I'm gonna feel that one in the morning....

So I realized I've written about all of the exciting and not-so-ordinary things I've done so far, but I have yet to post about the regular, every day life that I'm living here.
But wait!
Before I get into that, I should tell you about orienteering. I forgot to write about this because I was busy with the AFS camp... Anyways, last week on Monday, instead of going to classes we had gym all day and we went orienteering!

Under all that grass is water....
lots and lots of water...

I honestly had no clue what that was, but it is a sport invented by Scandinavians where you run around in the woods and through myr (a.k.a. bogs) trying to find different posts. There are different types of Orienteering depending on what kind of map you get i guess. Some maps have all the posts you have to find on them, others only have one post. Once you find the one post on the map, you need to go back to where you started and grab another map with a new post to find.

Yay! We found a post!

We worked in partners, so Kristin and I worked together. At the first post we found, there was just some random zip line. Pretty sweet..
It was kind of a miserable day, it was cold and rainy and my shoes got soaked (sneakers... what was I thinking? I probably should have learned my lesson from this (click here to see what I mean!) and I didn't even have wool socks on... Herregud!)

Lunch break! I was hiding from the smoke...

We got a long lunch break. People built fires and I talked to one of the gym teachers, whose wife had lived in New Jersey for a few years. After lunch we only had one more station to go to. We had to use our compass on the smaller map in order to get the direction in real life. I wasn't very good at it.
Overall it was a very fun day (and eventually my sneakers dried so no damage done).



OK. Now back to everyday life:


Monday morning:
7:00 a.m.-clock alarm and cell phone alarm go off.
Half-awake-Avery turns off the clock alarm and snoozes the cell alarm.
Between 7:00-7:03 Pappa calls from upstairs a cheery "God morgen!"
Half-awake-Avery does her best to croak out something that sounds similar to "God morguhhh...."
7:03- ipod alarm goes off.
It promptly gets shut off.
7:05- Cell phone again.
Soonze.
7:10- Snooze.
7:15- Snooze.
7:17 (ish)- Half-awake-Avery remembers since it's monday she has to be ready to go at 7:45. Bolts up in bed. "Oh god! It's getting late! Time to get up.."
7:17-7:33- Get up. Stretch. Brush teeth. Wash face. Get dressed. Make-up. Brush hair. Jewelry. Socks. Shoes.
7:34- stumble up the staris.
7:34-7:43- make lunch. bread + butter + meat + cheese = lookin' good to me. Grab a yogurt and apple. Shove everything in backpack.
7:45- Off to school.

Now: imagine that morning four more times (but these next four times I leave at 8. I don't know where those extra 15 minutes get used up, but some how they always do).

I got to school 5 days a week (just like a good kid should). Every day I start at 8:25 (even on Mondays.. I just have to leave earlier because that is when I can get a ride in the morning).
There is a 10 minute break between every class. Also, if I don't have a class (a.k.a a free period) then I hang out in the kantina, either with others who are free that hour or if not, then I write in my journal or work on my blog.
On Mondays and Thrusdays I get done at 15:30 (3:30). On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays I'm finished at 14:25 (2:25)
Monday is the only "strange" day at school because we have gym. The gymnasium at Ole vig is currently under construction, as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, so we have to drive to a different place for gym class.

When I get home from school, we normally have dinner very early. Around 4 or 5 I think. After dinner, Johan and I do our homework (if we have any) then we watch some TV. I often go on walks with Mamma, Bonnie and Clyde in the evenings. Depending on how tired I am, I might stay up and watch a program at 10 with Johan. He translates for me so I understand a little bit about what's going on. I generally go to bed around 10 or 11, but sometimes its closer to midnight. I set all my alarms, then repeat the same process in the mornings.

Thursday evenings I help my cousin Ragnhild with handball practice for 10 and 11 year old girls from 5 to 6:30. It is so much fun! I don't know anything about handball and I still can't communicate with the girls, but I like them so much! They are adorable, and yesterday one of them gave me a hug. I always look forward to it.

Well... "always" is a pretty general term. I can't honestly say I was excited about it at first yesterday... Why, you may be wondering? Well, my reason is pretty valid.

