Min første gang i Oslo

On Saturday I took the two hour train ride in to Oslo. I was going into Oslo to see the city because I have never been there before and also to see Jenny. Last year, my family was a host family for a nice Norwegian exchange student named Jenny. She lived with us for a year in El Segundo, California. She is now back in Norway, living in Oslo and in her last year of videregånde skole (equivalent to US high school). It was very sad to say good bye to her when she left the United States and our family, but it was nice to see her and her family again after almost 6 months. It was also nice that she lives in Oslo because I kind of got an inside tour of Oslo, not just all the tourist sights. We actually didn't go to that many tourist places. I took the 8:30 AM train into Oslo and got there about 10:30 AM. We then went to see The Scream painting in one of Oslo's art museums. Then we walked around the city a little bit and saw the royal palace, the parliament building, and the city hall. Net we went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Then we took the bus to the museum of modern art. After that we got Italian ice cream (YUM!). Then we took the bus back to the main road and went shopping. I finished almost all of my Christmas shopping that day :). Then we walked back to her house. There I met her family again and had dinner. One of her friends also came over and ate with us. It was very cozy and nice. It was great to see all of them again. Hopefully next time I go visit I will be able to speak Norwegian with them. I spoke a little bit of Norwegian with them this time, but not a lot. My Norwegian is getting better, but it is still not good. I can read more then I can understand of talking, and I can understand more than I can speak. It is really hard for me to formulate sentences and think of all the words and the order they are supposed to go in. So, my favorite word is "Ja", which means yes.

Me with a royal guard at the palace.

Me in front of the royal palace.

Me in front of the opera buliding.

Me inside of the opera building.

Jenny's family and I at her house. :-)

Høsten i Norge (The Autumn in Norway)

This is the letter I wrote to AFS about my autumn in Norway. I tried not use a translator to see how much I knew. My host parents helped me a bit with some words that I had absolutely no idea about. This letter is probably filled with errors, but I tried my hardest and it is good. AFS asked us to send them a letter about our autumn in Norway and what is new and different and if we think anything is strange, so I told them how it was. If you don't speak Norwegian you can just copy it into a translator if you want to know what it is saying :)

Høsten i Norge

av Rebecca Pedersen fra USA

Denne høsten har være interessant. Jeg har oppleve ting dat jeg har ikke oppleve i mitt liv. Min vertsfamilien ønsker meg å experience mange tradisjonal norsk ting. Jeg har prøve tradisjonal norsk mat som fiskeboller, fårkål, fiskecaker, shøtekaker, pølse, lefse, elg, og reinsdyr. Når min familien forteller meg dat jeg spiste reinsdyr, jeg følte som jeg spiste Julnisse. Mensker har spise mange brød. Brød for frokøst. Brød for lunsj. Ikke brød for middag, vi har poteter. Hvis du liker ikke brød, fisk, eller poteter du skal ikke kom til Norge!

Jeg gå seiling med min vertsfar og en hund i fjorden. Også vi gå på en hyttetur i Fagerfjell. Det var gøy. Dar jeg prøvd vaffler. Vaffler er veldig godt. Også, vi spiste sjokolade på topp av et fjell. Min vertsmor lærer meg hvordan å strikke. Jeg er nesten ferdig med min første skjerf.

Min vertsfamilien og meg se på Alt for Norge. Jeg er fra USA og det er gøy å se amerikansk på norsk telvisjon. Mensker i Norge så på amerikansk nyheter mer enn americansk gjøre. Jeg vet mer om presidentvalget og Hurricane Sandy enn min familien i USA gjøre.

Det er kaldt i Norge! Et varmt dag er 7 grader og et kaldt dag er under null. Jeg er fra Los Angeles og jeg burukte å tenke et varmt dag var 35 grader og et kaldt dag var 5 grader. Jeg kjopter min første par av vinter sko to uker siden og var i snø for første timen en uke siden.

