juleferie

today is the first day of winterbreak and tomorrow were heading up to Sulis, near Bodø... it should be pretty fun, i think... aside from the 16 or 17 hour car ride up... i think i may just kill someone. I also wish that I could spend Christmas here with Tristan... (maybe we just need to have 2 different christmases or something). I just saw him for the last time for a week and a half. tragic. wah. i miss him already. And a terrrrrible thing on my part, I forgot to give him his christmas present. FAEN! but break will be alright i think... i hope. im just really gonna miss tristan sooooooo bad. like horribly bad. like end of the world bad. gahhhh... Oh, and guess what. im worse in jenga than tristan is. omg. and i thought i was pretty good. but no... i was really bad. hahaha. we didnt even make it through 10 turns. hahaha. well anyways, i wont be able to write while im up north, but ill definatley write when i come back which is like the 30th of desember or something.

Me and Tristan painting his bedroom

Yiren and I at our class's juleavsluttning

Me and the boy I love singing songs around the Christmas tree



ha en god jul og et godt nytt år!

ENDELIG 17 ÅR!!

Today was the best birthday og my life so far. This is how it went....





9:30- I got up, without an alarm... a very positive thing about thursdays (no school until 11). it was a little strange I do admit, not being waken up by crazy family members singing happy birthday and such...





10:30- I walked to school in the freeeeeeeeeezing cold. It was -8 celsius with wind. I couldnt feel my legs and I hadda walk 3 km... but the sky was absolutely beautiful, so it was worth it.





11:00- I had norwegian class, and the whole class sang to me in norwegian. =) Super exciting.





11:40- Lunch time! Laura made 17 balloons with happy birthday on them that I carried around (as they were all popping). Tristan kept apoligizing that he 'forgot' my birthday present. It was so cute... cause hes a terrible liar, so he couldnt fake forget...





2:45- done with school, so I went into the carpentry classes cause Im in love with it there now. Then I went home, which was nice. I got to eat and do sudoku and clean my room!





5:00- Tristan came over!!!!! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! And he brought with him 8 beauuuutiful red roses. nothing can even begin to explain how much I love this boy. =)!!!! So I hung out with him the whole night and a little bit with my sisters and pappa. It was an aweeeeeeeesome day. Ill never forget it!

Me walking to school in the verrrrrrrrrrry cold

17 birthday balloons!

Desember ish happenings

So as I was walking around school today, I decided that I wanted to swith out of allmans fag (study subjects) and into the building classes. Their building is awesome. And theyre building playhouses and such. Its so cool. And it smells soooooooooooo nice. WOAH! Well, gotta go back to media class. Ill update later. =)

Desember. woah.

I can't believe that its December. today I was making cookies for a party tomorrow, and i just thought to myself... 'holy shit, im 17 soon and ive been in gone from the us for 5 months now.' WOAH! cause I left july 17th, and today is December 7th... so almost 5 months. Thats crazy. I like to sit and think sometimes how Ive changed since Ive come to norway. I cant even begin to explain. Im sure some people get a glimpse of it while Im on the phone with them and such, but they cant even begin to understand how different I am now. And Ill never be that girl I was before. No chance or desire at all. Things that have changed about me since I came to norway... lets see if I can just name some... nope, almost impossible. except for the obvious, I can speak another language, Ive become a lot more confidence, and Ive fallen in love. Three huge things in somebodys life. I just feel so alive in norway, something that I didnt ever feel in america. norway fits for me. i fit in norway.

Well last weekend I worked at tømte-tunet... a farm. It was quite fun. I like farms a lot. so exciting. this past week I had whole day exams. haha. that went... well. and I have german tomorrow. Im so bad at writing. but im suprisingly good at understanding now, maybe thats cause tristan speaks german to his parents and sister and such. hmmm. then this weekend, tomorrow, Im having a birthday party. that should be fun. and on saturday im going to oslo with maren, anders, marius, and i hope tristan can come too. and on sunday im going to eidsvoll bygningen(the place where the norwegian constitution was signed) for a little christmas thing with kids in my town. it should be fun.

well gonna go clean my room, Im very messy so it needs to be done on a regular basis. hahaha. so ill hopefully remember to write again. I always forget.