Yesterday was a pretty unusual day. Johan and I were finished with our classes for the day at noon, so went home. Mamma wasn't working until the evening so the three of us were going to eat lunch together, but we couldn't really figure out what we wanted.
I had just recieved a box from home and inside the box, there was another box!
What was the other box?
A box of Bisquick!
I offered to make American Pancakes for lunch. They both liked that idea. They also liked the idea of putting chocolate chips in them! It was delicious.
After lunch, Ragnhild and Berit (two of my host cousins) invited me to go horse back riding. We got the horses all set (Berit's horse is home now, so when Ellen (their little sister) arrived home from school she decided to come with us too). I rode Milli, again. We rode through the woods for a while then down the dirt road and past our mail boxes (which are quite a distance from the house). Eventually we diecided to go back home. On the way up the hill we were going at a pretty good speed and all of a sudden I started to slip! I guess thats what happens with you ride bareback... I figured there was no way I was getting back onto the horse so I should just put my feet down and I'd be OK. Afterall, falling on my feet would be better than slipping under her hooves. So, I put my feet down... then I put my hip down... then I put my shoulder down... then I put my head down. Yeah, I guess I put myself down a little harder than I meant to.
I sat up and tried to breathe. I couldn't move my left leg.
I looked up to see three very shocked and worried expressions staring down at me.
"I'm ok! I'm alright.." <Oh god.. Is my hip dislocated? No.. No way. There isn't nearly enough pain for dislocation... Right? Stupid leg, you can still move! Stop playing dead..>
Indeed it still could move.
"Ranghild, I don't know if I'll go to practice tonight..."
I sat for another minute then slowly Berit helped me stand up. I walked to Milli, but I walked like a decrepit person, all bent over with my hand on my back.
<I'm gonna feel that one in the morning....>
When I was learning how to ride as a young girl, I was told that yes, at some point your life you will fall off a horse. It is inevitable. However, the important part about falling off is what you do after. You have to get back on, if you don't then fear may get the better of you down the road.  So that's just what I did- with some difficulty- I climbed back on and rode the rest of the way home. As we were riding I changed my mind and told Ragnhild that I would go to practice.
My cousins invited me up for dinner and we had Norwegian pancakes!
Practice was a lot of fun and I'm very glad I didn't skip it.
I went to bed pretty early Thrusday night...

So now you know what a week-in-the-life is like!... and what falling off a horse is like...

MY BIRTHDAY IS TOMORROW!

Kjempebra!

Last weekend Region 4 (which is the Trøndelag area.. (If you don't know what that is, click on the word and Wikipedia will explain!)) had our first AFS weekend! It was so much fun!
Wednesday night I scrambeled to pack my towel, sheets, sleeping bag, clothes and other random necessities into a large hiking backpack that mamma let me borrow. It was huge! I was so worried I was going to be the only one with a bag as big as that one.
Thursday I met Mila after lunch (around noon). Mila is another exchange student who attends Ole Vig. She is from Italy. We walked to her house, which is very close to the school, then we bought some chocolate and she packed. I felt a little better about my bag after seeing hers. We went to the train station and bought our tickets. The train arrived at 2:52. We were about to get on it when Mila had the great idea of asking to make sure it was the right train. She asked the people next to us if it was going to Trondheim and they looked a little confused and said no, then pointed at the other track. The train we were getting on was going the opposite direction! We waited a few more minutes and another train came rollin' down the track. This was the right one. There were quite a few other exchange students on it! It was great to see them. When we got to Trondheim we met up with the rest of the students in the station. I was really glad to see everyone again (also I was really glad to see my bag wasn't the biggest one there!)
We walked through the city for a while, it is very beautiful. Then we got on a tram that took us a few minutes outside the city. We hiked up, up, up! and eventually came to a cabin. It looked really small for 30+ people! I was the first to get my room assignment. I had 3 room mates. I got to sleep on the top bunk!
The cabin was arranged like this: You walked in and there was a mud room where we all left our shoes. To the left there was a dining room/common room. Straight ahead there was a kitchen. To the right there was a very large room (that we used mostly for dancing... Oh and group activities) and a bathroom. The boys slept in the big room on mattresses they pulled out of a clothset. Right next to the front door there was a staircase down to a hall way with a boys bathroom, a girls bathroom, a boys shower and a girls shower. Connecting the two shower rooms was a sauna. The girls stayed in the rooms that were on the opposite side of the hall than the showers. There were 4 people in every room.
For dinner, they fed us hot dogs. After dinner we were broken into 4 smaller groups. Then we had some free time!
So... You might be wondering what happens when 30 kids from different cultures all over the world, who speak different languages and don't always understand eachother are put in a secluded cabin on the outskirts of Trondheim in Norway...
Well the answer is quite simple actually:

DaNcE pArTy!!!

