ToK Moments

It's Thursday morning, a pretty usual school day. I just sat through yet another Theory of Knowledge presentation (ToK) and it got me thinking. Theory of Knowledge is a course mandatory for all IB students, in order for us to become 'critical thinkers.' In the end of the course, which at RCN ends after the third term, everyone has to do a ToK Essay and a ToK Presentation. I don't want to go into more detail, because most people taking the course probably still wouldn't be able to explain to you exactly what it is.

Today, my friend Alonso (Peru) had a presentation of our aesthetic perception. He was talking a lot about how for example the layout of an university website defines part of our final decision. This made me think. I have gone on to many university sites, after reading just a big about them on CollegeBoard. Many times I haven't been too impressed about the school from reading and have then gone on to an unorganized and to be not very pleasing website leading to me often not giving the school much consideration. The other day I went on a virtual tour of a Campus and even from pictures of a school I had really liked from reading, I didn't find it the buildings and the feeling I got from this very personal and therefore not very pleasing to me. I think this had a big impact on me as I went on to further reading and learning about the school (that I have now decided probably not to apply to anyways.)

Some of our discussions after the presentation made me think about my schooling and how we learn differently. I remember when I took piano lessons, how I had a very clear way of learning. If I got a piece to learn for the next lesson and my teacher didn't play it for me before leaving, it could take me a very long time to get it right, but if she just played it once I would remember and hear it right away if I played a wrong tune. In that way it always  worked much better for me to hear and get things explained than to read them myself. It made me thin of how weird it is that no more research or effort has been put into developing people's different ways of learning. If someone is very visual vs. someone very oral and everything is taught in lectures, do we really give everybody the same fair opportunities for education? I don't know. I just wanted to share some thoughts as I am waiting and waiting for the big university decision e-mail.

Tonight we have advisor movie/Christmas night. I think we are watching one of my favorites "The Polar Express", eating Christmas cookies and drinking Gløgg (traditional Nordic Christmas drink, in this case non-alcoholic).

8 more days until home!

Follow Up (in pictures)

As promised: me and the Queen of Norway.

Okay, I admit it. I didn't get a picture with the Queen, of course not, I'm not important enough for that. But I saw her, I smiled at her, I talked to a minister instead and met a lot of other interesting people. 

Northern Lights: Here is one of my pictures. It was the strongest, most beautiful Northern Lights I have seen, better than last year. Unfortunately it is very hard to photograph..

Since my last post forever-ago, I went to the US and found my dream school. I applied and now I'm waiting. Yesterday I had a Skype interview with another school, but it's not even comparable. Cross your fingers for me :) 

On Saturday, we had the Asian Day. Here's some pictures, but the structure was like the European and American day, that you can read about here and here. 

Currently, Christmas has moved into my corner and Sweden House. I live off Christmas cookies and hot chocolate and studying with "It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas" blasting out of my headphones. This Sunday I organized a Christmas gathering for the Danes and we watched Danish Christmas shows, listened to Danish Christmas song, ate Danish Christmas food and made Danish Christmas decorations. It was lots of fun and very cozy. I have been counting down the last 24 days until we leave (the RCN December month) and today is the 15th. Almost there :)

I am getting very excited to sleep in my bed and eat my mom's food and see everybody again, so I can go back, fully charged, for the fourth (and last :S) term. It is a bit scary that the time is flying so fast, but I guess it is all just about enjoying as much as possible what we've got for now.

Phew, very fast and brief, but lots more to mention. I will update more later!
Take care and Merry Christmas.

Back to Busy

I know I still owe an update about the Queen and Oslo. Until that comes in here's a link to an article written by the school on the event. There should also be a couple of pictures coming from the outstandingly amazing Northern Lights we had here last week.

For now the update is the following:
This past weekend I went to my host family. It was an amazing weekend away, a good break, lots of cake and good company. I made this with my host mother and cousin:

(Hoping it will make my bedstemor and aunt proud!)

