October 23
No class today so instead, I thought I would try and test and see if my cooking skills had improved any in the past few months! I decided to try my hand at making baked apple chips. I cut up three apples into thin slices and laid them out on baking sheets. I put cinnamon and sugar on some of them and then put them into the oven to bake! The recipe I found said that they needed to cook for a while, so I left them and went to my room and the next thing I know, one of my roommates was knocking on my door, telling me that whatever I made was burning... I quickly ran to the kitchen, pulled them out, and put them out on the balcony before the smoke could get to the fire alarm. I must have converted the *F to *C wrong or something.... Most of them were salvageable and it looked like the ones that burnt were mainly the slices that had sugar sprinkled on them, so I threw the charred ones out. The edible ones were amazing though!!! I really liked them and can't wait to try making them at home where the ovens are more familiar and there is less of a chance of me messing anything up!
After that exciting morning, I worked on homework and got to chat with Kate (HI!) from back home for a bit. Then for dinner, I tried to redeem myself... My mom had sent me some of my favorite pasta mix in the care package she sent me and so I wanted to make it. The noodles were fully cooked (finally got that right!), but when it came to making the sauce... it turned into more of a noodle soup. AND I almost burnt the kitchen down for the SECOND time today, when some of the sauce bubbled over and started making a bunch of smoke. It ended up tasting halfway descent, but I think I will stick to my peanut butter and try and work on NOT setting the kitchen on fire... Baby Steps.
October 24
This morning, I had my Genetics lecture and then I met with my lab partner to work on our lab report. I had gotten paired with Kristine, a Norwegian girl ( :D ), and I think we typed out a pretty good report! I am 95% sure she even invited me to a party that the Biology faculty pub was throwing!? I have heard many times and it seems to be true for the most part, that when Norwegians want to invite you to something, they wont directly come out and ask you if you want to come, instead they will inform you that something is going to happen. This announcement is their way of inviting you to take part, not wanting to out you on the spot and force you to make a decision by straight out asking you. Very interesting in theory, but extremely difficult and frustrating to work out as a foreigner, who isn't too familiar with the secret customs. Maybe that is why it is so hard to meet real Norwegians and make friends with them, most people don't know to pick up on theses subtle cues and traditions that would actually allow you to hang out and get to know them.
After getting my work done at the University, I then headed over to coffee hour (an event for mostly international students so that they can get to know each other) BY MYSELF?! Usually our Sogn group all goes together, but everyone was busy today and so I ventured off to go talk to and meet new people... so out of my comfort zone. After I had gotten my tea and was panicked-ly looking for some place to sit (only slightly regretting my decision to come), I saw Lexi from my Political Utopias class and was invited to sit with her and her friends! I got to meet some of her friends from Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands and we all talked for about two hours! They seemed really cool and I am glad I decided to come!
After coffee hour, I ventured home, where Frieda had decided to cook for all of us and make a traditional Ghanaian dinner. I helped by making the pudding (not Ghanaian) and hard to mess up, I don't think she trusted me with the real cooking :) rightly so... We had a bunch of our friends over and she made us rice, yam, sweet potato fries, plantains, ground nut soup (?!? This was made for me!), and pudding for dessert! It all tasted amazing and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal!!! Thank you Frieda!!! Everyone stayed over pretty late and hung out and it was nice to catch up with Eva, Zita, and Frainzi for most of the night. I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever! Everyone is getting really busy with finals and studying, so it was nice to get everyone together for some fun and great food!
October 25
It was absolutely beautiful out this morning, so I went on a run outside. Verrrry hilly, but it was fun to run around the Norwegian neighborhoods and see all of the cute houses. After showering, I then caught up with my diving coach (Hi Phil!) to see how everyone did this past weekend during the first two meets of the season. Go Raiders!!! It sounds like they all did really well, but almost half of our team is out with concussions. :(. Get well soon guys!!
After getting ready, I decided to head into the city to do some shopping! My converse kind of fell apart and the only shoes I have that would be good during the winter are my hiking boots, so I got a pair of cute black boots! :) Very Norwegian... they either wear those or converse! After buying those, I did some souvenir shopping for people back home and got a lot of people checked off my list! Don't know how I am going to fit it all... :) After that, I walked around the mall for a bit and then headed home so that I could Skype with my mom and Jim.
For the rest of the night, I just kind of chilled and then I started planning out my Dublin trip with Jess! Being the nerds we are, we made a spreadsheet of all of the things we want to do while we are there, prices, hours, directions... anything you can think of! Hahaha we are such dorks, but we only have a couple of days there and don't want to miss anything! I was also researching more family ancestry and it looks like the Doyle clan (my mom's maiden name) were Norwegian vikings that settled in Ireland! The more you know... :) I am getting really excited and can't wait to see Jess and Julia!
