two posts in one day? what? ;)

heeellllo ;).

This is to make up for my lack of post-age. I know, I admit it... I really do suck at blogging, so I'm sorry. I'm not really sure how many times I've promised to "get better at it", so I'm just going to stop promising:), haha. First off I'd just like to share with you that the weather is god-awful right now. Its snowing some gross mixture of rain, snow and sleet & I don't really know how to handle it, haha. Never really had this kind of weather before. However, The bus was late this morning so I think I got to know it well enough...BUT HEY, on the bright side, its Wednesday night which means I only have two more days left until the weekend ;)! wooo!

Anyways, the reason for the second post is because I felt it necessary to split up my post about Christmas and December and my post about my current events now considering the fact that January is almost over and Christmas was well over a month ago, haha. So here it goes.

January's been a good month. Last week on the 21st was my half way mark, which means I've been here for five months and I leave in roughly five months and a couple of days. Honestly, its been an amazing 5 months and I'm pretty sure the next ones are going to be even better. So much has happened to me and I've experienced more than a lot of people back home will ever get to experience. I feel really lucky here and even luckier that its not over yet. I can't imagine being an exchange student for just a half a year. 5 months is too short. Just when you FINALLY mold, you gotta leave again so luckily thats NOT me. I already know its going to be the best 5 months everrr ;). I can't imagine leaving Førde, just because I love my friends, my school, my family that I'm really not sure how I'm going to handle packing everything up to go back to my "REAL LIFE". BAH, we've got 5 months to figure it out ;).

ANYWAYS, January has been kinda chill. No homesickness, no drama...I'm just really happy here :). I don't have any volleyball updates. I've just been going to practice almost every wednesday and thursday night (minus tonight, we don't have it). I haven't been in any games recently, just been going to practice

OTHER FUN JANUARY HAPPENINGS:

-SA UKA. Last week (18th-22nd) was SA Uka where each AFS student across Norway has to choose a place to work as a volunteer for an entire week. I chose to work at the local elementary school right near where I live (Slåtten Skule). I was assigned to work as a helper to the 3rd year (8 year olds), and I had the BEST time. The kids were absolutely adorable and I miss working with them! It was also nice to start and end my day a little earlier than normal. They were just a blast to be around. I helped the teachers of both classes with all different subjects and duties and stuff like that. The teachers were really nice too. Whats funny is that it REALLY helped with my Norwegian because I was forced to ONLY speak Norwegian for these kids are JUST beginning to learn English. I was so impressed with them, though! They were so well-behaved and so smart! I got along really well with the kids & I now have a collection of artwork from many of them hanging on my wall :). I'm definitely going to go back and visit them before I leave here.

-Hafstad VGS (My highschool) Nyttårsball was last Thursday (I know right? why Thursday? they even had school the next day.) & It was a REALLY good time ;). I gotta say, Norway knows how to have a dance. There was both live and recorded music plus EVERYONE was dancing. I had a really great time and it was fun to dress up. PLUS girls, Norwegian boys clean up good ;).

So thats January up to this point.

Okay so I came across this list of "You know you're an exchange student when..." on the internet and I found it HILARIOUS because some of them are actually true. SO here I'll share with you some of the ones that are frightningly true.

You know you're an exchange student when...

you spend a lot of time smiling, nodding, and pretending you understand what's going on.

you don't have preferences anymore, especially when it comes to food. Nothing tastes familiar, thats for sure.

you've called every person who says "hi" to you your friend... because you don't really have any yet. (....hahaha)

you've said something like 'oh yes' or 'not thanks' only to have everyone laugh because your answer made no sense compared to the question.

You ever got out of punishment of being yelled at, or gotten out of school work because you didn't understand the language or pretended that you didn't

you have gone in to greet someone with a shake of hands and find yourself being pulled into an awkward hug/double kiss on the cheek/handshake or the other way around.
You get letters and emails in a language that no one else back home can read. (...Sanne...)

Your excuse to watch really stupid programs (like Jerry Springer and curling competitions) is that they're subtitled/dubbed and thus it's all about learning more of the language, right?

It becomes habit to introduce yourself by saying 'I am from (country) and my name is (name)

You 'talk' to your pets when you phone home.

You can't imagine what life will be like without all the wonderful things you have experienced and friends you have made in your new country.

You can't remember the words for things so you make them up, and everyone understands exactly what you mean, or thinks that your word is cooler than the real word.

You can't walk through a public place (e.g. train station) without seeing someone you know.

you try to speak in the native language and everyone immediately knows "You're not from around here".

you are always counting the time difference between where you are and home.

You've got friends on more than two continents

You have trouble explaining to your host family why you celebrate certain holidays in your country.

'Good job! I understood you!' is a compliment.



Sorry if you didn't understand that, its just funny how true they all are ;).

LOVE YOU. UNTIL NEXT TIME.:)