First days in Norway!

      I can't believe I have already been in Norway for 5 days! It feels like it has been very short and very long at the same time. There was quite a long journey to arrive to my home in Namsos (Fossbrenna to be exact) but it was most definitely worth it. People from the US going to Sweden, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Russia, Belgium, Hungary, and the Czech Republic (I believe) all met up in New York for a night and two days of an orientation before departing for our countries. Lots of "team building" and "why Norway?" while we were there but it ended up being a good experience as I got to meet many other students in the same position as myself! Many of us then flew to Iceland together (you have to be 20 to drink there..) and then went our seperate ways in Reykjavik. Due to AFS's extreme carefulness, we had a full 3 hours once we got through to our gate in New York. At least there were lots of stories to be told during that time. Unfortunately, I was extremely nauseated and had a bit of a stomach ache while going both to Iceland and from there to Norway. Our first "culture shock" (AFS terminology) experience was most definitely ordering food in the Reykjavik airport. Everything from a sandwich being 850 kroner (we found that Icelandic crowns translate about 125 kr:1 USD) to completely different languages. On our flight to Oslo, 5 or 6 of the back rows were completely unoccupied so we were able to sprawl out and get some much needed rest. After arriving in Oslo, all 5 of us Americans went to get our bags and meet up with the rest of the people studying in Norway for this year. We found a great big group and (yay, us!) we were one of the only countries wearing mandated travel shirts. That looked good for the Americans. Anywho, they sat us down and made a large group of extremely sleep deprived, excited teenagers wait far too long to get to the hotel (can you tell how thrilled I was at this point?). Once our bags were all loaded up onto the bus, we got in and, even though we fought it, most of us fell asleep at that point. AFS would not let us nap at the hotel in order to get over jetlag but the 40 minute bus ride was not too big of a deal. After arriving at the hotel, we jumped right into orientation! It was set in the middle of what appeared to be a forest by a lake and was a very beautiful place. My room was almost like an apartment with a bedroom, bathroom, living room, and kitchen- and for the first night I had the entire space to myself as the students from Mexico ran into some visa-related trouble in Germany. For those 3 days (1 full and 2 halves actually) we ate really good food, played the tapping game and "I'm a ridin' on my big fat pony" more times than I could count, and met tons of great people from all over the world that I hope to see again! The highlight of the orientation, though, was probably the country talent show. It was recommended that we bring a national costume of some sort and maybe do some sort of dance or song from your country. We decided that the US had nothing worthwhile of that sort (aside from the "Star Spangled Banner"..boring) nor did we have any talents (*ahem* aside from mine and Rebecca's juggling) so instead we decided on a skit that perpetuated the typical American stereotypes. Myself and another girl played the "valley girl" role where we smacked our gum, twirled our hair, and played dumb (we were almost scary good at it) while the other two girls stuffed pillows in their shirts and were the "fat americans" and our only boy played Pauly D from Jersey Shore. It was fun and got some laughs from the people that understood it. That night we all said our goodbyes and those of us in the Northern regions of Norway prepared for our last plane the next day. Our last plane went from Oslo to Trondheim where we met up with some Norwegians that had gone on programs with AFS before who then rode the bus with us to where our host families were having their orientation. After lots of tired hugs and hellos, we were able to eat while they finished their orientation. Then we drove the 2 hours home with my host mom, Oddrunner, and her boyfriend who's name I probably could not spell if I tried. They were very sweet and I could already tell that I would get along very well with them (especially when they told me it was fine to sleep). Once we got to the house I met Silje, my host sister, they showed me around a bit and I even have my own room (pictures to follow when I obtain a camera cord)!
                On Monday my host mom brought me to my school to have a meeting with the counselor and the two other exchange students from Germany that are staying in Namsos. School is very different from the US where you do not have the same schedule everyday and you do not have all of your classes everyday. So on some days I start school at 10 instead of 8 and some days I end at 1 instead of 3:30. The classes are hard and so is the language but "it's not good, it's not bad, it's just different" (yay more AFS terminology!). On my first day, I walked to school and I don't think I have ever had more of an overwhelming feeling of wanting my mommy. However, I made it and felt a bit better and proceeded to find my counselor who then brought me to my main class-where I have Norwegian and history class. I introduced myself to everybody, which was extremely nerve-wrecking, and took my seat in the class front and center! The teacher tried his hardest to translate the lesson on globalization into English for me as did the people I worked with in groups and for that I was very thankful. After that class Lisa, the other exchange student, and I had to talk to our counselor to see what class we had next and to find out when we would get our school-issued laptops (yes, everybody gets one). We had sociology for the next 1 1/2 hours and met some more people there and then had gym with the same people from our main class. The teacher explained the game-some sort of mix between baseball, cricket, red rover, and football-in Norwegian, and some people tried their best to translate for us but we were still a little lost. Although we participated in the game, for all I know I could have completely ruined everything for the team! I was talking to some people, though, and they said it was fine. I then walked part way home but my host sister passed me just as I was starting up the hill part on her motorcycle (more like a vespa) and gave me a ride on that! It was overall a good first day- although I did feel a bit like a little kid on the first day of school ever times about 100- but I am excited to have all of my classes and begin to develop my Norwegian more. I wish that it was a lot easier and faster to learn a language but I know I will have to work hard at it!
Ha det bra (goodbye) and until next time!
Rachael

Leaving already!

As the big day quickly approaches (7 hours but who's counting??) I can't help but freak out about everything. I don't have this paper which will obviously be the one that doesn't allow me to get into Norway, our copy machine isn't working (of course), etc. etc. I do know, however, that no matter how stressful these next five days will be, this will easily be the best year of my life thus far-and for many more to come. It's so weird thinking that I have been talking about leaving forever but I never actually thought it would become a reality. I am, however, so excited to meet my host family and get out of this hellish southern California summer heat. Thank you to everybody who has been so supportive throughout everything and I will miss all my friends and family immensely! I hope to be able to write here again soon.
Until next time,
Rachael