Christmas in my corner

Yesterday, I tried for a very long time to create an advent wreath, but it didn't look good, so now I just have four candles on my table like this:

Otherwise, my corner is getting more and more Christmas-touched for every day, and I keep moving things around, as I add more stuff. This is what it looks like now:

Yesterday, me and 13 others went to Dale and watched Breaking Dawn (the new Twilight movie.) I must say I was disappointed in the movie, but we had a very fun trip. See, there are things to do around here ;)

Health Day

On Friday, the 25th of November, all first years had a ”Health Day.” Health Day is a tradition at school and happens every year, while second years have a flexi-day to catch up on studying and go talk to the last visiting universities. The program for Health Day is different from year to year though. Our second years had a day with focus on sleep, presented through lectures, while we had a really fun day with workshops and games.

The day started same time as a normal school day (8 am) but before that we had healthy breakfast, which was absolutely amazing. I would say it even beat the rise-pudding on Saturdays! We had homemade buns, bread, great oat-meal, fruit and then the usual cereals and so on.
From here on we had an hour-long presentation in the auditorium, and then we went to play games with out houses for half an hour. For the rest of the day we had four workshops, depending on what we had signed up for individually. The two before lunch were supposed to be exercise workshops, where the two after lunch should be more presentations. Mine wer

1) Dog Walking
I mostly chose this workshop, because the description said “Walking dogs – Chris.” Chris is my (very funny) physics teacher and it sounded like a very nice way to start the day. A bunch of teachers came with their dogs and Lucy (England) and I walked the Danish and History teacher, Eric’s dog. It was a lot of fun, mostly because it started out by being the dog walking us and not opposite! Then it started hailing, so we got wet, but it was a nice trip and the dog was very cute.

2) Zumba
My second workshop was Zumba. Zumba is a way of exercising through combining different styles of dancing and it is actually very hard, but also unbelievably funny. I think most of the fun came from our group of people in the workshop, all not caring if we looked like idiots and just laughing at each other and ourselves, when we didn’t know the moves.

3) Sleep Management
This was the only workshop left when I signed up, so even though I thought it would be a cliché with “minimum 8 hours a night” and “sleep is very important” I signed up and I’m very happy I did. The workshop was held by our school nurse; Thomas, and even though he of course mentioned the things above, he also focused on giving us good tricks on how to sleep and what to do, to get the best out of it, because everybody knows that reality here isn’t getting 8 hours.
In the end of the workshop he showed us a good way to fall asleep, if we were having problems with that, and then he let us all lay and relax for about 5 minutes.

4) Time Management
The Time Management workshop was held by three second year students and it was mainly them telling what ways they personally found working for them, when studying or in general planning their time here, and then telling us to find our own patterns. It was also a very good one.

To end a healthy day I, as any other Friday, went to Friday Ball Games and played football. Since it’s getting pretty cold outside (snow is coming back on the mountain tops) a lot of people are dropping football and playing sports inside, so this Friday we were only 5 people on each time, so I got to play a lot. It was a lot of fun! J

At last: a cozy corner-picture from my blog-writing night :)

Christmas in SH

Just some pictures for you to catch my mood :)

My Corner:

Dayroom:

Kitchen Duty

Every day a student help the kitchen staff for two hours around dinner (5-7pm) and yesterday was my turn. This is not mandatory, but I think most people sign up once a year; both to meet those who cook for them every day and get an understanding of their job, and also out of good manner.

It isn't hard either. I made salads with the chef, for today's lunch (just ate it!) Ate dinner myself and washed dishes. As a thank you they gave me an Popsicle :) Haha.

I also decorated Sweden House dayroom, say I'll post pictures of that soon.

Frosty Weather

For the past couple of days it's been quite cold out and the winter is really hitting. From Monday morning until Tuesday around lunch, it was so foggy out that you couldn't even see the islands and when I did my Spanish test on Monday, I looked out the window, but saw only fog.

Yesterday it was about -3C, and even though it says that it is 4C out today, I don't believe.. Why? Here are some pictures I just took :)

Prague Pictures

Here's a bunch of pictures from my November break trip to Prague with Mia (Germany) and Kris (Denmark). More will be on Facebook at a later point in time :)

Flekke Pictures

The morning we left for Prague (Monday the 7. November) we walked to Flekke at 8 in the morning and this is what it looked like. Amazing!

