utadæsjælåpplevelse: kelsey i norge 09-10

Blog Champion!! Another post, wow.

2010-05-08T06:39:00.001-07:00

Today we went hiking at Gygrestolen, which I am surely spelling wrong. About 10 minutes outside of Bø, it's a rock formation that, from our normal vantage point on Breisås hill, looks a bit like a chair. The local myth is that this is the chair on which the "ygre" (troll-wife) sat and threw rocks down, creating the valley below.

It was a beautiful day! Lovely view from the top. Here's some pics.

I love you Norway!!

Kim decided to climb a tree; Anjuli on the rock

At the top!

In this pic you can kinda tell how the two rocks make the "chair" shape: the one in the foreground is the taller one (on which we are sitting)...the one in the background is the shorter of the two.

Josie!

Much Like Napoleon...

2010-05-02T15:07:00.001-07:00

...we recently conquered Europe, before the volcano conquered us.

It was an adventure, to say the least...we (Anjuli, Warren, myself) were all on Easter break before we left for the trip, so planning=very little. We basically just put on our backpacks and headed out. But...that's the best way to do it, right?.....

First stop: Bologna, Italy. This trip was planned around Ryanair's cheap tickets, so our destinations were perhaps a bit random, but we got each ticket for around 8 Euros, so it was totally worth it! There was actually some method to this madness as well. Anjuli's friend Julia is studying in Bologna this year, so we had a contact there. Her friend Alexandra even came to get us at the train station when we arrived late that night! Very nice :)

While we were in Italy we took an overnight trip to Venice. AWESOME. We stayed in a hostel, made a super cool Australian friend, and wandered around the canals. Fantastic. We were in Bologna for the rest of the time, which is a beautiful city, so I was perfectly content with that.

Next: flight to Bratislava, Slovakia, followed by an hour bus ride to Vienna, Austria. Warren and Anjuli have a mutual friend who is studying there this semester, Sylvia. She met us at the bus station and we stayed in her dorm for a couple nights. It was really fun to stay there! We met some other cool students and were able to cook all of our own meals. There was even a bar, right in the dorms...! Haha. Crazy. Vienna itself was a really, really cool city. Unfortunately it rained practically the whole time we were there...I would love to go back someday when the weather is better!

Stop number three: Dusseldorf, Germany. Sylvia studied in that area for a year when she was in high school, so she tagged along with us. Nice to have a German speaker with us, not to mention someone who was familiar with the area. While we were waiting for our flight, however, we noticed a lot of people standing around, and saw that all the London flights were cancelled. This seemed strange, but we didn't think too much about it.

That night, checked into our hostel in Cologne, we saw the volcano on the news. Uh oh, we thought. But we had three days before we were going home...that was enough for things to get under control, right?

We had a really nice time in Cologne...met some awesome German students and made some friends. That was definitely the highlight...a BBQ outside of some student housing in Cologne, hanging out and talking to the students. Very cool. The nice time ended, however, the next morning, when we got the news that our flight was cancelled. Very bummed out, we took a train to Bonn, where Sylvia had also studied before, and chilled out on a big lawn in front of the University there. Highlight. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day (no sign of ash...bitter).

We decided to make a snap decision and try to get home as quickly as possible. At this point, the situation only seemed to be worsening and the trains and bus systems, we heard, were getting overwhelmed. It was a gamble, but it seemed to us that we better get ourselves out of there before the situation got any worse.

Ride to Hamburg from Cologne (four hours), bus from Hamburg to Copenhagen (five hours). Arrived in Copenhagen at 2:30 AM, where luckily I had managed to get ahold of my excellent friend Emma. She had beds all prepared for us in her apartment when we got there! SUCH A GOOD FRIEND. I woke up early that morning and was luckily able to chat with her before she went off to work. Being able to see Emma actually partly made all the chaos worth it for me! Imagine that.

We found a bus that left that morning for Oslo. It was something like 9 hours, with an hour stop sometime in there. We arrived in Oslo that evening around 7 pm. I have NEVER been so happy to be in Oslo...everything seemed so gloriously familiar. The train station! The opera house! YAY! We sat outside at the opera house and caught the sunset while we ate a subway sandwich dinner. Perfect.

Took the late train back to Bø and finally made it home at 1:10 AM. Sooooo nice to finally be home. Amazing how it took us about 20 hours of total traveling to get home, while a plane only would have taken 45 minutes. It is definitely a different feeling to travel on the ground...taking the ferry from Germany to Denmark, seeing the entire Swedish countryside...it puts the size of things into perspective :)

All in all, it was an awesome trip, and we saw and experienced a lot...but there were definitely things we wished we had done better...like, planning...oh well. It was an adventure. And character-building, as I kept reminding myself. Haha.

Biggest cathedral in Europe! Cologne

Cologne again

From the top of the tower in Bologna

Beethoven's grave in Vienna

Venezia!

Everybody watch this!

2010-04-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

One of the international students here, Ines, made this video which won 1st prize in the study in norway video competition! You might see a face you recognize.... ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuS0xTtcOU&feature=player_embedded

Ex-Russefest

2010-04-24T06:48:00.000-07:00

Hello, sad blog that I have been neglecting.

Today is Ex-Russefest here in Bø and, I'm sure, other places. This is a crazy event in which all the students who have ever graduated from high school--so, most everybody--get together, put on their crazy pants, and drink. Starting at 12 pm. Continuing...for the foreseeable future.

Being a high school senior is, I have concluded, way more fun than being one in the US...and it's fun there, too. In Norway, everyone gets these crazy pants...usually red or blue...baggy overalls kind of, but you're not supposed to actually wear the overall part, because that part hangs down and acts as a pocket, where you keep your "business cards." These are cards that have your picture on them and a short, funny description of who you are and what you're about. Kids collect these cards and are very excited about it. Just now, when I was in the grocery store with Bibbi, some kids saw her pants and sprinted up to her: "Do you have cards??" Along with the crazy pants, high school seniors do some crazy pranks around the town, drive crazily decorated vehicles, and in all other ways act totally nuts.

So, on ex-russefest day, Norwegians get to break out the pants once again. Luckily, it's a sunny day, so everyone is out barbequeing (and drinking) right now (except for me, I'm typing this, lol. BUT heading off to the BBQ in a bit, don't worry). Tonight there is a big party and lots of strict rules...we all have to leave Breisås by 11 pm, when they will lock down everything. No glass bottles are allowed up here and they are checking everybody's cars to make sure nobody is bringing glass in. They've gone around and closed all the curtains in the houses. It's almost kind of like an occupation is about to begin or something.

I will take more pics today and maybe continue this story later. It promises to be an...interesting...day.

here's what I've been seeing out my window all morning...

PS...more pictures! :)

russebukser...the pants!

sooooo many people!

Something you wish you'd never learned about Norway in the spring...

2010-03-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Rant////

Okay, I am so sick of it, and thus I just have to rant a little bit.

So Norwegians are an active people. They love their dogs, and they love to walk their dogs. I have no problem with this. If you own a dog, it is good to walk it. Not only does the dog get exercise, but so do you, and all parties are happy. This never bothered me in the summer or the fall.

Apparently, however, once we reach winter, the dog owners forfeit all responsibility for picking up after their dogs. Why? Well, the snow, of course! It's like a big blanket! It covers up all the dog shit very effectively. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

Okay. But seriously. What about when spring comes and all the snow melts??? I am very tired of walking to school, to the store, etc, and seeing more dog shit then I EVER WANTED TO SEE IN MY LIFE. The worst part is that, when the snow was at its peak, it covered part of the sidewalks. This means that lots of the poop is directly in my path, on the sidewalk, when I am walking somewhere.

GROSS. That's all I have to say. I am happy that we are having nice sunny days again, and that spring seems to be in the air. But really, you dog owners? Kom igjen. Takk.

Norway in the wintertime. Now clean that up!!!!

Some Thoughts on Language/Lithuania. Random pair, but go with it.

2010-02-20T15:25:00.000-08:00

Hola.

Haha. Ironic beginning.