Apart from that I am working hard to finish everything before next Friday, so I can travel to the big USA and enjoy my time there away from too many books. Also, I am working hard on finishing my first college application and I must admit that after rewriting a supplement 3½ times, it's hard to find the perfect way to represent yourself on paper. 

For now I went back to scratch and restarted by brainstorming everything that could answer the question about something in my life that has changed me. (I am deliberately not mentioning the name of the school, mostly for privacy and because it is irrelevant to the fact that I am writing an application. Even though I would be very excited to attend this school in the future.) 

Have a great week! 

More is less

I was getting really tired of the old design; I guess that is another proof that my taste changes. So I updated! Also, here is a couple of more 'the beauty of Flekke' pictures from today!

Fall Colors!

The one and only Sweden House! 

A journey into self-publishing

As I mentioned earlier this week, this week is PBL-week and I am attending "A journey into self-publishing." Goal for the week? To produce and publish at least one book. Personal goal? Find out whether there is still creativity left in me and do something different. Earlier this week I posted a picture from my personal process, but you can see more on my teacher Ana's blog: anaflecha.blogspot.no. 

As of today I have finished two very similar books, one with a black and white background and colored characters and one with a colored background but black and white characters. My book is an image book and a comment on how we easily get stuck in life just doing the same things again and again. It is a continuous and never ending book with the quote "Isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes but when you look back everything is different".

Here is the complete story in pictures from top left corner to bottom right. 

Colored background, black and white character 

Black and white background, colored characters 

The week has been amazing. Not too much rain and the art room must be the classroom on Campus with the best view - especially on a day like today.

As of last week I thought I was gonna have to sit  down and write an actual full book during this week; a thought that scared me a bit. I had planned on writing a children's book so it could be short and simple, but when I found out that everything was possible the ideas came flowing. It is so relaxing to just sit and create a something that was once a thought and develop it unto paper. It really clears the head.

Tomorrow I am headed to Oslo and my biggest concern is still what to wear :-) Not too bad a concern.

Roger out,
Mette

Fall colors

As more and more leaves hit the ground and the trees turn from green to orange and yellow to brown and become emptier for the minute, the sun decided take a (maybe) last visit to RCN.

It is getting colder by the minute and I have had to unpack both woolen socks, thermal shirts (for my Flekke runs) and my winter jacket. According to the locals, taken from the amount of berries on the trees at this time a year, it will be a long and very cold winter with lots of snow. Can you feel the excitement already? If yes, please share. There is (almost) nothing worse than feeling cold. I even decided not to interview with a university or two, among other things, because they were located in climates too cold for me. I am also exaggerating a little bit :-) In reality I love wearing woolen socks and have been told multiple times that I am the worst Nordic ever, because I am always cold.  

Here is a couple of pictures from the weekend. Hopefully tomorrow morning will be as beautiful as today. This time I will bring my camera and be prepared so I can share some of the beauty of Flekke with you!

On Saturday was the dear First Years amazing show and I think we all enjoyed it. It was based mostly on sketches making fun of us second years, mixed between lots of talented dancing, singing and so on. Here: a picture of Emma (UK) and part of her band - Yondeen (Nepal) on the bass. Following the show was another Saturday night party and for the first time this year I stayed from beginning to end - 2½ hours of dancing and having fun! As always in great company :-) 

This week is Project Based Learning week (PBL). Some might remember it from my not extremely enthusiastic and positive post about the Chinese PBL I attended last year. I can promise you that this year's review will be much better! This year I am in a PBL called "A journey into self publishing" with my Spanish teacher, Ana. We are in the art room with a view over the fjord and tunes of music in the background - just as I like it. I won't talk too much about it now, but rather update by the end of the week, but here is a pre-view of the first step of my image book. It will not look like this once it is finished, but here is a teaser anyways :-)
When I'm not in the art room, I spend my time getting some of my to-do list finished and ticked off. Lately this has taken place from my new favorite spot: my bed, he he. It makes the cold a little more bearable when you can sit under a blanket with a cup of something hot, with candles and lights all around you!

