Moro!

*THERE IS ANOTHER POST AFTER THIS ONE!*

(I did two posts today: på Skole and Moro. I just couldn't fit it all into one!)

So in other news:
I took a test to get one credit of Norwegian Language today! I learned the phrase: lykke til!= Good luck! or lit. Luck to (you)!
Our group got to go out on the world's oldest steamboat on Lake Mjøsa yesterday!

It's called Skibladen. It was fun, but a bit nippy. I learned a new word/phrase: Moro=fun/amusement, Morsom=funny/amusing...I forget how to say "I'm having fun" but I did learn that too.
It's really turning to fall here, we've had some nice crisp weather this past week, but its been great!
We took advantage of the nice day on Tuesday as well. We have a night class on Tuesday, and since we didn't have homework yet, we took the bikes out around the lake on to the trails for a couple of hours. It was a blast, we got to do some off-roading, and climbing, etc. One of these days, while it's still nice, we want to get out into the forest North of here for a weekend of hiking and climbing and camping. I'm definitely looking forward to that!

So here are some of the latest photos:




Kristin and I on the bike tour



Our bike trail; It started way down at that distant point with all the trees



On board Skibladen!


View of Hamar from Skibladen

på Skole: What I learned in School this week

So it occured to me that you may not even know where the heck in Norway I am, so with the help of Google, I have provided this lovely map as a reference. If you take a look, you can see where I am staying; it's the city north of Oslo called Hamar. Some of the cities I'll be visiting during our excursion the week after next are Trodheim, Oppheid, and Bodø.

So, this is what I learned in school this week:
Noen Faktum over Norge/Some Facts about Norway

Population: 4,681,100

Capital: Oslo

Offical Languages: Norwegian:
Båkmal --which I am learning, and is "traditional norwegian"
Nynorsk --literally "New Norwegian", a language that was basically created by an anthropologist that is a compilation of all the "land" dialects, defined to me by a speaker as "farmer's Norwegian" (think of it as Texanese beeing its own language.)
and Sami --the language of the indigenous Sami people in the north (most common in the counties of Troms and Finnmark)
-Note: as a general rule, I have learned that NO speaker of Norwegian speaks
Norwegian like any other speaker, even if they both claim to speak Båkmal or Nynorsk! Every family, generation, region, town, farmstead, etc. pretty much has their own dialect (try learning that !!?)

Currency: Norwegian Kroner (NOK) 1USD =5.81 NOK

Government: Constitutional Monarchy, Parlimentary Democracy.

-So, Norway voted for a Monarchy. Yes, that's correct, they VOTED for it. When they split from Sweden in 1814, they voted whether they would have a democracy, or a monarchy, and the monarchy won by quite the vast majority. So they wrote up a constitution for the Monarchy, and so it was. They have a parliment also called the Storingt (very similar the United Kingdom!). The king and queen really don't have much power. They kind of sit around being rich and looking pretty, doing ceremonial things and such. Anyway, the first King of Norway wasn't even Norwegian, he was Danish. The current king, King Harald, is actually the first King in Norwegian history to have been born in Norway. Yeah, that's what I thought, too: interesting.

So yes, the king's name is Harald and the queen's name is Sonja. (pronounced Sonya)

The Official Relgion of Norway: Evangelical Lutheran

-Some 87% of the country belong to the church. It isn't mandatory to belong to the church, however, if you are a member you have the responsibility to raise your children in the church, i.e. baptize and confirm them.

And of course, they are notoriously a "Welfare State"--whatever that means, right?
This is where it gets PARTICULARLY interesting...
Taxes are OUTRAGEOUS! in Norway...but it works, somehow.
There is a 22% income tax, almost no property tax, a rather high capital tax (i don't have the number for that), and a 25% consumer based tax--which is less on food (only 14%) and much more on petrol, cigarettes, and alcohol. (A meager attempt at lowering the usage of such products...it was a nice thought.)

So where does this money go??
Free Health Care, Free Education (including higher education!), and into the "kitty" for social security/retirement.

I think the education part is REALLY interesting (And why shouldn't I? It's only what I've been doing for the last 15 years of my life...)

FREE Education..FREE higher education..and my tuition went up to $36,000 this year?? This is exciting.

Primary schools (ages grades 1-5) are funded by the municipal government, Secondary schools (grades 6-12) are funded by the county (like state government in the U.S.), and all universities are funded by the state/federal government.

So the money that goes to all schools comes from the 22% income tax, and is, for the most part, equally distributed throughout the country. This means, for the most part, all Primary/Secondary/University Colleges receive equal funding, and the goal is for all students have equal access to knowledge.

What a NOVEL idea.

