Exam Time!

You would not believe what time I woke up today: 7:30 AM! As a college student, this is a pretty significant accomplishment. When I told René, he commented, “Your first productive day.” Hehehe.

But anyway, I have to begin this narration starting with Thursday night, because it was a very special night—it was (Belated) Thanksgiving Dinner Night! Elise did a wonderful job making stuffing from scratch, and it really made me happy because I didn’t think I would get a chance to have stuffing this year. She also made a delicious pie dessert from apples, strawberries, and homemade granola. Nataša, Marta, Dominika and I also helped with the preparation of the mashed potatoes, chicken, and carrots. And for dinner, we all dined in style by dressing up. All in all, it was a very successful dinner: we were in the end all very full, and it truly was in the spirit of a traditional Thanksgiving. Despite having lived abroad for two and a half years, I’m glad I still manage to somehow celebrate Thanksgiving every year. (It’s my favorite holiday, you know!)

After dinner we took some pictures together in our fine clothes, and then I went straight to bed because I had my French final at 9 AM this morning and I didn’t want to oversleep. I also wanted to make sure I got up early in case there were delays with the metro, which there has been due to a derailing between two of the main stations.

So, I told René to wake me up over the phone, and sure enough he did. Third time was the charm!

The exam went pretty smoothly in my opinion. The first part was a translation of a business letter, and I practically had to translate the entire thing with the dictionary in my left hand. I don’t think the proctor has ever seen someone use a dictionary like I did this morning. (But you know, those French accents are tricky! Have to proofread everything.)

After my exam I took a quick lunch break before meeting Ony and Ahmed to finish up our paper for Marketing Management. We started at 1:30 PM and finished at 5:30 PM. Needless to day, I’m all schooled out from today. But you know what? It’s a great feeling, being productive! I feel more like myself. I hope this continues for the rest of my stay here.

I leave you with some hilarious images of René playing Wii Sports Ski Jump as well as a little art project I did before I left Switzerland. Love makes you do all sorts of silly sweet things.

 

Kjære Hvitveisstien,

You remind me of all the things I love about Norway! This past half-year has not been the easiest for me, but as I sit here and koser meg under my dyne I feel not the slightest bit of frustration or anxiety. Being here inside this house makes me relaxed; no stressful thoughts can permeate these snugly decorated walls. Now I again come upon those feelings which prompted me to come back to Norway…

My AFS year here in Horten has truly been one of the best years of my life, and certainly one of the most meaningful. Perhaps it is no surprise then that Oslo could not fulfill my expectations. It’s like going to a bull for milk.

I am spending a weekend back at “home” with my wonderful Norwegian family. There is a tradition that every Friday there would be homemade pizza for dinner, so it was a great thing to come home to! They also read my ecstatic Facebook status update a while ago about Julebrus season, so there was also nice big bottle of Julebrus along with the Coke staple. It was a very sweet and simple gesture, and it made me very glad.

We watched the same programs we used to watch: Beat4Beat, Nytt på Nytt, and Senkveld. I find a certain comfort in that predictability. It’s like, even if you have the worst week (or semester), there’s always Fredagkveld med pizza og TV to soothe you over. (Except for Nytt på Nytt. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being frustrated trying to understand that show. It’s just too darn orange!) After dinner Pappa and Mamma went to bed and we watched an old episode of CSI: Miami in Marie’s room.

Sleep calls me now. It’s 2:30 AM I’ve been awake since 9 AM writing the Executive Summary for the Marketing Management, which, by the way, is all done now. And by done, I mean PDF-format done! We’ve worked our asses off on this marketing plan…I think the province of Vicenza should really take a look at it!

1:40 AM…

…And finally done compiling our Marketing Management term paper! We’re in the final stretch now!

Today, uffa meg. Ka kan æ si? I didn’t even change out of my pyjamas. Sometimes I really think I should’ve been a cat, because I work a little and laze a lot.

I’m afraid that my room smells because I haven’t opened the window today. That’s my Concern du jour. But it’s so darn cold out that I just can’t be bothered.

I already know that waking up tomorrow is going to be a challenge. There are few things harder in this world than getting up in Norway in the wintertime, and that’s not an understatement. But I have to get up and go to school tomorrow, because I have to request an English version of my Norwegian-French Business Communications exam and buy my Consumer Behavior textbook; I plan on taking it with me while I’m on my 2-week sabbatical in Thurgau. 这样，勒内上班儿的时候，我可以在家复习复习。

这个周末我去见我的接待家庭。其实，这个学期我们没有见那么多次面，比较失望。我昨天晚上收到接待妈妈的电话：他请了我下去。他们也知道我这次在挪威过的不太好，不知到是不是为了这个原因请了我。我其实不想让他们知道我。。。不喜欢他们的国家，因为他们对我很好。就是因为他们对我这么好我才不想表达我真正的想法。我好像感觉除了他们意外，我更本就不喜欢挪威人。但是，我已经保证我不会在说这样的话了！就是说出来也不会改变情况，还不如争取找找生活和挪威的好事儿哪！

I leave you with my new favorite song. Veronica Maggio has reignited my love of Scandinavian pop. (It takes an Italian, ironically.)

Where did all the time go?!

Crap! It’s 2:11 AM…I’ve managed to outdo myself day by day. But at least this time I didn’t stay up for nothing: I’ve been slaving away at my final term paper for Marketing Management. I, Ony from Italy, and Ahmed from Pakistan must make a marketing plan to promote Ony’s hometown of Vicenza. I’ve just managed to finish proofreading and reëditing the material that they’ve sent me and compiled it into one big document, and let me tell you: Italians are wordy with their essays!

In any case, it’s a relief to be done. We worked on this project from 11 AM to 5 PM today, and aside from dinner and skyping with my mom and René, it’s the only thing that I’ve stared at all day. But samtidig I’m proud of what we’ve done.

I’ve also resolved the plane ticket issue! I bought two round trip tickets from Oslo to Zürich: one from November 15th to 30th, the other from December 16th to May twenty-something-ith, 2011. (It was cheaper than a one-way, and who knows, maybe I’ll be coming back to Norway next summer.) And I think that’s the last time I buy plane tickets in a while…at least, until next spring when I fly to Lyon to visit my friend Marie. But really, I want to settle in Switzerland for a while. I realize now that it’s got everything I need, which is lots of people who I love and who love me back. And fondue. It’s got fondue.

And a curious observation: Why do I always think I seem so much more attractive at 2 or 3 AM? Does late night really lower your perceptions of attractiveness, or do I simply become more attractive the later it gets? (I like to think it’s the latter…then at least it’s not my imagination that’s doing the fluctuating.)