So I am often thinking about language, because it is interesting to think about, and unavoidable when you are in the process of learning a new one.

I am now about six months into my stay in Norway. Half a year, which is exciting. I feel as though it's kind of hard to track one's own progress in language-learning (maybe because I always feel sooo bad at it?), and so I'm not exactly sure how much I've improved. I mean, I know I've improved, I can say that with some confidence. It's been a pretty crazy year as far as learning Norwegian. When I think about how little I knew when I started at Skogfjorden, for example (even after studying at PLU for two years!), it just kind of blows my mind. I havelearned a lot in the last nine months or so.

But then, sometimes I just feel like I am the worst Norwegian-learner of all time. Some of the most awkward moments in my life have occurred here, I think, when I don't have any idea what's going on...in class, at a party, during a casual conversation. Anjuli and I often talk about how awkward we are in various Norwegian social situations, and it's nice to have somebody around who sympathizes.

I just got back from Lithuania, and it felt really interesting to be there and then come back to Norway. Anjuli and I were talking about how the trip made us feel like...wow, yeah, we do sort of fit in in Norway! Not knowing a single word in Lithuanian would have probably been a serious disadvantage if we hadn't had Greta with us at all times. I mean, we know enough Norwegian to have a casual conversation with someone on the airplane. I guess we're probably doing okay.

For the record, I did learn how to say "Good evening. It is very nice to meet you. I love you" in Lithuanian. Ah yes, and also "Train station." Good for me. Train station is particularly fun to say. Next time you see me, ask me to say it for you. You will like it.

The trip, PS, was excellent...Greta had it all planned out. We saw so much of the country...even made it to the Baltic Sea and the Curonian Spit, which is a pretty interesting place. Google it! :) The capital city of Vilnius was gorgeous, at least in the Old Town, where we were. Greta's cousin Maria had a friend who gave tours professionally, and we were lucky enough to get a free tour from her. Wonderful! The city has lots of interesting history, beautiful buildings, etc.

I will give you some pictures!!!!

Baltic Sea

My favorite building in Vilnius...St. Anne's Cathedral. Oh, beautiful!

Vilnius :)

The girls! Greta, Anjuli, me!

Greta's house. Most houses were built of this grayish brick.

Happiness!

2010-02-02T15:14:00.001-08:00

Bah I am so happy right now!!!!!1 Perhaps just because I am in Norway...on my birthday...and it is cool and I love Norway!! And also because trip-planning is in the works and I love travel!! I am going to Lithuania on the 24th and possibly northern Norway before that. And a MIKA concert in March!! Could life get any better?!1

Also happy because my friends are awesome. All of them! My Norway friends are awesome. Tonight Bibbi and I baked together for a couple hours and basically had a great time hanging out. Earlier in the day I hung out with my American friends in literature and it was great. They are planning some sort of surprise for me and are bad at keeping it a secret, but they are so nice and cool to plan something! I love birthdays! My friends far away are awesome too. I love my Minnesota friends because they are great at keeping in touch even though we never get to see each other anymore. And my Washington friends because they are so cool and I miss them!

This is a corny post, and I apologize. I know it is corny.

Tomorrow I'm going to celebrate my 21st with cookies during Discussion Group, and with a dinner out with six of my besties. Afterward we will eat cake! I am so excited.

Then, on Thursday, I will go to Oslo with Bibbi and Anjuli! We will shop and basically have a good time. Love it.

Finally, I have been doing some trip planning for when my family arrives, and it makes me that much more excited to see them and to hang out here in the lovely Norway.

Sighhh...so content.

The following display some of my skiing adventures.

Norsk norsk norsk

2010-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

HEI. So. Here we are again. I must say that it has so far been a pleasant almost-two-weeks back in Norway. I have met the new Americans (Warren, Josie, and Joe) and found them to be cool people. I have started some new classes, and found them to be satisfactory. I am once again taking Literature (this time after 1900) (still have to read in Swedish), but this time I am joined by three other Americans. It is nice not to be the only foreign student in the class! Now we can all not know what's going on together! I am also in a Norwegian Writing Workshop, Telemark Identity II, and a Friluftsliv course (skiing class!) which I am VERY excited about...we get to ski tomorrow morning!

Hyttetur over the weekend was amazing. We went to an area of Norway called Blefjell which is around Notodden somewhere in the mountains...just a 1.5 hr drive. We spoke Norwegian the whole weekend, ate well, and skiied all day on Saturday. Success!

So far, for once in my life, I feel like I have been finally speaking enough Norwegian! I don't know how it has happened but in the last two weeks there has been a transition in which I have been speaking probably twice as much Norwegian as during fall semester. Maybe because I've gotten a little tighter with my Norwegian friends...maybe because after hyttetur I had Norwegian stuck in my head...maybe because we have created a new discussion group...whatever the reason, it is wonderful and I feel really good about it. Once again I would like to give myself lots of credit for deciding on the one-year program. Already I can see just how much more I will learn this semester. I'm so cool. And modest.

Ummm what else. Today we were doing some trip-planning! It is kind of a ridiculous list of expectations I have. I want to go to Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Ulvon again...I want to visit London and Paris...I want to visit my friend Greta in Lithuania...and I'd love to visit Finland to make my Scandinavian countries count complete. Also, my friend Barry's choir is going to be singing in Helsinki in May...how cool would it be to see that concert. Wow. Plus, I want to ski a lot more and see more of my Norwegian family! It's going to be a crazy spring I think, and it will go so fast. And my family comes to visit in March, and maybe also in May if Grandma decides to come (I hope she does!) So much to think about...plus school. Oh yeah.

Okay blog. That is all for today I believe. Now I have to find an interesting picture to add to you. Here's one.

I miss you Hope and Kady!!

All the Way From Norway! (It's Lemon Juice and Pork)

2010-01-12T10:56:00.000-08:00

*those are song lyrics, I'm not crazy.

Welcome back to the Norway blog!! I have finally come back, after a miserable little bout of stomach sickness, and a changed airline ticket. My Christmas in Washington was amazing and I even got to hang out with my family. Yay. And I got WAY too many presents, cuz my family is awesome. But this is all beside the point.

Back in Norway!

The first thing I realized, while getting off the plane and into the Oslo airport, was that Norway has a distinct smell...it's not lemon juice and pork. I don't know what it is, but it was familiar as I lugged my backpack to baggage claim, and I felt happy. Maybe it's just airport smell that I like, but whatever, at the time I felt very welcomed back to Norway.

After I got my bag, I was pleased to find out that I had to wait for two hours in the central station before a train to Bø was going. Just kidding....not pleased. But oh well, I waited. Then, on the train, I had to work hard to keep from falling asleep (hadn't slept on the plane) so that I wouldn't miss my stop. THEN, our train stopped in the middle of the snowy forest. The engine turned off so it was completely silent. Then the power turned off so it was dark and silent. I was expecting the dementors to enter the train at any moment. But instead the conducter made an announcement (we're having technical problems). We sat in the woods for about 30 minutes, then they were magically able to start the train again. I was worried we weren't going to get home for a minute there. I learned in this situation that Norwegians don't talk to each other even if something weird is going on. If a train broke down in the USA, strangers would turn to the person they were sitting by and start complaining or speculating about the situation. But this doesn't happen with Norwegians. They just say HMMMMmmm to themselves and keep reading the newspaper (even when the lights go off). It was strange how very silent that train was.

Anyway, I got back to Bø, had the enviable task of pulling my suitcase all the way up that giant hill (for which I deserve a gold medal) (I got blisters), and finally made it to my house! It's FREEZING here, and there's about a foot of snow. Norwegians like to ski, thank goodness: I've noticed ski tracks everywhere, even alongside roads, which is fun. I'm so excited to get some skis and GO.

So fun to reconnect with everybody: Ida had a Christmas present for me (three pairs of wool socks, yay!) and Bibbi invited me on a hyttetur (a trip to her cabin) which is in the mountains, about 2 hours from here. I am so excited for this. It will be Anjuli and me, Bibbi, Tina, and Ine. Tina and Ine are two friends of Bibbi's who are SO nice, and I'm very excited to spend time with them!! It will be a blast.

