The first two weeks

I can't believe that I've already been in Namsos for two weeks! These first couple weeks have been quite a whirlwind of happenings and have gone by so fast. My first week of school went well, although I understood almost nothing, but I've talked to lots of people (in English, of course..) and am beginning to make friends! My teachers are very understanding of the fact that I can't understand or do much of the work in their classes but I'm trying my best to do as much as possible (and thanks to the nice people sitting next to me for trying to translate what the teacher is saying). The rest of the week went well and I didn't get lost walking to or from school at all! On Friday, my host mom went out to Jøa, the island where her boyfriend Trygve Jonny-I can spell it now!-lives, and my sister, Silje, and I stayed at home. During the day on Saturday I went to the mall with a friend to walk around a bit and get milkshakes and later that night Silje and I went out to a party. We had a lot of fun and then made our way over to a food place that was open late. After hanging out there for a bit we trekked back home and crashed for the night. The next day was spent relaxing and watching movies as we were exhausted from the night before! School the next week was almost the same, although I am starting to understand more words here and there and can sometimes figure out what the teacher is saying.
Trygve Jonny's birthday is tomorrow so we went out to Jøa for the weekend to celebrate his birthday! To get there you drive 40 or so kilometers to a ferry and then take that to the island. It's a tiny little island, only about 45 square kilometers and a population of 500, but it is absolutely beautiful and everything just seems picture perfect. We first went to visit my mom's parents, as she grew up there, and they even have their own sign on the road (pictures to come when I get my cord). I was greeted with a huge hug from my Norwegian mormor and then we went inside for tea and cinnamon rolls-homemade, of course. Although they don't speak English (much of the older generation doesn't) it was good to meet them and very comforting to be at a grandparent's house. We then went to Trygve's house where we were going to stay for the weekend. I got to peek in at the cows in his barn and then went inside and met his son who was visiting for the weekend (this time I won't try to spell his name..). Aurora, my host cousin (?), was also there for the night. Later that night my mom stayed home with sleeping Aurora and Trygve, his son, and I went to the pub right down the road! It was so cute inside and like nothing we would have in America. We sat down and after a while I introduced myself as "Jeg heter Rachael anddd that's about all the Norwegian I know". Once people know I don't speak Norwegian, though, they all speak to me in English and I met quite a few people that night! There was live music, too, which was lots of fun as well. There were some pub songs that everybody sang along to, as well, and at first I didn't know them but since they were in English I was able to get some of the words pretty fast. Later in the night when there weren't many of us left we sat down and people played guitar and sang songs and it was such a fun time. I love the small town aspect of everything there as nothing like that would happen back at home. It was definitely a fun night spent with great company. The next day we hung out for a bit and Aurora, Mamma, and I went on a bit of a tour of Jøa. It is such a cute town but we weren't able to get out of the car much as it was rainy and cold. Later my Norwegian mormor and morfar came over to celebrate Trygve's birthday. I had made chocolate chip cookies and my mom made cheesecake (oste kake) and another type of cake with cloudberries (molter kake?). We all ate and laughed (I just laugh when they do since I don't understand) and had lots of fun. We went back to the pub that night but it ended up not being open so we watched Fast and the Furious 5 (why are there 5 of them?) and then slept. All these days of rain have a way of making you pretty exhausted.
Today was a day of relaxing. We watched some TV and movies (it's mostly in English with Norwegian subtitles so I can listen and try to read along) and just hung out until we had to go home. The ferry ride is very short at only about 5 minutes and then we went home, with a few stops on the way. The language barrier is definitely still there but hopefully I will continue to learn more and more Norwegian everyday! Mamma just said we will start speaking more Norwegian around the house tomorrow so I think I will have to keep up. I'm having such a blast so far, though, and I'm sure the rest of my year will continue to be just as fun. I get the question "why Norway??" a lot, but I have yet to regret the decision to come here (although winter hasn't hit yet..). I think that's all for now, though, and I'll continue to update here when I have the time!
Ha det and until next time,
Rachael

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