The rain this weekend has given way to an incredible amount of TV and movies. I spent a majority of the wet weekend here at the girl’s house on Brenbakkvegen known as 'the Beehive.' Today we watched the two final matches of the Women's Soccer World Cup. The morning match, which decided third place, was a rather fitting showdown between USA and Norway. Unfortunately for my fellow Norsk citizens the US dominated the entire match and took home this year's bronze. The final match was a showdown between Germany and Brazil. And although the Brazil team proved to be just as exciting to watch as their men's team, their ball handling came up short to Germany's endurance...not to mention all the lousy calls in Germany's favor.
Life has been really interesting here. I have noticed that I am much more comfortable and settled in. The decline in both my personal journal and blogging is an indication that I find myself needing those tools less and less to feel comfortable. When I blog to recap my day or week and explore ideas aloud for all of you in the web-o-sphere, I have you ‘at home’ to live life with me in a way. I have found however, that as I have become closer and more comfortable with the group here, I am less apt to blog. It's as if that need to reflect and think is better satisfied in the flesh. I do regret that I have kept so much from all of you these past weeks. Yet, at the same time, you all know how much of a one-on-one, think out loud, kind of person I am. As such, the more opportunity I have for live, person-to-person interaction the more I rely on that to process my day, week and subsequently life.
That was in part to apologize about my lack of blogging and remind you all that I am thinking about you constantly. It is also a great thing to be able to tell you that life has begun to regulate itself over here. I have a scheduled daily life; it doesn’t feel like vacation anymore. Many friends have told me that it takes 4 to 5 weeks of living somewhere before you will really start to see the society around you. I think for the most part that is true. The rosy coloured glasses of Norway have begun to slide down my nose, so to speak. I am noticing differences in cultural life that at first seemed, well, maybe not exotic, but respectably different and are now just plain frustrating. The first one being: commerce on Sunday does not exist. Now although this is a cornerstone principle that allows Norway to be that much more relaxed and happy than the US, it is an inconvenience to me. I am used to doing my grocery shopping on Sunday and in this way, Norwegian cultural values impact the way I must practically live life. It is an odd, maybe petty complaint even, but one that I have found continually frustrating and thus thought it should get some blog time.
A second grief I have is charging money for so called, ‘public toilets.’ Now I know all of you with personal European experience can vouch for the fact that this is basically the norm. In the 5/6 (depending your opinion on Kosovo/a) European countries I have visited, I know this to be the case. It may be the optimist in me however, but I would think that my 10 Norwegian Crowns (nearly $2 USD, considering its recent decline) might contribute to a CLEAN and FUNCTIONAL bathroom. Instead many of these bathrooms are far worse than any NYC McDonald’s bathroom I’ve used. On top of that, it seems odd for a country like Norway to boast about its social welfare that provides a standard of basic needs to people far beyond almost every country in the world, but excludes a clean and free toilet from such provisions.
All in all, the frustrations are far outweighed by Norway’s natural beauty and the way of life here. I absolutely love how many people I see out everyday biking, running, walking along the lake, kicking around a soccer ball. I love the small cars and no trucks. I love not being able to find a vacant bike stall everyday at school. I love the weather. The rain, the sun, the hills, the evergreens, the fall colors are all so special. The cute stores, and gågate (the promenade) paved with cobblestones and full of people in our little town each day. It is so much quieter in stores and public places. Our mall, just a five-minute walk from the apartment is such a peaceful place of commerce, no loud people and thus no loud music!