BAHHHHH. Basically I am just thrilled to be back here, and can't wait to make plans and do stuff. YES NORWAY.

Norway has Christmas milk. Just try to beat that.

Dad

2009-12-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

My dad is cool. I can't wait to see him when I return from Norway. He's pretty awesome and makes up really good songs. And also is a firm believer in the four main food groups: Canned, Bagged, Boxed, and Jarred. In conclusion, I am excited to see my dad AS WELL AS my mom, contrary to what the list in my prior post may have led people to believe.

Dad is cool!!!

Some Random Ramblings

2009-12-06T04:59:00.000-08:00

Hello.

So. It is Dec 6th today. This means I will be going home in...get this...TEN DAYS!! I can't even believe it. The day I go home I will have been in Norway for exactly four months. Is that crazy or what?! Four months! That seems like a long time, and yet, it feels like I haven't been here that long at all. Maybe because I've done a lot while I've been here...travelling etc...

I had my literature exam on Friday...this one was extra hard because I had to write in Norwegian. Basically that meant I had to read Norwegian literature, understand it, then analyze it all in Norwegian. It was like the biggest nightmare exam ever. I studied for like 8 hours a day every day last week. It helps that I'm officially done with classes, but still. Luckily, the exam consisted of a question I had (unbelievably) written a whole essay on last spring in my Women's Literature class. I had read through my old essay before the exam, just in case it happened that we would get this question. Amazing luck.

So I have one more exam on Tuesday (Norwegian), Obama comes on Wednesday (we might sneak a trip up to Oslo to view the craziness), and another on Friday (Midwestern Texts). Then...all is DONE! I will travel to Gjøvik on Saturday to spend the rest of my time in Norway with Knut and Kari, which will be wonderful. They are the nicest people and Kari needs to teach me a little bit more about knitting. I am hopeless.

Then, next Wednesday, I will spend 12 hours or so on a plane which will take me to my home of Seattle, WA, where my grandma will pick me up at the airport and take me to my home of Poulsbo, WA, where I will proceed to have a great time hanging out, seeing my best friends Kelsey and Alex, and eating way too many cookies. I can hardly wait.

My friends and I have been talking about the things we will do first/look forward to the most/etc when we are back home. It's kind of interesting what we talk about. Here's a list:

Top on everybody's list: food. We all miss a different kind of food. I really crave a big Denny's breakfast, with pancakes and eggs and bacon and syrup, etc. Anjuli wants IHOP and Kady wants Mexican.
Another top: we all miss eavesdropping. It's very hard to eavesdrop on stranger's conversations here because, well, they're speaking Norwegian. I mean, I was thrilled when I was on the train in Sweden and heard this random American businessman talking into his cellphone. It was great. I kind of can't wait to get plopped down into SeaTac Airport and hear American English alllllll around me.
The other half of all our wardrobes. Obviously we couldn't pack all of our clothes coming to Norway, and we're all very sick of the ones we have. We can't wait to be reunited with our other clothes. This one isn't as bad for me because...ok, I admit it, I packed a ton of clothes.
Full-length mirrors. None of us know what the entirety of ourselves have looked like the last four months.
Cheetos.
Driving around. One day I said, "I think when I get back I just kind of want to get in the car and drive all around." And everybody said, "YESSS" immediately. It could have something to do with none of us driving ourselves in the last four months, or just having traveled mostly by train, etc while here, or maybe just wanting to get reacquainted with our American surroundings. Who knows.
Seasonal Starbucks coffee drinks.
Our moms.

Those are the important ones I can think of right now. Basically I am really excited to get home. On the other hand, however, I'm VERY grateful that I get to come back here for spring semester. I think I would be super bummed if I had to leave here forever...there's so many other things I want to do while I'm here! And I should be back in time for an awesome New Year's party in Larvik...we'll see :)

Kady and I devour pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving...yes.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

2009-12-02T05:58:00.000-08:00

Went on a walk to take a break from studying. I'm already done with classes...final exams start on Friday!

My view as I upload these pictures.

My house. Be jealous.

People seem to just jump on their skies and go skiing right on the sidewalk.

Love these matching houses.

A glimpse of the valley...

Here's the path we often walk along.

I'm so artsy.

Artsiness again, but I like this house. It's really Norwegian-ish, I feel.

A truly Norwegian view. The two churches against the mountains. Classic.

View from our road.

My house again!!

Lifjell Saturday!

2009-11-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

Greetings, good people.

Today was a beautiful day, very different from the crappy weather we've been having lately, and this resulted in an impromptu trip to Lifjell, a nearby mountain. Johan drove, and Hope, Kady, Siri, Anna, Peder, and I accompanied him. Hope, Kady, and Siri are my fellow Americans...and Anna and Peder I had not met before, but they are from Slovakia.

It was very fun, we hiked, made a fire and ate hot dogs, and did some more hiking. It was snowy, wet, and sunny, and we got to watch the sunset as we hiked back toward the car.

Here are some photos.

This is the highest we went. We made a fire up here.

Amazing scenery on the way down. Quote of the moment: "Are these colors real?!"

Fire with hot dogs! Siri, Hope, Johan, and Kady.

Kady and I made a snowman!

The best Norwegian fashion: pants tucked into socks. Yessssss.

A Post About Last Sunday

2009-11-20T15:07:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday was a very good day, followed by a very busy week, which is why this is a post about something that happened...well, last Sunday.

I got on a bus around 2 pm headed for Skien. Birthplace of Ibsen, don't you know. Also the residence of some relatives of mine. When texting with Knut (my main relative contact over here) he mentioned some relatives in Skien. "Skien?!" I exclaimed via text message, "That is a mere hour from Bø! This is wonderful!"

So, I had the honor of meeting Ann-Lisbeth (Knut's niece) and her husband Bent. They were the NICEST!! I felt a bond because they are almost the exact same age as my parents, and also have two daughters (21 and 25, close in age to Kirsten and me!). I was at their house for about 6 hours, but it didn't feel that long. We had an awesome dinner (considering my cooking skills, it is great to eat food cooked by someone who knows what they're doing) of pork, potatoes, and a traditional Norwegian cabbage dish (quite tasty) and a dessert of caramel pudding. I also had two cups of Pepsi and roughly four cups of coffee. By the end of the evening I was, as you can imagine, a bit bloated. It was really fun to visit with them, they were so friendly and easy to talk to, and patient when I mangled their language...which I hopefully didn't do too often.

I will definitely be visiting them again. It was such a koselig visit. No other word to describe it. (Cozy, roughly translated?! Still not quite right.)

That is my update! I decided to use pretty colors because of the lack of pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Sweden: Again?! Pictures.

2009-11-11T06:07:00.000-08:00

Here we have Ulvön's main drag.

Ulvön from on high! We hiked to the top of the island.

Dick and Birgitta. Behind them are some farms in the center of the island.

Ulvön's highway...

Ulvön from a dock!

Here is Dick and Birgitta's house.

Cards were played, Diet Coke was had. Good times.

Dick and Birgitta :)

Gloomy day for a walk!

View from my bedroom window.

Sweden: Again?!

2009-11-11T05:44:00.001-08:00

Hello and welcome to my blog. If you have forgotten, my name is Kelsey, and I have not met with any unlucky accidents or disappeared off the face of the earth...I promise. I am merely slacking off when it comes to this blog. Unforgivable, as my old soccer coach might say.

So, now I must tell you what I've been up too!

After Stockholm, Halloween arrived. That looked something like this:

My friend Anjuli and I were "masqueraders." She bought some fancy masks while in Italy, which we dressed up with lots of sparkly makeup and long black gloves. Pretty cool. Halloween was a lot of fun, consisting of: buying a pumpkin (for the astounding price of $10...64 kr.), going to Grivi (another student dorm) for a party, and finishing at Kroa for dancing. Kady's boyfriend, Luke, was visiting from the US, so it was fun to hang out with another American. Good times were had by all.

