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)