As far as the program goes, I have discovered some fertile ground for improvements. It has become frustrating how isolated our English-speaking program is. We just go to school with each other, and eat with each other and live with each other. Although there is something to be said about our group’s willingness to go outside the comfort zone and meet more people, but the three pubs in Hamar has been really our little bit of success. Norwegian people are not outgoing, full stop (to quote Inger). As such, the friends we have made chatting, whilst drinking tend to be quite shy and reserved when they see us again sober. Although this is a frustrating social fact of life, there is room in the program we are a part of called “society and culture” that could contribute to our participation in the culture. The obvious one is of course language requirements. This program cannot sustain itself if we are to live in Norway for four months, study the culture, political system and way of life and disregard the language. Not only is this language far more contextual than English, but to learn a language and to think in that language is to start to understand…(‘walk around in their shoes’). By including a language component this program has the potential to really grasp the important balance of study abroad with both academic and social bases for learning and growth.
I have mentioned these feelings to Inger already and have documented them for later evaluation of the program. But, as you can imagine, I find it quite frustrating that there is such a roadblock that keeps us from integrating even with our fellow Norwegian students.
There are a number of topics I want to write about this week so expect to see lots. As far as upcoming news goes, my mom will be here this Thursday to spend 10 days here with my on my mid-semester break. Yup, that’s pretty scary…already half way! She and I will be traveling around Scandinavia by cruise boat to Helsinki, Finland and back to Stockholm, Sweden and then to Oslo and a southern trip through my neck of the woods here. I am looking forward to having her and I know it will be great to see a familiar face. Speaking of trips, as some of you have heard through various channels, 8 of us traveled to Stockholm, Sweden 2 weekends ago for a friend’s 21st birthday and painted the town red. It is definitely the best major city I have visited in the world second only to Cape Town, South Africa. I have pictures from that crazy weekend up on my photo album. Check them out and eventually I will post a blog about that third day adventure where not one planned aspect seemed to go ‘right,’ which kind made for most of the fun. Anyhow, there was an update, some fairly cogent thoughts and a whole lot of rubbish. I hope you are all well.
Vi snakes.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A Travel/Life Update
I have been away from the computer for quite sometime now and it has been quite liberating. With all the traveling we have been doing I have spent much less time on the internet. Now as many of you are well aware my emailing, facebooking, skyping and of course blogging (you like that string of verbs most not even a decade old?) have all been fantastic and efficient to stay in touch with all of you. However, there is something so peaceful of ridding my lap of the heat of my macbook battery and my ears the buzz of the processor and instead taking in the beauty as I kayak down a river in the Arctic.
Our excursion week was nothing short of phenomenal. It provided a full spectrum of Norway. Rich history, ancient architecture, current political and economic struggle and the serenity of the Norwegian outdoors. Many people use the remark that Norwegians are the way they are because of the 'nature' around them and in the six days we explored the foundation of that stereotype. The country is sparsely populated. Whether by train, bus, ferry or plane each place we visited would appear out of nowhere. 3/4 of the country is inhabitable and consequently gorgeous. Maybe because it is so similar to Washington, but the woods hear have this green glow about them that is so inviting!
We made our first stop in Trondheim, the 3rd or 4th largest city in Norway at about 200,000 people. Home to the famous Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim (formally Nidaros) was the original capital of Norway when first united as a Kingdom in the 11th century. The cathedral was the main attraction in Trondheim and for many (myself included) probably the best experience of the excursion week. I'll stop here and plug my new photo album, because no amount of babbling on my end can do the breath taking architecture justice. So visit my new photo site and check out the excursion pics: http://kylemorean.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php
A few people who have visited the album already told me that the website is not that user friendly. Let me know if more of you have problems in which case I will find another provider and drop this one like its hot.
We left Trondheim by natttoget or the night train. We were one short on tickets and I received the extra hand-written train ticket...quite the souvenir! That morning we woke for more bussing and eventually got to our destination: the Sami cultural center 'Arran.' There we went on a guided tour of the premises and learned about Sami history, culture and politics. The Sami are the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. They are the largest indigenous group in Europe at about 90,000. Many of the political issues that exist in Norway between the state and Sami parallel those of the Native Americans and US gov.