After Halloween happened, I found myself on yet ANOTHER trip to Sweden! This time I was looking at quite a different trip...to Northern Sweden, a small island on the High Coast called Ulvön. Some friends of my grandma's, Dick and Birgitta (themselves loyal blog readers), live there. Birgitta is Swedish and was born and raised on Ulvön, before moving to America and meeting Dick. They lived there until they retired--in Shelton, WA, for many years, where they were good friends of my grandma and grandpa--and have now lived for 10 years on the island. I met them last Easter when they were visiting the States, and became a big fan. They are the coolest.

Thus, I decided I must visit them on Ulvön. Travelling there was a bit interesting. There is only one ferry that goes to the island in the winter, and it leaves at 4 pm from the mainland. I needed to be there in time to catch it. This resulted in waking up at 3:30 am, catching a very early bus to Oslo, catching the Flytoget to the airport, catching a plane to Stockholm...waiting in Stockholm for a bit...and catching a 1:15 connecting flight to a town up north with a name I can neither pronounce nor spell. Ör-vik, we will call it for now, which is an abbreviation. Which also, I just realized, is the last name of one of my favorite high school English teachers. Interesting.

In any case, after overusing the verb "catching," I arrived in Ör-vik and was met at the little airport there by Dick and Birgitta. We caught the ferry and soon arrived at their house. It was dark when I got there, so I didn't know exactly what everything looked like. In the morning, however, I was very excited to find I was in the sweetest little "fishing village." Though the weather wasn't great while I was there, and though it was generally dark by 3 pm, we managed to get outside for a couple awesome walks. I will display these pictures in the next post.

All in all, the visit was kind of recuperating for me. I got to sit, listen to my iPod, finish some homework, finish a book, play the piano (!), and eat delicious meals. I also got to sleep in ridiculously late. It was the best. I didn't really want to leave, five days later.

Here come pictures!

Stockholm Episode 1

2009-10-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

Well hey! In most recent news I took a roadtrip to Stockholm. Why? No reason, really. I got invited. And then I found myself in a car, looking at signs such as this one:

Shoot. 515 kilometers huh? Minorly depressing, but hey. We had music and a Toblerone bar bigger than a small child. So it was all good for a while.

Finally, we made it to the border! It was anticlimactic. No customs or anything. But these sweet signs were there at least!

No trip to a Scandinavian capital is complete without pictures of colorful houses by the water, even if the weather is bad.

Norwegian friend Bibbi and new Swedish friend Christian, on one of our many shopping adventures. Stockholm is, apparently, known for its shopping.

Exploring Gamle Stan: the Old City.

Same. I like how that bike-reflector went all crazy.

Bibbi and me by a lake! Yay roadtrips!

It was a great trip, and many adventures ensued. Some things I noticed:

-Burger King/McDonalds. A TON in Sweden. More than in Norway for sure.

-Construction. In Copenhagen, too, lots of the older parts of town were under construction. My conclusion, I think, is that when all the tourists go home, they break out the scaffolding. Kind of annoying as far as my photography skills go, however.

-Meat 'n potatoes. In both Copenhagen and Stockholm the best meal seems to involve a meaty stew of some sort with boiled potatoes. I am not complaining. Delicious. Actually, in Stockholm we ate a lot of rice too. Go figure. Oh, and actually, our potatoes were oven-baked. Hmm. Never mind.

-Awesomeness. Both Copenhagen and Stockholm seemed to be awesome. Well then.

OK the end for now!!!1 I promise to be better at updating...one of these days!!

Copenhagen: Episode 1

2009-10-13T06:10:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been in Copenhagen for the last several days. I pretty much just got off the train in Bø, actually. Popped some laundry in (it smells great after being stuffed in my backpack for a week) and came to my blog! But I don't really know what to say. Copenhagen was way too awesome for me to cover here. It was quite the experience. I guess the only way to really illustrate this trip is thus:

Yeah...basically the best part was getting to see Emma again, after way too long, and hanging out and being as sarcastic as humanly possible. I missed her a lot...and that is NOT sarcasm...and we had SO MUCH FUN. Also not sarcasm.

We did a ton of stuff, but I will stick to one anecdote that stands out. For now. One highlight was "Culture Night" on Friday. This is a time when everything in Copenhagen which is usually closed is suddenly open to the public (not everything, but, you know, a lot). Lucky that I happened to come on the weekend when this was happening. Emma and I bought tickets...which came in the form of little pins that you wear on your coat...which then allow you to take public transportation for free wherever you need to go. We got a little brochure that told us all about the night's activities and what they would be, and we looked at it carefully to plan our night before we left. I can read Danish for the most part, just can't understand it...which is strange and frustrating and kind of interesting.

Anyway, one activity which became very important to us was "paint your own umbrella!" at the kunstindustrimuseet (Art and Industry Museum). Despite the fact that it said "for children and parents" in the brochure, we made it our first destination. Upon arriving, however, we were greeted with the reality that it was, in fact, only children under 10 painting the umbrellas. There was also a long line.

Undaunted, Emma sent me to play a silly American tourist (easy role, of course) and ask a museum worker whether it was only children who could paint the umbrellas. So I approached the nice-looking man, trying to look as cute and innocent as possible, and asked. He said, "OF COURSE not! EVERYONE can paint umbrellas! Just stand in line!" So we took his word for it and stood, heartily embarrassed, surrounded by hyper children. Never have I felt so 20-years-old in my life.

Anyway, as we stood there, speaking English to each other and commenting sarcastically on how embarrassed we were, Emma overheard the couple behind us talking about us (in Danish, obviously). They didn't realize that Emma could understand them; since she has a perfect American accent, they figured we were both silly tourists. They were saying things like "Too bad they don't know it's just for kids" and "they'll be sent away for sure." Emma could only ignore them for so long, then she proceeded to lay down the law. "We did ask, we got permission," she told them. Which I actually understood in Danish! Yay me (after being around Danish for a few days it got a little bit easier to understand...but definitely not a lot. I usually only could pick out a few words. OK. Sorry about the language-side-notes).

Well, the whole incident made us feel smug but also more embarrassed. But we'd come this far. We were determined to have the umbrellas. And, finally, it was our turn. We painted alongside the 10-year-olds, and it was glorious. But also still embarrassing.

Note: mostly young children and parents in the workshop area. Hmmm.

I made my umbrella into a tourist work of art. In case I wasn't already embarrassed enough.

Don't disturb an artist at work.

Ditto. Emma got all fancy and used a clothespin to make sweet patterns on hers.

That was just one episode in the Adventures of Kelsey and Emma in Copenhagen. But I seriously need to study. So, though I know this is extremely thrilling to read about, I must take a break and promise to post more later.

Guess what?!

2009-10-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.c6643fdd23ab1bd7153c6e60161873bd.bd1&show_article=1

Apparently, I chose the right place to study...mwa ha.

God Morgen

2009-10-03T04:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to this sight...

In the famous words of the Beatles which I have only altered slightly...good morning, good morning, good morning. Snow.

Fall Walk...

2009-10-02T08:04:00.001-07:00

Anjuli and I went on a walk up to the church the other evening, just for fun. It was just lovely...a nice chilly fall night. With a full moon rising. None of the moon pictures, however, turned out. Of course.

Long time, no post.

2009-09-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

I know, I know, this is supposed to be like clockwork every Sunday. I'm sorry. Perhaps I was uninspired on Sunday because nothing much happened this week. It was a very normal week. No excursions. But that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to stay home.

Ida was home this week, so that was nice. Have I talked about Ida's long absences? I think not. My excellent roomie, Ida, studies friluftsliv. Outdoor life. Yes. This is a subject one can study in Norway. It's subtitled "A strategy for life." Because Norwegians enjoy nature, camping is considered a valuable life skill to have, pretty much. Awesome. However, this means that she's gone a lot, on trips and such. She's gone on three of these so far...the first was to Lifjell for five or so days, the second to the coast for a whole week, and the third started today and I forgot where it is...I know they will be canoeing, in any case. Last time, they went sailing. She showed me her pictures: Dad, you should see these little boats they got to learn how to sail. I was SO jealous. They were like mini Viking ships! I'll try to find a pic for you. They had red sails, square-rigged, so very excellent.

