No cockatoos!

We were doing stuff with the apples this afternoon. Picking a few, but mainly clearing the ones that had already fallen off. I realised that I had to come 16,000 odd kms to the other side of the world to realise how much of a pest cockatoos are!  Another good thing about Norway, theres none! :) Fruit trees are so much better and eveythings easier without them!

Lets go to the beach beach

So Friday mornings are just art. Today was our first lesson. We are studying concept art and its place now. Today we had a little trip to the beach. Each group had to create its own conceptual artwork, inspired by a certain artist. Most used the natural environment to create their artwork. It was quite a fun task. And a good way to spend Friday morning :)

I'll have textbooks coming out my ears!

So yesterday we had to get all our textbooks and there were so many! I now have 13 textbooks!
and some aren't exactly small!

A walk to the bus stop

So I now have to take the bus in the mornings. It takes about 20 minutes to walk to the bus stop, so I must leave home at 6:40. Quite a bit earlier than what I'm used to.

Well this morning was the first day of doing this and was quite a surprise. It was only about 6 degrees outside and was quite foggy in spots.

Its not a very good photo, as it was off my ipod, but you can kinda see all the
fog and steam around the lake from this morning

First Day at School again

Well today was a pretty good day! After thinking I was going to be in a different class, I got to go into my old one! It was really good to see my friends again. We didn't have to go into school until 10. We were just at our classrooms until a bit before 3 going over different things for the year with our class advisor. Not looking forward to the 6am wakeup tomorrow though!

Remind me to never ever ever.....................

....................forget me to write in my diary for a few weeks! Its taking me forever to catch up! Been writing in it on and off all day and still haven't caught up!

Last day of summer!

So today is the last day of over 2 months break. Off to school tomorrow. New year, new class, a little nervous though. But keen to see some of my friends from my old class! :)

After a small crisis the other day, everything is good again! :)

Polen!

So my next and last adventure was to Poland! What an awesome week! We flew to Krakow. It is such a beautiful old city! Definitely one of my favourites.

We spent 2 days in Krakow. We went to a salt mine. This was pretty cool. There were all these figures and rooms carved out of the salt. There was a huge cathedral room carved into one part. It was seriously amazing! We also went to Auschwitz. Its the most horrible place I've ever been to, but such an experience. We also just wandered around Krakow a bit. One night we talk a horse and carriage ride around the main square and the castle. Quite nice.

After Krakow we drove out to Prudnik, a town in South West Poland a bit over 2 hours west of Krakow. We wandered around the town there then drove out to a small village called Piorunkowice. Piorunkowice is where my Great Grandfather came from, but it was in Germany then. The area actually looks a fair bit like home.

It was nice driving out there because there are so many churches everywhere and a few castles. Its pretty cool :)

We travelled back to Krakow for a day, then flew back to Oslo. Then I left my parents and came back to Råde.

Quite a great few weeks its been with them!

Norge with the fam!

I've been so busy! Here's a quick run down on whats been happening!

So after Sweden me and Mum and Dad headed to Råde. We had a party with all my host families, my counsillor and some other rotarians. It was quite a nice night.

The next day we headed back to Sweden again! We went with my third host family to their cabin near Lysekil on the Swedish west coast. We stopped at some places along the way and looked around. We stayed at their cabin for a night. The next day we went to Lysekil, had lunch and a look around and drove back to Råde.

Next adventure was a trip to Fredrikstad. We went to the old town and then to Hvaler for lunch. Quite a nice day. Our last full day in Råde was spent going to Halden. We went to the fortress, the locks and then stopped at a few other little places along the way home.

The next day we we went to Oslo! We walked to a big park with heaps of statues. Then we walked back around the harbour. The next day we went to Munch museum.

The adventures in Norway were quite good!

Sverige!

So last week was spent in Sweden with Alma and her family in Lidkoping. Alma stayed with us for 4 months (I was there for 2) in Australia when she was on exchange there. I drove to Lidkoping with my counsellor last Friday. It took about 3 hours I think it was. It was great to finally meet her family and to see her again!

That night we went to  little party on the beach with Almas class.It was quite nice. We rode the bikes down there by the lake.

On Saturday we rode the bikes into the centre of Lidkoping and then went for a walk around and had morning tea. It is a really nice city. In the afternoon we took the boat out onto the lake. We went out to this island. The lake there is huge! It feels like you're on the ocean because you can only see water and islands. We went swimming with some of their friends. It was a little colder than Australian water, but still good.

Sunday we went ti Liseberg, a theme park in Gothenburg. It was so much fun! We went on quite a big wooden rollercoaster 3 times, a really fast rollercoaster that did the corkscrew turns and loops once, another rollercoaster 3 times, atmosfear (a huge drop, the tallest in europe at 300ft and dropping at 110km/h) once, a swinging ride (a big arm kind of thing that swung up and down), another smaller drop, 2 other types of swinging, spinning rides, a spinning ride, bumper cars, a water toboggan kind of thing, a colorado river ride and I think that was it. It was such a great day! So much fun!

Monday we had a relaxing day. It was beautiful weather and we just lazed around. At night we went to a birthday party for one of their cousins.

Tuesday Mum and Dad came! Well, not until 5. I didn't really do much all day. I was so nervous! and I think driving everyone else in the house crazy! It was a surprise that I was there. Mum and Dad were planning on just meeting me in Råde, but me and Alma decided to surprise them. When I saw their car I ran and hid behind the couch and jumped out from behind it when they came into the loungeroom! It was so great to see them, after almost 7 months!

Wednesday we all went for a walk around Lidkoping and had morning tea. We went to an old porcelin factory in the city. After that we went out to Huseby church. It was a really nice little church. We also went to this old little stone hut thing. Then we went to a lookout. Before we went home we went to some cute little houses that where people were selling different things.

Thursday we went off to an old castle. It was really nice. We did a tour around the second floor to start with. Then we walked around the first and third floors, then to some of the other rooms outside and into the garden.It was great! After that we headed into town to a place for lunch by the lake. Then we went and had afternoon tea with Almas grandparents and grabbed some extra lifejackets. Then we headed out onto the lake again. It was fairly cold so only 3 of us went swimming. I convinced Dad to come, after a while!

On Friday we headed on to Råde. It was a great trip! And I shall continue my adventures tomorrow, as its getting late now and we have a busy day ahead!

At the castle

On the way to Norway we stopped at Uddevalla
 for lunch, There was this big international festival there
and they had an aussie stand! 

Backtrack a little

Well a LOT has happened over the past week. I'll start with Oslo. Last Thursday I went into Oslo to see my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. They had been in Stavanger visiting friends and were spending a few days in Oslo. 

I caught the train into Oslo and met them at their hotel. After that we walked to Frognerparken. It was really nice there. There are heaps of statues all leading up to a monolith. the grass was green and the flowers blooming. It was a beautiful park. 

After that we walked back around the harbour and had lunch at a little floating restaurant. We then continued onto the Opera House. We walked up to the top and wandered inside. On the way back to the hotel we walked up Karl Johans. There were so many people! I've never seen it that busy. 

We sat at the hotel fora while and then went for a dinner. We ended up going to the same place as we went for lunch. It was quite nice. Then it was time for me to return to Råde. It was a such  a hassle trying to get home because the lines are closed around Oslo so I had to take a bus. The ticket machines gowever were not working! We were running around the station like headless chooks! 

It was a really great day! It was so weird to be speaking English with kids so young though. So this was a week ago, but now I'm going to Lysekil as my parents are here, so my last weeks adventures will have to wait! :)