I think the US missed that memo. As I understand it, the United States funds their schools with money from property taxes. So more expensive neighborhoods = more money for schools. Definitely not so equal. And they try to combat this flaw with affirmative action and no child left behind and blah blah blah. Maybe a reform in funding is what we need?
Some other questions that came to my mind as we discussed this difference were whether this has an effect on the mentality of students in the US, or if it contributes at all to why the US has such a high number of school shootings, while Europe has almost none?


So as you can tell, I am really enjoying this course. There are definitely a lot of interesting ideas being tossed around.

And that's what I did in school this week.

Skolen og Hamarmuseet

Before I jump into explaining too much about todays course and activities, I have to share a bit of information that I thought was interesting. We had a "crash course in using the library", and the librarian who worked with us told us something that I thought was interesting. She mentioned that when she was in college, ( in the 1970's) she worked at a museum, and a lot of Americans would come and tour the museum--Americans of Norwegian ancestry. They're ancestors came from Norway at around 1890, and they raised their children speaking Norwegian and then those children or grandchildren came back to Norway, still speaking fluent Norwegian from the turn of the century. She said it was surreal, like talking to someone out of a movie. I thought that would be really crazy to experience...

Lake Mjøsa

Lake Mjøsa

And again, Lake Mjøsa

Anyway, on the topic of museums, because PLU dished out money for bikes (YEAH for school money!!!), we all took our new, very yellow, bikes for a spin down along Lake Mjøsa [M'yo-sa] (the lake here in Hamar, which happens to be Norways largest lake, deeper than the North Sea at its deepest point, and INCREDIBLY beautiful--as you see above!) to Mideval Hamar, where the ruins of the cathedral and Bishop's home are.

On the tour of the ruins we learned that there were a number of guards at the cathedral and bishops home, but they were never really needed, so they basically sat around singing songs and drinking all day. Because the water wasn't good for drinking, they got beer instead, and each soldier averaged 9L of beer a day...explains a little bit about contemporary Norwegian culture...

They've built a glass building over the ruins of the cathedral to preserve what was left. It was really cool, inside the museum they have a display of clothing and tools and such from the 17 and 1800's. Some of the coolest things were the ladies' saddles from the late 17 and early 1800's. BUT...my FAVORITE things, were the sleds! They seriously had SLEDS, that people RODE AROUND ON in the 1700s! How sweet is that?! They're pretty elaborate and gorgeous too. Observe the pictures, and be amazed!

Sled from 1776

And finally...back to school!

Module One: Norwegian Society and Culture

Today was the first day of our first course (or "Module" of study). Of course, we started with the practical information about the course, and then dove right into studying up on some important aspects of Norwegian society, e.g. statistics, education, the royal family, and foreign policy. Just so this is clear, these were the thoughts that were going through my head as we looked over the syllabus for the next 4 weeks: "this course is going to ROCK."
Included in the plan next week:
Monday: day excursion to Elverum for lectures at the Namibia Associan and Glomdal Museum and Dialogue center. Wednesday: Day excursion to the capital, Oslo, incl. urban walks and tours and lectures with members from the branches of governmental institutions at the capital.
In TWO Weeks: Week long excursion to Trondheim, Bodø, a city several miles north of the Artic circle. There we'll get to experience the election in Trondheim, and visit a mulitcultural center called Arran and the Lule-Saami to learn about mulitculturalism and the indigineous peoples of Norway.
This is all going to be much cooler than it even sounds written out...and it sounds pretty darn cool.
And that's all in the next 3 weeks. *Insert EXCITMENT here*

Today's lecture was even interesting. Our class time is more of a work-shop format than lecture format. Today we discussed/ researched the aspects of Norwegian culture I mentioned earlier. My group researched information on Norwegian foreign policy. From what I learned, I kind of like the way Norway does it; all of their foreign affairs are focused on humanitarian efforts, and rather than giving money or aid to a certain COUNTRY or people, they give it to a certain CAUSE or PURPOSE via the U.N. or through their NGOs.
It was a very interesting discussion. I can't wait for the course to go deeper...its going to be mighty intriguing, and definitely a lot of fun!

Fødselsdag

I'm 19!
I kinda feel old, but as I told Chase, he's older, so I guess that makes me young.
(So that probably isn't very good logic, but I like it, and I think I'll stick with it the next 60 years or so...)
Interestingly enough, we learned how to talk about numbers and ages, dates and birthdays, and also telling time in class yesterday so:
Jeg har Fødselsdag (FØT-SELS-DAG) den tjueandre August. Den var i går! Jeg er nitten år gammel!
(I have a birthday on August 22nd. That was yesterday! I am 19 years old!)



The birthday celebrations last night were crossed with the school wide "Bodega-night", the opening night of the pub at the Blœstad campus. (Above) The campus at Blœstad is for agriculture, so it was out in rural area east of Hamar. Their campus looks like a huge farm, without the animals. It was kind of Iowa-esk, only more fun. (Oh, believe it! It's possible!)
We had a competition, where the students were divided into groups to do various tasks, including: Throwing milk jugs, pulling a tractor up a hill, building the tallest tower of cartons, getting all group members through a web in under 5 minutes without touching the ropes and without using the same hole twice (Yes, it is as hard as it sounds. I think it may have taken us a bit more than 5 minutes...)