Anyway, yeah, Ida's gone a lot, so it's nice when she's here, I have someone to speak Norwegian with on a more regular basis. Plus it's just more homey around here when I'm not living alone.

Something interesting happened in Bø this weekend. It was the Cowboy og Indianer Fest. Yes. The Cowboys and Indians Party. Believe it or not, country music is HUGE in Norway. You know that song, Cotton-Eyed Joe? Did you know that the band that recorded that song is called Rednex? Did you further know that this is a Swedish band? Neither did I. Well guess what. They graced little Bø with their presence on Saturday night, and everyone decided to have a Cowboy and Indian fest. This meant cowboy hats, cowboy boots, and feathers and facepaint. Of course, this would not be PC in the US, so the whole thing actually just kind of made me feel weird. Whenever a Norwegian asked me during the course of the week if I would be attending the Cowboy and Indian party (it was talked up all week) I said...well...uh...I don't think so, I guess, I don't know.

I asked one of my American friends who went to the party if he dressed up as a cowboy, and he said, "well, I didn't come to Norway to encourage an American stereotype" or something along those lines, and I thought that was clever. Haha. It was just kind of a weird, funny, strange thing. Kady, Hope, Anjuli, and I voted to go buy chocolate and candy and watch The Best of Will Ferrell instead. We walked down into town at around 9:30 PM and it was already crazy down there. Many drunk-ish Norwegians in cowboy hats.

A little glance at the political incorrectness...haha. I don't know. Weird. Click on it because for some reason the whole thing doesn't show up on the blog. Thanks to Trist for the pic :)

If you read the whole thing, you get an exciting surprise at the end!!!

2009-09-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well hello again Sunday. Another week has gone by. Now I'm not even sure how many it has been. I hit the one-month-mark on September 16th! This is weird. It doesn't really feel like a month has already gone by.Many things to cover in this edition of The Blog of Kelsey. The first has to do with a conversation I had with mom over Skype. It is titled "Norway Doesn't Know How to Have Good Mops." MaryAnn would certainly not appreciate the mopping system they have adopted in Norway...enough said. ;) I am used to luxurious mops that do the work for me, not this crazy system!! I had to ask my Norwegian roomie if she could please show me how to work the mop. I felt so lame...it's not like I don't have cleaning experience!! I used to mop three times a week!! But now...it's back to square one. So, Exhibit A:

I mean, really?? What is this thing. It looks like something you'd used to wash your windshield at a gas station. This was never meant for floors. And what is that strange clippy thing? What in the world are you supposed to clip there? It offers no hints. Turns out, you're supposed to clip a rag to that little clip, and then use the rag-and-windshield-cleaner action to sort of move all the floor gunk into one corner. Then, using another rag, you are supposed to scoop said gunk up. At least, I think so. It still seems very strange and no matter what way I have tried to use this it's just easier to sweep and then scrub with a rag myself. Ahhhh...I miss my Swiffer and Gonyea Mops.

But, in other news. The first cool thing to happen this week was the Beaver Safari on Tuesday night. Beaver Safari...yes, I know. Really. Go ahead...giggle. A lot. We certainly did. We made fun of the fact that we were going on a Beaver Safari with a special zeal. But, as it turned out, it was a really, really excellent experience. Observe:

So here's what happened: we left around 6 pm on Tuesday night. Our guide was Tina, who is Danish but has started her own business here in the Bø area which involves taking both tourists and natives alike on various nature excursions. As it turns out, the Bø River (shown above, of course) is home to one of the largest concentrations of beavers in the world. Some of the most knowledgeable beaver scientists reside here. Beavers are in fact exported from Bø to other areas that lack in beavers...areas all over the world. I bet you didn't realize beavers were such a big deal, did you?! I don't know why I think it's so funny that there's a such thing as a beaver scientist...

Anyway, we started down the river and had a 45-min paddle upstream. It was beautiful...the sun was just beginning to go down, and the hills and the calm river and the nice weather and the rolling farmland all around us were quite picturesque. I thought many times about how cool it would be to live in that house there, have my own little farmhouse and my own little field with wheat and my own little dock with my little boat bobbing in the river, and how I could take it out on sunny afternoons and find a quiet place to fish. I don't particularly care for fishing...but hey...don't ruin the dream.

We arrived at our destination, which had an awesome dock for taking 4 canoes out of the water, and there was a clearing and four little buildings: a house, a shed, a barn, and a stabburet...that's the special-looking Norwegian shed on legs up there in the pics. They were all abandoned but kept in good condition...it sounded like they were owned by the historical farm up the street, which has been around for something like hundreds of years and which Tina described as "having its own ghosts." Tina built a fire and we had hot coffee, apple cider, and apple cake...it was fantastic. Then she gave us a little informative talk on beavers (and, yes, "like everything else, beavers in the USA are bigger" she told us). We saw a beaver skull and felt a beaver pelt (very soft) and then, after some relaxing, it was back to the canoes! We paddled downstream this time, so it went a lot faster. We didn't talk, because it was beaver time and our voices would scare them away. We ended up seeing four or five. You look for their little heads in the water...then you hear them slap their tails down to warn the other beavers that danger is fast approaching in the form of four Americans, two Lithuanians, a Dutchman and a Dane in canoes. DANGER!!!1

It was cool, and beautiful, and amazing to be out canoeing on a fall evening in Norway. Oh my gosh. This post is going to be so long. Brace yourselves lads and lassies.

Next Cool Thing: Apple Orchard! On Friday, in our Telemark I class, we visited an apple orchard. It was about 20 minutes from here, just outside a town called Gvarv. Professor Sauar was our guide and also the owner of the orchard. He teaches law at the school. I am not going to lie. He was a very handsome man. But whatever. Despite being slightly distracted by this I did actually learn a few things. Professor Sauar and his wife basically inherited the orchard and started up their own successful business from scratch. They produce thousands of liters of apple cider each year on their farm, with their own apple press, and they sell this finished product in grocery stores all over in Norway. He told us all about the challenges of pulling this business venture off while we sat in a wooden room that smelled deliciously of apples. I think the press was in the next room over, which would explain it.

Then, after the lesson, we were invited to taste 10 different kinds of ciders. We had a piece of paper to judge which cider we liked the best. It was like wine-tasting, but cider-tasting, minus the alcohol part...it was very delicious. There are no additives at all in this cider, so it's very cloudy and natural and tastes...well, like a real apple. The ten different varieties were made of ten different kinds of apples...obviously. Mmmmm. We had flatbrød in between ciders to cleanse our palates. At the end, we each received a free bottle of cider as a gift...yes!! So nice. I've sort of already finished mine...too good.

It was a lovely day, and after the orchard we walked around a tiny old church that is right next door. It was on our way to the busstop. So here's some pics of the apple orchard day:

Cider-tasting in a delicious wooden room...

Free bottle of cider!!

The fancy stabburet at the farm...

They had a beautiful house!...

Our class :) I'm in the back/center

Okay! So now we proceedeth on to today: Church on Sunday again! It's great to go to church, because so far it's been different and unique every time. Well, ok, the whole two times I've gone. Still. Remember how last time it was up in the mountains in a church built in 1960-something? Well this time, it was in Gvarv, at the church right next door to the apple orchard we visited on Friday, in a church that was built 800 years ago. Very different, but very cool. It was also quite the cross-cultural experience, because the special event of the day was the Romanian singers. The Romanians come to Norway as seasonal workers...they work in the apple orchards from June until September, and they make more money doing this than they would in a year's time in Romania. So Svein said. Svein, by the way, is our school pastor who befriends the international students and drives us to church if we want to go. If I haven't explained that already. He also makes waffles for us every Thursday in the school cafeteria. Free. What a guy.

