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!