So this last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Lillehammer with my host family. It was beautiful up there and we toured around the city and went to places like Lysgårdsbakken and the walking street. Here are some pictures of the trip:
ND Respresent!
Lysgårdsbakken
The Walking Street
Saturday to Sunday comparison.
It was a fun trip, the landscape was beautiful and it was great to see the sun for the first time in a long time as well as finally get some snow. Although back in my host-town, there was rain and still no snow. But that concludes my blog post about Lillehammer!
Last week, my twelfth week, I was lucky enough to get to go on two trips to Oslo. Once with my school and once with my local chapter of AFS.
I was also lucky enough to get the day before the Oslo trip off from school! They had a teacher's day or something, I think.
OSLO TRIP NUMBER ONE (SCHOOL)
So, on Wednesday, I went to Oslo on a double decker bus with the Music and Drama students from my school.
Leaving Halden, heading to Oslo.
I just HAD to have a Gingerbread Latte from Starbucks. (The closest Starbucks to me is in Oslo, nearly 2 hours away...)
Also, I introduced my friend Oliver to his first Starbucks EVER!
We ate at T.G.I. Friday's that evening, and I ate some very expensive Mozzarella sticks!
I saw the palace for the first time at night.
During the trip with school, we got a nice tour of Bårdar, a performing arts school. We also got a tour of 'Det Norske Teater' (The Norwegian Theater). We had some free time for lunch, I ate a Max Burger (A Swedish burger company) with Oliver. They took us to a very, well, interesting museum. At the end of the night we went to see 'Spelemann på taket' (Fiddler on the Roof). It was in Nynorsk (Not the type of Norwegian that I am learning... I am learning Bokmål). So that was interesting, and then a nearly two hour bus ride back to Halden.
OSLO TRIP NUMBER TWO (AFS ØSTFOLD)
On Saturday, I got on a train to Oslo from Halden with Time around 10:05 am, met the other Østfold exchange students in Fredrikstad and got into Oslo Sentralstasjon around noon.
Halden Togstasjon
Oslo Sentralstasjon
From Oslo S, we went to Oslo Operahuset (Opera House) to take some cool pictures and a group photo as well.
AFS Østfold Students
From there, we took a stroll down Karl Johan's Gate and over to Nobels Fredssenter (Nobel Peace Center) and took a look around the building and inside.
Of course, a selfie had to be taken!!! USA and Venezuela!!!
We were then released to have some free time. As I walked back towards Oslo Sentralstasjon I took a few pictures.
National Theater in Oslo
There was also a demonstration outside of the Norwegian parliament building.
It was a good time because while walking down Karl Johans Gate, I got to see a huge group of AFS students from both Region 1 and Region 2!!! Some people who I had not seen in almost THREE MONTHS! It was also nice to see the people from my own region too!
From there, I met Paul from Germany at the train station, had some coffee and hung out a bit for the rest of the evening.
Oslo, by night! (This is probably around 4:30pm... So Dark!)
After walking for a bit, I asked Paul what the time was... it was 4:40 (I had to be back at Sentralstasjon around 4:45, my train left at 5:02) We walked quickly to the train station (I made it there around 4:55), said goodbye and I made it onto my train along with the rest of AFS Østfold!
Upon returning to Halden, we celebrated Time's birthday which had been the day before this trip and we showed the other students a little bit of the town (namely the Fortress), hung out and had a good time!
So, that was my week :)
(You can also watch the video from my trip to Oslo on Saturday on my youtube channel!)
So, I finally get around to writing this post! This last Saturday, a bunch of exchange students from Region 1 met in Oslo. Although I had seen them just the weekend before at Ankomstleir del To, it was great to see them again.
My day started at my local contact's house, where I had spent the night Friday night. After getting ready for my day ahead and making sure I had everything I needed, my local contact was kind enough to drive me to the train station to catch the 10:05 train to Oslo Sentralstasjon. Well, turns out the train was not working in Halden! So luckily, a man ran up to Time and I and told us the bus to catch the Oslo train was about to leave! Phew, that was close. We met the train in Fredrikstad and took it from there for about an hour and a half to Oslo.
When we arrived at Sentralstasjon, we were greeted by a group of AFS students, and I was greeted by the wonderful smell of STARBUCKS! Of course, not having starbucks for almost 3 months really got to me, so the first thing I did in Oslo was buy a Caramel Macchiato, they didn't have French Vanilla or Hazelnut :(
After waiting a little bit for the rest of the AFS students, we departed from the train station. First thing we decided to do was to walk to the Oslo Opera House. It was a beautifully designed structure and well, I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Belgium, Turkey, France, Italy, Mexico, Brazil and USA! #CULTURE
Awesome Panorama with flat Ethan!
Jose and Anne!
Great picture of the Opera House!
"Exchange isn't a year in your life, it's a life in a year"
Oslo <3
What a fun time, gorgeous weather, beautiful sun and great people! After visiting the Opera House we then traveled down the walking street to the royal palace of the current King Harald V. It was a very nice palace. While we were at the palace we ran into Francesca from Region 2 who we hadn't seen in nearly 2 1/2 months since Arrival Camp Part One! That was cool!
Walking to the palace #SELFIE
Lol.
A pretty cool place.
Parliament.
The family <3
After we'd finished with our travel to the palace, we walked around for a while attempting to find a kebab place, but ended up splitting and eating at different places. I ate an individual pizza at Wayne's Coffee and Riccardo came to meet us there. Then, we took the tram to the sculpture park called Vigelandsparken. Myself, Sophie and Anne waited for Paul, Henri, Fernando, Alexis and Camille at the train station to join us at the park.
Oh, kids...
Oh, Fernando :P
"Connecting Lives, Sharing Cultures"
And the rest of the day was filled with hanging out I guess? I had a wonderful time in Oslo with the other students. We said our goodbyes and Time and I headed out on our 8 o'clock train back to Halden. Here are some other pictures that were taken, that I haven't put in yet:
Fancy McDonalds, haha.
Great times, great people and as the AFS saying goes, "Walk together, talk together all ye people of the earth; then and only then, shall ye have peace"
Picture Credits: Sophie, Jose, Camille, Fabiana and myself.