Me in the traditional norwegian dress, bunad, with friends

This is what I do at work... hahaha

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since its thanksgiving and I'm feeling a bit homesick today, I'm going to make a list of people and why I'm thankful for them. If you dont see your name on here, its not cause Im not thankful for you, its cause there are so many people Im thankful for, and its after 11 and I have school tomorrow, so I'll have to add you another time.

Ill start with the obvious~~

Mom- I'm thankful for you because you're always there for me and support me in almost everything that I do, even if you dont necessarily agree with it. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be an exchange student this year. It has changed my life. Thank you for putting up with me all of the times that you let me be a teenager and hate you. Thanks for putting up with loud music. I guess, thanks for letting me begin to discover who I am, and believing in me.

Dad- I'm thankful for you because you're such a 'handy man.' Whenever theres a problem, you know how to fix it. Not just physical problems, such as... 'My computers not working, or Can you hang something on the wall...?' I appreciate, more than you can imagine, how when I'd ask you to help me with something, how youd just drop what you were doing and help me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered at that moment. Times like that are the good ones to remember.

Pat- I'm thankful for you because you're my big brother. When I was younger I wanted to be just like you. I was the little sister who wanted to be as cool as her big brother. I want to thank you for starting cello, because if you hadn't, I probably would have never started viola, or anything in music for that matter. I'm glad for all of those times you were hard on me and didnt let me hang out with your friends... but I'm also thankful for when you started to realize your sister wasnt a little girl anymore, and then started to let her hang out with you. I'm thankful for all the times we recorded music and complained about how much we hated our lives in Mequon. All in all, thanks for being my big brother.

Becka- Becka, oh Becka, where to begin.... Even though most of my memories with you are ones where I've fought with you and hated you, I'm still very thankful for the times where we shared a room and had late night chats. I'm thankful that you look up to me. That means a lot. I'm also very thankful that I have a beautiful younger sister with a gorgeous smile who loves pippi almost as much as I do and is so intelligent. Youre so much more book smart than I'll ever be, and alot more motivated by grades. Were so different and I'm thankful for that. Although we hardly ever get along (at least up until this point), I think theres a chance that things will change and It'll all work out in the end. I'm thankful that you've always been there for me.

Tim- I'm thankful for you because you're always up for a good time. Youre always smiling and laughing and in turn making me so happy. I've always enjoyed out 'evil plans' against Becka and Pat, even though they probably didnt like it so much. I'm also thankful for the times where youd go in my room and hide and try to scare me... although most of the times you were unsucessful, I cherish times like those. I'm thankful for the times when I taught you viola. But I'm more thanful for the times when I taught you viola and you fought back because you didnt think it was right. It shows you have a mind of your own. Use it. Youre so smart. I'm also really thankful for summer vacations with you... drawing with chalk, going swimming, taking pictures... youre amazing Tim.

Grandma Gloria- You've always been a very important person in my life, as you should be, youre my Grandmother. I'm thankful for all of the family gatherings that have taken place at your house and at the cottage. You've always so warm and welcoming that everybody just adores you. I'm thankful for all of the times when you corrected me on my manners or told me that I was too wet to be in the cottage. Thank you for all of the times you came to my various orchestra and other musical performances. That always means a lot to me. Thank you for supporting me in everything I do.

Grandpa Cliff- Thank you for always making me laugh. You always had that charm about you to make any person smile. Thank you for always singing, too... 'theres a hole in the bucket... oh mr johnny cabeck...., etc' There are always times where I just start singing those songs and smile and think of you. Thank you for showing me how to skin fish and cut the heads off. (That actually comes in handy here.. Im the only one in the family whos willing to do it... and then play with the fish heads afterwards). Thank you for being the best Grandpa any girl could ever wish for.

Rachel- Well, this is a super given. You are my best friend, and always will be. I love you so much. There are times when I think you know me better than myself. Well, thats actually most of the time. Thank you for being you. Its awesome. There are so many memories that I can't write down, but thank you for every single one. Thank you for being there always.

