Jul i Norge!

So I'm just going to do a quick recap of what has happened over Christmas.

So first off, I was robbed of a white Christmas! But so was pretty much everywhere in Europe....... but it snowed in Egypt! The weathers being pretty weird this Winter.

Ok so in Norway they do Christmas quite different. Christmas is on the 24th! We got up and sat upstairs eating this Christmas bread With Brown cheese and we opened out stockings. Then we had a relatively long breakfast. We had this meat roll, jams, salmon, other types of Fish and a few other Things. It was quite Nice (except for the herring!).

Then we took cakes and drove to my host Familys grandmothers house. We were there for a while eating cake and talking. Then we went to Church in Tomb. It was pretty much the same as home, except they didn't do the bread and wine thing and they had more hymns and less psalms.

Then it was back home and time for Christmas dinner. We had ribs, this meat cake made out of pork flesh and meat, a type of sausage, cabbage and potatos. It was really Nice. Then for desert we had icecream With raspberries and this other thing thats kinda like a biscuity wafer (kinda difficult to explain!).

Then it was time for presents. Those poor deprived Norwegian children have to wait all day! I got some really Nice Christmas presents, including a Marius jumper!

The next few days were just sleep ins and long Christmas breakfasts. Quite relaxing!

So Christmas in Norway was pretty great!

Photos will follow soon!

Fetching the Christmas tree

Today we went into the forest With my 2nd host family and their cousins to get Our Christmas tree.

We walked aorund for a while, then picked one out and chopped it Down. It was pretty cool doing that! Then we lit a fire and grilled sausages. All the kids then played a game and we had some chocolate. It was really Nice.

Then we took Our Christmas tree home and decorated it tonight. Norwegians definitely are way more reserved when it comes to decorating. There was hardly any tinsel at all! But it looked really Nice.

Christmas Concert

On Saturday night I went With my 1st and 3rd host families to a Christmas concert in the Church in Galmebyen.

The artist is Marianne Antonsen. She was really good! Her voice was quite a shock, its really deep. But she was a really good singer.

After that we all went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was a good night.

Last week of school before Christmas

So this past week as been the last week of School before Christmas. We had a few tests and assignments, but other than that it was kinda similar to in Aus, as we watched Movies and Things in a lot of the classes.

On Wednesday we had class photos. They do them so cool over here! There was an overall theme, then every class chose something in that. My class went Broadway. We made a big sign and the Girls all worse dresses and feathers and Things and the guys all wore suits and had cigars. The Picture turned out great! I wish we did that in Aus!

On Thursday they were surving free grøt (porridge) in the canteen. Grøt tastes so good! There was also a thing on in the Church beside School but we couldn't go because we had a art history test.

On Friday was the last day. For a few hours we were all in Our classrooms. Our teacher had bought gingerbread, icing and all these sprinkles and Things. So we decorated gingerbread and ate Christmas cake. It was really Nice.

 

The amazing People in 2STFA

After that we went into the entrance/foyer area thingy in the School. We had a concert on there. It was so great, there are so many talented People at my School!

So it was a really Nice last week of School! :)

Another great weekend

Well we had yet another relatively busy weekend. Everyone was away on Friday night so I stayed the night at my first host Family. It was just me and my first host Mum, so we had a Nice night eating tacos and watching the handball.

On the Saturday we did a bit of cleaning first, then decorated the house for Christmas. The have some really cute decorations, including a pig made out of Straw.

Then on Sunday I went ice skating With my friend. It actually went pretty good. I only fell over twice! After that I was at my friends house for a few hours.

It was quite a Nice weekend :)

My blogging skills are dying....

Ok so yeh my last blog update was a few weeks ago..... and yes a lot has happened since then....... but its towards the end of the year........... so I'm sure you can forgive me.

So first I have to rewind to a Wednesday afternoon a few weeks ago where I went and made candles. making candles is easy enough, but you definitely need plenty of time! We first tied some string around bits of Wood With bolts on the end for weight. Then we had to dip them in hot wax. We had to do this over and over and over and over again, about 50 odd times. It took forever! But we made these ones, not only just normal candles, but in the shape of Crowns and a trident. So I can now say that I've made candles :)

Lek i snøen er ikke bare for barn

On Monday I got home from School, got changed
and went in the snow! :)

A busy weekend

This weekend was so busy! We had something on all the time.