October 26
Today was a chill day. It was the start of Daylight Savings time (1 week ahead of USA) and had an extra hour to sleep in, no complaints here! I then downloaded a proxy server (don't tell the government... is it even illegal?) so that I could watch my American Netflix and continue on watching more seasons of Supernatural while I worked on my secret project. :)
Later in the afternoon, I went running again. It has been really nice here lately (although cold) but it is finally sunny after two weeks straight of rain, so I am trying to take advantage of the nice weather while I have it. I can remember being outside and running for Swimming and Softball practices and conditioning in late fall/early winter back in high school. As long as it wasn't snowing, we ran outside. Early training for the Norwegian weather!
After that, Frieda introduced me to her mom who is currently visiting her. The first thing she said to me was: "Oh, is she the one with the blog?!", "I have been reading!". (Hi Frieda's mom!) It made me laugh :). Didn't realize I had an international audience... No pressure, lol.
October 27
Today was the day for scheduling classes for next semester, back at Mount Union. After some difficulties with the new time difference conversion, I was able to log on at the correct time. I had a mini panic attack when a few of my classes were not working out, but after a few things were fixed, everything turned out alright. I am only taking 15 credits so far for next semester, which is really low for me, but there didn't seem to be hardly any classes I needed offered next semester and I don't really have time in my schedule to take random classes if I want to have any chance of graduating on time. I was able to send some emails and twist a few arms to get a couple of things working in my favor for next semester, but it will be weird not having a full course load. That would have been the perfect semester to study abroad!! But then I would have missed OAC's for diving. Oh well! :/
After that stressful start to the day, I then chilled and worked on homework. Later that evening, I booked my tickets to see the Nutcracker ballet at the Oslo Opera House in December! I was so excited and I have always wanted to see the Nutcracker, but it is hard to get tickets back in Cleveland and I am usually at school the one weekend they are there, so I am glad I have the opportunity to go while I am here! There were only tickets for one date left here and so I snatched one up and was even able to get a student discount, so they ended up being really cheap! :)
No class today so instead, I thought I would try and test and see if my cooking skills had improved any in the past few months! I decided to try my hand at making baked apple chips. I cut up three apples into thin slices and laid them out on baking sheets. I put cinnamon and sugar on some of them and then put them into the oven to bake! The recipe I found said that they needed to cook for a while, so I left them and went to my room and the next thing I know, one of my roommates was knocking on my door, telling me that whatever I made was burning... I quickly ran to the kitchen, pulled them out, and put them out on the balcony before the smoke could get to the fire alarm. I must have converted the *F to *C wrong or something.... Most of them were salvageable and it looked like the ones that burnt were mainly the slices that had sugar sprinkled on them, so I threw the charred ones out. The edible ones were amazing though!!! I really liked them and can't wait to try making them at home where the ovens are more familiar and there is less of a chance of me messing anything up!
After that exciting morning, I worked on homework and got to chat with Kate (HI!) from back home for a bit. Then for dinner, I tried to redeem myself... My mom had sent me some of my favorite pasta mix in the care package she sent me and so I wanted to make it. The noodles were fully cooked (finally got that right!), but when it came to making the sauce... it turned into more of a noodle soup. AND I almost burnt the kitchen down for the SECOND time today, when some of the sauce bubbled over and started making a bunch of smoke. It ended up tasting halfway descent, but I think I will stick to my peanut butter and try and work on NOT setting the kitchen on fire... Baby Steps.
October 24
This morning, I had my Genetics lecture and then I met with my lab partner to work on our lab report. I had gotten paired with Kristine, a Norwegian girl ( :D ), and I think we typed out a pretty good report! I am 95% sure she even invited me to a party that the Biology faculty pub was throwing!? I have heard many times and it seems to be true for the most part, that when Norwegians want to invite you to something, they wont directly come out and ask you if you want to come, instead they will inform you that something is going to happen. This announcement is their way of inviting you to take part, not wanting to out you on the spot and force you to make a decision by straight out asking you. Very interesting in theory, but extremely difficult and frustrating to work out as a foreigner, who isn't too familiar with the secret customs. Maybe that is why it is so hard to meet real Norwegians and make friends with them, most people don't know to pick up on theses subtle cues and traditions that would actually allow you to hang out and get to know them.
