September 14-16

A couple weekends ago, Rotary reunited me with all of my friends way back from language camp for a conference in Kristansund.

Night one consisted of a 20 minute walk through town to a pizza place...in the rain. After a much appreciated bus ride back, we set to rehearsing for the conference on Saturday afternoon. When we got back to the hotel Katie, Haley, and I were desperately in need of some ice cream. Much to our disappointment, the store at the hotel had been closed for the night, and so we set off down the halls for other means of filling ourselves with cold, creamy goodness.

Part way down the hall of the hotel, we came to an open door that had some serious beats flowing from it. We peered inside, not to a hotel room, but what appeared to be some kind of break room. Sitting at a table behind a laptop and a killer sound system, were three men.

"Ha du is?" I asked with high hopes. The men, although I had asked in Norwegian, were completely and utterly confused. So we tried English. "Do you have any ice cream?" The men explained to us, "Oh, we have all kinds of music!!!" Not getting anywhere, a Rotarian ushered us upstairs to plan for the next days event.

My group of friends decided within 3 minutes that we would perform the Electric Slide, and made our way back down to our new friends to see if they could hook us up with the correct tune. They had me type in the search, but before I could search for "The Electric Slide," I had to remove their previous search: "Ice Cream."

We finally decided on the Funky ChaCha, and performed it with exquisite grace and mad funk flowing through us on Saturday afternoon. We were then transported to what I believe was called the middle of nowhere, where we were forced to climb wet, slippery trees and jump off...explain the logic please. We then ate dinner in true Little House fashion, in a freezing cold barn by candle light.

When we returned to the hotel, the students who are already halfway through their year announced that all the girls have to switch clothes with the guys. Suspiciously, none of the guys protested but were in fact, excited and all to eager to be put into full make up.

The First Three Weeks...

Week One: Language Camp
I, along with everyone else that ended up there, thought that language camp would take place in Oslo, maybe at a hotel, with plenty to keep us busy when we didn't have class. All 22 of us were dead wrong. No one tried to hide their disappointment as we drifted further and further from Oslo. So, we end up at some camp in the middle of nowhere basically.
So after a couple days, friendships were established. The coolest people there (Caleb Gould, Alex Botkin, Hayle Perros, Katie Legan, Carlos some Mexican last name, and myself) obviously bonded right away. We had class from about 8:30-4 every day, with lunch and other breaks in there also. Aside from class and our 3 meals a day, there wasn't much as far as entertainment goes.
The camp came to be known among la familia (me and my friends) as Rehab. Three structured meals a day, then we were thrown into an all white room with a deck of cards and a TV that got like 3 channels.
Ah, the meals. Well, we had lamb for 5 meals in a row, no lie. It didn't get much better when they decided to switch it up: moose. You may think it wouldn't be that bad, but think of it as...moose meat pudding, which is basically what it was. Then they finally hit us with some pizza and everything got a little better.
Eventually, we found ways to pass the time. We played cards, we butchered the Spanish language by trying to speak to Carlos in his native tongue, we chilled on the docks, we watched love blossom between a couple Canadians. We even invited a cross dresser at the camp (no relation to Rotary) to come swimming but, you see, (s)he had just put on makeup and wasn't about to mess it up in the lake. Soon we found ourselves not searching for something to do, but rather unknowingly staying up until 2 in the morning and reluctant to go to sleep.
Sad goodbyes at the end of the week.

Week Two: A Couple Different Places

Sarah (a girl from North Carolina) and I left language camp together, thinking we were going to meet our host families somewhere. We ended up on some random farm (that I later found belonged to a Rotarian) in Stange. Sarah left with her counselor, and I was to stay on the farm for the weekend. Talk about the most awkward thing I've ever experienced.
Dorthe, their 23 year old daughter, had been an exchange student in the US, and was quick to make me feel welcome. We went to the mall in Hamar, a birthday party in Stange, and Norway's equivalent of the CF Fireman's Dance.
After my weekend with the random family, I went to stay with my counselor for about 5 days. During these five days, I started school at Stange VGS. Friends there include Ida, Nina, and Julianne.

Week Three: Finally With My Host Family

So now I'm with the Midgard family, and it's about time. I'll be with them until about Christmas time.
There was a Rotary organized trip hiking in the mountains this past weekend, which I passed on because I didn't really want to pay upwards of 200 kroner to go die in the middle of a mountain. Instead, I went with my host mom and sister to a cabin (a friend of the family) about an hour north of Ottestad. Well, this morning before we left, we went hiking up a mountain.
Within 3 minutes of our departure I felt like I was going to die. I had passed up a weekend with some of my friends for a weekend with my family, hiking what I safely assume to be a more treacherous trail than the Rotary program would have offered. There was no path at all, so we wandered aimlessly through the woods. There were like 8 Indiana Jones moments when I had to jump what might as well have been canyons...ok so they weren't actually that big, but there was nasty mud and water at the bottom and the grass was all wet and I could have died...or fallen. Then it got all Blair Witch on me. There was more vegetation there than in the Blair Witch Project, and these woods were less ominous simply because it was in full color as opposed to black and white, but it still generated the feel.
Anyway, long story kind of short I did happen to make it out alive. However, I did fall on my face three times and got nailed in the face by a branch. So by the end of our "little walk" I was wet up to my knees, dirty, cold, quite possibly hosting nasty bugs, and probably dying of an asthma attack.


So, here's the blog update I kept getting bugged about. Sad to say no pictures yet, but this can hold you over until they're up.