Evelyn's Year in Norway

           I've found that you never get bored at a Folk High School, you just never get onto a schedule. Sometimes I still feel that I haven't really 'settled in' because I'm not sure I've ever had a full week where everything went according to the schedule I was given. I ended up dropping out of ceramics class for that very reason--there's been three or four classes so far out of the eight in the session, and--because of International Food--I had to leave halfway through the only one I attended. We're always going on trips, or having little adventures, so that each week is something new. I never know what to expect, but I'm not complaining!           This week, all of the classes went bowling! NLC, Friluft, and Global all have their long day on Wednesday, so instead of class, we took the minibuses to Kristiansand. The rest of the classes have their long day on Tuesday, but for some reason, they went on Monday. Monday is usually our collective clean

                     Until a few weeks ago, I'd only ever knit a headband, and an attempt at a scarf which turned out looking more like a triangle. Knitting was something that interested me, but that I wasn't particularly fond of. However, when this school year started and I had my choice of elective classes, I chose Knitting (Strikking).  The first task was to create a sitting mat. It involved using multiple colors and balls of yarn, and they are meant so that we can take them on trips and not have to sit on the cold ground. The yarn is all wool, and provided by the school. I missed the first class due to a trip, and the teacher wasn't there for the second one, but I was told to do 80 masks (the loops on the needle). I guess other people had smaller needles than I did, or they had remembered wrong when telling me, because my finished result was a long rectangular mat better suited for two, or something resembling a baby blanket. I took it on one of our day trips though, an

          Once upon a time, a group of Folk High School students decided to go on a trip. They were from different classes at school, and didn't know each other well. This will be a nice trip, and a nice bonding experience , thought their teachers.  The trip sounded very exciting. The classes were to drive two hours away, where they would stop and carry their things to an old Norwegian cabin. The cabin had no electricity, and no running water, and the teachers collected all of their phones before they left.            Before they walked to the cabin, the plan was to take a bike tour around the fjord, on large four person bikes that went along the old rail tracks. Then they were supposed to see a picturesque tourist destination near the fjord. Instead, it was a dark and stormy day. Nobody had ever been to this cabin, and they didn't quite know the way, so they thought it best to start  early. The woman renting it out said that it was a light walk, that it took her about 45 minut

           A few days before we went canoeing with Friluftsliv, some of my friends from that class asked if we wanted to spend the night at the campsite. I thought that it sounded like an adventure, so I agreed right away. We planned to sleep in hammocks, which we were able to borrow from the NLC storage, along with sleeping bags, mats, and thermoses.           While the rest of my class carried day packs, Alina and I--the only two that decided to stay--had on our enormous 70 liter bags. Marianne was adamant that we both have 2 sleeping bags, to make extra sure that we didn't freeze during the night. I wore my wool underwear, as well as two more layers of pants, an insulated shirt, and my biggest winter jacket. (This is Marielle and Valeria from NLC--Marielle in sweats and without a bag, obviously not planning on staying over).          After the rest of our classes left, there were 9 students that remained. We stuck around by the fire for a while, then decided to walk up to the vi

           Wednesday  was a gorgeous day, perfect for an adventure! NLC had planned a canoeing trip with the Friluftsliv (Outdoor Life) class, so we packed our bags in the morning, and set out right after breakfast. NLC got lucky and got a minibus to drive us most of the way, but Friluft had to find their way through the woods with compasses and maps--about an hour walk. We still ended up walking for half an hour or so, but some of the NLC students aren't as used to carrying big bags so it took us a bit longer.           When we reached our destination--a campsite type place next to the lake, we climbed up a little higher so that we could get a better view, and got a nice fire going. We drank tea and coffee, and roasted marshmallows while waiting for Friluftsliv to get there. After they arrived, we hung out for a bit, then split into two groups. One hiked a farther up to get the highest viewpoint, and the other went down to canoe.           I started  canoeing with Emilie, and we s

