Flurries in the Forecast.

Well, the weather is becoming more and more winter-like as the days fly by. I keep blogging about how fast time is flying, but it is true. Also, it is now dark out and it isn't even 5pm yet. This getting dark so late is throwing me off because I am getting hungry way before supper and feel like I should be eating since I has been dark for a while.
I received my third care package from mom today. It is great to have a little taste of America and to see packaging in English! Nah, I do like to read the Norwegian packaging. I wanted to send a care package home until I realized how much they actually cost to just ship. Pretty much double what mom pays to send things to me. Crazy!
I have a presentation in Norwegian on Thursday and I am not looking forward to it. It is about a political party here in Norway. They actually have a lot for being a smaller country. We are not supposed to use any type of notes when we present and it is supposed to be ten minutes long! Oh, and did I mention that it is all in Norwegian? Well, at least we are not graded on it and my class is pretty small, but it still makes me nervous to get up and present like that. But having Mr. Davis back in seventh grade helped me to become a better speaker. I would hate to see where I would be now without that class. Thanks Mr. Davis! But yea, other classes are not too bad. I have to give two presentations and write two more papers to finish up with my other classes. And for my Norwegian finals, we have a written section on one day and then two days later, we have an oral section. I hope they both go well. Just try to practice when I can I guess. It will all be over soon. :)
I have started to reread the books that we read for my Film and Fiction class here in Norwegian. I read them in English the first time, but since I am getting credit for my Norwegian degree at Luther, I feel that I should get through them in Norwegian too. My goal is to finish the first one tomorrow. Only 30 more pages!
I am trying to decide what I want to do once I finish exams here. I will have almost two weeks with no class and no tests before I fly back to the states. Any suggestions? If you really want to make me happy, you are welcome to find the cheapest flight and hotels for me too. :D
Sorry I don't have any new and exciting pictures to put up, I haven't done anything too special except to go to class. Hope you all have a great week!

Happy November!

I can't believe that it is already November! I have finished reading my Norwegian grammar book and now I only have 1.5 chapters to do in the work book and 2 more chapters to read in our regular textbook. It is weird to see things winding do this much and so quickly too. I guess it helps that I am done with regular classes by the end of November and then my last scheduled exam is December 8th. I hope that they go smoothly. Then I will have 12 days all to my self. I might try to go and track down my family in over by Bergen, but I am not 100% sure yet. I am also considering going to visit another country too. But I don't know where. 
Halloween was pretty good for me. I dressed up as a skier and when I told some Norwegians what I was, they said I should be Bjørn Dæhlie instead. He the a cross country skier from Norway and is an eight-time Olympic medalist. 
I have also met the minimum requirement in length for my Norwegian paper about "Family Life in Norway." Six pages is a lot to be typing in Norwegian. :) But I was glad to have chosen this topic and I learned a lot about Norway and learned some good Norwegian words along the way too. I just hope that the teacher likes it too. 
Last night I was also able to talk to my Norwegian classmates from home via Skype. I even got to talk to my professor for a bit. The time difference was not much fun, but I think I might see if I can listen in for the first hour just so I can practice my Norwegian as much as I can. 
Not too many other things have been going on here though. The weather is rainy again, but it is somewhat warm too. Hope you are all having a good time where ever you are. :)

Last Thursday in October?

Wow, it is hard to believe how fast this past month has flown by! It helps to have thing to keep you busy. The most exciting thing for me this week was trying the canned liver. Yea, I tried the stuff that I blogged about before. The yellow can with the happy children. It actually wasn't too bad! It tasted almost like a ham spread and was somewhat pink in color. I am guessing it is a lot better for me than the things that look like burgers from McDonald's. :D I think I might even bring home a can of it so you all can try. LOL. I came to Norway with an open mind about trying things and I plan to continue that. I knew that this would be the only opportunity for a while and the worst that could happen would be not liking it. Thank you Kine and Fay for letting me try some!
Today I also had a Norwegian test. I was so nervous for this one. It counts for 20% of my final grade so that makes it even scarier for me. After taking it, I didn't feel too bad about it. This however doesn't mean much because I can feel really good about a test and completely blow it. Hopefully my good feeling will continue past the day that I get it back. :D
I also sent an e-mail to the US Embassy here in Norway asking if I could come and meet someone there and find more out about embassy work. Unfortunately, they said no because they were so busy and didn't have the time to meet we everyone. Ok, I guess I tried, but it is a turn off from your own embassy. Hmm, there was something else too. This weekend is Halloween and I still don't have a costume, but that is not too exciting.

I guess I could say that the weather here is very ''fall" like because it has rained the past two days and the forecast says rain for tomorrow too. I just wish it would drop 10 degrees so it could be snow instead. The side walks were awful this morning on my way to class. I was slipping and sliding everywhere! Since it has been raining and still getting below freezing every night, they were bad. I don't like walking down a hill when it is a sheet of ice. Hopefully they will get better as the season goes on and they can put down something so I can get some traction.

