Rustad Hotell & Fjellstue Lillehammer

... Vinterparken, which is about 15 minutes from my flat. It's VERY COOL! Although it is made for children, I think that there's fun for any age. We rode on an icy 4-wheeler track, saw a neat Norwegian Fairy Tale Castle, walked through a hotel and chapel made completely of ice, and took pictures with trolls. :) It was great fun! I also went bobsledding on the Olympic Bobsledding track in Lillehammer. It was SO CRAZY! A ...

... are talking about by their actions and similar words to English, other times I stare blankly or try to politely say that I don't speak Norwegian. Most people just switch over to English at that point, no problem. Some of the common phrases that I'm beginning to be comfortable include: · Takk- Thank you · Unnskyld- Excuse me · Vaer så snil- Please Pretty ...

... in Norway. Dag (pronounced like ''dog'') has written several books, including one about Norwegian values, and this past week finished up a document of objectives for Norwegian compulsory education with 13 other people from different political parties and parts of the government. A fascinating man with stories to tell from his work with famine preparedness with the UN and with the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Dag Hareide is a key ...

... here. Then we hit the Troll Road.(Trollstig ferein) I am so glad I sit in the back of the car.The road is unbelievable, very steep, very long, very windy, very narrow. Spectacular views and mountain peaks with snow. Again lots of stops and photos. Rolf and Liv are good company and we get on well.We take a short ferry trip to Eisdal and after some more windy roads get to ...

Woah, wow! WHAT?! That is how I feel right now about life. Well, more specifically, about my 3 assignments that are all due tomorrow morning at 9am, and thus ruling my life. Yes, you guessed it! I will be pulling an all-nighter to get it all done. As one distraction, I managed an attempt to make jojo's to go along with dinner tonight. I don't think we baked the potatoes long enough before we let them cool, then fried ...

... trying to use, but in spite of this, and the fact that they were white, they turned out ok. I don't think the Namibians understood what a big deal Thanksgiving is for us at home until we started to explain our different Thanksgiving traditions. But I can't think of a better group to spend that family time with in Norway. They were so much fun. For dessert we had pumpkin pie with whipped cream. It was the perfect end to the meal. No stress involved.

... and interaction and the body language was so funny. My favorite part of the whole show was an overly-dramatic musical performace about a man and his all-weather jacket called "Vær og klær" which means weather and clothing and is obviously much cooler in Norwegian due to the rhyming factor. Anyway, I laughed and laughed, and by the time it was over I was exhausted from my long day and from laughing so hard, so I dozed on the train ride back to Hamar.

... as amusing adventures, so we took up the offer. And what an amusing adventure it was! While trudging through the snow, Translation-Man explained the etemology of Serbian and Albanian to me as Online Lover proceeded to tell Lauren that he did "no smoking, no drinking, no women" (here he flashed his wedding ring), then told Lauren that she was very beautiful and he wanted to remember this moment forever. Then they told us that they really appreciated the ...

... the title is 15 stories about crossing borders. It's all about Norwegian identity and it addresses how that identity has changed or perhaps not changed over the years. Norway has only been an independent country for 101 years, so you might see how such a young country (relatively speaking) value identity quite highly. I mean, of all the Scandinavian countries, what makes Norway think it is so different, so unique from the others...especially culture-wise? I have to ...

... Ate haring (herring) with just its head cut off and scaled (for the most part) in the Netherlands. · Walked down the red-light district by myself and watched people get stoned with marijuana in the oldest "coffeeshop" (more like potshop) in Amsterdam, and lived to tell the story. · Celebrated the halfway mark of our program! · Visited three beautiful cathedrals, including the Notre Dame. · Ate Belgian waffles in Belgium! · Walked at least 60 miles, and the blisters to prove it ...