From there we went to Hamarøy, my favorite stay on the trip. Although it literally means Hammer Island, it is neither shaped like a hammer nor an island. Nonetheless, we stayed in these fantastic barnyard red cabins along the river that follow just 5km into the Arctic. The entire next day we relaxed around Hamarøy. We made a visit to an incredible lighthouse amongst the fjords. We had crystal clear weather with a crisp chill. Our afternoon was spent down by the river either kayaking, canoeing or fishing. Following these lovely activities a few of us made the trek over from camp about 2km and climbed up a 120 ft. waterfall that we could see from our cabin windows. After our relaxing afternoon in nature, we had a group dinner of pork and potatoes and celebrated Joe's 22nd birthday.
We had purchased Joe a bottle of Southern Comfort which was shared amongst a select few, along with shots of Norwegian Vodka (Kalinka!) and of course good old shotguns of Tuborg (18 0z. of course!). Needless to say, all of this excitement prompted dancing in the rain, streaking in the arctic and staying up pretty much all of the night because our ferry left at 7 am.
Now although my trip took a turn for the worse at this point, I do not regret any part of the experience. Through the good times and the bad I learned and grew a lot. Anyhow, the ferry we took that morning was actually a catamaran that went about 40 knots. So we're takin arctic waves like it aint no thang and sure enough...me, mister car sick driving to the grocery store, gets big time sick. Luckily or unluckily my body had digested all the booze and food in my tummy so I had two rounds of the water that I had that morning. Then however, it was bile. All day long. When we got on land it is the closest I have ever come to passing out because I was vomiting so hard. I of course got that fatigued muscle feeling all over and my body temp began to spike every direction imaginable. Sparing you more vomit stories. I did not keep down my lunch...at no dinner and could keep down water until 4Am that night. I was fortunate however, that I had some great friends to take care of me and let me be when I needed it.
It was the last full day of the excursion that I was sick. So, I was there, but I was not A-vailable. All in all, I recovered after one full day of agony and kept food down the next day. Not to be outdone by the prior days events, I preceded to leave my wallet on the bus on the way to the airport. Luckily, Norway is legit and Inger made two calls and was taking directly to the bus driver on his cellphone...he made his loop through town...on a different bus mind you, and got my wallet to me! That was an incredible experience and one that I still have not begun to appreciate how awesome it was!
There were many lessons from the excursion. Number one, raise your children bilingual. Although there has been no mention of it so far, Alexandra, our teacher, brought her family with us which included her Dutch husband Peet, she is Danish and her 8 year old daughter Vigdis and 5 year old son Egil. The kids speak Danish, Dutch and Norwegian fluently and could speak about as much English as I can Norwegian. The really remarkable thing however, was their communicating with the Namibians. Because the colonial language of South Africa and Namibia is Afrikaans (practically Dutch) the kids and the Namibians could converse, and became good friends. I thought is was a rather heart warming example of benefit of sharing culture through language and how that can connect people.
Other lessons include...streak in the arctic every chance you get! (and you thought the 'fun run' was cold!) Take lots of photos. I am usually horrible, but I think I done pretty good this time. Make friends with the people you travel with, so they'll take care of you when you are sick. I was so fortunate that people were so great about helping me. Finally, share the world with others. The whole excursion would have had none of the character it had without the 22 of us traveling and experiencing it all together.
ON that note, we are off this weekend. In three hours in fact. It is 1:20 AM and our train from Hamar to Oslo leaves at 5:12. For the weekend 8 of us are going to Stockholm, Sweden to celebrate a birthday and explore. Although I would like to get some sleep it is looking less an less likely as this blog drags on and both the shower and backpack have yet to be touched. Hey, I'll sleep when I'm dead.
P.S. Today (Sept. 21 - my time) is Ingrid and my 5 year anniversary, go us! It kinda makes me feel like an old man...and mostly makes me want to tell you all how fantastic being in love is! Thanks for all your love and support in our life-shaping endeavour.