I think I danced more in those 4 days than I have in the past 4 years!

The first night there was a little bit of confusion about bed time. The schedual said "Stille" at 11, which means "Quiet". Everyone thought that meant that we could be brushing our teeth and getting ready for bed quietly, but some of the leaders took that to mean "in bed, asleep" at 11. They weren't particularly happy that we weren't ready for lights on time. When we were all in bed, they came in and sang a norwegian lulliby to us. It was so nice!
After they left, two of my room mates (Anna Sofia from Mexico and Noemi from Italy) talked for a while... Our other room mate was asleep. Since our room was right next to some of the volunteers room, they heard we were still awake and we got scolded. Oops! It was worth it though, we had fun talking and there was no real damage done.
Friday was the "boring" day. We had to go over all of the rules. Again. And again. The volunteers even apologized for Friday and said that Saturday would be better. We did a lot of group work and we talked about how school was going, how we liked our host families and what we thought so far of Norway. We had to draw our host family (Yay stick figures!). I included the animals and someone told me that the dogs looked like foxes (as in, I was bad at drawing dogs), and I said "yup, they do" It took them a while to understand that the dogs actually do look like foxes..
Friday night we went in the sauna after we had our "girl talk" (The boys had "boy talk"). The sauna was so nice! but i got a cold bucket of water dumped on me by the Italians. My only towel was sopping wet. Not very useful as a towel goes..
At 10 we had to start getting ready for bed so we could be in bed, lights out, asleep by 11. They sang to us again, but this time there were more volunteers there so it was absolutley wonderful. We talked a little bit more, but I didn''t really want to get scolded again so I went to sleep relitively quickly.
Saturday was, as promised, a very fun day! We had breakfast then made matpakke for lunch. We went outside and played Monster and the Pip pip! It's a little kids game, but its so much fun (it is a more complicated version of tag basically) Basically the monster has to try to catch the pip pip.
We had to do a little more official AFS stuff then we got to gå på tur! We got to go on a hike!

It was lovely. We left at 2 and we walked through wet fields and in mud. After a while we made it to the lunch area, and we ate. Then people had a choice, they could stay there, or they could continue hiking. Of course I wanted to keep hiking! We walked for a while longer. Everyone was muddy and soaking! Then the group split again and people could

turn back, or continue on to the top. About half of the people turned back. We hiked basically through myr (bogs) and up to a lake. It was gorgeous! You could see all of Trondheim! We decided instead of going back the way we came we would find a loop to get back. It seemed to take forever but finally we got back to the cabin. It was after 7. I took a really quick shower then went upstairs and had TACOS! for dinner. It was great. A few of us ate in the big room with the volunteers instead of in the crowded dining room with the other students. Simon (from Belgium) hooked his ipod up and we listened to the Tallest Man On Earth while we ate. After dinner we rocked out to the Beach Boys! Of course, not long after that there was another huge dance party, however, I missed most of this one because I had to do my interview. The volunteers were pulling aside students individually all weekend just to check up and ask them a few questions about how their year was going and to see if they have any problems.
When I got back upstaris, there was a group quiz happening. It was The Americas vs. Europe vs. Asia vs. the Norwegians. Asia won. They got 3 big candy bars, America and Europe each got one (consolation prize I guess).
"Stille" was at 12 on the schedual, but we all stayed up a lot later than that. We hung out in the kitchen and a little after 12 we were all hearded into our designated sleeping areas and told to get ready for bed (they were a little more linient than the 2 other nights). Sofia, Mila, Noemi, Anna Sofia and I stayed up talking for a while. We were careful to be quiet! When we looked at the clock it was 2 am!! We decided it was probably a good idea to go to bed then.

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody do your share!

