Klasse Avslutning!

We had an end of the year party with the class on Tuesday. It was kind of a celebration to making it through the year and a little goodbye party. I am leaving to go back to the states and there are about 10 others from my class that are going to change classes, so they won't be in the same class anymore either.

I love my class and I am going to miss all of them. School was never boring with them, it was fantastic. So, as you could imagine it was hard to say goodbye to all of them.

Where the party was

The party was fun. We had it at a beach. We grilled hotdogs and I even brought things to make s'mores! Just by the way, I have met no one yet who doesn't like s'mores! How could you not like chocolate, marshmallows and graham crackers combined, it is just a pile of sugary goodness!

Then guy from our class, Daniel, had a little motor boat. So we took that put on the water and he had a tube that he pulled behind it. That was fun. I never actually fell off, but I fell out of the tube when I was trying to get back on the boat. But I wanted to go for a swim anyway, so it was nice. The water was still a little cold, but it was refreshing. The only bad thing was that I got stung by jellyfish... But it's ok, I had a good time! 

Me and Daniel

Katinka with her "crown"

Chanett, me, Maria, and Amanda

Jenny, Evanna, Johanne, and me

Me and Heidi in the sunset.

Heidi and Daniel

Me, Heidi and Daniel swimming

Then we took pictures, I wanted to take pictures with everyone from the class, and I managed to take pictures with most of them. The best thing is that we were at the beach until almost 11 pm because it was still light outside, it actually is never completely dark at night now. But there were a ton of mosquitos, I hate mosquitos!

Me and Christina

Frida and Christina

Me, Frida and Christina

Me and Katinka trying to escape the misquitos

I love them and I am going to miss them so much when I have to leave Norway... 

After the party was over I slept over at my friend Katinka's house. 

SAY WHAT?!

Hey! Do you remember when I was in the newspaper? The Aftenposten newspaper (the national newspaper)? Well guess what! Today I received an email from a Norwegian book company and they want to put the article I wrote in a school textbook! How cool is that! It is going to be in a the Grip textbook that is used in Norwegian classes. I was so excited when I got the email, people actually liked what I wrote!!!

My article 

Schools Out!!

Well, technically school isn't out before June 20th, but everyone that was not chosen to take the exams was done on June 7th. So, no one in my class was chosen to take a written or oral exam, so we were all out for summer!! It has been really nice and I am glad that it has been nice weather also. I have done quite a lot in just a week.
On the Thursday before we got out of school I met my contact person at a cafe. I had not seen her since November. So we chatted and had a coffee.

Then, on Saturday I went to a cafe called The Ice Cream Bar (iskrembaren på norsk) with my friend Solveig. There we had a milkshake, Solveig for the first time ever, and American pancakes. The cafe was American diner themed, so they had American food and drinks. It was extremely good, I had a peanut butter and chocolate milkshake, it was heaven!

Then, on Sunday I just slept, went on a long walk with Nezzoz, and I went to Tønsberg with Emma.

I think the street signs are so funny!

Tønsberg

Tønsberg

Tønsberg

Then, on Monday, I rode my bike down to the city and sent one more package to the US and afterwards I went over to my friend Katinka's house. We sat outside (it was really nice weather that day), ate ice cream, and later made waffles and watched TV.

WAFFLES!

On Tuesday I met two other exchange students in Skien (a city about an hour away where I live). It  was an Italian girl named Elena and a French girl named Camille. We went to a place called Fritidsparken, which is The Free Time Park in English. They had a miniature water park inside there. It had two slides, and 6 different swimming pools. On had a hot tub, the other had a place where you could lay down and there were bubbles on you back (we laid there for a good 30 minutes), 5 diving boards at another pool, a racing/training pool, a wave pool and a lazy river type thing (where the water has a current and pushes you around in a circle).  There was also a sauna there, but we managed to stay in there for only about 5 minutes because it was so warm. We were at the water park for about 3 or 4 hours. Then, we took the bus to a grocery store, where we bought lunch and then we ate it by the water (I'm not exactly sure if it was part of the fjord, or just a lake). Then, about an hour or two late I took the train home to Sandefjord.

