Well, my Norway Adventure is over and I am back in the USA. You have read all about my year abroad in Norway, now if you want to read about my experience coming home and following life adjusting back to the way of life in The States you can read my new blog at rebecca-amihomeyet.blogspot.com
Thanks for reading this year and following along with the best year of my life!!
Saturday, July 6, 2013
The Longest Day....
Now, saying goodbye to my Norwegian family and friends was not by any means easy, but saying goodbye to the other exchange students was the hardest thing I have had to do all year. I know I am going to come back to Norwaynat some time for a visit, and it will probably even be next summer. But, with my international friends, all of us will never be in the same spot at the same time ever again. So the goodbyes could actually be goodbyes...
On the 26th of June all of the exchange students from all of Norway were all together once again. All of the exchange students left on the 26th of June back to their homeland. All of the exchange students arrived at the Oslo Gardemoen Airport between 03:00 and 04:00. Half of our region left on the flight at 06:00, so we had to say goodbye to them at 04:30. It was the Brazilians, French, Venezuelans, and Spanish. But, I must say the hardest goodbye was at 11:35 when all the Italians left. Some of the Italians were my abest friends, so I was crying my eyes out, and so were they...
It was awful, after the Italians and Germans left there were only about 7 of us left that had to catch a flight. After about another hour the Americans said the rest of their goodbyes and we went through security. Our flight was supposed to be at 14:45 (2:45pm), but it then got delayed to 17:10, so we were in the airport for a long time.
By the time we could actually board our flight, a lot of the passengers actually started cheering. Then we took our 2 1/2 hour flight to Iceland, had to run off the plane in Iceland to catch our connecting flight ton New York. We were lucky in the fact that the held the flight because there were abut 40 people from our Norway fight that we taking the flight to New York. But, one of the girls I was traveling with happened to get piled over for a random security check. So, by the time we actually got to the gate the gate agents were almost punching us on the plane because we were the last ones to board. We were only four Americans traveling from Norway to New York.
Then, it was a 5 1/2 hour flight to New York. Good news is there was one other exchange student that was from the LA area, bad news is by the time we made it through customs we missed the last flight to LA that night. But, my sister and mom met me in New York, so they were standing outside of customs waiting for me. It was nice to see them, but it was also really strange. At that point I came to a sudden realization that my Norway trip was over.
We had to walk outside to get to the other terminal and the first thing that I said was "it stinks!!" Which, in New York it stinks anyway, but especially after you come from the fresh, clean air of Norway. Also, the water in the US isn't as good as Norway, but it wasn't as big of a difference as I was expecting. From there we slept in the airport a d went to our flight at 07:00 the next morning. Sleeping on a concrete floor in the airport was great fun. But, I did buy a donut, and that was delicious!
We took our flight home and arrived back in LA. I was exhausted and very confused as to what day it was, but it was good to sleep in a bed again after Lmost 3 days worth of traveling.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Last Camp!
Before we took our airplanes home, all of the exchange students met up for one final camp. At the camp we talked about what we did in Norway and people and things we would miss once we travelled back. We also talked about going home and what we were looking forward to and the differences between the 2 countries. W weren't with all the exchange students from Norway, but only those who were in our region. My region was only about 20 people by the last camp, it started out as a bout 30. There were some people who got sent home, a couple that switched regions, and a few that had to go home to got to university or take an exam.
This camp was fun, after everyone was done crying and saying how much they missed all of their Norwegians, that is. We had a lot of down time, which meant a lot of time to hang out together. The first 2 days people were together and talking. But, on the third day, the day before our flight, there were a lot of people who slept. The day before the flight we were a lowed to take a nap before dinner, but after we weren't allowed to sleep because we were leaving for the airport at 02:30. But, that was fine, we had a pretty good last not together. Me and my better friends in my region went outside at 00:30 (or 12:30am), when it was still light outside, and hung out and enjoyed ourselves. It was a great night! When we got back inside we ate some chocolate cake, drank some tea, and waited until it was time to go.