On Saturday we went to the Christmas markets at Tomb. There were a lot of different stalls selling handmade Things, Christmas cakes and biscuits, knittwear and some other Things. It was quite nice there. When we got home me and Errol put up the Christmas lights.

On Sunday it was one event after another. And it SNOWED!! :D On Sunday morning I went to Wolds for a Christmas workshop. We made hearts and this little Christmas mouse. We had lapskaus for lunch, then made gingerbread. It was really nice and the mouse was so cute! Straight after that I went to the Missingmyr Christmas tree lighting. I got there late, so most of it was over but I caught the end of the carols. Then 2 guys came dressed as nisse and handed out goodie bags. On Sunday night we went to Janes (the American Exchange student) birthday.

So it was quite a busy schedule, but a geat weekend!

Exchange student night

Friday night was really great. All the Exchange students in 2260 (as well as 2 rebounds and 2 outbounds) met a Kløfta. We sat around talking and eating pizza. It was a really Nice night. Although it was the last time I will probably see all of them!

Julefrukost med verdens beste klasse

Yesterday morning for art we had a Christmas breakfast. It was so Nice! We all went to my Teachers house and ate breakfast together. Then we made lussekatter and Christmas Cards. Then we all sat around eating cake and the lussekatter. It was such a Nice morning :)

Snø!!!!!

Just an excited me letting you all know that Its snowing!! :D

Advent Calender

My class has Our own advent calender. Most of the class has bought a gift and we draw a name out of a hat everyday. I got picked today so I got some chocolate!
Yet another reason why I love my class!

Jul kommer snart!

Christmas is coming! Today Advent started. Yesterday we went into Karlshus for the Christmas markets and lighting of the Christmas tree. One of my friends was running a Craft thing for kids, so I went and sat With her for a while. Then one of my other friends came and we wandered around the markets together.

Then everyone congregated With fire torches and we all walked to the Christmas tree. Everyone stood in circles around the tree holding hands and singing carols. It was really Nice.

Today we went into Gamlebyen for the Christmas markets. They were quite Nice, with all the wreaths and lights up. They lit the Christmas tree and had a Kids concert. We looked in a few of the shops and had afternoon tea. It was a Nice afternoon.

So its very Christmassy here in Norway now!

Its starting to feel a lot like Christmas

I must say Moss is looking very Christmassy now. They have wreaths up with gold lights and some of The trees have white lights in them. It looks really pretty.

But The best part is that my school has Its own Christmas tree! We had The lighting yesterday morning. The choir sang some songs and they lit The tree. It was a really nice thing to do and The tree looked really pretty :)

Bannners and books

The building where my Rotary Club Meetings are is being torn Down, for another one to built. So we have to relocate and on Tuesday night we packed up the clubhouse.
We had to take Down all the banners on the walls and pack up everything, finding some interesting Things in the process ;)

Sverige

So this weekend was another trip to the cabin in Sweden. We probably won't be down there again before Christmas so we put a few Christmas decorations around the Place.

Other than that it was just a nice relaxing weekend snuggled up on the couch watching a Movie and Reading my book :)

Oslo tur

Yesterday afternoon my class (as well as a heap of other classes) headed to Oslo for a trip to the theatre. We had a fair bit of time between getting to Oslo and going to the theatre so a Group of us headed down Karl Johans. We all grabbed dinner and looked in some of the shops. Oslo looks very Christmassy now. There's all these wreaths strung accross between the shops With lights and big bells in the middle. It looks really Nice. Now they just need snow and it will be Perfect :)

Then we went to Det Norske Teatret (the Norwegian theatre). We saw Bikubesong. It was really good. It was in New Norwegian so it was pretty difficult for me to understand, but I got the main ideas.

It was a really Nice night, but everyone has been almost asleep in class this morning as we got back pretty late.

Flåklypa

This is the Movie we saw the other day, isn't it cute?! :)

Winter is upon us

So now it's dark, like really dark. The days I have to get up at 6 for school, it's dark, I walk to the bus stop, it's still dark, I get to school, still dark and finally I sit in maths, geography or art in the dark until the sun comes up. And when I get home from school it's dark too.

And today the weather turned dramatically! It's been relatively warm lately but today it was -7 in the morning and there was quite a big frost. So now it's cold enough to snow! I hope it starts soon :)

We're doing lino!