On Wednesday and Thursday I didn't really do much. I took Nezzoz for a walk both days and I also tried to start packing. Packing is a lot harder than i thought it would be. I thought packing to go back to the US would be no problem, but actually it is almost worse than packing to come here. I thought packing to go home you just had to throw your whole wardrobe in a suitcase and call it good, but no. I did not realize how much I bought this year. I had to buy winter coats, winter shoes, sweaters, wool underwear, mittens, and scarfs(I have about 13 scarfs). So I have sent home 4 packages and I just bought another box to send home, yesterday. I have also organized my clothes of what I need to take home, things I could leave here if I need to, and things that I am leaving here. I also sorted through all my papers and cleaned my room a little bit.

On Friday I went to Tønsberg with my friend Solveig. There we ate at a restaurant next to the fjord. It was fantastic. We sat outside and there was sun, it was warm, and we also had a chocolate volcano cake. Then we went to McDonalds and got a coffee, because no cafe would dare to be open at 9:00pm. And in McDonalds I ran into one of my friends from my class, Ida. This may have been the last time I will see her this year, so I was glad I ran into her but also sad that I had to say goodbye. Then once Solveig and I got back into Sandfjord we went to the McDonald's and got a mcflurry. Then, afterwards we walked home. It was supposed to be my birthday/goodbye dinner with her.

Dessert!

Me and Ida!!

Saturday I did some more organizing and cleaning and pecking during the day and in the evening I went to go see a movie with my friend Malin. We saw After Earth. The movie really wasn't all that good, but it was nice I spend time with her. She is one of my friends that is going to the US in exchange next year! 

Now today, today is Sunday. Later today I am going over to my friend Katinka's house and I am going to sleepover there along with my other friend Jenny. But now I have jut finished breakfast and am drinking my cup of coffee.  

Only 13 days until I am back in the US now. It is nail biting time... 😁

Look What I Found!

I know I am in Norway, one of the most expensive countries in the world and I am not supposed to buy any more clothes for two reasons: 

1. To save money 

2. I have no space left in my suitcase. 

But I was walking around in the mall on Thursday while I was waiting for someone and I found a bikini with the Norwegian flag on it and I couldn't resist. I had to buy it. It wasn't even that expensive. I bought it at Cubus for 229-kr. 

Isn't it cute?!?

Last Week of School

This was my last week of regular school. And really, it wasn't all that regular. On Mondays I have math, Spanish, and Art. I had a presentation in math class, which wasn't all that fun, then, Spanish was a regular class, and in art we cleaned out the classroom and then went outside, sat on the picnic benches and the teachers gave us ice cream. After we ate our ice cream everyone in the class had to give a little speech about how nice this past year was. The teacher told me I had to give the speech  first because I am the exchange student and she said that I had come the farthest and learned the most in this year. 

Then Tuesday, I didn't have school because the others had a New Norwegian test, and I don't get graded in that subject, and the art teacher gave us Tuesday off. So I went running with Nezzoz and on a bike ride with Emma.

On Wednesday we just watched a film in Spanish class and in Design & Architecture we cleaned out the class room. 

The last time I will ever see my art drawer.

My empty locker

Then on Thursday we had English and Norwegian class. In English we saw the film How to Train Your Dragon. In Norwegian we were able to leave after 30 minutes because the teacher had nothing for us to do. Then, I met Martine, my contact person, at Håndverken and had a coffee and talked for about 2 hours. I hadn't seen her since November because she went on a world backpacking trip. 

In Norwegian Class

In Norwegian Class

On Friday we just had English class because our gym teacher told us we didn't need to come. And in English class we just watched the rest of the film from the day before and ate cake. Then the teacher gave me a little speech about how nice this year has been and how it has been to have an exchange student in class. It was very sweet. 

Jenny, me and Christina

Done with school!!!

And that was my last week ever at a Norwegian high school...