I added a page up top ^^ where I'll try and write a bit in Norwegian and put a few pictures up as well, but this is still the main blog. I don't actually know what I'm going to write there; I just thought it'd be neat to have a Norwegian section on here. If any Norwegians feel like correcting what I write, go for it! It'd be very much appreciated.


I also added a map of Norway, which should be beside the Norwegian page. I clearly have way too much fun playing around on here when I should be doing more important things, like writing essays and packing.


This post is a mixture of parts I wrote over the past weekend, so it's going to be a lot of confusing jumping around. I don't have many pictures, because my cell phone is in a bad mood and doesn't feel like connecting to my laptop. Oh well. Here goes...


January 7th


So I’m sitting in my second host family’s cabin right now, in the ski town of Geilo, about a four hour drive and three hours by train from Bergen. They have an AMAZING cabin (a house really) close to both downhill and cross country areas.

Looking out the front door

 I guess I better do some explaining when I say “second” host family; this definitely doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with my first!! A part of the rotary program is that you live with more than one host family; the majority have three. I’m only going to have two, which I’m very happy with. I haven’t actually switched yet, but I met my second family on Wednesday and they invited me to their cabin this weekend. I’ll probably move sometime in the next week; they live really close to Tord and Helene, so the switch should be easy. I can always just walk back to visit or play the piano! Everything was great at Tord and Helene’s and I’m so grateful I got to spend the first half of my exchange there. I would have been completely happy to live there the whole year, but it’s also going to be neat to try something new and have a change. I’m really lucky to have two great families here willing to let me live with them. Every exchange student wonders what their host families will be like, and it’s scary to get off a plane to live with people you’ve met only through email. I can definitely say I didn’t have to worry about anything!  My second host parents are Jon and Inger, and they have three sons, only one of which still lives at home. Right now it’s just me and the two parents at the cabin

Jon waxing skis

On Wednesday I switched out of math and into English, and I’m really glad I did. I didn’t really try in math, since it was mostly self directed assignments on topics I’d learned before. It’s nice to have a class where I’m able to explain words instead of it being the other way around. After only one class I also realize I don’t know English as well as I think I do. There’s a lot of words I tend to skim over and understand in context, when I’m reading, but can’t explain when they’re singled out. “Assets” and “commodities” were two words I thought I knew, but could only define very vaguely. I’m excited for the class though; as much as I want to learn Norwegian, it’s nice to be able to express myself better and completely understand one class. It’s called “International English” and everyone’s level of English is high enough that it doesn’t seem to be a grammar class. We spent the last class researching world events in groups, then presenting them to the class.

January 8^th

Today I learned I have no sense of direction whatsoever. I thought there was some part of my brain that could at least distinguish between circles and lines, but apparently not. I managed to ski a 10 km loop around a lake, coming nearly back to where I started, while being convinced I had gone in a straight line. I had been told it was a loop, but I figured I had missed the turn off, so I kept going until I came to a church and went a bit past. By this point I was confused, because I had been told it was a 10km loop and as far as I could tell I had gone more than 5 km, and should have been going back the other way. I knew I was out of shape, but not so out of shape that it could take me an hour to classic 5 km! So I kept wandering around, and had one woman ask me for directions, to which I responded I had no idea where I was myself. I decided just to go back the way I came, so I kept on plodding back towards where I’d come from; until I eventually saw the church again! I stopped in my tracks (literally); I don’t think I’ve ever been so disoriented. Maybe this picture will illustrate it better:

That actually makes even less sense than my description; but I guess it shows just how confused I was? 

January 9^th

We’re sitting in a tunnel, waiting for a car that comes and leads groups of about 20 cars through a section of road with bad weather. We’re at the high point before you go down towards Bergen, and there’s not much to do, so I’m writing this. Obviously there’s no wireless inside a random tunnel, but that didn’t stop me from trying to open facebook out of habit. I think we’re the unlucky car which will be at the front of the next chain, so we have a while to wait. It’s kinda strange in here; the walls are rough rock, and it’s dark except for the headlights and a chain of yellow lights on the ceiling. We just started moving again, and it looks like we snuck into the end of this chain, and we’re just coming out of the tunnel right now. A train of cars with hazard lights flashing, driving slowly through a blizzard. It’s strange to type in the dark when I can’t see what keys I’m hitting.

In the tunnel.....

Chain of cars....although I guess this really just looks like some squiggly lights....

Today I went downhill skiing for the first time in two years. I still remembered how, and we stuck to a short groomed run that wasn't very challenging. Jon and I didn’t go for long; maybe six runs, before coming in. I switched to my skate skis, and did a loop around the water before we ate lunch and left. Today reaffirmed that I’m one of those strange people who prefers cross country skiing to downhill. I honestly find downhill more challenging, being strapped into heavy equipment and trying to turn while your legs fill up with acid. It is fun, and I definitely enjoyed it today, I just like cross country better. I realize it doesn’t make sense, to find it easier to propel yourself uphill than sit down and ride up, men sånn er det. Switching from downhill to cross country equipment is so liberating, and this time I knew where I was the whole ski. It was pretty obvious the trail turned 180 degrees and came back on the other side of the lake; I’m not sure how I missed that yesterday. Norwegians seem to have some kind of unspoken dress code when cross country skiing; the large majority were wearing black pants with blue or red jackets; I felt out of place in a black shirt and tights with a pink headband. It was so nice to skate again!

It took about six hours to drive home, because of the hour long wait in the tunnel, and the slow driving. Now it's Monday evening, and that sums up my weekend. I'm switching host families tommorow, and should really be packing rather than writing, but this is more fun.
Here's one last picture to finish it off; just another random picture of squiggly lights  inside a tunnel. I'm clearly not very good at holding my camera still, and I definitely had a picture shortage for this post if I'm resorting to ones like this!

The end!

...for now 

=)