So in one of my art classes we're starting to do lino cuts. I really liked doing this in Aus, so I'm quite excited! :)

A nice weekend

On Friday I had some friends come over and stay The night. We attempted to make lamingtons (they kinda failed.........). But it was fun nonetheless. We stayed up quite late watching a movie.Saturday we rode The bikes over to The lake and wandered around. It was fun :)

Sunday Started as a bit of a lazy day. My Whole host fam slept in quite late and then we watched some speed skating and ski shooting. After that I went for a ride to The church and took some photos.

In The afternoon me, Maria (one of my host sisters) and 2 Others went to The movies in Moss. We went to see Flåklypa, a Norwegian animation. We wanted to see The movie at 4:30 but that session was full! And The next one was too! So we couldn't see The movie until 6:30! So we ended up going to a restaurant and had some dinner first. Then we went to The movie. It was really good. The movie was so cute! :)

It was a nice weekend :)

My day

Well today was a pretty good day! :)

I had my usual four period lesson of visual art first. We are working on human anatomy at the moment. So we were drawing different joints of the skeleton first. My school has a supply of Canon 400D cameras so after drawing we got to go around the school and take pictures of eachother at angles and in poses which make one or more of our limbs look short. I think next week we're going to draw one of the pictures we took. Quite a fun start to morning.

I had gym in the afternoon and we had dance. That was great. We were in groups of 5 and had to create a dance including a heap of different moves from pictures we were given. We had to include American football, crab, bird, mario, a type of jump and a couples dance. The end results were quite entertaining! While we were waiting for the Teacher we pulled the climbing ropes out and were swinging on them singing wrecking ball. It was pretty funny!

Its so dark now! When I start school at 8 I go to school in The dark and most days I get home in The dark. But now, I'm waiting for my friends to come, who are going to stay tonight. I'm going to test my Australian cooking by making lamingtons with them :)

Someones stealing time!

As of today in 2 months I'm going to be back in Aussieland. What?! This year is going way too fast! And I definitely don't want it to end!

Lunch in the park

So on Tuesday afternoons I have no class, but my bus doesn't go until 2 so I have to kill some time. Yesterday I decided to take my lunch to Nesparken. So I walked to the park and went and sat down on a jetty on the lake in the park. I had my lunch, listened to Music and did my Maths homework on this jetty. It was nice and peaceful :)

Sverige igjen

Well nothing special happened This week at school. This weekend we went down to The cabin in Sweden. We had a nice relaxing weekend down there :) It was nice.

Today we have free from school, so another relaxing day for me :)

Skal Vi Danse

So last night we went to Skal Vi Danse in Oslo. It's the Norwegian version of Dancing With The Stars.

It was a really great night! We got to meet the hosts of the show. We were in the 2nd row. You don't realise how many things go on that you don't see on tv. The couples have to dance with camera man running around them a few times during their dances. There were crewman running around everywhere! And there's a guy that tells the audience what to do and a few rules and things.

I'm so glad I got to go! The dancing was really great and fun to watch!

One group did an African Dance

 

The Judges

 

One dance was cheerleading

 

 If you want to watch the episode go to http://www.tv2.no/underholdning/skalvidanse. And you should be able to find the episode.

To the Arctic and beyond!

On Friday we got up early, drove to Gardemoen and flew to Northern Norway. We took a 1 1/2 hour flight.

From there we drove 2 hours and a 20 minute ferry to Holmstad, where my host Dad comes from. It was snowing when we got there, so most of the way we couldn't see anything, but when we could it was so amazing! The mountains up there are spectacular!

On Saturday we went for a tour around the area. We saw the most amazing scenery I have ever seen in my whole life! It was so beautiful! We drove around to all these little towns and fishing villages. It was so pretty! There was quite a lot of snow the previous day and overnight so it felt like Christmas!

 

 

On Sunday we went the Christening of my host familys relative. It was pretty much the same as they do in Australia, with a few different things. After that we drove back to the airport. We took a different route back and it was so beautiful! The lakes and mountains are so amazing!

It was a really amazing trip! Northern Norway is definitely my favourtite place in the whole world now! :)

It feels like Christmas!

Northern Norway is definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. There is quite a lot of snow up here at the moment and it feels like Christmas! (Or what we see in all the American movies anyway!)