So the Romanians sang for us, and one Romanian girl sang several solos...she sang in English, and had a great voice. Very cool. There was also a baptism. The Baptismal party was decked out in their bunader...it was very fun, even the tiny children wore them. Crazy. Svein was the pastor for all this. I pondered the differences and similarities between my baptism in an American church by my grandfather, with all my relatives wearing their awesome early 90s formalwear as Grandpa said some fancy baptism words in English...and this kid, being baptized in an 800-year- old stone church, with all his relatives gathered around in their traditional Norwegian costumes, and this pastor saying some fancy baptism words in Norwegian. Well. Both me and the baby today wore long white dresses. I guess that's a good similarity.

Actually I spent much of the service not being able to get over the whole 800-year-old church thing. I was like here I am, the church bells are ringing, and I'm sitting here in this 800YEAROLD CHURCH. Look at me, singing Nynorsk out of this hymnbook, in this 800YEAROLD CHURCH. Wow, here I am in Norway, listening to this beautiful choir sing and ohmygosh this church is like SO OLD. It's pretty amazing to think about how many different services this church has seen.

Blah blah blah, sorry to ramble, here are some pics:

Svein doing the baptism, you can see the woman's bunad...

the pews were funny, numbered boxes...

I really liked this tree on the wall...see also rosemaling...

the alter...

church from outside...

Well gang, that takes care of this week. Ready for the reward?! It's really exciting. Fantastic, actually. Here it is. I have a new goal, and it must be fulfilled before I leave Norway. Ready?? Oh my gosh, you are going to be so excited, you are practically going to pee yourself.............guess what?!.........I want to learn to play the accordion. I WILL LEARN THE ACCORDIAN.

Wasn't that totally worth it?! Accordion. That is all.

Fjellkyrke. Porsgrunn. Dyrskun. Oh my!

2009-09-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

Anjuli and I in Porsgrunn

Hei alle sammen!

Først og fremst I want to say THANK YOU to all my loyal blog readers. I love reading your comments and I'm so happy that I have an audience. Having a blog would be just a tad bit boring if I didn't have people to read it! So a nice big shout-out to all you cool readers.

I guess I have many random topics to touch on today.

First: Last Sunday, a week ago today, I went to church! It was wonderful. There is a pretty little church here in Bø, which looks a lot like good ol' Cambridge Lutheran back home, actually. Just subtract that big addition. Typical Scandinavian-Lutheran architecture I guess. Anyway. We didn't go to that church. It was a special Sunday...the service was up in the "Mountain Church." We got a ride from a very nice woman up a long winding mountain road to the very top of Lifjell, where we ran into Lifjell Fjellkyrke (Lifjell Mountain Church). It was a gorgeous wooden building built in 1968-ish. The service was very tradtional, almost exactly in order with the services I grew up with at home. Announcements. First Reading. Singing. Second reading. Gospel. Sermon. Communion (with intinction). Even though the whole thing was in Norwegian it was quite easy to follow along, because I knew all the rules! We even did the Apostle's Creed and Lord's Prayer...and they both seemed to have the same rhythm as they do in English. I said it along in English, which confused my brain but which was kind of fun. After the service our good friend the pastor gave us buckets and bid us go pick berries on the mountain. Which we did. But I must learn to always be dressed for hiking. Lots of times you end up going on a hike when you least expect it. These Norwegians sure do love their nature. Church, for example. You wouldn't expect to go casually climb a mountain after the service to gather some blueberries. But. That is just what happened.

Church was great, actually. It was a very homey feeling to be there, with all these nice people (who were so impressed when we could speak a bit of Norwegian...good for the self esteem) and with all these little kids running around...just like church at home. And then, after the berry picking, there was a delicious beef soup thing with flatbrød and 50 different varieties of cake. Not bad.

So that was last week. Then, on...Tuesday, perhaps? Anjuli and I were invited to ride along with our Norwegian friend Bibbi to Porsgrunn, which was about an hour away. She and a coworker had a meeting there in the evening, and so they dropped us off at the mall while they proceeded to their meeting. So Anjuli and I got to explore Porsgrunn a bit. They had an H&M there!! Exciting. However, it was about 6:30 by the time we got there, and it began to get dark while we were exploring the town. We wished we'd come in better lighting. But it was very pretty in any case...it's on the water, which was cool to see. Unfortunately we did not make it to the china factory. Oh well. Next time.

Driving to and from Porsgrunn was also a highlight...Bibbi's friend was from Southern Norway, and thus he spoke in an interesting dialect, which was fun to listen to. Bibbi's very good at checking in with me when we're all speaking Norwegian..."Forstår du alt, Kelsey?" "Nei," is usually my answer, unsurprisingly. But it's fun to practice. I do a lot of listening. Not a ton of talking. I contribute the odd sentence here and there. It's very difficult to gage my progress in this whole learning-a-new-language thing. I used to think it would be so cool to know another language...now I'm like, oh. All you do is learn a different word for everything. Put them all together with a different accent and there ya go. You're all thinking, well, duh. But, I don't know, it's just not as complicated as I thought. I have dreams in odd mixes of English and Norwegian. Sort of like my life here, I guess.

But moving on. Videre! Yesterday we went to Dyrskun, which is a big "folkefest" in Seljord, which is about half an hour from here. Basically it was like a Norwegian culture fair. It was fun...I bought some very Norwegian-looking hand-knitted mittens and a hat of the same variety. We also ate rommegrøt (romegraut...I can't get over this Telemark dialect thing) and some waffles and coffee. It was very fantastic. Afterward we drove up Lifjell just to see the view. It was freezing up there, but I got some great pictures. The sun was just going down.

In other news, this week has been the get-out-and-explore/start-exercising-you-lazy-bum week. I went on a couple runs and walks this week just to see what kind of potential there is for running and walking. Lots! Beautiful farm roads through hayfields...interesting neighborhood roads with all sorts of twists and turns and houses hanging off precarious ledges...and secret hidden walking/biking paths everywhere. It's amazing all the beautiful things I see in one little normal Norwegian neighborhood. Maybe it's just because it's different that I think it's so great. I don't know. In any case, it's just a ton of fun to explore all the back roads here. Next time I'll bring my camera along so you can see.

Also...I bought a plane ticket to Copenhagen today! I'll be there for 5 days, from October 8-13, and I am SO excited to hang out with Emma. Apparently one of those days is "Kulturnatt" in the city...I'm not sure what that is, but it sounds exciting. Also Anjuli, Bibbi, and I have officially planned a road trip to Trondheim for the third weekend in October. Bibbi is driving (she has a best friend she wants to visit there) and it's going to be so fantastic. Road trip through Norway...it's about 9 hours to Trondheim. I CAN'T WAIT to see more countryside and just everything. Insert several thousand exclamation points here.

Well I think that's it for now. Here's some pictures for your visual pleasure.

These were at the top of Lifjell.

Attn. John: troll sighting!

This is where we bought waffles...see the cute old ladies sitting at the waffle irons?!

Johan and Hope petting a horse. Awww.

Dyrskun...supposedly 70000 people go through here during the course of the weekend. So many RVs, etc.

Coffee, Classes, and Potential Trips!

2009-09-04T04:39:00.000-07:00

Hello there!! I am now closing in on the end of Week Number Three. There has been a major improvement in my life, and it is:

My new French Press!!! And coffee grinder!!! Our Scandinavian Studies program director, Judy, has really adopted the seven of us in the program. I happened to mention that I was not a fan of buying an expensive coffee maker--but that I was a fan of coffee--and she informed me that she had an extra French Press at home! Then she brought me a coffee grinder too! What a woman. I am so happy to have coffee in my life again.

Okay, now I would like to talk about my classes a bit, just for fun.

I have no classes on Mondays, which is awesome. Tuesdays, however, my first class starts at 8:30 AM. Sick. It is important to note that I made a vow, long ago, that I would never take an 8 AM class while in college. Unfortunately I do not have the ability to choose my class times here, and thus I must wake up early on both Tuesdays and Thursdays...very sad. This early class is Advanced Norwegian, which is proving to be a lot of work: tons of reading, grammar exercises, and oral reports. Since there are only five of us in the class, we all get lots of attention, which is nice, and our teacher, Rannveig, is very strict about pronunciation. Which is great! I think my pronunciation will really improve after this class. It can, however, be kind of frustrating repeating the word "prosent" four million times until I get the perfect O.