Med venner jeg gå for kaffe eller gå å kina å se et film eller gå å gym eller gå kjoper. Alt er dyrt! Norge er dyrt. Jeg skal aldri tenke anyting er dyrt igjen.

Norge er full av nytt ting og jeg elsker Norge.  

Min klasse (my class)

Meg på topp av fjell (me on top of a montain)

På tur med hund (on a walk with the dog)

På tur med Nezzoz (on a walk with Nezzoz)

Spise marshmallows med min søster og en venn (eating marshmallows with my sister and a friend)

Min første snø! (My first snow)

Seiling med min vertsfar (sailing with my host father)

Spanish in Norway

I am learning a foreign language in a foreign language! Every time I am in class I feel like I am cross eyed for the whole hour and a half. It is impossible, mentally, to learn two languages at the same time. The Spanish here is really easy, and if it was taught in English I would have nearly no problem. In the US, it would be equivalent to Spanish I. Reading is fine, because I just need to understand what it says. But, speaking is a whole different problem. Right now my brain is tuned to learn Norwegian. So I am thinking mostly in Enligsh and occasionally in Norwegian, then when I have to speak Spanish I try to speak and it comes out Norwegian  Then, I try again and the first sentence comes out Spanish and the next comes out Norwegian. I have to concentrate and try so hard to speak any Spanish.

Learning Spanish in Norwegian is humanly impossible!

This Week in a Nutshell...

A lot has happened this week.

On Tuesday, I brought Twinkies and Candy Corn to school for my friends to try. My mom was nice enough to send it from the US especially for them. I don't really like either candy corn or Twinkies, bu they are very American, so they had to try them. Most of them didn't like the candy corn, because they thought it was too sweet and expected it to be more like marshmallows. Then only 1 out of 10 people didn't like the Twinkies. But, a lot of people said that it was like nothing they have tasted before. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing...

Then on Thursday evening, the first snow fell. I was so excited. I had just gone down stairs to study for my English test, then my host sister, Synne, calls down and said "Rebecca... it's snowing." I grabbed my camera and ran up the stairs extremely quickly, then put on my boots and went outside. I was so excited. I went outside and just kind of stood there. There wasn't that much snow, but it was still exciting. Synne said it wasn't really real snow because they weren't snow flakes, it was more like hail. But, I classified it as snow!

Me in the snow.

Then on Thursday night, Solveig invited me to a Halloween Party at her school. It was the International School so everyone spoke English. It was nice. It wasn't really what I was expecting and it wasn't like the school dances in the US, but it was still fun. I dressed up as a devil; my last minute costume. She invited me the night before, so I had to run down to the city and go to the only store there that sold anything Halloween. And all that store had was scary masks and a devil set with horns and a tail.

At the Halloween Dance

Solveig and I eating really good chocolate spider cupcakes :)

Well that is all that has really happened. Other than the fact that it is getting extremely cold. I won't surprised if my nose has frozen off before the end of winter. It is also raining a lot. Last week we had 8 days straight of gray skies and rain. But today I saw the sun, so I am happy :). Also, all the leaves have changed color and a lot of them have already fallen off. They are the perfect Halloween trees.

Høstferie!

Last week we had "Høstferie", which is the autumn break. 

It was great to get a break from school and be able to sleep. Ever since I have gotten to Norway I have been extremely tired. Getting used to all these new things, meeting new people, being in new places, and learning a new language is exhausting. I don't want to hear anyone else complain about how tired they are...