Nothing can get me down

I have went through a lot of feelings these past 3 months. Feelings I've never felt before and feelings I thought I'd never have.

For me, going on exchange proved that I could do anything, or so I thought. During those 10 months I never felt horribly homesick. Of course I missed my family and small things, but it was never as bad as I heard others talk about. So going to Norway, so much closer to home shouldn't be hard, right? It would be around 3 months and then I'd be home for Christmas - that's only a third of what I stayed away last time! Tshhh.. As easy as stealing candy from a child. At least that's what I thought.

Going here was different though. It was in some way overwhelming to have people around all the time, but that didn't really bother me much, because I knew I could always close my curtains and be just me. (I love my bed :))

I can't tell you exactly what it is that made me long for home so much...

The past year in Denmark made me realize who was important in my life and how much I love them. Coming home from exchange was tough and it took me a long time to accept that I was back and appreciate what I had now.

So what do I have now?

I have the best family in the world. A mother and a father who does everything for me and who is just always there, no matter what I put them through. I have two older brothers who I couldn't imagine a life without, even when they mess with me. I have two grandparents who I love so dearly and look up too. I have a nephew who I miss every second of every day and I have a "sister-in-law," aunts, uncles, cousins and an amazing host family. I have friends and I know who they are more than ever. I live a life which was my dream and I still have the world in front of me.

Since we only have 24 days left at college before December break, it's officially Christmas here - a sorta pre-holiday. Christmas is about appreciating what you have and I do more than ever and I think this appreciation is what has made it so hard being away for these past months, which is why I'm gonna turn this appreciation around and live my life fully, knowing that I have an amazing back-up.

I have put up my new light-chain in my bed and now I'm just sitting in here, listening to Christmas music and drinking tea. I have truly found the up-side of Christmas!

Prague

Prague, what can I say? .. Wow!

4 nights and 4 days and I'm amazed. It must definitely be one of my new favorite European cities.

We saw the old town, shopped a lot, walked everywhere=killed our feet, saw less touristy, but more cultural places, ate Czech food and so on.

We arrived to our Hostel (Emma Hostel) at Monday, just before midnight. The hostel was perfect for the price. It had great internet, free luggage storage which was helpful the last day, when we checked out at 10:30am, but shouldn't go to the airport until 4pm. We didn't stay much at the hostel though. We tried to wake up early every morning and then we just went out, mostly just with a little idea of where to go.

The first day we decided to go the castle, so we did and from there we just explored.

Every time we walked home, we would try and take a new way and it just felt really great to explore on our own. The second day was spent shopping and exploring the newer, more modern part of the city. The third day was spent by our hostel and then we met Karolina who was also an exchange student at Mooresville High 09-10 and she showed us her school and more traditional places + a hill with the most beautiful overview of the city!

The last day was spent going back to places and just walking around one last time.

I would definitely recommend everybody to go! Grab a map, just in case you get lost, and then just walk around. Prague is cheap and I think everyone who goes there gets surprised by the architecture! It's indescribable!

We went there without much ideas of what was even there. Then we grabbed brochures at the hostel and tried it out. It was a really nice way of travelling - really made you feel free! (Before going back to school and commitments :))

(Pictures are coming!)

In honor of the break

In honor of the break, I'm gonna give you an update on my subject. I mean, why not? I only have to leave for Prague in 6 hours :)

No, but since last week was feed-back week, I figured it was about time to give you an update on the IB situation.

Block A - English Language and Literature A1 HL

My teacher, Pete, is still really good and I think this is the right course me. For a while, I thought it was a little too easy, but I learned that it is as hard as you make it. The assignments are quite wide and as an example, I just wrote an 1500 word essay on the question whether English (as a global language) is universally accepted or if it is imposed on us. I could have done this very plane and simple, still satisfying the criteria from the dear IB, but I chose to look into the use of English in the music world - something that interests me, and ended up using a lot of time on it, because I enjoyed reading about it.

Also, so far, I've gotten only 6'es and 7's in the class, so it should be good.

Block B - Free Block :)

Block C - Economics HL

Again, I've got a really good teacher; Rudy. Rudy is a graduate from RCN himself, but has found a great balance between being a teacher and being friends with the students. The class really interests me, so I don't mind all the work it takes. I don't remember ever working this hard for school, but the difference here is that I don't really mind.

