Allerede Oktober?

October Already?
That caught me off guard...
It feels like September came and went without even stopping to say hello.
My friends and I went on a picnic on Lake Mjøsa last Friday evening, which was beautiful. So I'll just post some of the pictures randomly throughout, so they're not all in a bunch like the last few have been.
There isn't much new since my last post, except that I am learning all kinds of exciting things in our new modlue on Democracy and Development. Learning how to save the world, and that sort of thing.
Today we had a lecture with Ann Kelleher, a professor from Pacific Lutheran University. She is in Norway right now on sabbatical doing research on Norway's approach to peace for a book she is going to write this year.The lecture was on why Norway is so successful in its peace efforts. It was very interesting. She gave these 6 reasons:
#1) Norway is a small state, and the people leading peace efforts or projects are in small groups. This eliminates the argument and hassle you have with including thousands of people who all have their own opinion.
#2) Norway has an understanding with their press that they don't interfere with down-low projects (ex: palestinian and Israeli leaders can meet and discuss peace agreements in Oslo, or rural areas, etc.) There's a more "behind the scenes" understanding.
#3)Norway's cultural values and concept of time are suitable to working out peace agreements. For example their idea of the purpose of a meeting: To hear what everyone has to say, vs. coming up with a solution to a problem. Norway understands that working out decisions takes time. aka: they aren't in a hurry to fix everything, as is characteristic of US culture.
#4)Norway has Oil wealth. They can afford to give aid when and where aid is needed.
#5) Norway doesn't mediate (make suggestions, or introduce their solutions) they faciliate (listen, look for similarites, and put pieces together)--there's some argument about this one; there is a fine line between the two.
#6)Norway is content with being "behind the scenes". Doing the work without having to have all the acknowledgement.
--Norwegian fairy tales came into this point: the protagonist of Norwegian fairy tales always "got the prize", so to speak, by working with others, taking the modest route, and never treating anyone else poorly. He never took the most gallant route, but got the best in the end. These morals are worked into Norwegian cultural identity.

So that was the basic outline of the lecture. It was very interesting. I am enjoying this module MUCH more than the previous! (Not that it was any less interesting...I just happen to be a Global Studies major interested in Development and Social Justice)

So, In other news: I took out my recycling today. You may think, "meh that's petty, everyday stuff"...BUT you think wrong. Recycling is quite the project. There are about 6 diferent bins to choose from, and you have to A) Figure out which one is which, and B) Decide if the item you want to put in that bin is actually acceptable.
It's quite the challenge.
It's especially challenging to do it when no one is looking so they don't come after you if you put the wrong thing in the wrong bin. ;-)

Next week, as I believe I mentioned in the last post, is our mid-semester break.
My roommate and I spent yesterday planning a delightful trip...
We travel to Berlin early Sunday morning, and we will spend all of Sunday and Monday there. Tuesday morning we are taking a train from Berlin to Freiburg, in the South-west corner of Germany, where we will meet up with some other PLU students who are studying there. Freiburg is in the Black Forest, so we are planning to camp out and do some hiking/outdoorsy adventures. Thursday we are flying out of Basel (France-Germany-Switzerland corner) to Stockholm where we will spend the night and all of Friday exploring. From there we are taking the train back to Oslo/Hamar.

So next week, again, expect no posts, but when I return, there should be quite an array of photographs and stories!!
I believe that is all for now, so I will leave you with one last photograph of the sunset on Lake Mjøsa...