Our excursion week was nothing short of phenomenal. It provided a full spectrum of Norway. Rich history, ancient architecture, current political and economic struggle and the serenity of the Norwegian outdoors. Many people use the remark that Norwegians are the way they are because of the 'nature' around them and in the six days we explored the foundation of that stereotype. The country is sparsely populated. Whether by train, bus, ferry or plane each place we visited would appear out of nowhere. 3/4 of the country is inhabitable and consequently gorgeous. Maybe because it is so similar to Washington, but the woods hear have this green glow about them that is so inviting!
We made our first stop in Trondheim, the 3rd or 4th largest city in Norway at about 200,000 people. Home to the famous Nidaros Cathedral, Trondheim (formally Nidaros) was the original capital of Norway when first united as a Kingdom in the 11th century. The cathedral was the main attraction in Trondheim and for many (myself included) probably the best experience of the excursion week. I'll stop here and plug my new photo album, because no amount of babbling on my end can do the breath taking architecture justice. So visit my new photo site and check out the excursion pics: http://kylemorean.myphotoalbum.com/albums.php
A few people who have visited the album already told me that the website is not that user friendly. Let me know if more of you have problems in which case I will find another provider and drop this one like its hot.
We left Trondheim by natttoget or the night train. We were one short on tickets and I received the extra hand-written train ticket...quite the souvenir! That morning we woke for more bussing and eventually got to our destination: the Sami cultural center 'Arran.' There we went on a guided tour of the premises and learned about Sami history, culture and politics. The Sami are the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. They are the largest indigenous group in Europe at about 90,000. Many of the political issues that exist in Norway between the state and Sami parallel those of the Native Americans and US gov.
From there we went to Hamarøy, my favorite stay on the trip. Although it literally means Hammer Island, it is neither shaped like a hammer nor an island. Nonetheless, we stayed in these fantastic barnyard red cabins along the river that follow just 5km into the Arctic. The entire next day we relaxed around Hamarøy. We made a visit to an incredible lighthouse amongst the fjords. We had crystal clear weather with a crisp chill. Our afternoon was spent down by the river either kayaking, canoeing or fishing. Following these lovely activities a few of us made the trek over from camp about 2km and climbed up a 120 ft. waterfall that we could see from our cabin windows. After our relaxing afternoon in nature, we had a group dinner of pork and potatoes and celebrated Joe's 22nd birthday.
We had purchased Joe a bottle of Southern Comfort which was shared amongst a select few, along with shots of Norwegian Vodka (Kalinka!) and of course good old shotguns of Tuborg (18 0z. of course!). Needless to say, all of this excitement prompted dancing in the rain, streaking in the arctic and staying up pretty much all of the night because our ferry left at 7 am.
Now although my trip took a turn for the worse at this point, I do not regret any part of the experience. Through the good times and the bad I learned and grew a lot. Anyhow, the ferry we took that morning was actually a catamaran that went about 40 knots. So we're takin arctic waves like it aint no thang and sure enough...me, mister car sick driving to the grocery store, gets big time sick. Luckily or unluckily my body had digested all the booze and food in my tummy so I had two rounds of the water that I had that morning. Then however, it was bile. All day long. When we got on land it is the closest I have ever come to passing out because I was vomiting so hard. I of course got that fatigued muscle feeling all over and my body temp began to spike every direction imaginable. Sparing you more vomit stories. I did not keep down my lunch...at no dinner and could keep down water until 4Am that night. I was fortunate however, that I had some great friends to take care of me and let me be when I needed it.
It was the last full day of the excursion that I was sick. So, I was there, but I was not A-vailable. All in all, I recovered after one full day of agony and kept food down the next day. Not to be outdone by the prior days events, I preceded to leave my wallet on the bus on the way to the airport. Luckily, Norway is legit and Inger made two calls and was taking directly to the bus driver on his cellphone...he made his loop through town...on a different bus mind you, and got my wallet to me! That was an incredible experience and one that I still have not begun to appreciate how awesome it was!
