August 17th
Last day of freedom!!!! My Buddy Group was having another event to help "show us around the city more", and by that they mean... more public embarrassment!!! Yay! Only Doris and Jacqueline (China) showed up from my group, so we were put with Marcus, Marta, and Matilda (Norwegian). It was a lot of fun and we definitely got to see a lot more of the city. We went to the Opera House and sang Justin Beiber songs while ballet dancing. Some tourists were even filming and taking pictures which I thought was funny... We had to collect money by playing instruments in the street (accordion, guitar, ukulele, drum, and shaker). We played and sang as much of "Let It Be"from the Beatles as we could remember and I think we even got 16kr! After that we had to go to a public cafe and perform a fake marriage proposal where they say no and run out... that was the funniest part and we all stayed in character the whole time! Everyone around us believed it and applauded when he asked, but then it quickly got awkward... It was much easier to get involved the second time around when embarrassing yourself in public... practice makes perfect? After that we kind of gave up because it was raining and cold, so we stopped and got sushi!
Classes start tomorrow and my schedule isn't cooperating, so I am stressing. Hopefully everything works out!
August 18th
First Day of Classes!!!! I decided to go into campus EXTRA early so I could try and get some of my scheduling problems cleared up, and luckily after constantly refreshing the page for about an hour and a half, I found out that I got admitted into all of my classes ten minutes before I left! One chunk on stress off my plate! :) I went to the biology department because even though I was admitted into the Molecular Biology and Genetics course, there was still a big scary red box saying that I had not met the necessary pre-requirements for this course and I did not know if I needed to sign up for the lab safety courses that, of course, were only offered in Norwegian. They helped me out and said I didn't need to do anything! Yay! Chunka-stress #2 detached!
I think I may have found "my spot"(Sheldon tendencies(BBT)) outside a random lecture hall that is peaceful so that I can read and eat my lunch during breaks. My little comfort zone- away from home-away from home. They also had all of the student societies and clubs lined up around a part of campus. It was Norwegian overload, but somehow I made it through and even talked to some of them! There is no diving club at the school and the only one I found in Oslo is booked until January :( but I did talk to the swimming club, so maybe I will join to help keep in shape?! There was also a dance club that looked like fun and a very interesting Norwegian Teaching Union that would be cool to get information from.
After being on campus all day, my first and only class of the day finally started at 2:15! PSY2206- Cognition, Emotion, and Language. I was excited t o get into this course because it is the last psych course I need for my minor. :) The teacher did not know that 4/5 of her class would be international students, so all of her slides were in Norwegian, but the good part is that I know a few of the other people in the class from buddy week! Hopefully the first day is indeed the hardest, and it will be smooth sailing from here? Fingers Crossed!!!
Pictures:
Last day of freedom!!!! My Buddy Group was having another event to help "show us around the city more", and by that they mean... more public embarrassment!!! Yay! Only Doris and Jacqueline (China) showed up from my group, so we were put with Marcus, Marta, and Matilda (Norwegian). It was a lot of fun and we definitely got to see a lot more of the city. We went to the Opera House and sang Justin Beiber songs while ballet dancing. Some tourists were even filming and taking pictures which I thought was funny... We had to collect money by playing instruments in the street (accordion, guitar, ukulele, drum, and shaker). We played and sang as much of "Let It Be"from the Beatles as we could remember and I think we even got 16kr! After that we had to go to a public cafe and perform a fake marriage proposal where they say no and run out... that was the funniest part and we all stayed in character the whole time! Everyone around us believed it and applauded when he asked, but then it quickly got awkward... It was much easier to get involved the second time around when embarrassing yourself in public... practice makes perfect? After that we kind of gave up because it was raining and cold, so we stopped and got sushi!
Classes start tomorrow and my schedule isn't cooperating, so I am stressing. Hopefully everything works out!
August 18th
First Day of Classes!!!! I decided to go into campus EXTRA early so I could try and get some of my scheduling problems cleared up, and luckily after constantly refreshing the page for about an hour and a half, I found out that I got admitted into all of my classes ten minutes before I left! One chunk on stress off my plate! :) I went to the biology department because even though I was admitted into the Molecular Biology and Genetics course, there was still a big scary red box saying that I had not met the necessary pre-requirements for this course and I did not know if I needed to sign up for the lab safety courses that, of course, were only offered in Norwegian. They helped me out and said I didn't need to do anything! Yay! Chunka-stress #2 detached!
I think I may have found "my spot"(Sheldon tendencies(BBT)) outside a random lecture hall that is peaceful so that I can read and eat my lunch during breaks. My little comfort zone- away from home-away from home. They also had all of the student societies and clubs lined up around a part of campus. It was Norwegian overload, but somehow I made it through and even talked to some of them! There is no diving club at the school and the only one I found in Oslo is booked until January :( but I did talk to the swimming club, so maybe I will join to help keep in shape?! There was also a dance club that looked like fun and a very interesting Norwegian Teaching Union that would be cool to get information from.
After being on campus all day, my first and only class of the day finally started at 2:15! PSY2206- Cognition, Emotion, and Language. I was excited t o get into this course because it is the last psych course I need for my minor. :) The teacher did not know that 4/5 of her class would be international students, so all of her slides were in Norwegian, but the good part is that I know a few of the other people in the class from buddy week! Hopefully the first day is indeed the hardest, and it will be smooth sailing from here? Fingers Crossed!!!
Pictures: