The last few days have been quite sad with everyone leaving… This morning I opened my window and nothing happened. Usually Natalia is there to say hi.

My bags are packed, my room is clean, and I could only be any readier if I got dressed and slept in my clothes for tomorrow. I guess I could have breakfast as well…

I wonder who will scoop up my nice red pot when I leave?

Sweet dreams. See you in Vancouver.

A good-bye dinner with most of my roommates.

Emily from China, Catalina from Colombia, Helen from Norway, and Athina from …              I am sure you can guess 🙂

I did it. I did it! I finished my 3 courses in Oslo.
Yesterday we had our practical exams. My group put on a theatre performance. I was sceptical at first, but I must admit this was one of my favorite projects ever. We had a blast AND learned tons. The piece was about the good teacher/ bad teacher (Audrey made an amazing bad teacher! She claims it was just an act!) and how we meet children in the classroom.

Today we went to school just for the course and semester evaluations and then took the scenic route from our classroom to the foyer (Dani pressed all the buttons in the elevator…)

Mixed feelings today. Sad to leave school, the professors, my new friends, and Oslo. Happy to kiss Evan, sleep in my own bed, and hang out with friends & family.

4 days till take off.

Last night we had a holiday potluck dinner. It got a bit out of control. In a good way!

Look above the arctic circle…

In December the sun doesn’t rise at all in Tromsø… It just gets a little light. One day, when we thought it was 4:00 pm, it was really only 1:20 pm and we still had the whole afternoon. It was crazy. In the picture with the church it is only 2:50 pm.

We took the cable car up the mountain where we played in the snow and enjoyed the view.

We didn’t get to see the Northern Lights (boo!), but going on hikes in the middle of the night has been a lot of fun. One night we went to a lake, the other night we took a bus to get away from the city. We found ourselves in the middle of nowhere where the bus driver (did he speak English or Norwegian, who knows?) parked the bus and showed us photos of the Northern Lights on his phone.

“The three ships had been buried to serve as vessels for their owner’s final journey to the realm of the dead.”

I just got back from a great trip to Tromsø, way way way up North. It’s so hight up that the sun doesn’t rise there at this time of year. It’s gets a little lighter for a few hours, but most of the time it’s just dark. Absolutely crazy! Maybe I’ll go back in the summer to see the midnight sun.

I’ll write more later, just wanted to let you know 2 MORE WEEKS UNTIL I COME HOME TO VANCOUVER.

My teacher Jan Erik after a lecture: “And now I hope that you are so tired that you won’t ask any questions…”

Last week we enjoyed a concert over lunch (I forgot to eat, too busy listening). The music reminded me of Inuit throat singing in Canada.

http://www.wilhelmine.no/akku

“The base of their music is the sounds of the northern polar part of the world, like the Inuit female throatsingingtradition, Norwegian folk songs and different Siberian traditions with overtonesinging among others. But the musicians have big variations in their musical background, making AKKU5 a conglomerate of musical expressive colours.”

And how did he make the tuba sound like a ditcherydoo?