Norvège

I actually wrote this right after my trip to Norway, about the 21st January.

Wow, my life is amazing. I am four weeks deep into my six week vaca and quite aware of how blessed I am! I returned tues evening from visiting a dear friend in Norway (aka Norvège in France and Norge by norwegians themselves.) Its been nearly ten years since I'd seen Marianne, when she herself was an exchange student in Lakeville (of all places!) Now she is married and teaches in the elementary school. She and her husband were too good to me- feeding me delicious meats cheeses and breads and taking me on a tour of downtown Oslo. I had picked a perfect weekend to come because the national competition of x -country skiing was being held in Mariannes hometown, only about two hrs north. Both sat and sun were spent in the snow, cheering on the skiiers as we roasted mallows and dogs over a fire. At night we did nothing but cozy near the fireplace as we chatted, laughed and, of course, ate amazing food. Marianne happens to have a little thing for chocolate- and for which I love her for :) but seriously, great great family. I not only laughed hysterically (her sisters are just a hoot), I really feel like I learned a whole lot about Norway
I am amazed over and over again how different each society meets the needs of its citizens (or atleast how they plan to!) It was fun to see how much Marrianne’s family love their country.
My last day I had the opportunity to go to class with Marianne and speak English with the class, aka one of the most adorable experiences of my life! I went into each third grade class and had kind of like a Q&A session with the kids. They were all around the age of 8 and most they informed me their favorite color, favorite food,etc. The questions they asked me were pretty simple- like what was my favorite color and if I liked dogs- BUT there were also some that caught me off guard! Some of the funniest were: do you know you are getting a new president today? Yes, but why do you- 8 year old norwegian girl- know that? Haha Another was why do you love America? Hmmm.. Had never really had to explain that before! Another drew a portrait of me ☺ At the end they all gave me big hugs! Such a fun experience to be the "real american girl" for them. Marrianne is so gifted in working with the children that her influence on their life is very prevalent. I feel blessed to be able to be a part of it all.

So before I left I was already planning the next time I could come, with plans to explore the west coast. Norway is such a beautiful country with a very welcoming culture- I definitely experienced that first hand this vacation.