Pappa- Thank you for being there and understanding when I have bad days. Thank you for showing me how to show love to my family. Thank you for giving me hugs. Thank you for showing me how much more there is to life than what I had before. Thank you for taking me on bike rides, and for walks late at night. Thank you for being stubborn, even though I dont always like it. Thank you for letting me be your daughter.

Mamma- Thank you for everything. Thank you for loving me and taking me in for a year. Thank you for making me feel accepted and that its okay to be me. Thank you for step class. I enjoy every moment that I spend with you. I'm always learning from you, you're an awesome role model. Thank you so much for helping me carve the path of my life.

Karo- Thank you for being my sister. I love how you dance and listen to high school musical, and actually enjoy it. Thank you for always helping me with norwegian, I can't imagine how frustrating that would be if I had to correct someone every 3 minutes or so, maybe more. Thank you for our walks to school in the mornings. Thank you for showing me how life for a teenager is in norway.

Ingrid- Jeg elsker at du alltid smiler og ler. Jeg elsker når du øver 'th' på engelsk. Tusen takk for å være snill med meg. Jeg vet at det var vanskelig, fordi vi skjønte ikke hverandre før. Tusen takk for å se på tv på norsk. Jeg har lært mye fra 'kim possible...' Tusen takk for å være deg.

Maren- Where to begin with you too. Well I love you so much, dear. Its crazy to think that Ive only known you for 4 months and were so 'hardcore tight.' oh how sexual is that...? hehehe. I love how you just show up at my house at 11 am and wake me up and have a box of tampons for me. I love how you always make me laugh. I love how we always have awesome conversations together. I love how we watch titanic late at night and sob through the whole thing and then afterwards go right on facebook. You're amazing, dear. and I can't imagine my life without meeting you.

Tristan- Thank you for everything. Thank you for loving me and always making me feel so much better and stronger than I ever thought I could be. Thank you for always cheering me up and making me laugh. Thank you for helping me with all of the german that I'll never understand. I love how you say things like 'ironicall, and wared' because youre english isnt perfect. Im thankful that we can talk to each other in 3 languages, although only two of them are really functional... I'm thankful for everyday that I wake up and think 'I'm going to see Tristan soon' and then I go to school and youre always so happy to see me. Im thankful for all of the times you call me just to see how its going or hear my voice. Thank you for listening to beatsticks and really loving to dance. I love everything about you. Thank you for loving me for who I truly am. I love you.

Lyd an Sarah- This goes to you both. Im thankful for all of the times we had together. You both helped make me strong, into the woman I am today. Thank you also for letting me go, even if it was just for a while. I needed to figure somethings out about myself. Thank you for letting me do that, and thank you for loving me enough to take me back eventually. Thank you both for every adventure we ever had. I love you both so much.


Thats all I have time for right now... its time for me to go to bed. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!


^^^^^^


So now its the day after thanksgiving and Im at school and going to continue my list...

Sara- You always had this way about you that was different from Rachel and I. Im really thankful for that. You added the variety to our '3 musketeers' Thank you for all of the great times we had together.

Trine- Jeg er glad i deg. Tusen takk for å bli en venn til meg. Tusen takk for alle de morsome ganger at vi har allerede hadde. Og tusen takk for de som skal bli. Du hjalp meg finne ut hvem jeg vil være i livet mitt. Jeg skal aldri glemme deg. Best vennene. Vi må lage mer FUDGE!

Yi Ren- Ni shenti hao ma? Shung zhuh kuae luh. Jeg vet ikke his det er helt riktig, men du har lært meg kinesisk. =). Tusen takk for det. Nå kan vi snakke norsk, engelsk, og kinesisk sammen. WHOOO HOOO! Tusen takk for å alltid smile. Du er så snill. Også er du så intelligent. Glad i deg!