           In the middle of all this rain, last Monday was a gorgeous, sunny day. So of course, the entire school packed up and went to the zoo! We had a really great time walking around and seeing the animals. They even fed the tiger while we were there which was pretty exciting. Taking a nice day trip to the zoo felt very normal, almost too normal. Apparently there's been a spike in covid cases in Kristiansand in the last few days, so it was lucky that we went when we did. We spent most of the day there, then came back to the school for dinner and language training.  A trip to the zoo wouldn't be right without something sweet!  The tiger: The Kristiansand zoo is very unique in that they give the animals huge enclosures with enough space to not just survive, but really live--here are some flamingos. There were a bunch of meerkats, and this one cracked us up because of the way it was sitting, just chilling.  They had an entire "Africa" section, with lots of animals ro

           On Thursday I am supposed to have ceramics class, but we've only had one so far, and I had to leave early to go to International Food. This Thursday, we were all getting ready for class, when it was announced that it was cancelled for the day. I was kind of bummed, but also I figured maybe I could take a nap or something.           Then Ananda mentioned that her class during that time--'Sustainability' or something like that--was taking a trip to visit a local beekeeper to learn about his business. Alina, Elise and I thought that sounded pretty cool, so we asked the teacher if we could tag along, and she said yes! We took three cars, and it was about a 20 minute drive. When we arrived, we took a short walk up to where the beehives were. Did I mention that it was also raining? A typical Norwegian day.           The beekeeper that we met was very nice, and he told us about how he only started last year, but now owns 10 or so hives, and sells his honey locally. He s

           Tuesday night my friend Alina and I were wandering around, looking for something to do. Most people were watching Harry Potter, but we wanted to play boardgames and hang out instead. There was almost nobody in the main areas, but the teacher in charge for the night had brought his 7 year old son to work with him, so we went over and in our best Norwegian, asked if he wanted to play a game with us.           He said that he was doing homework, but that maybe we could play later. That seemed fine, so we went up and hung around the ping pong table, chatting. About 15 minutes later, the kid came up and said, "Ok, let's play!" When we asked him what he wanted to play, he said "Let's play football!"          We got some other people to join, and we ended up with 6 of us, 7 hockey sticks, 3 pairs of shoes, and about 20 random balls.  And that is the story of how during my chill evening, I ended up playing football, hockey, volleyball, and dodgeball all a

           I had a wonderful time visiting my Norwegian family this weekend! Anne Tone picked me up on her way home from work Friday evening, and I spent Friday and Saturday night at her house. On Saturday, we  took a nice walking tour around Skrelia, a beautiful area that there used to be glaciers going through. It has been very rainy recently, so the water was high, but we wore our hiking boots and had a great time!             We walked a short path around the area with Anne Tone's family, Gunlaug, Andreas, and his daughter, Signe. Signe surprised everybody when she came up to me and started peppering me with questions--in English! Apparently she has been learning from school, her parents, and the TV. (That was evident when she asked "What do you think of Mr. Biden?")          I had so much fun hanging out with the kids over the weekend. Since I'm still only learning the basics of Norwegian, I get pretty self conscious about speaking with adults, but I have no prob

           Every couple of weeks there is a class called Internasjonal Mat (food), where the NLC  student(s) from a country have to prepare a dinner for the whole school--about 100 people. We had our first one on Thursday, for America. Our group decided to make baked mac & cheese with bacon, and an apple crisp for dessert. There are four Americans, and we worked with the students that signed up for the class--mostly girls from Art and Global--to prepare the meal.           To make enough for everyone, we had to cook an insane amount of food. The school has a huge, industrial kitchen, which made it much easier, and we split into three groups: apple crisp, bacon mac, and vegan/dairy/gluten free mac & cheese for people with special diets. I was in the apple crisp group, and we started by peeling and cutting 50 or so apples.           As we quickly realized, none of us had ever actually made baked mac & cheese before, especially not from scratch, and we didn't have a recipe