After Norwegian I have to run to my literature class. Norsk Litteratur Før 1900 is my only class with Norwegians. I am the only American as of now...the other two have dropped it. Which makes me wonder if I should drop it too...I was struggling with this question quite a bit at the beginning of the week. I think I've already complained about it a little...the language is quite a challenge, but I talked to the teacher, Sigrid, and she tells me that things get a lot easier after the first few weeks, because right now we're reading the REALLY old stuff. Even the Norwegians have some trouble with it. So I've decided to stick with the class...the point of coming to Norway was to take classes in Norwegian, after all. If I concentrate really hard, I can usually understand most of what goes on in class. However, it seems to be a pattern that I zone out completely during the last 15 minutes. I guess there's a limit to how long my brain can hold that concentration.

After that, Tuesdays are over. Wednesday I have just litature at 10:30. Thursdays I have Norwegian, Literature, and then a class called Emmigration/Immigration: Midwestern texts. Another lit course, but in English this time, whew. Judy teaches this one. So far, it's quite interesting. We just finished reading a collection of letters by a Norwegian woman who immigrated to Iowa in the 1860s. Really interesting reading. Next we're starting on Giants in the Earth. This class is a really nice rest for my brain after a full Thursday of Norwegian.

Then, on Fridays, I have a required class called Telemark Identity. This class is cool because we just learn more about the area. Last class time, for example, a guest lecturer came in to tell us about the geology of Telemark (this valley used to be a fjord, filled up with water), and we went on a walk around the town. We saw a Viking burial mound and an old Lutheran church...beautiful. And we picked apples in an orchard. This class is more fun than work, and lots of times we actually don't have it. This provides me with several 4-day weekends throughout the course of the semester. Think of the traveling opportunities!

Trip-planning...here's what I've got so far. My friend Anjuli and I are going to Oslo the first weekend in October to stay for a few days. She has a friend there--an Oslo native--who has volunteered to let us stay, and is also excited to show someone around who has never been to the city before! For which I am exceedingly grateful...it should be awesome. And then, during a fall break in mid-October, I am going to try to get to Copenhagen to see Emma! She might have her fall break during the same week, and we are so excited to get together!!! I am really looking forward to this...a LOT!

I'm also hoping to get up to Gjøvik sometime this fall...this is where Knut and Kari, my family on my mom's side, live. It's about 4 hours north of Bø, and I can easily take a train there.

I will close with the wonderful news that I found cheap hangers. Finally, I hung up my clothes. It was the best day ever.

Some Week-and-a-half Random Thoughts

2009-08-26T13:11:00.000-07:00

(How I miss thee!)

It's been a week and a half since I got here! Which is, of course, not a long time. However, I am starting to develop some independent thoughts. The stars in my eyes have faded slightly (definitely not all the way. I still really like it here and could go on for a long time about everything I like). But:

1) ILLNESS. This is not Norway's fault, but it's still lame. I've still got a nice little cough going on and cannot be anywhere without my Kleenex supply. Today, however, I went to class, relaxed in the sun, and went shopping...so it's not a hopeless situation or anything.

2) CLASS. Oh my. This semester will not be easy. I will admit that I'm supposed to be doing homework at this very moment, but I got sick of it after like 5 hours, so now I'm stopping. So much to read! For my literature class, the reading is all in Nynorsk or some weird old Norwegian! WHICH I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!! And which cannot be found in any dictionaries apparently...however, one of the sagas we're supposed to be reading is now posted online, in English...thank the lord. And my Advanced Norwegian class's homework took up my entire evening. This cannot continue.

3) SHOPPING. Well. Everything costs way too much here, that is for sure. I could not bring myself to purchase three hangers for four dollars...thus I have only two lame wooden hangers in my closet that came with the place. I'm kind of hoping I'll make it to IKEA soon, where hangers are more like 10 for 6 dollars. Yyaaayyyy...also, the kantina (the little cafeteria) at the school, and the nearest grocery store, conveniently do not except my debit card. The two places where I'd most like it to be accepted. And there's a $5 fee at every ATM, so getting cash is something I don't want to do a whole lot.

4) FOOD. I've gone back to the basics. Here's what's in my fridge: Milk. Cheese. Orange juice (I don't even like orange juice). Jam. Bread. Apples. Corn. And my pantry: Special K, plain. Wheat crackers resembling Rye Crisp. Salt. Rice. Pasta. Meanwhile, here is what would be in my PLU dorm-room stores: Milk. Sugary cereal, like Captain Crunch or something. Protein bars. Macaroni and cheese, Top Ramen. Lots and lots of Diet Coke. Maybe some apples. Crystal Light. And some leftover fast-food Asian thing that Kelsey and I went and got the night before. Oh, and coffee, and cream for the coffee, and individual packets of Splenda. Possibly one of those tubes of cookie dough (I'm layin it all out on the table now). Microwave popcorn. Tostitos Hint of Lime. Six kinds of tea. Meanwhile, today I couldn't bring myself to purchase a simple packet of Lipton Green Tea. It was like 36 kroner. Divide it by 6. No way man. Point is. I miss my unhealthy lifestyle from before...especially the Diet Coke and the popcorn. They don't sell pop in cans in packs of 12 here...just 4-6 bottles of it for like 65 kroner. Siiigghghh. Also I don't have the guts to buy a coffee maker yet (399 Kr.) so that sucks. Again, my salvation rests in IKEA...a French press for 89 kr!! Hallelujah!! (PS...no microwave for popcorn, and why can't I find popcorn seeds?!)

5) IKEA. All the way in Oslo. Today I said to Anjuli, "when are we going to IKEA?!" and she said, "when are we going to feel better?!" Oh yeah...shoot.

Well I guess that's it...whine whine whine. We'll call this the W-post. I'll end with one non-whine, though. Guess what I watched last night...Will and Grace!!! On Norwegian TV!! The selection of American TV shows that are aired here is really quite impressive. I might even be able to watch ANTM this season!! They have Norwegian subtitles which is actually kind of fun to follow along.

Okay that's it!!!

Yay swine flu!

2009-08-24T03:12:00.000-07:00

Well...I'm sick. Dang it. I guess it was bound to happen, hanging out with all these international students all the time. All those foreign germs floating around...bleh. My friend Anjuli is sick too, and we know of at least two others who are sick in a different dorm, one guy from Kosovo and one from France. We don't actually know if it's swine flu...honestly, I sort of think so, just because it came on suddenly and is quite miserable and seems to be spreading quickly. I didn't really move from my bed all day yesterday. I'm already feeling a bit better this morning, which could mean that it's not swine flu, or just that I'm lucky I have a nurse for a mom who made sure I packed all my really intense medicines and made sure I started them right away. Thanks mom!! :)

I only have one class today, and that's not until later this afternoon, so I'm thankful for that. I'm still debating whether or not to go...I don't want to infect anybody, but this is my first Advanced Norwegian class, and I've been kind of excited for it...I don't know. We'll see, I guess. If I do go I'll just bring my hand sanitizer and disinfect my area or something. Haha.

What else...nothing, I guess. On Saturday morning, when I was still feeling okay, we made pancakes for breakfast and had them with jam and fresh blueberries. The blueberries grow everywhere around here, all along the roads and the trails, it's just crazy how many there are.

Boring post, sorry. There's only so much you can do when you're sitting in bed with nothing but the computer for company. Facebook, email...update the blog! I would watch TV shows online but there's something stupid about international agreements...I have to be in the US to watch shows on ABC or NBC.com. LAME.

Picture Captions! (find the pics one post down)

2009-08-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

1) This is Johan's strange Dutch truck in which he drives us places now and then. If we're lucky, up the huge hill back to the dorms.

2) Anjuli and I went on a walk, and ran into this beautiful little river! It's right opposite a campground called Beverøye, which means Beaver Island, which is hilarious.