Pippi- Jeg kan skrive på nosrk til deg, fordi vi skjønner hverandre i alle språk. Jeg elsker deg. Du er livet mitt. Jeg savner deg så så så så mye. Jeg kan ikke vente å se deg igjen. <3

oh how i love maren

This weekend was lotsa fun. Maren just showed up at my house on sunday and woke me up at 11. So i got to spend the day with her!! WHEEE! We saw dirty dancing havana nights and went for a walk to my school and back... with the ground full of ice... so it was a lottttta fun!!! =) Im really excited for snow soon. a lot of snow... I really want to build a snowman and go sledding and finally learn how to ski!!! ^^ schools been going fine. and today at school we made it through the whole day with all norwegian! WHEEE! yay. yay for no english. Anyways, Im really excited for christmas too. and all of the holidays. and my birthday. I still dont know if I want to have a party or just go to oslo for a day. Maybe I just have friends over, or tristan? ahh run of thoughts. Well I have nothing else really to write about. Ive been thinking about making a film and music video. Maybe as a commercial for afs that i can send back to hhs to promote exchange. thad be cool. like have all of my friends say stuff. and then i could do it as a media project!!! WHEEE! We'll we will see. Im already doing a hairspray kinda film with some friends. I dont remember what tristan and my names were, but they were so cute. and we get to do cool dances together and such. itll be fun fun fun in the sun. Well going to step class now. tata. oh and i lost my camera... with all of the pics of me in bunad.. wahhhh.

You're the one that I want... (wooo hooo hooo)

So this past week has been a little crazy. This weekend will be even more so though. Tomorrow bestemor og bestefar are coming. (Theyre staying for a week). Im also playing a viola concert tomorrow and Im wearing bunad (the norwegiana traditional dress). Ill take tons of pictures =) Im super excited .... i really want some but it costs 25000kr. (a little under $5000) a little too expensive for me. På lørdag will i go to jessheim to buy boots and christmas gifts. then im going to have dinner with the grandparents, then im going to ellisivs bday party. and in the midst of all of that im going to see some kind of horror film with tristan... he thinks i need to see a horror film. (i hate scary movies ahhh) On sunday I guess Ill spend the day with him. GAHHH so busy this weekend!

Do I even need to label these anymore? Its of course tristan and I.

I want a pony for christmas.

lazy weekends

I didnt have school thursday or friday, which was nice... so tristan came over and helped with my german paper... i am horrrrrible at german, so its very nice to have a boyfriend both fluent in the language and super willing to help a completely lost and unenthusiastic student. Today maren is coming over (WHEEEEEEEE) I havent seen her in 3 months and i finally get to spend time with her!!!! YAY! Tomorrow were going to Oslo for the day to go to museums, out to eat, and of course christmas shopping. Then on sunday I have to finish my whole sosiologi project on crime, and tristans coming over. Hes going to Denmark this weekend with some of his dads coworkers, but his dads not going... so itll be tristan and a bunch of mid 30s and 40 year old men. hahaha. hell have a good time for sure. I cant believe that Ive been gone from the us almost 4 months... time goes by so fast. I left on july 17th for china and today is november 9th. so almost 4 months. thats crazy. But i really cant wait for christmas. Thats gonna be so fun here. YAY! and new years. wayyyy cool! PARTAY! Im sooo excited. but apparantly thats when people get really homesick... hopefully i wont cause i have a great family and amazing friends here! ^^ love everyone.

Ellisiv, Me, and Yi Ren

Yi Ren and I at a cafe with oreos and milk

Two Down Days

Today sucks as much as yesterday. Something really funny is up and its irritating. I feel like I'm not being the whole thing about certain topics. I feel like people are hiding things from me like they dont trust me. Why are my parents talking about me without talking to me? If it concerns me, I think I should be included in the conversations. I feel lost right now. I dont know my place. Im just so lost. Im drowing in confusion.

Ups and Downs

I'm going through more of the ups and downs of the AFS program. Right now I'm near the bottom, not because of any kind of homesickness, no, but because I love my friends and family here so much, and I can't help but think that in 8 months I have to go back to the US. I never want to leave my family, friends, boyfriend, my school, this culture, or anything else about norway. I feel like being here for only one year is completely holding me back. Everything has to be put into a strange perspective of, 'yeah we'll have fun now, but I'm just going to leave again.' It's horrible. I wish my family in the US would just pick up and move to eidsvoll so I could live here forever with my friends and both families.