There were many lessons from the excursion. Number one, raise your children bilingual. Although there has been no mention of it so far, Alexandra, our teacher, brought her family with us which included her Dutch husband Peet, she is Danish and her 8 year old daughter Vigdis and 5 year old son Egil. The kids speak Danish, Dutch and Norwegian fluently and could speak about as much English as I can Norwegian. The really remarkable thing however, was their communicating with the Namibians. Because the colonial language of South Africa and Namibia is Afrikaans (practically Dutch) the kids and the Namibians could converse, and became good friends. I thought is was a rather heart warming example of benefit of sharing culture through language and how that can connect people.
Other lessons include...streak in the arctic every chance you get! (and you thought the 'fun run' was cold!) Take lots of photos. I am usually horrible, but I think I done pretty good this time. Make friends with the people you travel with, so they'll take care of you when you are sick. I was so fortunate that people were so great about helping me. Finally, share the world with others. The whole excursion would have had none of the character it had without the 22 of us traveling and experiencing it all together.
ON that note, we are off this weekend. In three hours in fact. It is 1:20 AM and our train from Hamar to Oslo leaves at 5:12. For the weekend 8 of us are going to Stockholm, Sweden to celebrate a birthday and explore. Although I would like to get some sleep it is looking less an less likely as this blog drags on and both the shower and backpack have yet to be touched. Hey, I'll sleep when I'm dead.
P.S. Today (Sept. 21 - my time) is Ingrid and my 5 year anniversary, go us! It kinda makes me feel like an old man...and mostly makes me want to tell you all how fantastic being in love is! Thanks for all your love and support in our life-shaping endeavour.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Thoughts on Leadership
It is a beautiful day in Norway. A crisp breeze is blowing through the trees and chills the skin, but something about the bright sun staring you in the fast prevents you from being very cold. Walking along you can smell the fresh rain on both the pavement and grass, (both very distinct smells). The ground is still moderately damp from the early afternoon rainfall that brought such gray clouds you thought they'd never clear.
Out in this scene, I close my eyes and let what my remaining senses note influence my imagination. Immediately, I am taken back to Friday afternoons in the autumn of my high school days. We have started our pre-game warm up with the marching band and everyone is shuffling around with horns, and burgers (made by Music Boosters), and plumes. In reflection, those times seemed so simple.
As I fast-forward to the present, I remember I am living in Norway studying society and culture. Although this scenery, weather and overall environment of Hamar, Norway reminds me of my hometown of Aberdeen, this autumn is much different then all in recent memory. The beginning of school has always held a special place in my heart. There is of course the first day of class. You get to see who is in your class and pick out who you want to sit by based upon things like ‘whose summer you want to hear about most.’ This otherwise annual feeling is missing from my life this year. Although we began the school year, as always, perhaps all the traveling, living, eating, partying with this group of people has expedited or even negated that first day of class process.
This change in feeling comes at an appropriate time in my life. It is the start of my fourth and final year of my undergraduate degree. This is an appropriate time to experience this transition out of the first day of school feeling. As this loosely structured, independent study abroad program takes flight I am being constantly reminded of the necessity to become independent and self-sufficient. This metaphor thus applies. I can't expect to have ease of the first-day, starting fresh, in the same environment many other places then school.
We are setting out for our first major excursion into the Norwegian countryside tomorrow. This theme of taking confident, big steps forward and helping others along the way applies directly to traveling. I have noticed in many traveling experiences in the past years, that I am generally the one to take the lead. Whether a group of 3 or 30; it can be directions, activities and site seeing, or just general motivation and I seem to be organizing everyone to make a uniform decision. I find myself at the head of the group urging them onward. With this role comes a certain responsibility and awareness. I have found it integral, thus far, to make my feelings transparent in these situations. If the leader can admit to being ‘lost’ they can help inspire a collective effort and help get everyone on the right path. The people who remain sour even after you admit to your mistake are the cynics who can ‘always think of a better way’ yet lack the confidence or agency to pursue those options themselves.