A lot of my friends from school went out of the country or had a lot of homework. So I was kind of bored a couple days. But, I did go to the police station and I am now a legally in Norway! I got my temporary residence permit!! After 6 weeks, I am excited. Now, I am just waiting in my social security number. I also had dinner with my AFS contact person, Martine. She made dinner and we talked and watched TV, fun. I also went out to coffee one day with some friends. On Thursday, my family and I went on a "Hyttetur", which directly translates to "cottage trip". We went to a cottage in the mountains at a place called Fagerfjell. While we were there we were lucky and got nice weather. Which basically means it didn't rain :). One day, we had a very traditional Norwegian day: we hiked up a mountain, ate chocolate on the top of the mountain, went back to the cottage, had Norwegian waffles, I knitted my scarf, and then we had reindeer and potatoes for dinner. The next day we walked around a lake, went up a couple mountains so we could eat our chocolate. Did you know that is kind of an unwritten Norwegian rule: you have to go to the top of a mountain in order to eat the delicious milk chocolate?!? Anyway, then we went back and had pasta for dinner. Then I knitted some more. Then we had cheese and fruit, and everyone else had wine, but the legal drinking age in Norway is 18, so I have to wait 2 more years... Then, the next day we woke up had breakfast and cleaned the whole cottage. Then we headed home. It was really fun and everything there was extremely beautiful!

The cottages...with ice on the roofs. 

This was on the way to the top. 

The view from the top of the mountain 

My host family admiring the view. 

 Me on top of the mountain

The lake 

They were selling moose. You could buy a half a moose if you wanted to... 

A boat by the lake 

Norwegian Waffles! Yum! 

Lumber by the lake

A gorgeous waterfall in the forest 

 Nezzoz!

 Nice weather and trees!

 Two trails

I pretty stream in the forest.

ICE, ICE BABY!

Now we are back home and one week of school has almost gone by. Time is going so quickly. I have already been here for almost 7 weeks. Almost 2 months! That is crazy. It really doesn't feel like that long. I am now realizing that a year here is almost no time. I just want time to slow down so I have tome to enjoy everything. My Norwegian is actually getting better. I can understand a lot of what people say now. My speaking skills are really bad though. If you want to know what my name is, where I am from, or that I am an exchange student I can tell you that, but otherwise I speak English. I am not really sure how to form the sentences and I forget the vocabulary a lot. I know it if I hear it I just cannot think of it when I am trying to speak. But people here speak really fast, so it is hard to understand everything they say. And when they speak they blend together all the words so it sounds like a whole new word, that is confusing. But it will get better, I just have to keep trying. I just realized recently how expensive everything is here. When I see the price in kroners it means nothing to me, I always think, "oh, that's not bad," when really that would be $200. That is why I walk around with a converter now. My mom even sent me over a new pair of rain boots and nikes because it is chaeper to buy them in the US and send them over, than to buy them here. I went out with my friends to get coffee the other day and it was 49- kroner, that doesn't sound bad; but that is almost $9. I will never complain about Starbucks prices again! People love to ask me about the weather and love to tel me how cold it will get, it is kind of funny. Also, everyone wants to take me skiing, probably to see me fail, but it will be fun. Everyone here is really nice once you talk to them. Anyway, I am having a great time and I love it here. Even though it is starting to get really cold...

 

Week Four - Complete

ALREADY ONE MONTH IS GONE!!

I can't believe it. It feels like just yesterday I was being introduced to my host family on my third day of being in Norway. Time really flies. I can now see how a year is not a long time. I have been told this will be the best year of my life, but I tried to come here with no expectations of what it would be or what will happen. I wanted everything to be a surprise and for me to able to decide what this year will be like. So far it has been great. It is like a roller coaster; you have your ups and downs and occasionally you get taken for loops, the only thing that doesn't happen is you never come to a stop. So far I have made some great friends, gotten closer to my family, and eaten chocolate. I am still having a hard time deciding which one of those is the best...
The roller coaster started out on top of the tallest hill, I was super excited to be here and meet my family. Then school started and I was extremely confused and it was hard to make friends. Then I wasn't able to use my American credit card or get any money. I felt like I was learning no Norwegian and the at no one understood what was happening. That was a low point. Now I am working my way up another hill. I have started to make friends and I absolutely adore my host family. I have met my contact person and she is super nice. I went to the AFS camp and talked with others and compared experiences.
I was never homesick, and don't think I will be. I never missed home, it was just that I wished things would be easier than they are. But, I keep reminding myself of three things:
1) The best things in life are the hardest to achieve
2) You have to go out of your comfort zone to do anything worth while
3) I will survive!