On Friday I am headed for a day-trip to Oslo for the Norwegian National Committee's celebration of the 50 year anniversary of UWC. We are a group of 8 (I believe) students and a small number of staff selected to go. Attending will be no one else but the Queen of Norway, the Norwegian minister of education and other 'important' people. I am indeed very excited and still trying to figure out what to wear, ha ha. You know life is good when that is one of your biggest concerns! - More on this later as well.

I hope you are all keeping warm!
Mette 

Work first, then fun!

These last two weeks have been a good mix. Firstly, I worked until my brain almost exploded; handed in my Extended Essay, other assignments and did my best on big tests. Last week I moved myself and my things into the library and spend every break from classes and every left-over minute in the little study-booth I had occupied. Ironically, I was the person who said all last year that I would not study in the library and much more preferred a classroom, but after giving the library a chance for the first time, I actually came to like it. It came as a big shock to many; not only me :) 

Christine and I were also trying to find out what to do for a fun break in small-village Flekke and coming up with free things, that doesn't require you to be outside in the cold! Sometimes demands a bit of creativity. 

Now, I don't want my life to sound horrible, because it is really quiet perfect. All the hard work last week payed off well and for the last couple of days I have been relaxing, sleeping lots at night and then napping in the afternoon, hung out with friends, gone to birthdays, baked the muffins that Rikke (Norway) and I bought the mix for in intro week. I have relaxed! Now I feel re-charged and ready to follow my plan for assignments and studying the next couple of months until November and Christmas break. I feel like I have it under good control and I just need to work a little every day for it to work out. 

So not much is new in "The World of Mette" (except for maybe this guy staring at me)

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Shakespeare is a little better with a cup of coffee and some of my newly bought fruit and yogurt. 

Tomorrow a team from school (including myself) are playing soccer against the local high-school from Dale. It's apparently been years since there was last such a game, because the Dale team used to beat us so badly that they didn't see it as a real challenge. Let's hope we can change that! This match is in celebration of the International Peace Day (every year on September 21st!). We are having a special day and celebration here all day tomorrow, so I will update more on that post the day. As of now we should get both media coverage here and at the soccer field! Maybe I will be on the Norwegian News tomorrow? Let's hope I don't embarrass myself more than necessary :) 

Overall, I am happy as.. zoo animal getting food? 

Hope you will share the Peace Day with us and maybe help spread the message? You can take part and read more through this link: http://peaceoneday.org/

-Mette

IB Times

As school is back on high speed and the (infamous) third term has started there is plenty of things on my plate. Deadlines, exam practice, presentations, more deadlines, test, studies and then all the other activities on the side. I'm just gonna apologize in advance for the next couple of months and then (maybe) lack of posts. For now, I'll give you some more picture updates:

The other night there was supposedly a storm coming (over night). All I know, is that from around four in the afternoon until I went to bed our power was as unstable as a sleeping cow (I just came up with this expression. Pretty good, huh?) For hours it would go out, then come back on and we could only just sit and wait until it disappeared again. This is how I survived. 

Wednesday: Laundry day (for me) and when there is no more space on the drying racks, you just have to be creative, right?

Friday: First years vs. Second years soccer match # 1 of the year and we FINALLY found someone we could beat. Oh, it feels so good. (3-0 by the way). 

I hope you will have a good weekend, while I'll get my head back in the books. 

A Week in Pictures

 Saturday: Theme Party, SH203

Sunday: Fun Run (SH obviously won)

Facebook chatting Kris even though he is next door

Monday & Tuesday: EE writing days 

Wednesday: First Day of Classes 

College Applications: 

When a virus hit campus and myself: 

Saturday: Second Year Show

.. Because you cannot have a week in pictures without the fjord

Spices, spices, spices!