CAUTION: ALCOHOLIC CONTENT
It was LOTS of fun. There was also a BBQ, with ample amounts of wieners and lompe and alcohol. The pub there is cozy. It's a student-built and decorated basement of the barn/school there. They've got a dance floor, where they swing dance to Norwegian country music --HOW FUN IS THAT?? Organized dancing?! in bars?!=good times. One nice Norwegian boy, who heard it was my birthday asked me to dance; I was terrible, but it was really fun!
I have discovered yet another love about Norway: Smoking is strictly prohibited in all public buildings in Norway. This means I can actually stay in a bar and chat it up and have fun without my throat & sinuses clogging up and I don't have to send my clothes through the superwash 5 times to get rid of the smell after only wearing them 3 hours. SCORE! Also, the Norwegians are so incredibly reserved, even at 1 AM when I left, you wouldn't have known that everyone had been drinking for the last 5-7 hours. No one was standing on the tables screaming or smashing bottles...just talking, laughing, and dancing. These are my kind of people!
I even got to meet some people (Norwegians) who live in my apartment building..and after a...couple...of birthday beverages, (courtesy of my American cohorts Kyle, Joe, and Kristin) I was whipping out some mad Norwegian skills.
(Who would have thought I could say "My name is Chelsea" "I want to speak Norwegian" and "I like Norway" in Norwegian??)

In any case, my birthday was a lot of fun! Our bus brought us directly (& safely) back to the apartments, and as I stumbled into my apartment and crashed into bed, I felt like a true 19- year- old in Norway.

FOTOS

domkirke

the "communist buildings"


our bedroom


living/study room & kitchen

Skål!

So in my "Teach yourself Norwegian" course, the first phrases they teach you are as follows:
#1) "Jeg vil gjerne ha et glass øl." / I would like a glass of beer.
#2) "Jeg vil gjerne ha et glass øl til." / I would like ANOTHER glass of beer.

Today was the first day of orientation! Inclusive: getting free stuff, lots of information about the college and town of Hamar, meetings with our class, and of course, what would the first day of study abroad be without a survey from the Wang Center? The highlight of the day, though, was a "grill-out" in the evening in the park behind the campus. (For those of you who have never been to Norway, or Europe for that matter, Grill-out= music, franks, and BEER.)


This was a really fun way to start the semester! We got to talk to some of the other students and just hang out. We all got to have "lompe" (I'm not sure of the spelling...that's just what it sounds like.) They're like potato tortillas that you wrap around sausages instead of buns--its a fun norwegian thing :) By the end of the evening it was fun to watch the Norwegians singing/shouting the songs played by the live guitar played, and try to figure out what they were saying. We joined in too on "I love rock and roll" and "living on a prayer" and some others. Norwegian word of the day: Skål! (Cheers!)


After this week of orientation, we are going to jump right into the first course, Norwegian society and culture. After two weeks of the course, we have a week-long group excursion. We're all looking forward to that. During this first module (first 4 weeks), we have 3-day weekends, so we are all ready to start planning weekend excursions. (Yeah!!)

The pictures of our Student apartments are up. The students at Hedmark have nicknamed them the "communist buildings". They do look a bit communist-dreary next to the happy little red and yellow wooden houses all around. I also have posted a picture of the Domkirke (Large Lutheran church at the center of town)

Ankomst

After a long and uneventful skip over the Atlantic, several hours waiting around airports, and short, crammed ride by train, I have arrived in Hamar, Norge! The first night our PLU gruop was met by Knut Haugen, the International Coordinator at Hedmark University College, and a couple of students and they gave us some info about Hamar and the college, etc. Yesterday we met the international students from Namibia who will be in the Norwegian Society and Culture course with us. We were all invited to the home of Inger Haug, our Professor and the Program Cooridnator, for dinner and conversation, etc. It was really fun. My roommate, Bryanna (also a sophomore at PLU), and I had a very enlightening conversation with two Namibian students after dinner, and it was really a lot of fun to exchange questions and opinions and such. All the students on the trip are very open and interested in lots of different things--its really cool and I'm looking forward to some good discussions in class!!

This morning Bryanna and I met Inger at the Domkirke, a large Lutheran church at the center of town, for service. It was really fun to experience. I understood the Apostles crede...and father son and holy ghost...and yep. That's about it. But it was cool anyway. 4 babies were baptised during the service, and the families were dressed in traditional attire. That was fun. The babies were cute.

Tomorrow we start our main orientation activities and our crash course in Norwegian. No lolly-gagging on this trip! It all seems like its going to be a lot of fun!! I'm VERY excited. Hopefully it doesn't all go by too fast!