Okay I know it has been a while and I apologize, in my defense it has been really hectic. I think the best way to tell you is to write a day by day recap starting with wednesday morning.
Wednesday (onsdag)
The technical start of my journey began with waking myself up at 3:30 in the morning (morgen) to drive to the minneapolis airport to strt my flight which was a 1 hour flight to chicago with a two hour lay-over followed by an hour (time) long flight to NYC (the big apple). This was my very first (første) experience on a plane, and I was all by myself. It was pretty hard saying bye to my family (but no offense to you guys but I will see you again, plus I was so excited that it wasnæt as hard as it could have been). In the La Quardia airport I met my first AFSers, students going to the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Hungary, and a fellow Norwegian student. From there we traveled to the hotel and met the rest of the students along with the leaders that would be teching us as much as they new in 24 hours.
Thursday (torsdag)
Pretty boring all day, we started with a bunch of classes and lessons about the AFS mission, rules and blah, blah, blah. The cool part was the we were able to split into our seperate countries for most of it so I really got to know the other 8 (åtte) norske students. Then we ate and went to bed.
Friday (fredag)
Things really started to get nuts here. We got up and had a last few minute things that AFS had to teach us and such and hopped onto the buses that would take us to the airport so that we could leave for our host countries!! Everyone (correct me if I am wrong) was so excited to get on that plane! Although the fact that it would be an 8+ hour flight did dampen the spirit of some. Anyway we went through security and everything with like 30-40 students or so (Finland, Sweden, and the Latvia students were also ggoing to the same airport). That tooks the most time but once we were through it was really sweet, although we did just sit around for 2 hours waiting to board. The plane was cool (touch screens with movies and games were included)
More will come later, its getting late and I have morning classes I need to be ready for.
Takk
Jon
25 August, 2010
05 August, 2010
July (for real this time)
Wow this summer went by really fast, it is hard to believe that it is already August. Working throughout the month started out really hard because of my knee, in fact the first couple weeks I got to sit on a stool for the majority of all my shifts :) Although working almost 40 hours a week for the month was pretty rough. I finished up working there this last Sunday, and boy does it feel good to be able to relax a little.
My knee has been doing quite a bit better, my extension and flexibility has been getting a lot better and the swelling is going down a lot. Although I do have to go in for an MRI next week just to make sure there is no damage to cartilage or anything like that.
The Blueberry Festival was a couple of weeks ago, and as usual town (well the 5 block radius from the park & downtown) was a literal bee hive. That bee hive was full of rival bees however, meaning town was packed and trying to get anywhere past the park was a pain. Although I do have to admit the Gyros, Fried Bread, Kettle Corn and etc. were just as good as always. The park had several booths that were actually quite interesting, some with really cool items and others with some very odd things.
Summer training for skiing ended this morning although I haven't been able to do any of the workouts it has been fun to go and at least see people over the last couple of weeks, because for a while I felt like I was losing my mind from not being able to see other people, since I've been boxed up in the house for so long.
Over the last weeks I have been working on my Norske and it is coming along. Packing is basically the same story, it has been coming along slowly but it has been coming along. It has actually been kind of a weird feeling trying to pick what I will need and hoping I won't forget anything important.
People keep asking me if I am getting nervous but to be honest I really am not all that nervous. I am just so very excited about it, and for some other unknown reason I don't really feel nervous. Knowing there will be hard makes it actually more exciting for me, mainly because those tough times will only make the whole trip more memorable.
In this time two weeks from now I will be on a plane heading for NORWAY!!!!! I can't believe it is coming up so quickly, normally my summers seem to go by really slow but this summer has just rocketed by. Although it could be from all of the chill time I have had, since I have never really had time to just relax during the summer.
My knee has been doing quite a bit better, my extension and flexibility has been getting a lot better and the swelling is going down a lot. Although I do have to go in for an MRI next week just to make sure there is no damage to cartilage or anything like that.
The Blueberry Festival was a couple of weeks ago, and as usual town (well the 5 block radius from the park & downtown) was a literal bee hive. That bee hive was full of rival bees however, meaning town was packed and trying to get anywhere past the park was a pain. Although I do have to admit the Gyros, Fried Bread, Kettle Corn and etc. were just as good as always. The park had several booths that were actually quite interesting, some with really cool items and others with some very odd things.
Summer training for skiing ended this morning although I haven't been able to do any of the workouts it has been fun to go and at least see people over the last couple of weeks, because for a while I felt like I was losing my mind from not being able to see other people, since I've been boxed up in the house for so long.
Over the last weeks I have been working on my Norske and it is coming along. Packing is basically the same story, it has been coming along slowly but it has been coming along. It has actually been kind of a weird feeling trying to pick what I will need and hoping I won't forget anything important.
People keep asking me if I am getting nervous but to be honest I really am not all that nervous. I am just so very excited about it, and for some other unknown reason I don't really feel nervous. Knowing there will be hard makes it actually more exciting for me, mainly because those tough times will only make the whole trip more memorable.
In this time two weeks from now I will be on a plane heading for NORWAY!!!!! I can't believe it is coming up so quickly, normally my summers seem to go by really slow but this summer has just rocketed by. Although it could be from all of the chill time I have had, since I have never really had time to just relax during the summer.
04 August, 2010
July
Just kidding! I promise I will make an in-depth post tomorrow. I just wanted to put a little something on here tonight because my plane leaves Minneapolis in 2 weeks from today!