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| Amana and Camille |
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| Stephanie, Elisabetta and Chihiro |
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| Elisabetta and Chihiro |
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| Chihiro <3 |
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| Joao |
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| Kaja and Joao - everyone was tired... |
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| Claudia and Elisabetta |
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| We were playing a quiz game - we lost... |
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| The leaders |
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| On a walk... |
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| Julian and Elisabetta |
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| Chihiro |
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| Elena and Camille - my girls! |
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| We were playing a guessing game and I had no idea who I was... |
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| brazilians.. |
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| Claudia |
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| Region 2 |
Then at 02:30 we loaded into the buses and left for Oslo Gardemoen Airport.
June 26th
I swear I have the worst day for a birthday! Last year we said goodbye to our exchange student on my birthday and this year I had to leave home on my birthday.
On the night before the 26th I didn't go to sleep before 02:30 and I woke up at 07:15. I couldn't sleep, I had way to much on my mind and way to many things to do that I couldn't even think about sleeping. I woke up in the morning and said goodbye to my host dad at 08:00 when he left for work. Then, I started packing. at about 09:30 my host mom came and helped me pack, that made me go a lot faster.So by 11:00 my room was empty, and I was allowed to eat breakfast and have my coffee :). Then, my host mom drove me down to the post office to pick up a package that my mom sent. The package had part of the going away present I was going to give my family. When we got home, my host brother had to leave for work, so I had to say goodbye to him... Then I had some birthday cake and ice cream, because after all, it was my birthday. Afterwards, I gave my host family their present. It was coffee, tea, tea cups, See's Candy, and (extremely good) honey. I also wrote a card to each of them. After reading my card my host mom and sister almost began to cry, and so I started to cry. I hate crying, but the last week of my exchange was full of water works. The night before when I said goodbye to all my friends I cried so much.
For my birthday, my host family gave me really nice earrings, they dangle and are purple and are inspired by the Copenhagen lights. They also wrote me a very nice card.
At 14:00 my sister, my mom, and I loaded my suitcases into the car, then by 14:15 we were on our way down to the train station. The train came and I had to say goodbye to my host mother at 14:38. It was extremely sad because I was close with my host mom, we had conversations (with a cup of coffee) all year about different ranging from politics to exchange students to TV shows to Norway.
I met two other exchange students on the train, and from there we went to Sandvika. In Sandvika we met the other AFSers and went to the camp. Because all the other AFSers lived closer to Sandvika than us, all of their families were there. So it was a train station full of crying people with a ton of luggage.
The camp was really crappy, it was a cap site for scouts. It was dusty and dirty, the mattresses were stained, and there was nothing really fun to do. But it was my birthday, so they sang me happy birthday twice, once in English and once in Norwegian. We did some other stuff for my birthday, but not much.
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| My family |
On the night before the 26th I didn't go to sleep before 02:30 and I woke up at 07:15. I couldn't sleep, I had way to much on my mind and way to many things to do that I couldn't even think about sleeping. I woke up in the morning and said goodbye to my host dad at 08:00 when he left for work. Then, I started packing. at about 09:30 my host mom came and helped me pack, that made me go a lot faster.So by 11:00 my room was empty, and I was allowed to eat breakfast and have my coffee :). Then, my host mom drove me down to the post office to pick up a package that my mom sent. The package had part of the going away present I was going to give my family. When we got home, my host brother had to leave for work, so I had to say goodbye to him... Then I had some birthday cake and ice cream, because after all, it was my birthday. Afterwards, I gave my host family their present. It was coffee, tea, tea cups, See's Candy, and (extremely good) honey. I also wrote a card to each of them. After reading my card my host mom and sister almost began to cry, and so I started to cry. I hate crying, but the last week of my exchange was full of water works. The night before when I said goodbye to all my friends I cried so much.
For my birthday, my host family gave me really nice earrings, they dangle and are purple and are inspired by the Copenhagen lights. They also wrote me a very nice card.