It seems that this is going to be the year I will learn to eat spicy foods. The other night I was in the dayroom with a group of Sweden Housers and Yacine from Senegal cooked noodles for us, including her mom's home-made yellow chili spices. The taste was amazing, but the feeling it left in my red-cheeks and running nose was a little less nice. I could eat a couple of bites and then take a break, but it did seem like a good way to eat, because we didn't even manage to finish.
Now, if I thought that was about as spicy as it gets, I was very wrong, because the following day I was in my room with Kristoffer (Denmark) when my roommate Tenzin (Tibet/India) offered us a snack. It was a kind of potato chips and looked pretty delicious, but after the expression of Kristoffer's face after he tasted one, I decided to only take a very small piece and I found out why. THIS was spicy! Once again it tasted delicious, but a couple of seconds after the taste went away, my mouth literally caught on fire (I thought it did :)).

Today and tomorrow is Extended Essay (EE) writing days for us second years, so I better get back to business!
Take care.

Aaaaand action!

Wednesday afternoon, after a couple of amazing days in Copenhagen, Mia (Germany), Ibrahim (Sweden), Kristoffer (Denmark) and I headed to the ferry between Oslo and Copenhagen with all our suitcases, food, and other bags. Finally we made it to the harbor and to the bottom floor: 2 and our small cabin. We had a very nice trip, first on the deck in the sun, later around the 7 story boat!

Thursday morning we landed in Oslo and once again managed to get our luggage transported all the way to the Hostel. We Spend Thursday and Friday exploring Oslo and having our last city-fun, before Saturday's successful Nordic Peace Conference and 10 hours bus-ride back to Flekke.

We arrived in Flekke around 7:30 am Sunday morning and from there I spend all day moving in to my new room with my co-year; Tenzin, from Tibet. I move right upstairs from 103 to this years 203 and it is an amazing room so far. Sunday afternoon our first first-year roommate arrived. She is called Noot and is from Thailand. She has been at the summer course for the past month, so she knows her way around and is absolutely adorable! During Sunday and Monday, two of my Danish first years; Max and Jakob, arrived. They also seems awesome. Monday-Tuesday night we waited for the Bergen bus for hours! Lots of walking back and forth to the room, but finally around 1 am it happened and everything went crazy. I met three more first-year Danes and my two last roommates; Maja from Sweden and Nkanye from Zimbabwe. We just now showed them around campus until the rain got too hard and we headed back to our warm room, that still smell like noodles from last night. 

Tenzin gave me a package of chili for all our room noodles sessions and also predicted I'd die somewhere during my first mouthful :) I'm excited, hehe. 

On Thursday I'm gonna wake up early and eat before the sun rises and then try and fast a day with some Muslims. All this cultural sharing :) 

All I can really say is, that it has never been so amazing to come back before. I really missed this place (except for the rain). 

More updates to come during INTRO-WEEK 2012 :D    

First year: done! (Almost)

It's coming to an end, the first 10 months at RCN. Classes ended on Tuesday, I finished packing today and on Friday night we'll be in a buss on our way to somewhere else. Some stay in Norway, some visit friends and most go home for a while.
I am going to call this my Summer vacation of 2012, but I shouldn't. A break is nice, but we cannot forget the studying. Assignments are hitting hard and if we want to not overload and basically kill ourselves next term, we gotta try and get some of them out of the way over the Summer. So why am I still calling it a vacation? Because in a week and some hours I am leaving the home I just came back to and heading to the airport where 5½ weeks of vacation are waiting for me! I am off for two weeks in Venezuela to visit that one boy :) And then on the road/in the air? Again, for three+ weeks in amazing Indiana.
Then I head back for a couple of days in Copenhagen before I hit the road with my parents and go to our Summer House and hopefully there I'll get some studying done (in the sun!???)

I must admit it was some organizing getting a year packed down and away, so it could wait nicely for me in the shed behind Sweden House but after hours and hours I succeeded! 3 bags, a suitcase and two small boxes! Wheeew. Follow some of the process in the pictures :)

This is what my wall looked like in the beginning of this term

,

So it is a little sad seeing it like this! 

But I am more excited than ever to go home and for my Americas Trip!

I hope everyone will have a great summer!
Nos vemos en agosto!

First-year Mette :)