30 June, 2010
June in a nutshell
This summer has been going by extremely fast, it seems like just last week that I had my graduation party and went to my graduation ceremony in the cities, and that was nearly a month ago. June started out looking like it was going to be pretty nuts but even knowing that it was more than I could have imagined.
It started out with my graduation and all associated traveling and such. Summer training for skiing started the following Monday along with starting full time at my summer job. I went through two solid weeks of that, along with a Saturday of traveling for the ACT's (hoping to get a 30 but only got a 29) and then it was off to youth camp for a week, which was this last week.
Camp was a blast I got to meet a bunch of new people while also getting to catch up with many older friends. However about 12:30 in the morning on the last night something totally unexpected happened; I dislocated my patella (knee cap). It was a very long night to say the least, we didn't get back from the hospital till 4:30 in the morning. Now I am stuck awkwardly hobbling around with a full length splint to stabilize my knee until the docs say I can go to a smaller more flexible brace. I should be almost back to normal by the time I leave in about 6 weeks!
It has been really hard to try and work on my Norsk (Norwegian), so right now I just have a few of the basics, although with this new injury I will actually have quite a bit more free time to work on it. I really can't believe that I leave in like 6 weeks, my excitement has been building up like crazy since I finished up with school. Anyway I think that does a pretty good job of covering the happenings for the last month.
Thanks for reading.
It started out with my graduation and all associated traveling and such. Summer training for skiing started the following Monday along with starting full time at my summer job. I went through two solid weeks of that, along with a Saturday of traveling for the ACT's (hoping to get a 30 but only got a 29) and then it was off to youth camp for a week, which was this last week.
Camp was a blast I got to meet a bunch of new people while also getting to catch up with many older friends. However about 12:30 in the morning on the last night something totally unexpected happened; I dislocated my patella (knee cap). It was a very long night to say the least, we didn't get back from the hospital till 4:30 in the morning. Now I am stuck awkwardly hobbling around with a full length splint to stabilize my knee until the docs say I can go to a smaller more flexible brace. I should be almost back to normal by the time I leave in about 6 weeks!
It has been really hard to try and work on my Norsk (Norwegian), so right now I just have a few of the basics, although with this new injury I will actually have quite a bit more free time to work on it. I really can't believe that I leave in like 6 weeks, my excitement has been building up like crazy since I finished up with school. Anyway I think that does a pretty good job of covering the happenings for the last month.
Thanks for reading.
25 May, 2010
Yikes
Sigh... Wow has this been an interesting month, but I am done with high school here in the US. It is less than three months till I leave the country!!! Now to really get working on learning Norwegian, my Aunt and Uncle got me this program that is supposed to be really good. Starting tomorrow I am going to be learning a new language for the first time. This seems like a very short post but I don't really have anything else to say at the moment.
27 April, 2010
Progress
Hello everyone,
I know its been a while since a updated this, but in my defense things have been a little crazy here. Anyway down to business, over these last few weeks my family and I have been sending out letters to family and friends about my trip, along with asking for a little help with fund raising. Since we started sending them we have gotten enough money to cover the rest of the tuition for my trip!!! I especially want to thank my Grandparents Bill & Arlene, my other grandparents Frank & Sylvia, my Great-great Auntie Edla, the Hensley Family, my Great Auntie Bobbi, Alan Burstein, Kent & Yvette Burstein, my Great Auntie Judy & Great Uncle Don, Barry & Milly Bissonett, Jim & Janice Tanner, and Barb Cary Hall.
On another note I have also been talking with my host family through facebook, getting to know my host father and one of my host sisters, along with learning a little bit about the area where I will be staying.
Well I think that covers things for the moment. Thanks for reading!
Jon
I know its been a while since a updated this, but in my defense things have been a little crazy here. Anyway down to business, over these last few weeks my family and I have been sending out letters to family and friends about my trip, along with asking for a little help with fund raising. Since we started sending them we have gotten enough money to cover the rest of the tuition for my trip!!! I especially want to thank my Grandparents Bill & Arlene, my other grandparents Frank & Sylvia, my Great-great Auntie Edla, the Hensley Family, my Great Auntie Bobbi, Alan Burstein, Kent & Yvette Burstein, my Great Auntie Judy & Great Uncle Don, Barry & Milly Bissonett, Jim & Janice Tanner, and Barb Cary Hall.
On another note I have also been talking with my host family through facebook, getting to know my host father and one of my host sisters, along with learning a little bit about the area where I will be staying.
Well I think that covers things for the moment. Thanks for reading!
Jon
02 April, 2010
Host Family!!!
Hello again,
Guess what, I heard from my host family this last week! They live in Tønsberg Norway, its about an hour south of Olso, (the capital) and its on the coast. I am so excited because I have never even seen an ocean and I will actually be living on the shore of one for almost a year! It is also considered to be the oldest city in Norway, with a population around 40,000. It sounds like I will have possibly 4 host siblings, 2 of which are in college, one will actually be a foreign exchange student in Oregon next year, so I will be living with one host brother for the majority of the time.
Jon
Guess what, I heard from my host family this last week! They live in Tønsberg Norway, its about an hour south of Olso, (the capital) and its on the coast. I am so excited because I have never even seen an ocean and I will actually be living on the shore of one for almost a year! It is also considered to be the oldest city in Norway, with a population around 40,000. It sounds like I will have possibly 4 host siblings, 2 of which are in college, one will actually be a foreign exchange student in Oregon next year, so I will be living with one host brother for the majority of the time.
Jon
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