After getting my work done at the University, I then headed over to coffee hour (an event for mostly international students so that they can get to know each other) BY MYSELF?! Usually our Sogn group all goes together, but everyone was busy today and so I ventured off to go talk to and meet new people... so out of my comfort zone. After I had gotten my tea and was panicked-ly looking for some place to sit (only slightly regretting my decision to come), I saw Lexi from my Political Utopias class and was invited to sit with her and her friends! I got to meet some of her friends from Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands and we all talked for about two hours! They seemed really cool and I am glad I decided to come!
After coffee hour, I ventured home, where Frieda had decided to cook for all of us and make a traditional Ghanaian dinner. I helped by making the pudding (not Ghanaian) and hard to mess up, I don't think she trusted me with the real cooking :) rightly so... We had a bunch of our friends over and she made us rice, yam, sweet potato fries, plantains, ground nut soup (?!? This was made for me!), and pudding for dessert! It all tasted amazing and we were absolutely stuffed by the end of the meal!!! Thank you Frieda!!! Everyone stayed over pretty late and hung out and it was nice to catch up with Eva, Zita, and Frainzi for most of the night. I feel like we haven't seen each other in forever! Everyone is getting really busy with finals and studying, so it was nice to get everyone together for some fun and great food!
October 25
It was absolutely beautiful out this morning, so I went on a run outside. Verrrry hilly, but it was fun to run around the Norwegian neighborhoods and see all of the cute houses. After showering, I then caught up with my diving coach (Hi Phil!) to see how everyone did this past weekend during the first two meets of the season. Go Raiders!!! It sounds like they all did really well, but almost half of our team is out with concussions. :(. Get well soon guys!!
After getting ready, I decided to head into the city to do some shopping! My converse kind of fell apart and the only shoes I have that would be good during the winter are my hiking boots, so I got a pair of cute black boots! :) Very Norwegian... they either wear those or converse! After buying those, I did some souvenir shopping for people back home and got a lot of people checked off my list! Don't know how I am going to fit it all... :) After that, I walked around the mall for a bit and then headed home so that I could Skype with my mom and Jim.
For the rest of the night, I just kind of chilled and then I started planning out my Dublin trip with Jess! Being the nerds we are, we made a spreadsheet of all of the things we want to do while we are there, prices, hours, directions... anything you can think of! Hahaha we are such dorks, but we only have a couple of days there and don't want to miss anything! I was also researching more family ancestry and it looks like the Doyle clan (my mom's maiden name) were Norwegian vikings that settled in Ireland! The more you know... :) I am getting really excited and can't wait to see Jess and Julia!
October 26
Today was a chill day. It was the start of Daylight Savings time (1 week ahead of USA) and had an extra hour to sleep in, no complaints here! I then downloaded a proxy server (don't tell the government... is it even illegal?) so that I could watch my American Netflix and continue on watching more seasons of Supernatural while I worked on my secret project. :)
Later in the afternoon, I went running again. It has been really nice here lately (although cold) but it is finally sunny after two weeks straight of rain, so I am trying to take advantage of the nice weather while I have it. I can remember being outside and running for Swimming and Softball practices and conditioning in late fall/early winter back in high school. As long as it wasn't snowing, we ran outside. Early training for the Norwegian weather!
After that, Frieda introduced me to her mom who is currently visiting her. The first thing she said to me was: "Oh, is she the one with the blog?!", "I have been reading!". (Hi Frieda's mom!) It made me laugh :). Didn't realize I had an international audience... No pressure, lol.
October 27
Today was the day for scheduling classes for next semester, back at Mount Union. After some difficulties with the new time difference conversion, I was able to log on at the correct time. I had a mini panic attack when a few of my classes were not working out, but after a few things were fixed, everything turned out alright. I am only taking 15 credits so far for next semester, which is really low for me, but there didn't seem to be hardly any classes I needed offered next semester and I don't really have time in my schedule to take random classes if I want to have any chance of graduating on time. I was able to send some emails and twist a few arms to get a couple of things working in my favor for next semester, but it will be weird not having a full course load. That would have been the perfect semester to study abroad!! But then I would have missed OAC's for diving. Oh well! :/
After that stressful start to the day, I then chilled and worked on homework. Later that evening, I booked my tickets to see the Nutcracker ballet at the Oslo Opera House in December! I was so excited and I have always wanted to see the Nutcracker, but it is hard to get tickets back in Cleveland and I am usually at school the one weekend they are there, so I am glad I have the opportunity to go while I am here! There were only tickets for one date left here and so I snatched one up and was even able to get a student discount, so they ended up being really cheap! :)