It's so strange what I'm feeling right now though. I have a really hard time describing it. I think its a mixture between anxiousness and fear. I'm anxious to have the best time I can here, making as many friends as possible, but yet I fear that once I leave I'll be forgotten about and everything will go back to normal, as if I was never here at all.

I have two lives now, the one I had in the US, and now the one here with my friends and family. Which one would I have to choose if I had to pick? I have no idea, its the hardest decision anyone would ever have to make, but I feel as if I have to pick between what I had and what I have now. Why do I feel forced? I dont know, but its a horrible feeling. I love my family back in the US because theyre my family, they support me in almost everything I do, but I feel that my friends here know me better for who I am.

For a long time I felt if I had to lie to my family back in the US to make them happy, but I can talk to my family and friends here in norway freely about those matters, and not only do people support me with what I think, but they all agree completely with me. It's a difference in how we were all brought up. My generation has a completely different culture than my parents, for instance. My parents in the US were both brought up as catholics. I was too brought up as a catholic, but yet I am completely different from them. I never had the guts to tell them what I truly think because I was always scared of them and what they'd think of me if I didnt turn out how they wanted me to.

<>

Tristan and I at school

Historie og Filosofi Klasse

So Im in Historie and Philosophy class right now and we havent had a teacher the last 2 weeks, so we kinda sit and do nothing. So right now Im very bored. Pretty much dying of boredom. Ive spent 2 class periods writing a norwegian poem for tristan that 'rhymed' that was his one requirement... and lets just say my norwegian poem writing skills are... awful. and this period in just sitting on facebook and texting with friends. so productive in school today. Well, yesterday I got my hair cut. Its very european. And I just realized how strange the word got it. just look at it, its very wierd.(wared,for tristan) And I jsut realized that another button is falling off of my jacket. Well, tristan will gladly sew that one back on as well. GAHHHHHHHHHHH! IM SOOOO BORED!! JEG KJEDER MED I HJÆRNE! Well, Im gonna go check movie times... maybe Ill see hairspray today or tomorrow or something.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Yesterday was my halloween party... BØ! It was pretty fun, definately not long enough though... thats what happens when you get a bunch of teenagers in a room together for a period of time. Well, today Tristans coming over to study for english, cause, of course, I am the best person to study english with, because, well, Im just amazingly fluent in it. WOOHOO! unfortunately Im not completely fluent in norwegian yet... psssh. its sooo hard to keep going, cause it gets sooo frustrating to keep asking and making mistakes, but hey, thats how Ill learn, even if it sucks. well, gotta go translate an essay on the downfalls of American government.

Tristan and I (well, the devil and me in 50 years with glow in the dark hair)

Jesus and, WHAAA?

Uke 10 og litt 11

Last week was a crazy week at school. We had school Monday and on Tuesday we had a presentasion on Palestine, Wednesday I spent the day editing a video for media class and walking around school painting cardboard buildings for displays of palestine. On Thursday, Tristan and I worked packaging cleaning towels for Norwex instead of going to school. Each student was to find a job and make 300 Kr to send to a school in palestine. And Friday we had normal school again. The weekend has also been crazy. Friday night Trine came over and slept over. Saturday we went to Jessheim and shopped all day and I got my ears pierced again =). We then came home and went through our whole dress up collection, cause I'm having a halloween party next weekend. We then had guests come over to carve pumpkins. Mine was a spider. Then we proceded to play a lot of Wii. Then this morning I've done pretty much nothing. which is a really nice change, but later on Im going to help at some kind of tv auction at the elementary school. Wooo Hooo. Well, off to other things.