Block D - Mathematics Standard SL

My teacher in math. is good now. I didn't like her much at first, because she has a very different way of teaching maths than I am used to and classes went very fast. Now that I've had her for two months, it's a lot better. It's not a slacker subject, that's for sure, but I know that I can do it. I got a 7 on the last test (23/24 questions right!) that and the fact that she told me that she thought I was around a grade 5 now, but that I could definitely do 7 and I should go for that, gave me the motivation boost I needed.

Block W - Physics Combined (SL)

Physics is my 'new kid in town' and it is a tough one to get around, but once again I must admit; I don't mind. The teacher, Chris, is just amazing and I never thought I could enjoy a science, especially not like this. I'm not doing horrible, but I know that I need to read and do exercises after every single class, in order to keep up. Overall more than really happy, that I switched from E-systems.

Block X - Nordic Literature Combined (HL)

This is probably my most chill class. Don't get me wrong, there's is plenty of essays to write and books to read, but as long as I do that, I don't have to put much more of an effort into it. My feed-back in this class was great as well. The Danish teacher told me that my Paper 1 (one of the exams paper, that we did our first practice one of a couple of weeks ago) was to a 7, and he's pretty strict. My teacher, Linda from Sweden, also said that I was doing that great in the class, so just to keep it up.

Block Y - Spanish ab initio SL

That funny moment when you realize your Standard Level classes and harder/more work than your Higher Level subjects. I mean Economics - okay work, but English and Nordic is just pretty chill. For Standard Levels I have Physics and Math and then also Spanish.

Spanish is like Physics. I need to review after every single class in order to stay on track. A perfect example of this is the test I have after the break on everything we've learned so far and how screwed I feel. More reviewing for me coming up!

Overall, I am super happy about my subjects, but even more happy that this week is November break and that I'm leaving in 5 hours!! I'll be back on Saturday night, so stay tuned for updates on Sunday.

Break is coming!

It's almost here! One more day of classes and it's November break and you can definitely feel it. Some people left today, a lot more leave tomorrow. Most people are more relaxed and as an example; I did not touch a school book all evening.

So even though this has been a bit of a special day, I figured I would give you an example of a day.

Today, I got up at 5:45, put on some clothes, brushed my teeth, grabbed my back (yes, you get all the details :P) and went to pick up my second year; Oliver. We then met my other second year; Marie, and went to the pool. It went as a normal morning swim: about 4-5 danes in the pool and about 4-5 others, 1 kilometer, a little bit of sauna and then oatmeal for breakfast :D

Back to the room, grab some stuff and then class.

It is quite funny to observe people during breakfast.

Breakfast is from 7am-8am.

At 7am, the only people there are the morning-swimmers (Tuesday and Thursdays) and a couple of others, who has a test or something like that, so they're up early studying. At 7:30, breakfast-eaters start coming in - those of them who want good time - and as the clock goes closer to 8, more people come. At five to 8, it is basically chaos. People showeling down food or just running in to get a cup of coffee or tea or a peace of bread.

For other, like myself, breakfast is not a big priority (unless I've been swimming - Tue. and Thur.) because we have cookiebreak, which has bread, jam and cheese = no need to get up early for breakfast :) On Wednesdays there's even cereals at cookie break :)

Anyways..:

Today I had math. = a small test, physics = a lab, nordic = book-analysing and spanish = feedback and movie (it's the first time we don't really work in Spanish!) :)

After school I went and did a little Physics, took a 15 minute nap and went to my Amnesty meeting and straight to dinner.

After dinner, I went to the Silent House with Christine (Norway). We lit the candle in the middle, took some pillows and layed down and talk and relaxed. Then I went to the gym and played football with 10 guys and then to an rehearsal for the International Children's day. From here, I went to bake "Rugbrød" with my second year, and while that was in the oven, I went to Mia's room and chilled with her, Kris, Mais and Mia's roomies. I ate the bread in Sam's room, with his roomates and now I'm back in my room :)

It's been a great day, but I just wanna point out that I don't normally do this much, but I normally include a lot more of study time.. I guess the break is coming! :D

In 1 day, I get November break.
In 3 days, I'm going to Prague.

In 34, I'll be in Denmark.

In 1 month and 20 days, it's Christmas (yes, Americans - 24th of december!)