Sunday we had breakfast at 8:30. We packed our bags and cleaned the cabin. We played a few games then it was time to go. We hiked down, down, down to the tram station. When the tram arrived they told us it was free! Yay! It turns out that that particular line and the actualy tram cars were 110 years old that day so our of tradition we didn't have to pay!

This is the 110 year old tram!

At all of the stops there were people taking pictures and waving, it was a pretty big deal I guess.

We arrived at the Trondheim train station and had a few hours until our train (everyone was leaving at different times, my trian was at 3:10) was leaving. So I wandered around the city with Simon and Jessica for a while. We weren't allowed to wander by ourselves, but since Simon lives in Trondheim we were allowed to go with him. We wound up finding the other exchange students taking a picture in front of the big church, so we sprinted over and joined in!
Then it was time to go. I said bye to everyone. It was very sad... I will miss them all so much! The train ride was only about 30 minutes. Johan picked me up at the station and we went to Pappa's dad's house for dinner. We had fårikål, which is boiled sheep and cabbage. It was very good.

Oh, there is one thing I forgot to mention: The whole weekend was conducted in Norwegian. The volunteers only directed/talked to us in Norsk. At first I was very discouraged but as the weekend progressed I started understanding more and more! However, I still need to be spoken to very, very slowly!! The slower people speak, the more I understand.
This past weekend was wonderful and I can't wait to see my fellow AFSers again!

2469

Friday after school we had a quick dinner, packed our bags then Mamma, Johan and I piled into the car and drove to Trondheim to pick up Isabella. And we were off!
Where were we going?
Galdhøpiggen!
What-huh-pigeon? What is that?
The tallest mountain in Norway!
How tall is it?
2,469 meters!
How tall is that?
Approximately 8,100 feet and 4.72 inches (give or take a little)

Mount Crumpit?
Noooo..
Galdhøpiggen!

Woah!

The car ride was  pretty long. 5 hours long. We had a good time talking and laughing together. Isabella and I played a game where I tried my best to pronounce the names of towns on signs then she told me the real (and very different from how I said it) name of the town.
At one point a fox ran across the road, so I rolled down my window and yelled "Hei!" to it.
My family laughed for a very, very long time. I guess it's not normal to talk to wild life... They laughed especially hard when Mamma said "Imagine what the fox was thinking!" That got me laughing too.
We stayed with another cousin, Berit. She makes her own bread and stuff. It's delicious!!
We stayed up pretty late. The cousins in this family have a bond like I've never seen before. They are so close... You can tell how much they love each other just by listening to them talk to and pick on each other. It is very special. We all stayed up pretty late.
I slept on the top bunk! I love bunk beds.
I woke up at 7:15 on Saturday morning. We ate breakfast together, then left the house at 8:10. Berit had to work, so it was only Mamma, Johan, Isabella and I going to the mountain.
On the way there, we drove along the side of a river. It was the most beautiful river I've ever seen. It was a light green-teal-ish color. I tried to get a good picture but the picture was either blurry or the color didn't show well. It was caused by the glaciers in the mountains surrounding the valley.

I wish you could see the color better but this was the
best picture I could get. 

The road up to the lodge was very steep, very curvy and very bumpy. I'll admit it made me a little nervous.
We finally got to the lodge and there were over 65 people going on the hike with us! And a few dogs.
At the lodge, I noticed the temperature was -2 degrees C, which is about 28 F. However, it got much colder as we walked higher onto the mountain.

The guides started to explain things, but before they did, they asked anyone needed instructions in english. Out of the huge group only 3 of us needed english. Two German guys and I. One of the guides took us aside and told us everything in english, got us harnesses and then we started our hike.
The hike was broken up into four parts:
1. A long walk over flat land covered in huge rocks.
2. The glacier.
3. Galdhøpiggen.

Phase One

4. The return.

Phase One

Phase One: 


So. Many. Rocks.


It hurt my ankles.

We made it over them.

Phase two: The Glacier.

Glacier!