Secondly, I have noticed that people all have different traveling styles and learning to adjust to each of those at a moment’s notice is necessary to keep moving and ensure that people enjoy themselves. You can have the person who is ‘on the go’ and willing to do anything but doesn’t necessarily want to do it with anyone. The challenge with these people is motivating them to see the benefit of traveling as a group. This is challenging because usually it is apparent that they would thrive on their own. The extreme opposite traveling attitude usually accompanies they former. That being, the person who would have no clue what direction was down if you left them alone for one moment. Group travel can then help these people to become more competent and confident travelers through the shared group experience. There are of course a myriad of attitudes between these poles, yet, the one I notice most often are those people who take a moderate about of persuading before each new activity, but once they are there they generally enjoy themselves. The one frustrating part I notice with these kinds of travelers is that they are often reticent to put forth an opinion about what they would like to do. Sometimes this is fine for both that person and the group. But there are other times when these ‘middles’ can feel as though they are not contributing and/or being listened to.
Lastly, I have found that traveling is wearing on people. You are often in uncertain places, without the same creature comforts of home and crabbiness can set in quickly. Often the easiest solution is food and water. If raising the blood sugar doesn’t quite do it, then maybe taking some alone time by putting in the ear buds or journaling can do it. However, if people’s frustration starts to take on a harsh tone and/or snide remarks to other people, then the best way to talk that person down from the edge is to calm them with kindness. You gain nothing but high blood pressure by firing right back at them. If you let frustration envelope you in those situations it will be all you can think about and thus taint the whole experience. Therefore, to listen to their complaint and rephrase with less emotional language can be helpful. Where chiding them will only perpetuate the problem.
Traveling takes incredible amounts of patience. But with that patience comes the potential for a shared experience with group that invites numerous insightful perspectives and can be so rewarding. I am excited for this week to see some of these travel theories in play and challenge myself to continue to hone my skills as a travel leader.
Out in this scene, I close my eyes and let what my remaining senses note influence my imagination. Immediately, I am taken back to Friday afternoons in the autumn of my high school days. We have started our pre-game warm up with the marching band and everyone is shuffling around with horns, and burgers (made by Music Boosters), and plumes. In reflection, those times seemed so simple.
As I fast-forward to the present, I remember I am living in Norway studying society and culture. Although this scenery, weather and overall environment of Hamar, Norway reminds me of my hometown of Aberdeen, this autumn is much different then all in recent memory. The beginning of school has always held a special place in my heart. There is of course the first day of class. You get to see who is in your class and pick out who you want to sit by based upon things like ‘whose summer you want to hear about most.’ This otherwise annual feeling is missing from my life this year. Although we began the school year, as always, perhaps all the traveling, living, eating, partying with this group of people has expedited or even negated that first day of class process.
This change in feeling comes at an appropriate time in my life. It is the start of my fourth and final year of my undergraduate degree. This is an appropriate time to experience this transition out of the first day of school feeling. As this loosely structured, independent study abroad program takes flight I am being constantly reminded of the necessity to become independent and self-sufficient. This metaphor thus applies. I can't expect to have ease of the first-day, starting fresh, in the same environment many other places then school.
We are setting out for our first major excursion into the Norwegian countryside tomorrow. This theme of taking confident, big steps forward and helping others along the way applies directly to traveling. I have noticed in many traveling experiences in the past years, that I am generally the one to take the lead. Whether a group of 3 or 30; it can be directions, activities and site seeing, or just general motivation and I seem to be organizing everyone to make a uniform decision. I find myself at the head of the group urging them onward. With this role comes a certain responsibility and awareness. I have found it integral, thus far, to make my feelings transparent in these situations. If the leader can admit to being ‘lost’ they can help inspire a collective effort and help get everyone on the right path. The people who remain sour even after you admit to your mistake are the cynics who can ‘always think of a better way’ yet lack the confidence or agency to pursue those options themselves.
