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.