VM og andre ting

Hi everybody!!!

First I just want to say VOTE ON THE POLL! Sso far two people have voted for me to write in both English and Norwegian and only one voted for me to write in only Norwegian, but what do the rest of you have to say? Since I wrote my last post in Norwegian I consider it fair to write this one in English. There is quite a bit to tell this time because I have done quite a bit over the last week and a half ish.

Right after my last post nothing interesting happened other than me being able to use my new skis!!!!! It makes so much of a difference having skis that fit. I have used them several times now and each time I am liking them more and more.

I had a history test the week before my winter break, which I was totally not ready for. I was able to get enough studying in though to at least be able to answer a few of the questions (I think).

The next part in my week was going to watch a movie as part of the Norwegian for us exchange student. We went to see a Norwegian film called "Jeg Reiser Alene." Not a bad movie, a bit hard to understand because it was in a pretty difficult dialect but after half an hour I was able to keep up a bit better. After that those of us exchange students went to the shopping center for lunch and just chilled out for a little while.

Then my winter break started!! One week no school, just chilling out and having fun. The first weekend wasn't to much of a big deal just chilled, we went up to Oslo for some skiing and also up to a mountain for a bit (we found an area where the snow was so deep I sank to my armpits, hehe). It was so much fun up at the mountain (not sure exactly where it was, about an hour from where I live) perfect weather, nice fluffy snow and just a nice relaxing ski.

The few days following was just spent with me relaxing, catching up on sleep and doing a tiny bit of homework. After those couple of days is when the fun really started. Thursday me and my family went up to Oslo to watch the ski VM (World ski championships) which are being held in Oslo this year. We had tickets to watch the sprint race, and man was it really cool to be there.

Apart from being one of the very small number of Americans there it was a total blast. I cheered like crazy for all the Americans, and was out there with my big American flag, and when there weren't any Americans around I was cheering on the Norwegians.

It would have been so cool to see an American on the podium but to be honest it was just cool to see all of the athletes out there racing. After that it was back home and back to chilling out. However! I worked it out and I ended up going back to Oslo on Saturday and to watch the Womens 15 km Pursuit race and the mens 10 km combined race. I met up with another exchange student from the US and we both stood on the course and screamed like crazy.

After the races I went to my host brothers apartment for a little while and then went back into the city to watch the award ceremony. I got there a little late so I was in the back making it difficult to see although after about 20 minutes I had managed to shove and push my way to a point where I could see the whole stage.

After that I met up with yet another exchange student who had come done from Bergen for her winter break (Bergen's winter break is a week later than mine). Checked out most of the stuff in the Oslo sentrum with her and her host family. After wondering for a little while I headed back to my host brothers apartment for the night. Got back, we watched a movie and just chilled out. I then went to bed and man did I sleep well, one of the benefits of being on your feet and walking around all day.

Got up and it was back up to Holmenkollen for the mens 30 km pursuit race! Got there with plenty of time to spare this time because I was late on Saturday because of problems with the trains going up. Anyway, got there and found a good spot watch the whole thing, cheered on the US athletes like crazy still and was even told that I was seen on tv. After watching everyone else finish it was back into the city to look around some more, hung out with one of the exchange students ran into two others in the middle of Oslo. After chilling out some more it was back to my host brothers to pick up my stuff and eventually take the train home.

Met up with an exchange student also going back my direction, although we ended up on different parts of the train so me and another student that I ran into on the train sprinted from one part to the next at the next stop. Met with the others and headed back home, awesome winter break.

Then of course school had to start again today, so back to the normal world. Nothing to exciting happening this week except for a big physics test, so yay... Anyway that was my update, hope you enjoy reading it.

Jon