Secondly, I have noticed that people all have different traveling styles and learning to adjust to each of those at a moment’s notice is necessary to keep moving and ensure that people enjoy themselves. You can have the person who is ‘on the go’ and willing to do anything but doesn’t necessarily want to do it with anyone. The challenge with these people is motivating them to see the benefit of traveling as a group. This is challenging because usually it is apparent that they would thrive on their own. The extreme opposite traveling attitude usually accompanies they former. That being, the person who would have no clue what direction was down if you left them alone for one moment. Group travel can then help these people to become more competent and confident travelers through the shared group experience. There are of course a myriad of attitudes between these poles, yet, the one I notice most often are those people who take a moderate about of persuading before each new activity, but once they are there they generally enjoy themselves. The one frustrating part I notice with these kinds of travelers is that they are often reticent to put forth an opinion about what they would like to do. Sometimes this is fine for both that person and the group. But there are other times when these ‘middles’ can feel as though they are not contributing and/or being listened to.
Lastly, I have found that traveling is wearing on people. You are often in uncertain places, without the same creature comforts of home and crabbiness can set in quickly. Often the easiest solution is food and water. If raising the blood sugar doesn’t quite do it, then maybe taking some alone time by putting in the ear buds or journaling can do it. However, if people’s frustration starts to take on a harsh tone and/or snide remarks to other people, then the best way to talk that person down from the edge is to calm them with kindness. You gain nothing but high blood pressure by firing right back at them. If you let frustration envelope you in those situations it will be all you can think about and thus taint the whole experience. Therefore, to listen to their complaint and rephrase with less emotional language can be helpful. Where chiding them will only perpetuate the problem.
Traveling takes incredible amounts of patience. But with that patience comes the potential for a shared experience with group that invites numerous insightful perspectives and can be so rewarding. I am excited for this week to see some of these travel theories in play and challenge myself to continue to hone my skills as a travel leader.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Two Weeks In
We have come to the end of our first week of class. Our group of 10 Americans, 5 Namibians and 1 Norwegian began module 1: The Norwegian Welfare State. It is structured similarly to a JTerm course. We have class three days a week for three hours. We are studying the Norwegian society and culture from various political, economic, ethnic, geographical and historical standpoints. Half of the course is spent in the classroom and the other half is made up of various excursion.
Tomorrow we are going to visit the Elverum campus of our university college some 25 km north. We will be meeting with representatives of the NGO NAMAS (Namibian Association) where some of the students in our class will do their field study. Then on Wednesday, we are taking the train down to Oslo for a visit to the capital and our awaited dinner at Mucho Mas, the rumored cheap and good Mexican restaurant. Then a week from Monday we will be leaving on our major, week-long excursion north. It is an exciting course and one that will have considerable time in the field.
I enjoyed my first academic week. Class discussion is already going well. We have an intelligent, eager group and I think we'll have good discussions. On Tuesday, we had the morning off so 5 of us we went on a bike ride and explored the perimeter of the lake. It was beautiful. The weather here has been gorgeous this week. We have had cold, crisp, bright blue days much of this week. Having our bikes has been incredible. We have less than a five minute ride to campus, five minutes to the Beehive and about a 25 minute bike ride, up hill, to the blue house in Ottestad. As such, Joe and Allison and I have gone to the Beehive for humerus group meals this week, including the past 24 hours which I have spent here. We also had one group dinner in Ottestad on Wednesday. It including a captivating game of "10 fingers"/"I've Never." It was a great icebreaker for this group who have known each other for about two weeks.
Thursday night, following our afternoon class we went on a cruise of the lake on the oldest running steamboat in the world Skiblander. It was a student government sponsored event and was a beautiful two hours out on the lake. A group of us returned quite hungry and decided it was time for a burger. Luckily for our American urge we found Deniz! It is a little shop owned and run by a Middle Eastern immigrant who makes incredible bacon cheeseburgers. It was a nice taste of home!
