Sunday August 26th, 2007

10:41pm Fredrikstad, Norway Time
2:41pm Saskatoon Time

Well, I have survived 4 days alone in this country. The family left on August 22nd (Shelby’s birthday…what a great was to celebrate it), and the goodbye SUCKED. It didn’t help that half the school was in the parking lot watching. When I went and sat with some people at a table, they said that I made them cry too. Ugh. So the first night I had a horrible sleep, but after that I was fine. It doesn’t help when people speak only Norwegian, so I just go in a daze and daydream. Bla. Anyways, im doing really well now. Ive made so many friends, I just have a little trouble remembering/pronouncing their names. Haha. I’ve only had 2 actual Norskklassens, BUT I can already do pronouns like “THEY ate salad” or “HE writes in his book” I feel so smart. Marthe (my great roommate) makes sure people don’t speak ONLY English to me, or else I’ve never learn the language. Sometimes at meals, I can pick up (a liiiiittle bit) of what people are saying during meals, and I am like, “DID YOU JUST USE THE WORD FORK? YOU DID DIDN’T YOU?!?” Haha I’m not THAT bad. But…close.
Marthe, Marit and I decided to go canoeing on Friday. Haugetun Folkehøyskole is located ALMOST right on the river. We only had to carry/drag the canoe about 600m-ish down a hill, across a highway and through a field. We were SO tired. I never realized canoes could be so heavy! Anyways, it was so fun! There was nowhere to put it in the water, so we had to be creative. I got poison ivy on my legs.
Yesterday (Saturday) we went to Old Fredrikstad. We drove RIGHT by the hotel my family stayed in the last night, and it was pretty emotional knowing that my family drove on these exact roads. Gah. The Old City was gorgeous though, and the weather was too. We went to a little market where people were selling a variety of goods. We also went to a little café and had icecream. Marthe made me order myself, and it was rather embarrassing. Haha. There was an old old bookstore that Marthe LOVED. We spent a lot of time in there. I found only a few English books, and I bought Go Ask Alice for 10kroner ($2). (Sissel, Ine and Hanne)

(Jorunn!)

(Marthe my roomie and Erik)
(Me and Ingvild)
(Marit and Jorunn)

(I took this picture for Shelby. haha.)

When we got back to the school, we put on our bathing suits, and biked down to the beach. I rode on the back of Jorunn’s bike. Then we spent the afternoon reading our new books. Then that evening I went for a jog. Im really, really out of shape.