Thon Hotel Gjovik

... That might have worked better than learning the hard way and blowing up a very important device. Luckily there was no fire or anything; just a bit of smoke adn some fun noises. Funny thing was that Kristen had been hoping I would blow something up the day before... so as soon as it was done smoking I go "well, you got your wish about something getting blown up!" Also, I yelled for Britt Inga (my other roommate, Kristin is my roommate as well ...

... like $12 US, which is like 46 Kroner. Not so fun times! They dont take my Mastercard debit card either from WAMU even though it is an international bank... I have to use an ATM and spend more money to take things out... ridiculous. Finally got all my luggage back yesterday at about 3 oclock my time. That was nice, cause then I had my adaptors and everything so I could actually use my laptop and leave this for you all.

... around together, because all of the bikes are bright yellow, so we look like a biker gang or something. we have nicknamed ourselves 'the yellow jackets' so when you see us riding through town..get out of our way! we are going to be in the local paper next week talking about our new bikes! I think it's going to be more about warning the city of Hamar to look out for these crazy drivers, but we'll see. i hope ...

... on campus) and listened to this great acoustic guitar guy play American music. It was so fun. Near the end as the Norwegians ended their 6 packs, the guitar player began playing Norwegian drinking songs, which would end with the crowd yelling "SKOLL!" and everybody taking a swig of beer. This is the Norway i've been dreaming of!! It also gave us a good opportunity to learn about others drinking habits (or obsessions in some of our cases ...

... snow whatsofu%#ingever. From my childhood I remember snow falling regularly around my birthday on October 11th. Then as I got older, usually a bit later. Sometimes in November or early December. But here we were on the 22nd of December 2006 and there was not a trace of snow anywhere. I could see the disappointment in my eyes (Johana surely couldn't care less, let us get inside it's bloody freezing...). The next ...

... right response to that? I think I ended up answering that it was a good question, and that I couldn't answer for my country, but that I was studying democracy and development in Norway to get a new perspective on it, and to learn about something that I felt I myself really didn't know much about. He turned out to be a really friendly, nice man. I think he asked the question to get some laughs...which he got...but maybe felt a little bad about putting me on the ...

... haha). So I tried to explain who I was in Norwegian, but there was bad reception. The conversation started something like this: Me: Hi, my name is Marie Lieberg and I am Ingrid Marken's daughter, family from the USA. I was wondring if I could visit for a day or two. Him: What? I can't hear.... Me: Hi! I'm family from the USA! Him: You're calling from the USA? Me: No, I'm calling from Hamar ...

... But I had a great time with Nat and Christy and I am not complaining about getting to see Europe the way we did. I actually have a free weekend coming up that I didn't know about today. I might take a trip on my own down to Denmark and hopefully meet up with a friend from PLU. If I dont' hear from her, I will ask around and see if any of the international students want to join me. If not, I could always go to Oslo for the day and go Christmas shopping or stick ...

... laughing so hard it didn't matter. We baked the pumpkin seeds and ate candy corn and peeps (thanks mom). Marie and I also made eyeballs (grapes) and brains (spaghetti) for the Norwegians. They were grossed out but laughed it off. It was a really fun night and once it was over, I went to my room and started reading for my exam. This morning, I woke up and made scrambled eggs and cheese for breakfast. It was quite tasty! I had my exam at 1:20 and spent the rest of the morning ...

... most was the sort of texture-feeling that she used. Maybe when I've got a place of my own and can afford to start collecting things I could get her to do a painting for me. This morning, after breakfast, Bente took me for a walk through Gjøvik. It is home to the largest cavern for public use which means that during the Olympics in '94, they held the ice-hockey games inside a mountain! I was pretty impressed with the rink there. I'd like to ...