The Beauty Of The North

Off to the North

So tomorrow we head North for the weekend! I'm so excited!! But unfortunately we don't think Its going to be very good weather. Anyway, I'm going to go to bed, gotta Get up really early tomorrow!

Sweet 16!

On Monday I had my sweet 16th! Well it was more of a 3 day celebration!

On Saturday night I had a birthday party with my friends. It was so much fun! We had tacos, opened presents, played charades, had cake, talked and watched a movie. It was a really fun night. My friends wrote me the sweetest cards and letter and it nearly made me cry!

On Sunday night we had a party with my host families. It was a nice night. Then on Monday it was my birthday! My host family made me breakfast in bed and they came in singing happy birthday (in norwegian of course!).

At school we had a little party during art. My friends had cake and candles and they sung. It was great! On Monday night we had Rotary. One of the Rotarians had made a birthday cake and everyone sung. It was nice.

I had a really great birthday! But I tell you what, I don't think I've ever eaten so much cake in my life!

One of my presents, I love it!

Råde Park Festival

Last weekend there was a festival in Karlshus. On Saturday, after going to an art exhibition in Gamlebyen, we went to the festival.

There were so many people about! There were a lot of stalls with people selling different things. There was a big tent with a stage where they had concerts over the few days. The tent was lined with food stalls. We had this really good lamb for lunch.

Høst ferie!

Straight after the Autumn meeting in Hamar, my host parents and the US exchanger headed off on Autumn break. We travelled North up to a place about an hour South of Trondheim.

On the way up there we drove over mountains. We were above the tree level. It was really amazing scenery. The high mountains were snowcapped. It was so beautiful! We stayed at this little old school that had been converted into a little hotel.

Then we drove to Trondheim. We spent a few hours wandering around Trondheim. We first looked at Nidaros Cathedral. It is a really amazing cathedral. We walked around Trondheim for a while, then went and got lunch.

Then we headed for Hell! There is a place in Norway called Hell. We went down to the train station and got pictures in front of the sign. So I can now say that I've been to Hell and back!

After a short stop in Hell we drove to Åre, just over the Swedish border. We stayed in a really nice spot by the river and surounded by mountains. The first day we went for a walk halfway up on of the mountains. It was pretty amazing scenery!

The next day we climbed to the top of a mountain! 986m above sea level! It was so amazing! It was really beautiful from the top. The next day we went out to the biggest waterfall in Sweden (which quite frankly, wasn't particularly big!).

The next day we went for a forest walk by the river. It was quite pretty because the Autumn leaves are all out. The last day we were there it was bad weather so we headed to the pool. There was quite a large pool area there and saunas. The sauna part was good. They had all different types of saunas. We went in one then went up jumped in the ice pool.

We went a different way home. It was forest most of the way. It was a really good week, but the traffic home was pretty bad!

Høst mote

So after the excursion to Oslo my host Dad and another exchange student from the US picked me up. We had time to spare so we went over to the castle and had a look around there.

Then we went over to the train station. We met up with some of the other exchange students and we caught the train to Hamar. We first met all the nrebies and caught up with the oldies. It was really great to see the Australians and the Argentinian again! And to meet all the newbies!



Some of the rebounds and a Mexican

We had dinner, then headed over to the tivoli across the road from our hotel. There was a concert going on and some rides. It was fun.

On Saturday we had to be in the district conference for 2305. We were only in the actual conference for only half an hour. After that we had to go into a room and organise a show for the last hour of the conference. We had to create skits, dances and presentations. My group did a presentation on the stereotypes of our countries. I said that I'm Australian, but I can't surf, the other Australian said she doesn't ride kangaroos, the Americans said they're not fat and don't eat mcdonalds and the Brazilians said that they don't speak spanish or brasilian and that they can't samba. One group did a dance and sang to 'What Does The Fox Say'. The skits were about some awkward moments in Norway, with the lnaguage and the culture. They were pretty funny.

Saturday night we had a gala dinner. It was a nice night. All the girls dressed up in nice dresses and heels and the guys in white shirts and black pants.

On Sunday we went for a walk through Hamar. We went around the river and headed to the ruins of a church. It was really nice down by the river. It was really pretty with the Autumn leaves. It was a nice day. It was sad to say goodbye to the other exchange students because it was our last Rotary event for the year! :'(