O yes, the other thing I was going to talk about was signing up for classes next Spring and Jterm. I think I will be taking my Paideia Capstone class for Jterm. For all of you non-Luther folk, Paideia is the English/History/Writing/Death class that all freshmen are required to take their first two semesters and also for upperclassmen to do another round of it as Juniors or Seniors. I will be glad to get it out of the way and I hope that taking one called "Cyber Ethics" will be easier for me to follow because of the technology. For Spring semester, I am planning on taking the next Scandinavian Studies class as well as another Computer Science one. I am also filling my science gen. ed. with Science 111. Now doesn't that just sound like triple the fun? For my final class, I am looking at taking a Management of Information Systems (MIS) class just for the fun of it. I have also been looking to see if I can squeeze other type of degree in a year and a half. I am just three classes away from an Economics minor and three away from completing the International Management Studies special course. I don't know what to about these. I know for sure that I will get my major in Computer Science and at least a minor in Scandinavian Studies. (Possible double major depending on how classes transfer back.) The rest is up in the air.

Phew. Hope you all have a great weekend!
And HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!

Mountains that are near me.

More of Oslo for Sharon

Alright. So when I posted about my trip to Oslo a few weeks ago, I neglected to put up more pictures. So here you go. And when you see "gate" all around it can be translated to "street" in English. Karl Johans Gate is the most famous street in Oslo and it is mostly just a walking street too.

Karl Johans Gate leading up to the Palace

My favorite fountain in Eidsvoll Square

The King's Palace

The Ski Jump from the Olympics.

Another shot of Vigeland's Park

Snow in Norway

This is more what Norway should look like. At least in my mind. I took all these pictures on my way to class the morning after it snowed, Oct. 22nd.

This is my school.

Brr!

Hello Everyone! I hope that you are all having some great fall weather and starting to get some of the cold weather like I am getting. This morning was really cold for my walk to class. It was about 26 when I got up this morning. I am still waiting on the snow though. It has been in the forecast, but I have yet to see a flake. The Norwegians are as bad, if not worse, at predicting weather as the Americans. :) Also, today was the first time I had class in almost two weeks! It was nice to have a long break even though I didn't accomplish anything besides homework. But that is good too.
I have been drinking a lot of hot chocolate already this year, but I have yet to drink any of my Nestle Butterfinger Hot Chocolate that I brought from home. Saving that for those really cold and dreary days. One of my friends also convinced me to try tea again. So today I went to the store, smelled a lot of the boxes, and decided on an apple, cinnamon, and raisin flavored type. Got home, heated up some water in the awesome kettle that I got from Kine and Fay then made some tea. It sounds so British, right? Anyway, I still don't care for it. Meh. The smell is really good, but I would much rather drink my hot chocolate and have a cookie with apples, cinnamon, and raisins. :D
A couple days ago, a group of us got together and watched Pocahontas in Norwegian. It was amazing! And I could actually understand it rather well. Listening to the radio and watching TV seems to be paying off more than I thought. I still can't wait until I can see Toy Story and The Price of Egypt. However, I am not looking forward to my next Norwegian exam in a week. Just do my best, that's all I can ask from myself.
Oh, and another thing that is really cool is that I can call any phone in the US for free through my Gmail account. Did I already blog about this? But if you get a call, and no one says anything for a bit, it might be me. Also, if you have caller ID, the area code that comes up in 760 I think. (760 is from California.) This makes it also good for prank calling.
I guess that is good for now. Please leave me some comments so I know what is going on in the states, just don't forget to leave your name so I know who you are too!

Half way done

Today is officially the half way point for my visit to Norway. It is strange to think how fast time has flown by! This past week has been my fall break and it was well needed. I just so happened to catch a cold during this time. I guess it is better to be sick now than during classes. But it is really weird, here when it comes to medications. They do not have a single medication that I can buy over-the-counter that will help to relieve my symptoms. The pharmacist didn't know what I was talking about when I went in and asked for some cold medicine. The only way I can get anything is if I go to the doctor and get a prescription. Not really something I feel like paying for when it is just a common cold. I did bring some allergy pills from home and they seem to be helping a little bit, but it is still annoying to be blowing my nose all the time.
The weather is starting to switch into fall because the trees are losing all their leaves and there is usually a thick frost every morning. I don't mind the cold too much, just not when I am sick. So i have been staying in my room doing homework and drinking a lot of hot chocolate. It is nice to have a good amount of food up here too.
Next Thursday, I have to give a presentation in Norwegian about Knut Hamsun. He was a author from the early 1900's. He is kinda interesting, so I hope I can find enough information to present on him. Other than that, not too much is going on here.
O yea, and I stumbled upon a new feature in Gmail that allows me to call land line phones in the US for free! So I called home and I also called my grandparents. I haven't talked to my grandparents since the week before I came. It was nice to catch up with them. I love technology!