SNOW!!!!!

November 19, 2017

SNOW!!!!!

Well, everyone, it worked! Last week I wrote how much I wanted snow, and this week I got it!! I must have superpowers. Or be good at reading the weather forecast. But we all know the weather they predict rarely actually comes, so I think it's safe to say I have superpowers:) But before I start to tell you all about my wonderful, snow-filled week, a little story...

It was a Friday last fall and, as usual, I was at crew practice. It was the day before a race, more specifically the last race of the season. I was standing with some friends washing oars when one of the girls, who happened to be a senior, made a comment about this being her last fall race in high school and how sad she was about it. One of our coaches who was standing nearby turned to us and told her to "stop applying significance to everything." It made me so mad that he wouldn't let her set the race apart from the others, especially because this was a pretty big deal. She may have had spring season still to enjoy, but fall races are nothing like spring races. Now, I agree that maybe we don't need to be marking our calendars for the seventeenth to last Wednesday of our third to last year of high school, but there are quite a few things that I think are big enough events to recognize as being a little special. And, for that reason, I'm going to let everyone reading this know about yet another milestone in this year, even though I was just writing last week about how three months had passed. On Saturday, I (and all other YFU Norway students) passed the 100 day mark in Norway! Yep, that's three whole digits. And that's kind of a cool thing. I remember having 100th-day-of-school parties in elementary school and everyone bringing in 100 of something to see just how big 100 is. I might still have more than 200 days here, but to have already gone through 100 seems crazy. Crazy!! Anyways, with that I'll move on to my week.

Monday was pretty normal. We prepared for our Norwegian exam in Norwegian class, and had normal classes. Tuesday, however, was the real star of the week. Snow had been on Tuesday morning's forecast for a week or so, so when I woke up to dry roads I was a little disappointed. As I ate breakfast I tried to see if I could spot any falling flakes, but the sky seemed clear. It wasn't until I walked out of the house and felt the tiny snowflakes fall on my shoulders that I realized there was snow! My face immediately lit up and as I walked to the metro my mood just kept improving. There wasn't much snow on the ground but it was falling alright, and there is nothing (okay, very few things) I love more than snow! As I made my way to school I couldn't help but notice that everyone else on their way to work and school seemed either unaffected or even annoyed by the snow, but not me. I could not stop smiling, and several people at school mistook my happiness for never having seen snow before. Snow isn't anything new for me; we get it in NH every year, sometimes more than we can deal with. But I've always loved winter and snow and the Christmas feeling it brings with it, and it's pretty hard for me to be mad if it's snowing. The only problem with this Tuesday was that it was the day of our Norwegian midterm, which meant I had to write a paper in Norwegian in under five hours. Luckily we had access to pretty much anything that could help us except for the internet so we could use the textbook and I could use Norwegian-English dictionaries. In the end it went surprisingly okay, so now I just wait to get a grade.

By the time I was done with the exam the snow had stopped falling but there was a good 2/2.5 inches on the ground! By the time I had gotten home and eaten some food it was already getting dark so I didn't have a chance to do anything fun with the snow, but for me it was enough to just look out the window and see the fluffy white layer...:)))) And homemade eggnog definitely did not hurt! The snow was still there on Wednesday but the roads were pretty icy. The norm here seems to be to cover the ice with gravel instead of plowing or salting them. Thursday brought rain, which melted a good amount of the snow. It was a little sad to see it melt but there was still a little left, and there's more on the forecast (let's hope it's right again this time too)! Friday brought the choir and orchestra's fall concert, but I only played in this one. We played The Liberty Bell March, a Pirates of the Caribbean arrangement, Heigh Ho from Snow White, and Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Miserables. I unfortunately didn't get any videos of it, but it definitely was not my best performance:/

This weekend started out plan-less but turned into a fun wintery weekend quickly! After a slow breakfast and morning on Saturday, we went out for a walk to go to a store where we were going to look for ice skates. We were able to find pairs that fit for everyone but Espen, all in one store! On the walk back, we stopped at a climbing structure and playground for a little play time. That night Espen and I went out for Indian food and then went to see Justice League at The Colosseum in the city. One of the rooms in the theater is under the dome the building has so you feel like you're in a huge planetarium. It was really cool, and it helped that the movie was good too! When we left the theater it had begun to snow again, and by this morning there was another thin layer of snow! We had another relaxing morning then met Espen's brother, his wife, and there kids at an ice rink. We spent a few hours skating and drinking hot cocoa, although it was a little more falling than skating for some... I haven't done that much skating but I think it's so much fun and after a little while I had found my balance and was able to skate without looking completely insane, just a little insane! Afterwards we chilled at home for a little, and then Anne and I went out for a drive. We went up the hill to Tryvann and got out and walked around the ski center in Oslo. They're beginning to blow snow and there was still some natural snow, so it really felt like winter! We kept driving and found some more places to look out over the fjord and the city while the sun set, and I know that view is one I'll never get tired of. Now we're all home again, but my weekend fun isn't over yet! Tonight I'm going to meet some exchange students in the city, including one who lives in Tromsø that I haven't seen since August! I didn't want to put out this post too late so pictures and stories from that will come next week:)

Word of the Post:
skøyter = skates (as in the shoe part)

I took plenty of pictures this week, the snow makes me want to photograph everything!