Hvordan det er å være utveklingsstudent

So I started to write this with the intent to start speaking Norwegian. I was thinking about what to write and how to write it in Norwegian completely forgetting the fact that I was doing my blog in English--so that is an exciting thing! I officially don't know which language to use anymore! I haven't written in a while but I intend to write a little more often so I can document the goings on over here in Norway. First thing that I haven't shared with you all--it was my birthday September 14th, so I got to experience a real Norwegian birthday! I got a really nice gift from my host family, heard the 'Grattulerer med daggen' song, and ate AMAZING Indian food--spiciest thing I've had since I've been in Norway besides stark kebab. I also was wished happy birthday by SO many people at school--it was really exciting and ni

ce to know that my classmates remembered my birthday even though I hadn't said a word about it--facebook is an amazing thing when you are an exchange student! Here is a photo of my

host family at the restaurant:

So the next thing I have to write about is my trip to Averøye with Gunnar, my host dad. I spent five days travelling and visiting from Oslo to Averøye--it was a ten hour drive! Gunnar's brother was turning 50, so there was a big family birthday party and since I am an exchange student--of course I got to go :). We drove past Lillehammer, did a wonderful hike to these white stones that have kept earth underneath them from eroding that are called Kvitskriuprestene, or white priest stones, and just had a really great time touring around Averøye and Kristiansund and surrounding areas--it was a really cool place! We took the fjelltur on the w

ay back--mountain trip. Driving through the mountains was seriously mind-blowing. Sometimes I feel like I'm just in some sort of fantasy adventureland or something--Norway is a spectacular place. We ate at a restaurant in a fjord on the way back and let me tell you--the fjords are seriously amazing--they just have a really mystic feel about them. I love it! The first picture is of Kvitskriuprestene, and the second one isn't a fjord, but it was a really cool bridge we fished by! The third photo is a fjord--FREAKIN MAGICAL! I'M TELLING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!

So overall, that was an amazing trip. The other cool thing is that in Averøye and surrounding areas, they speak a dialect of Norwegian, so I was really challenged to understand what they said. I think it was really good for me, though, because after I came back, this dialect of bokmål seemed much easier to speak and understand! I felt like I could say and hear so much more. After the trip I went to school for the rest of the week after another ten hour drive. Then, this last week, we had our exchange student language camp, which I really think deserves its own entry, so I will make two entries pretty close to each other! Anyway, enjoy the photos and check out my facebook page for more!