Tristan and I after he painted all over my face on Palestine day

Me in Tristans uberly cool jacket

Uke 9 og litt 10

Week 10. wow time goes by super fast here! except when I'm in pointless classes in school... such as today where I spent 3 class periods of sosiologi planning a way to sneak out of the class. Nevertheless, that didnt happen, only long bathroom breaks, and then I come back, say something to the teacher in norwegian and she says 'you have great norwegian' but in norwegian of course, and then I go back to reading norwegian childrens books. It becomes very boring. I always have the breaks to look forward to though, where I get to see my friends, well mostly Tristan, I won't lie. So whats a 'normal' day for me?
Wake up at 6:30, use massive amounts of time on my hair, and lots of hairspray...(hair is a very important thing here in norway, very BIG, literally, but its fun)
7:15 Breakfast(frukost) with my family, except for pappa who already has gone to catch the train to oslo for work.
7:40 Kjører til skolen (drive to school) at least part way, then we walk the rest of the way
8:25-15:30 sometimes 13:45- kjeder meg (I'm bored during this time, known as school) I sit and read norwegian books, and try to participate in discussions, but they talk to fast sometimes. I can understand it all, just not talk about the topics.
After school- gjøre lekser (do homework), spise middag (eat dinner), være sammen med venner (be together with my friends), se noen ting på tv (watch something on tv), norsk ting (do norwegian things)
On saturday Anders came over and we watched the 40 year old virgin (in norwegian jomfru) and that movie is so much funnier after drinking tons of soda and eating junk food and dancing to nysnc and backstreet boys, and crazy norwegian bands. classic marissa, to say the least. kjempe morsomt!
Well today after school I'm going to Trines to film a video on human rights for Media class. All day wednesday were editing these videos. Thursday we have a day off of school to work in the community to earn money for palestine. I really like that about norwegian schools. We have random whole days to focus on a project, instead of 45 minutes a day on one subject and then move on... and we have days where we dont have to even come to school, and they say, go find somewhere to work to raise money for a suffering country. I think its really smart. And I find that I learn a lot more from days like these than sitting in a class room, having the same thing every day. Variety makes it more memorable and productive.
Well, I have to go, I have to get my scarf back from Tristan by the end of the day...(he really enjoys taking my clothing... especially scarves and jackets, and wearing them for extended periods of time in public. silly boy)
Miss everyone, but Im having the time of my life =)

In Henningsvær (Nord-Norge)

On top of a mountain in Svolvær (also Nord-Norge)

uke åtte (8)

This past week I spent in Lofoten... A group of islands in northern norway, above the arctic circle. It was suprisingly warm, about 6 or 7 degrees (c of course) and we had great weather. The first day we flew to a city called bodø and then took a ferry for six hours from bodø to svolvær, where we spent the majority of our trip. In Svolvær, we played concerts at a church, a mall, and at a few schools. The second day that we were on our trip, we climbed a mountain in Svolvær, one of the smaller ones, but still, it took over 2 hours to go up, and over 2 hours to go down. The views from the top were absolutely beautiful, the most stunning i have ever seen in my entire life. Clear blue skies, enless islands, small towns, more mountains. AMAZING! I have some pictures that I'll post up sometime, but not until my computer is working again. Anyways, the third day we played with the local cultural school in a concert and at mall. It was pretty fun, except for the homesickness that came that day, which was accompanied by horrible headaches and stomachaches. but that has passed now, at least mostly. The final day we woke up at 5:15 to take a 6 hour speedboat ride from Svolvær to Bodø. Unfortunately, the sea was reallllly rough that day, so everyone but me and 2 others from the group were seasick, the whole time. I nearly died, because I cannot stand people throwing up. But Ieveryone survived and now the world continues on, all happy. And now Im back at home for the rest of høst ferie (fall break), although i have to work at a farm tomorrow and friday... goodie. =) And only a few more days until I get to see my friends again when they get back from their vacations!!! (Tristan and others, specifically) Well, jeg skal dusje nå. =)

Uke (8) ish... Tirsdag

JEG ER SÅ GLADE!!!
I AM SOOOO HAPPY!

Jeg har et fantastisk liv!
I have an awesome life.

Og min venner er kjempe kult.
And my friends are super cool.

I dag hadde jeg en bra dag.
Today I Had a good day.

I spent 3 hours of school today cleaning a chalk board and hiding Tristans hat. Its so productive here. hahaha. But I do learn, just in a less structured way. Well, tomorrow I am going to see Knocked Up in norwegian with Tristan. So that should be fun. Well, gotta go do sosiologi!