Super helpful

We took a small break at the base of the glacier while the guides set up the ropes. This is where our harness came into play. There was a very helpful sign that explained with pictures if you fall into a crevace and you have the rope on, you won't go head first and you will be happy, BUT if you fall in with out a rope you will go head first and you'll be dead. The distance we had to keep between ourselves and the person ahead of us was very specific. The rope couldn't be too loose because if you or the other person fell, it would be a long fall. However the rope couldn't be taught or else the other person would just be pulling you over the glacier. I was directly behind our guide and I wasn't good at keeping the correct distance... I kept getting really close to her and the rope would drag on the ground, then I would trip on it. She just laughed at me. It was very slippery. The wind was pretty strong and chilly. I couldn't pull my head band down far enough or my turtle fur neck warmer up far enough to cover part of my face. I got pretty cold.
We weaved between some crevaces. It was so cool!

On the glacier

Looking out over the Glacier

Look out for the crevices! 

I have been on a glacier!

Phase Three: Galdhøpiggen,

I MADE IT!

We took another break at the base of the mountain. It was huge! And extremely rocky with a lot of snow. Since the weather was so nice (one of the guides said it was the best day of the season so far; it was sunny with hardly any clouds and it was so clear) they allowed us to climb up on our own time. It really was a climb. The "path" up was simply snow covered rocks that had been trampeled down and made slippery by other peoples boots. It was a very difficult climb, and it seemed to take forever! A lot of times we would have to use both our hands and our feet to get over rocks or up part of the path. I felt like I was actually rock climbing at some points! And just like I was taught at the climbing gym, I discovered contol is more important than power. Balance was key; without it, there was potential to tumble off the edge of a cliff or roll down the glacier into a crevice (and that is not an exaggeration either).

Every step gets me closer
to the top.

The higher we got, the harder it got to breathe. That was a combination of being exhausted and being at such a high altitude. I would take a full breath and totally fill my lungs, but I still felt like I wasn't getting enough air. Every one was huffing and puffing.
I was starting to get discouraged because I would be able to go maybe 15 yards and I would have to stop to catch my breath, so I took a picture of my foot and thought "Every step gets me closer to the top". The next time Johan and I were resting he said "Just think Avery, every step is one more closer to the top" I lauged and told him about the picture I had just taken. Great minds think alike I guess.

Eventually... Finally... We made it! We got to the top! It was so clear and beautiful... And cold! You could see all the mountains around. To the right the mountains were soft and rounded, to the left they were jagged peaks rising from the clouds. I took a bunch of pictures. There was a little hut, and a lot of people went inside and sat and ate some food. Isabella and I decided to sit and look at the jagged mountains. I didn't hike up to 2469 meters to sit inside for 45 minutes! Isabella agreed. I ate some chocolate I had brought with me. Then I bought a Galdhøpiggen T-shirt.

Kvikk Lunsj!

Isabella and I took a few fun pictures, then all too soon it was time to climb back down.

Off the edge!

Phase four: The Return.

We left the summit at 2 and reconviened at the base of the mountain at 2:30.
Climbing down was almost harder than going up. So many people slipped and fell (including Johan and I!) One lady hurt her leg pretty bad, but after a few minutes of resting she was able to make it down just fine.

Taking a little rest before crossing
the glacier again.

Itwasdefinitley a group effort to get down. Then Johan and I figured out if you were basically sitting already, then you couldn't really fall. I crab walked down most of that mountain.
When we got to the bottom, we hooked back into the ropes and our guide led us down the glacier. It was still very slippery. I slipped... it was less than spectacular and I'm not even sure how it happend because when I fell I wound up sitting cross-legged on the glacier for a moment before I figured out I had slipped. When we got to the base of the glacier they let us go back to the lodge at our own pace. The trip back across the rocks seemed twice as long as it did originally.
I learned a new word!

The lodge was nicely decorated.

Varde!
It means those piles of rocks that people make. When you get to one, you are allowed to add a stone as a mark that you have been there too! There were SO many of them on this hike. I added a rock to every single one that I saw.
Finally we got back to the lodge. We all collapsed into the car. I think it's safe to say we were all pretty tired.
We had tacos for dinner! Yum!
After dinner we went to a bolwing alley that had a band playing (atu much?). It was so fun! We were supposed to pay to get in, but nobody was guarding the door so we didn't have to. I swing danced a little with Johan. I had no clue what I was doing, but he is so good at dancing! I really want to learn.