I am finding myself missing people from home quite a bit these past few days. It is struggle, of course, because I am, at the same time, becoming closer with the group here. I imagine that as the routine of school develops a bit more I will be able to better manage my homesickness. In the meantime, these feelings are a great reminder of the important people in my life that are a considerable distance away. As I teeter on the brink of growing up, this distance factor is something I will surely have to take into account the next few years when considering further schooling, job, traveling and living.
Although I have already found that this new and different environment invites a world of creativity and inspiration that I was lacking in Parkland. Yet, I find those thoughts of individual pursuit always paired with Einstein's notion that the only thing humankind could agree upon was that we were here (on earth) for each other. For me, that means the people that I love. As such, the relationship factor is important piece vocation that I am thinking about more and more. Our vocational focus at PLU is quite individual: 'where your heart's greatest desire meets the world's greatest need.' My heart's desire is sharing what I love to do with the people I love.
As this next week begins, I am excited to see how my new relationships in the group continue to develop and how they will continue to impact my excursions and entire semester. I am excited to share the specifics of our upcoming travels.
Tomorrow we are going to visit the Elverum campus of our university college some 25 km north. We will be meeting with representatives of the NGO NAMAS (Namibian Association) where some of the students in our class will do their field study. Then on Wednesday, we are taking the train down to Oslo for a visit to the capital and our awaited dinner at Mucho Mas, the rumored cheap and good Mexican restaurant. Then a week from Monday we will be leaving on our major, week-long excursion north. It is an exciting course and one that will have considerable time in the field.
I enjoyed my first academic week. Class discussion is already going well. We have an intelligent, eager group and I think we'll have good discussions. On Tuesday, we had the morning off so 5 of us we went on a bike ride and explored the perimeter of the lake. It was beautiful. The weather here has been gorgeous this week. We have had cold, crisp, bright blue days much of this week. Having our bikes has been incredible. We have less than a five minute ride to campus, five minutes to the Beehive and about a 25 minute bike ride, up hill, to the blue house in Ottestad. As such, Joe and Allison and I have gone to the Beehive for humerus group meals this week, including the past 24 hours which I have spent here. We also had one group dinner in Ottestad on Wednesday. It including a captivating game of "10 fingers"/"I've Never." It was a great icebreaker for this group who have known each other for about two weeks.
Thursday night, following our afternoon class we went on a cruise of the lake on the oldest running steamboat in the world Skiblander. It was a student government sponsored event and was a beautiful two hours out on the lake. A group of us returned quite hungry and decided it was time for a burger. Luckily for our American urge we found Deniz! It is a little shop owned and run by a Middle Eastern immigrant who makes incredible bacon cheeseburgers. It was a nice taste of home!
I am finding myself missing people from home quite a bit these past few days. It is struggle, of course, because I am, at the same time, becoming closer with the group here. I imagine that as the routine of school develops a bit more I will be able to better manage my homesickness. In the meantime, these feelings are a great reminder of the important people in my life that are a considerable distance away. As I teeter on the brink of growing up, this distance factor is something I will surely have to take into account the next few years when considering further schooling, job, traveling and living.
Although I have already found that this new and different environment invites a world of creativity and inspiration that I was lacking in Parkland. Yet, I find those thoughts of individual pursuit always paired with Einstein's notion that the only thing humankind could agree upon was that we were here (on earth) for each other. For me, that means the people that I love. As such, the relationship factor is important piece vocation that I am thinking about more and more. Our vocational focus at PLU is quite individual: 'where your heart's greatest desire meets the world's greatest need.' My heart's desire is sharing what I love to do with the people I love.
As this next week begins, I am excited to see how my new relationships in the group continue to develop and how they will continue to impact my excursions and entire semester. I am excited to share the specifics of our upcoming travels.
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