Anders, Me and Tristan During School

Uke Sju (7)

Writing in english is becoming quite a challenge for me because I'm thinking in Norwegian now... THATS SUPER COOL!!! considering that this is only my 7th week here and I'm almost fluent. This past week has been a whirlwind:
På Mondag- Lovely school followed by step class in the evening
På Tirsdag- School and Trines where we baked pirate cookies, made pirate costumes, and ate lotsa tacos.... then Bratsj lessons
På Onsdag- TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!! My american influence on the school is always positive... accompianied by many arrrghs, bimelys, and savvy?
På Torsdag- School and 4 hours of studing Norwegian Physics
På Fredag- Physics test, which I could not answer even one question... which means I undoubtedly failed... I'm going in for extra help starting next week... Just what I need, more hours of my oh so favorite subject... Then following this test I had gym, which was a positive thing, because we ran for 30 minutes and then played basketball. During our running portion we had races, and I somehow one... against all of the athletic people... how? I dont exactly know. Then we proceded to play basketball, which, by the way, in the US I absolutely suck at... but here I was pretty much worshipped. After all of this fun, I hurried off to bratsj practice for 3 hours, but its 1 hour driving each way, so it becomes a 5 hour ordeal... but, after that I didn't go home... no, I went to Yi Ren's bursdag fest (her birthday party). So I got home at about 1 am, and had to get up by 8 for more orchestra... So that kind of sucked.
På Lørdag- I had 4 hours of orchestra. AHHHH!!! Not fun... Then I went to get bird food with Pappa, but the store was all out, OH NO! We came back home then and played Wii, sat around, ate, looked at Karo og Ingrids baby pictures, and at a lot of candy(we can only eat candy of Lørdag i Norge, so we eat a lot when we get the chance...) And now I'm writing this, extremely tired, and wishing that I could've gone to oslo with Tristan and Anders today to get sushi... but that'll just have to wait til next week... AHHH MUST HAVE SUSHI! I ate sushi yesterday though, but MUST HAVE SUSHI!!! Crazy cravings...SUSHI AND VILLA FARRIS!!! AHHHHH!
Well, tomorrow I have to write a 2 page paper on different philosophers and my views of 'the meaning of life,' all in norwegian... so that will be loads of fun.
But, I did decide what I think I'm going to spend my life doing... I want to be a sosioanthropologist or a branch off of it, studying the ideal personality of different cultures, conformity, intercultural competence, and other sosial psychology. I spent part of yesterday reading psychology, and Pappas just like, people your age aren't supposed to enjoy reading psychology... because I was infront of the tv, more interested in reading than watching... oh boy. but its suuuuper awesom. Only 4 more days of school til høst ferie! (fall break) YES! and then I'm going up north! WOOO HOO!

The picture is of me with pizza sauce all over my face... pappa and I made pizzas this past week, and on one of them we put peanuts, pineapple, pepperoni, haribo candy, chocolate sauce, and barbeque sauce... to say the least, it was disgusting...Æsj!

Uke seks (6)

Sååååååååå, jeg er nå ferdig med uke seks her i norge.
so, im now finish with week six in norway
I've been having sooo much fun in school with my friends. We spend our time listening to music, talking about socks, and eating a lot. mmmm mmmm good. Last weekend we celebrated ingrids birthday and went bowling and i spent the day with Trine, a very good friend of mine. Today was my first orchestra rehearsal for my trip up north in 2 weeks... it was pretty boring, but the car ride made it worth it... pappa bought 6 haribo packages, 2 giant twix bars, 2 sodas (my favorite kind villa brus) and a pack of gummy things called zoo. and we ate it all except 2 things by the time we were home... oh how i love norway (and candy) I've actually been speaking quite a lot of german here, mostly german insults, because I have a friend here, Tristan(from Germany but isnt an exchange student) who helps me pronounce things out of a book of put downs that pappa gave me... hahah. we have good times yelling things like 'try using some disinfectant to get rid of that smell' down the hallways (in german and norwegian of course) and it gets some laughs... I haven't had a problem with feeling isolated at school at all, which is a very good thing... AFS told us that we would feel alone and such, but I don't and I guess its because I'm fairly outgoing. Well, I'm gonna go watch another movie with pappa now... (we watch sooo many movies, its GREAT!) and after 3 hours of orchestra today, I have 4 more tomorrow morning... goodie (yeah right) well I'll update next week about my wonderful adventures in scenic Norway... OH I forgot to mention, ontop of my running every day now, I went biking yesterday with pappa, in all that biking gear... could marissa be becoming athletic? is that possible?