These are some pictures of me and my friends at school.

This week felt like it was a blink of an eye. One day I was dreading waking up at 6:50 to got to school, then I was at volleyball on Wednesday, and the next thing you know it was Thursday and I was on the train to Holmestrand to the AFS Arrival Camp Part 2.

At the camp I got to meet up with all the other AFSers in my region. We are region 2, we are all in between Oslo and Bergen. It was great to meet up with everyone and talk and eat chocolate. It was neat to hear everyone's stories and how they like Norway. We also had meetings with the AFS leaders who asked us if we were adjusting okay, if we were making friends, if we were having problems with our family, if we have a contact person, and if we were surviving. I basically said I am doing fine and there are no problems. The leader said I was doing a lot better than a lot of others with talking to classmates and making connections with people. So I was happy.

The camp was at a beautiful location called Sandsletta. We stayed in a house on the beach. All 30 AFSers stayed in the loft. We were all on thin mattresses laying right next to each other. Also, there was only one shower... That did not help with the already bad smell. Then all we got to eat was bread, bread, and more bread. For breakfast and lunch everyday was bread and salami, for dinner was hamburgers, tacos, and tomato soup with macaroni and bread on the side. I am so sick of bread. That seems t be all Norwegians eat though: bread, cheese and potatoes. 

This was the location of the camp

These two pictures are of all of the AFSers near me at the camp. It is amazing how close you can get with people in a matter of days when you all share a similar experience.

Now I am back in my own bed. My host dad and brother left this morning for Houston. My host dad had a business meeting there and my brother just went along. Today for dinner, guess what we had... Tortillas, made out of potatoes, with mashed potatoes smeared on that, with a hot dog, and onions and ketchup. I was all wrapped up like pigs in a blanket. Remember how I told you Norwegians love potatoes and bread... They decided to combine them into potato tortillas, wow. They were actually really good, I was surprised that I liked them. But, I decided that I am trying nay food that anyone wants to give to me. When I get back to the US no one will recognize me because of how much weight I gain. I haven't been able to find a scale, and maybe that is a good thing, I don't really want to know if I am keeping up with the slogan of AFS = Another Fat Student.

I feel like my English is progressively getting worse. I am learning more and more Norwegian, but I have started to have trouble forming English sentences and have been forgetting some words. This is not good. English was my best subject back in the states... Here, though, I feel like an English teacher because everyone asks me what something is called and what certain words mean, also how to use proper grammar. I have gotten really good at guessing what people are thinking because I have had to guess a lot by people using hand motions or sound effects. It is fun. But, I am taking Spanish in school, and that is hard. The sentence is in Norwegian and we are supposed to translate it to Spanish. So I have to go from Norwegian-English the from English-Spanish, then if I don't know a word I have to look it up in the Spanish/Norwegian dictionary, then in the Norwegian/English dictionary and it ends of taking 10 minutes to translate one sentence. 

But I am getting better at Norwegian. I can now say simple sentences and understand a lot more of what is happening. I am not saying I am near fluent, but I can understand a lot more of what is happening now than I could a month ago. Now people can't talk about me without me knowing. 

There is only 9 months left! AHHHH!! Time flies when you're having fun!

Week Three......

Well, this week was full of excitement. 

Last Sunday we went to Midtåsen A mountain that you go on top of and you can see the whole city and three different fjords. It was stunning. Then when we walked up another hill there was a mansion where one of the richest people in Norway used to live. There was a small art museum that was open to the public and another fantastic view. We were going to go see a Viking ship, but then it started to rain and we didn't really want to walk very far in the rain.