At 14:00 my sister, my mom, and I loaded my suitcases into the car, then by 14:15 we were on our way down to the train station. The train came and I had to say goodbye to my host mother at 14:38. It was extremely sad because I was close with my host mom, we had conversations (with a cup of coffee) all year about different ranging from politics to exchange students to TV shows to Norway.
I met two other exchange students on the train, and from there we went to Sandvika. In Sandvika we met the other AFSers and went to the camp. Because all the other AFSers lived closer to Sandvika than us, all of their families were there. So it was a train station full of crying people with a ton of luggage.
The camp was really crappy, it was a cap site for scouts. It was dusty and dirty, the mattresses were stained, and there was nothing really fun to do. But it was my birthday, so they sang me happy birthday twice, once in English and once in Norwegian. We did some other stuff for my birthday, but not much.
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| Me and Camille! |
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Birthday and Goodbye
My 17th birthday was on June 26th, but June 26th was also the day that I had to say my goodbyes to my family and the town that was now my home. So, on the 25th of June, along with doing some packing I also had some friends over for a little birthday and goodbye party. It wasn't a big party, it was just a small get-together with my closest friends in Norway. I invited 9 of my friends, but 2 couldn't come. One couldn't come because she was working to save up money for her exchange year in the US next year and the other was leaving for the US early the next morning to visit her host family from the previous year. I love my friends and that is almost what made it hardest to leave Norway, and that was to leave my friends.
The party lasted from 6 in the evening to about 11PM. My friends would have stayed the whole night if they could, but they had to leave because I wasn't completely done with packing yet... At the party we basically just ate cake and talked together. My host mom was extremely nice and set the dining room table beautifully and made brownies and bought blueberry muffins, chocolate raspberry cake, fruits, chocolates, and coffee. It was delightful!
My friends brought me presents, and they were all really sweet. One just gave me money because she had no idea what to give me that was a nice gift and didn't weigh anything. Two others gave me makeup, because that was the first thing they thought to give me when I said it couldn't be heavy and take up no place. Another friend gave me a package to make "boller" ("boller" is really good sweet rolls that they have in Norway). I also received a coming home survival kit from one of my friends, it had 2 bars of Norwegian chocolate, a troll statue, and three envelopes that I was not allowed to open; one envelope was for when I missed Norway, one was for when I missed Sandefjord, and one is for when I missed my friend that gave it to me. Then, the final present I actually did not receive at my birthday party, my friend is sending it too me in the email because it was too big/heavy to take home. She gave me a miniature version of the gist though. In the gift was chocolate, tea, nail polish, a tea cup, and a scrapbook that she made for me.
Overall, I had a great time that night. It was really really really hard to say goodbye to all my friends that I had made this year.
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| Solveig and Heidi |
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| Katinka.... |
My friends brought me presents, and they were all really sweet. One just gave me money because she had no idea what to give me that was a nice gift and didn't weigh anything. Two others gave me makeup, because that was the first thing they thought to give me when I said it couldn't be heavy and take up no place. Another friend gave me a package to make "boller" ("boller" is really good sweet rolls that they have in Norway). I also received a coming home survival kit from one of my friends, it had 2 bars of Norwegian chocolate, a troll statue, and three envelopes that I was not allowed to open; one envelope was for when I missed Norway, one was for when I missed Sandefjord, and one is for when I missed my friend that gave it to me. Then, the final present I actually did not receive at my birthday party, my friend is sending it too me in the email because it was too big/heavy to take home. She gave me a miniature version of the gist though. In the gift was chocolate, tea, nail polish, a tea cup, and a scrapbook that she made for me.
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| I love opening presents! |
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| I don't know what I'm doing... |
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| i wasn't allowed to open it until I git on the plane... |
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| The miniature version of the gift |
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| Me and Katinka |
Overall, I had a great time that night. It was really really really hard to say goodbye to all my friends that I had made this year.
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| Me and Solveig |
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| Why me and Katinka were such good friends |
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| My Besties!! |
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