Tristan and I

My cousin and I

Denne Uke (5)

So I'm on my thrid week of school now, and its just getting better every day, with the exception of Historie og Filosofi class, which sucks... I've really been enjoying hangin out with my friends during school hours, and during classes, which are incredibly easy compared to the US. After school I walk home... every day... which includes walking about 1.5km on flat ground and the up and down what Wisconsiners would call a mountain... so I definately am getting some leg muscles here. I've started going to a training class on monday nights, its a step class, with my mamma and a few friends, Trine and Guro. It's a fun class thats pretty much just dancing. And as a suprise to many, its my first time working out in my entire life. Yesterday I had an AFS meeting in Lillestrøm and I got to see some of my friends for the first time in a month. It was lots of fun and we all had to give presentations on our home countries. I did mine completely in Norwegian... kjempe vansklig! But I managed to do it, and Im learning more norwegian every day. Jeg kommer å bli bedre! (Im getting better) I also got a cell phone yesterday WOO HOO!! But don't call me its expensive... But its exciting nevertheless. The picture is my sisters Karo og Ingrid og me and our lovely banana cake that we made with black licorice for the AFS meeting last night.

Uke Fire (4)

So this is my fourth week in Norway... and I've just begun my second week of school. I'll start back with week one...

Uke en (1)
AFS camp. All of the Afs kids in the SE part of Norway had a week long camp in Skjeberg (shay-berg)At this camp I met my best friend Maren, who unfortunately lives 35 min away by train and I'm not allowed to see her until after Christmas. Anyways, after a week of learning Norwegian and meeting new friends from across the world, I headed off to my family.

Uke to (2)
The last week of summer vacation, ick. But, it was fun. I spent my first day with my family at a childrens day at a farm making pinnebrød (stick bread) and I ended up in the local newspaper! I also met a lot of family and a few kids before school started. I saw the movie The Simpsons with Heidi and Ola, a few neighbors... I was really fortunate to meet some people before school started, then I wasnt completely clueless on the first day.

Uke tre (3)
School started. AH! School in Norway is really easy though, at least so far. Theres an open campus, which is suuuuper nice... and its close to downtown Eidsvoll, so my friends and I walk there during our breaks or after school, etc. I have managed to make a bunch of friends this first week at school and hung out with them over the weekend. So everything here is great and friends are awesome.

Uke fire(4)
Well, now its my second week of school and school isn't stressful at all, which is nice... i finished today at 13:45.. yessss! And I start at 8:25 so its not a long day at all, although I sometimes finish at 16:30. Anyways, some of my friends here are: Marius, Trina, Anders, Tristan, Ellisiv, Yi Ren, Ola, and a bunch more but I actually don't want to type them. The culture here isn't much different but the teens get so much more freedom which is nice. The only hard part is the language, which I'm learning. In fact, I've been trying to speak no english, but its hard.

Norwegian Lesson:
(easy but very important to know if you're an exhange student)
Jeg er så forvirra (yei are so for-ve-rah) = I am so confused
Han ser ut som en ku (han sayer ohht sum en coo) = He looks like a cow.... (also very important)

waiting

So, its only 9 days until I leave and I'm sitting here at my computer anxiously awaiting my departure. First, I'm headed off to China and then to Norway! I'm pretty much done packing, so now it's just waiting and waiting... and of course MYSO rehearsals. Well, now that I know that this blog works, I'll be off and I'll write soon. Below is a picture of my family in Norway. They're so wonderful! My pappa, Knut; My mamma, Britt; My almost 13 year old sister, Karoline; and My almost 10 year old sister, Ingrid.