 The view of the city

 I am falling down to the city. There was a sign that said not to throw anything or anyone off the rock.

 The art museum next to the mansion.

 The view of the fjord

 The mansion

My host family

On Monday I went to school. Sounds fun right... Well at least today I received, what I think is, my final schedule. I now have Spanish class added to it. So now I have Spanish, T Math, Visual Arts, Design and Architecture  English, Norwegian, Beginner's Norwegian, and Gym. Yeah! for school.

This is my schedule. It is even in red, white and blue!

On Tuesday, nothing much really happened other than school, and I only had two classes that day.

On Wednesday, there was school yet again. I had deign and architecture today, and we are constructing a chess piece. My chess piece is the king, it is a pharaoh. I honestly have no idea what I am doing in that class, so I sit there and draw sketches and today I cut out four circles. I am supposedly using those four circles to build my pharaoh. Tonight I went to volleyball with Solvieg. I guess you could call Solveig my "host cousin", she lives right up the street from us though. She is one year younger than me and she is very nice.  Volleyball was fun, it was from 8-10PM. I was really confused almost the whole time though because the instructor spoke Norwegian and everyone who was participating thought that I spoke Norwegian. One of the women there started to tell me how to do a drill in Norwegian, I had no idea what she was saying so I just did what she was doing, I stuck a volleyball between my knees, then began to waddle away because I thought she was done talking. She wasn't and she finally got the memo that I didn't understand. I was actually supposed to just pick up the balls and give them to her.

On Thursday, after school and dinner, Marit took me to the mall. I got the "official Norwegian teenagers" rain coat. It is blue, red, and white, with a neon yellow hood. Nearly every student at my school has a similar jacket. AFS did  tell us to try to fit in. All I have bought, and worn, since I have been here has been sweaters and jeans.

On Friday, I had school again. But Fridays are my favorite school days because I only have two classes and neither require that much thinking: English and Gym. After my classes finish, at 11:35, I am free to go home and enjoy my weekend. When I got home Marit took me to the post office to pick up a package that my mom shipped me, with my rain boots in it. Then we went to the bank. Well, as it turns out, this year I will have absolutely no cash. I am going to be the only exchange student that did not go broke buying clothes and nessecities in the host country. My credit card really only works at H&M and the bank doesn't even have the technology anymore to use the American credit card. If you don't have a pin code for your credit card here, you cannot survive. When I tell people that I do not have a pin code, they look at me like I am crazy and say "NO PIN CODE, ARE YOU SURE?!?" I determined that Norway requires two numbers to survive: 1) social security number 2) pin code (for your credit card). As of right now, I have neither!

On Saturday, we had our usual lazy weekend breakfast. I live for those! Then I met my contact person for my exchange for coffee yesterday afternoon. Fist of all, Norway has the best iced coffee I have ever tasted. Second, my contact person is really nice. She went on an exchange in the Dominican Republic two years ago, her name is Martine. She offered to teach me how to sail. She also said that she has to come meet my family and make sure everything was okay, then she wanted to take me to meet her family. She said that she has a brother in my grade, but he is very in to soccer and working out, and he even goes to a tanning salon. I thought that was a little weird, until you consider that it is Norway, and that is your only option if you don't want to be extremely pale. Then I walked home, on my way home I stopped at a store to buy some dental floss, guess how much it costs... 40 Kroner, that is $6.50!! It is expensive to keep these pearly whites looking good. Then my host dad made stir fry for dinner and we had chocolate mousse and coffee for dessert.

Now it is Sunday, and it is supposed to rain today. I am not really sure what is in store for today, but it is my week to clean the bathroom, so I know I have to do that. Also, Jaran, my host brother is coming home today. He was away at law school in Bergen. So I get to meet him for the first time. Well, actually I did meet him over skype once but I basically just said hello then he hung up because the connection was bad. Well, I just got called to go up for breakfast. YUM!