3)This is Kroa i Bø, where we go to see concerts and other cool shtuff. Bad picture. It's just a big old building.

4) This is a little glance down Bø's main drag. It's a small town but has just the perfect amount of places to find everything you need. Bookstore, clothing stores, three grocery stores, an appliance and technology place called Expert, and even a little mall where you can find all sorts of stuff.

5) The city from the top of the hill where I live.

6) This is my house! Ida and I occupy 1/4 of this little place.

7) This was at the Postgirobygget concert...quite a popular Norwegian band. Very fun night. After a while I could even pick up the words in the choruses and scream them with everyone else (DET VAR KJÆERLIGHET!!) This was at Kroa. And that phrase means "It was love!!" I'm a genius.

8) This is me and Bibbi, my Norwegian friend/orientation guide. Bibbi is short for Birgitte, how cool is that?! All the international students went for a hike to the top of this hill thing, and we had a great panoramic view of Bø from up there.

9) Me with Hope and Anjuli, two American friends, both from University of Wisconsin Madison.

10) Yours truly.

11) Some view. It was a cloudy day, sorry.

That's all!!!!!1

Formatting is hard, so all the pictures are going here and the comments on the next post.

2009-08-22T12:58:00.000-07:00

Det er så bra å snakke norsk!

2009-08-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have spoken much more Norwegian than had been happening since the last time I posted. Okay. That was not a catchy sentence with which to start this blog post. Sorry.

I know I said I wanted to make friends with Norwegians...not International students (because how will I ever learn Norwegian if I'm not friends with Norwegians?!)...well...I have to eat my words a little. Anjuli (USA) and Johan (Netherlands) have been my two besties for the past two days, and they each speak very fluent Norwegian. Johan has studied here before, and Anjuli has lived and worked here. Even more importantly, they know how it is to be shy when learning to speak a new language. So they nag me. ("Kelsey, why didn't you ask for that coffee in Norwegian? Kelsey, talk to the barista in Norwegian!! Kelsey, you can read a book about driving a car, but that doesn't teach you how to drive the car! You have to get behind the wheel!") OMG...GIVE ME A BREAK ALREADY!!! ITS MY THIRD DAY!!! But they are right, and it's great to have them encouraging me to not be so shy. It's true...once you start talking Norwegian to a Norwegian, they generally won't switch over to English on you...unless you accidently admit that you're from the USA. They like to practice English. In the picture, Anjuli is on the left, Johan is holding the spaghetti pot, and Minna is on the right (a very awesome Norwegian friend!) We made a lovely dinner and ate outside, it's been beautiful weather.

Last night I stayed out too late at Kroa. A band was playing called the Augustana Quartet, and they were quite good. We were dancing and having a good time and couldn't bring ourselves to leave despite the fact that we had to wake up early! I overslept my alarm this morning but woke up in time for our trip to Aust Telemark (East Telemark. This is a funny dialect thing...I learned "øst" for east, but in Telemark dialect they say "aust" instead. Oh the joys of learning Norwegian!). The trip was for Scandinavian Studies students, Creative Writing students, and Culutural Studies students. About 30 of us in all. It was great to see more of Norway. It is SO beautiful, just everywhere you go. We were in a bus on a curvy road going up into the mountains and I just couldn't believe how pretty it was. Everywhere you look you see mountain streams, waterfalls, little red barns in seemingly impossible locations (very steep slopes, for example). I was basically looking out the window the whole time and just drooling.

We saw Heddal Stavkirke, a wooden church built in the 12th century, and the largest of all the remaining stavkirkes (in the dialect: "stavkyrkje"). It's amazing to think it's been around for so long...and no metal! It was built with wooden pegs instead of iron screws...crazy. We also went up into the mountains to see a fiddle player...the fiddle has a special name...forgot, of course. Harbringer...? Hardinger...? Yeah. Something like that. Then we had lunch at a mountain hotel...a very fancy lunch, I might add! And we ate off of very special china...(Grandma B! Check out the picture at the end of the post!) After all this we went back to Notodden, which is near Bø, where we visited a gallery and a woman spoke to us about the Notodden Blues Festival, which is, apparently, a huge annual event which all sorts of famous people attend.

(Heddal Stavkirke)

A theme throughout the day was that I understood about half (maybe two-thirds) of what people were saying (everything was in Norwegian). The fiddle player was extra hard for me to understand. Remember that the dialects make everything harder. A funny moment...in the gallery, I sat in the front row while the woman debriefed us on the Blues Festival. And she kept talking to me. Like, really, directly to me. Direct eye contact, sometimes she'd lean over and talk quite close to my face (usually when she was simulating a conversation with someone in one of her stories). She will never know that I only understood vague details of what she talked about. Haha.

Wow, this post is so long. If you made it all the way down here, congratulations. I wish I could give you a door prize, because you have excellent reading stamina, plowing through all this boring nonesense like this. Hurray for you!

In short, it's been a great week. I look forward to tomorrow, when I finally start classes and also we get to go on a hike in these gorgeous hill/mountain things!! And håpenligvis snakker masse norsk!! (Today I learned how to say, "a little slower, if you could be so kind!")

(These saints, painted on the walls inside the church, date back to before the Reformation, when Norway was Catholic. Thus this picture is dedicated to my good friend Kelsey E Phiz.)

(Attn: Bestemor Beachie! :))

Arrival!!!1

2009-08-17T05:55:00.000-07:00

I'm here! I made it! Wow! My thoughts:

1) Sad to leave the fam. (Friends, whatever)(Totally kidding)

2) Everything was stressful and hectic.

3) But I did it!

As soon as I got off the train in Bø I was greeted by three lovely ladies from TUC (Telemark Univeristy College) and they took me to my dorm to drop off my shtuff (the above are some boring pictures of my dorm room. That's all I've got right now. Nice bedspread, eh?!) Then they said, "everyone's eating pizza at the pizza place, wanna go meet some more international students?!" Of course I was like "yeah!!" even though at that point I'd been up for like 36 hours running on 1-2 hours of sleep on the plane. Oh well. The pizza was free, and good, and I met students from the US, Bali, Spain, France, and Italy to name a few. The Norwegian guides are really nice and helpful and speak great English, which made it easy for me to slack on learning Norwegian. I decided to try harder when I wasn't running on pure adrenaline.

I met my roomate, Ida, after the pizza. She's so sweet!! She must've said "sorry, I'm not so good at English!" about 20 times, and then I would say, "Du kan prøve det på norsk!" but she would keep truckin' right along in English. We are at about the same skill level in our second languages, which I think will be a great thing for both of us. Last night, for example, she learned how to say "frying pan" from me, and I learned, "stekkepanne" from her! Wow!

The dorms I am in are like little cottages, and they are a 15-minute hike up a long snaky hill from the school (feels loooong with grocery bags!) In each cottage there are 4 "doubletts." In each doublett there are two people. These two people have seperate bedrooms with desk, table, closet, etc., but share a kitchen and bathroom. So really it's like a two-bedroom apartment, kind of. I haven't met anyone else in my cottage yet, just Ida.

We visited the school briefly; it's only one building, but big. In my Scandinavian Studies program group are six Americans. We are in some of the same classes but some different (classes start later this week). They are from places like St. Olaf, Luther, University of Wisconsin Madison, Linfield College in Oregon, etc. Really nice people, and two others staying for a year!

In about 20 minutes I am leaving to go to a place called Kroa, which is the student-run hangout place here in Bø. I guess it's like the Cave at PLU, but less lame. You can get beer there, for one thing...hahaha. And also people actually go there, because really cool bands come to play, and there's always something good going on. So I've heard. There's a "disco" tonight...a dance...and a bunch of us are going with our Norwegian student guides. I think it will be fun!

Bø is really pretty, by the way...it's surrounded by big rolling pine-y hills. Reminds me a lot of Mt. Vernon, WA in that way. The town is small but so cute...all the houses are sort of nestled cutely in the hills. Lots of bright reds, blues, yellows. I love it so far!! We'll see how this orientation week goes...