Rain!!

Hi! Happy November!

Sorry that I'm so far behind on writing my blog! At least, the longer I wait, the less I can remember to write about so that makes it go faster. :)

In Week 40 it was raining a LOT here! The river was almost flooding and had huge waves.

My friluftliv class' trip to Gygrestolen was canceled because of heavy rain warnings. Instead we had class in the lavvo (tipi) outside the school. (It turned out that it actually didn't rain so much.) We heard some history of outdoor life in Norway, including folk tales about trolls and all sorts of creatures living in the forests and mountains and how it influenced how people lived. We spend some time sitting still outside in the rain and then got into groups to make a poem about it.

Inside the lavvo. (See the projector screen? This is a high tech classroom.)

But don't be alarmed, not all my classes are this easy!

My class "Modern Norwegian Literature: Fiction and Film" finished this week. I wrote an essay about Knut Hamsun's book Hunger on Monday/Tuesday. Then we had the final exam on Thursday. It was essay format and I'm happy to say it went OK for me. Yay! Another class over and done!

Classes-wise, from now on I have Wednesdays free, sometimes Fridays free, and then about 6 hours of class on Mondays, 3 on Tuesdays and 3 on Thursdays. But classes are still always switching days and sometimes a class gets a week off. And another thing I found strange was the my exam was scheduled at the same time as another of my classes so I had to miss the class.

I went to free bouldering event in the bouldering room at Kroa.

Inside the boulder room.

Outside the boulder room.

Terri and I were invited over for dinner by Hanne, an awesome person we met on the Augustana spring outdoor ed course. It was really really foggy so I'm not sure exactly where, but she lives up on a mountainside in a super nice house. We had a great time talking about outdoor trips and skiing with Hanne, her boyfriend Vegar, and Kjersti and Jens who are teachers at HiT. We watched slideshows of pictures from some awesome trips!

I got better (from having a cold) and to celebrate I went did some underwater running. Just kidding, but that's what it felt like because the trails had turned into serious streams! I was having such a fun time splashing around that I forgot that going wading in 5 degree rain weather is not a smart way to get back into training after a cold. But no harm done :)

Every Thursday afternoon the school hosts a waffle and coffee hour for international students (and anyone else) in the cafeteria. It's a nice way to catch up with friends, especially because the international students are always going off on outdoor trips or traveling around Europe! Norwegian waffles are the best, YUM!

Making waffles

Visiting and games.

The next post will be about my trip to Oslo. Talk with you then! (Well, it's not "talking with you" unless you leave a comment, so... please do that!) Bye!