In the town where Berit lives there is a cliff face that has a spot light on it at night. I asked why and there is a story of a man that hitch hiked with a troll and the troll told him not to look back, but of course the man did and he saw the troll disappear into the stone there, which is said to be the troll's home. For the rest of his life the man's head stuck always was looking over his shoulder as punishment.

Musk ox!

Sunday we left before noon. On the ride home I was really hoping to see a moskusen... a musk ox (on our ride there it was way to dark to try to see any). We got to see one! It was so cool! Normally they are solitary animals, but a few minutes after we saw the first one, we saw five more! All together! And one was a baby! It was so adorable. I told Isabella that I really appriciated how Norway was pulling out all the stops for me and she assured me that the group of musk oxen was just for me!

Troll!

We stopped at some point so I could get my picture taken with a big troll statue.
I slept some in the car. Mamma bought fresh sweet rolls. They were so good!
We dropped Isabella off and headed home. We got burgers for dinner... with bacon (of course).
Finally we arrived home. We were all very tired.
The whole weekend was amazing! I couldn't have asked for better weather or better company.

It was such a beautiful area!

Johan wins!

Isabella and Johan did it!

Mamma and I with Galdhøpiggen

I did it! I climbed the tallest mountain in Norway!

I conquered Galdhøpiggen!

Rubber Boots are a Girl's Best Friend

Today was activity day in school, so instead of having lessons, everyone did different activities with their classes. I guess normally classes choose a sport to play together, but since the gymnasium is being renovated we went on a hike instead. I was excited!
We left at 8:30. There were 10 signs along the path that we had to stop at and answer questions. I was on a team with three other girls and two boys.
Oh, and did I mention that is was raining?
I didn't?
Well, it was raining.
Very hard.
The first stop was one of the teachers houses. One of the team members had to kick a soccer ball until the missed, then they were out (all the people shooting took turns, so in the end there was only one person left in). Then we had to identify some album covers and lyrics from songs. We got to stand inside for that part; it was nice to be out of the rain.
While we were walking I got very hot because I was wearing a sweater, a vest and my rain jacket, so when we stopped I took my vest off, but since we stood around for so long, I got very chilled again, so I had to put my cold, wet vest back on. Honestly it wasn't much help.
Then we walked down a road for a while. There were sheets of paper (in plastic, thank goodness) tacked one trees occasionally. Those were the "posts" where we had to answer questions.
We eventually turned off the road onto a trail in the woods. The trail was very steep and completely flooded. It literally looked like we were walking up a river. Some people wore sneakers. I wore my rubber boots, and quite honestly I can't remember a time I have been happier about my footwear.  My jeans were soaked, my rain coat was soaked, my vest was soaked, my sweater was soaked and my back pack literally had puddles in the bottom of it. Everything was sopping wet... Except one thing. My feet! I can not stand being in wet socks and shoes, so rubber boots are truly a beautiful thing (thanks for mailing them mom!)

This is the very little cabin we ate in.

We got to eat inside, thank goodness!

It was pretty crowded.

When we got to the cabin we ate lunch. There wasn't enough room for everyone inside so some of the people who got there last wound up having to eat on a bench outside in the rain.
When we were all done with lunch the teachers told us we did a great job and we could go home. It was still before noon.

Johan's class went to a different area, so I asked Julie (another girl from Hegra) for a ride home. Julie, Kristin, a few others and I walked down on a different path than we went up on. The trail was still a river.. and the field we went through was a lake.

It was pretty slippery!

And muddy!!

I always feel a little awkward at first when I take my camera out to take pictures of ordinary things, but then I remember that I'm the exchange student and nobody is going to judge me.
I risked soaking my camera in order to get some pictures of the hike.
Kristin and I kept slipping in the mud! It was so funny because when she slipped it would startle me so I would slip too and vice versa. We laughed so hard.

Cute little farm. 

We got to a farm and then didn't really know where to go from there, but we eventually found the way.
I got home at noon-ish and just relaxed for the rest of the day.



Det var en fantastisk dag!!

Trail? Try river!

There was so much water.

Some people had the proper attire (a.k.a. rubber boots)
Some people didn't think ahead...
Sneakers don't do that well in water..

Hiked up that river.

"Woah! That was a lot deeper than I thought!"

We got soaked, but we had fun! 

Look at all that water!

The result.

My best friends. 

No better way to end a day a day then with
some nice hot coco :)