Vinterferie!

Hello dear readers! I have something to share with you! Two weeks ago, in the beginning of March, I spent probably the best time so far in my exchange year…

Tuesday, March 4th, Hedda, Jakob and I spent an incredible nice day and evening together. First after a few days at Heddas placewe went in to the “city” called Lannion. We decided pretty quickly to go bowling, but first we decided to buy what we needed for camping and a small gift to the the family Lempereur to host us for two nights.

After we had bought what we needed we went to the bowling area to play a round, and that was a lot of fun! We played just one round, and we got strikes and everything! I have to say it’s a long time since I played bowling the last time… Right when we finished our round of bowling, Célia came. Célia is an incredibly nice girl I met during the international week in Lannion, in fact she was Lanes host sister for the week.. We stayed in this area until 20:30 playing air hockey, and pool, lots of fun!

Then we got picked up by Jannick Lempereur, who brought us to his place, close to the ocean. We could leave some of our stuff with him in his house, and then off we went to find a place to camp.. After a fifteen minute walk we finally found a place to camp, a small grass plot, not far from the sea. When we found the place we set our tent, went searching for rocks for our camp fire. After finding everything we needed to make a fire and the tent was set we could finally sit down and celebrate Hedda and Jakobs 18th birthday. We had bought a bottle of wine, but of course forgot a wine opener.. No problem though because we improvised, and opened the bottle with a shoe and a rock ;) When the wine was served in some plastic cups, the hot dogs were smoking, the fire was warming and the conversation was all about our good camping memories, I almost felt at home. This feeling I got in this exact moment was a feeling I have missed, a feeling that brought me back to late summer nights at our cabin URA. And it doesn’t stop there when the fire died out and the wine was empty, I glanced at the sky to see countless stars, the sky had cleared up and it was incredible to watch all the stars. It was the best night so far during my exchange year, because a little part of me felt at home, a feeling I haven’t had in a long time. The next morning, Jannick woke us up right at the time of sunrise with fresh pain au chocolat and croissants. It was so incredibly nice of him to do that, and if you read this THANK YOU JANNICK, for everything!!!

I will soon make a post where i put mostly pictures!

Halfway, Fest Noz and more!

Hello, long time no see! It has been almost three months since last I blogged and a lot has happened, I will keep it brief and short, and if you want more or have questions, just ask me!
First I just want to start with the fact that I am fine, for those who worry… I am having a splendid time here in France! This time I will keep the text brief, however I will put in a few pictures!

First I can start with the month December:

The weekend of 1^st December it was arranged for a Thanksgiving dinner in Brest, and that was an awesome weekend! I had a lot of good conversations and got to spend time with the people I love the most down here :) 

Well I can say that Christmas came extremely fast, I didn’t really get the “Christmas feeling” before, well late… The 15^th of December, my little sister Nea turned 11, and I am so happy I could be a part of the morning tradition, with breakfast in bed, thank you Skype!

A few days later Jakob, Wilma (from Finland), Fiona (another Norwegian) and I went to IKEA to get some of the Scandinavian Christmas. It was so cool and nice. We bought IKEA-pølse, gløgg, pepperkaker and smågodt!

Then Christmas came, which was nice, but probably the toughest period so far… Christmas Eve I spent with my host-family’s extended family, with cousins and grandparents in Normandy! In the days that followed Christmas Eve we also went visiting the extended family on the mother’s side (close to Nantes). At new years I had Norwegians over to my place, spending the night. It was Fiona and Jakob, we ate Chinese food, and jumped into the new year on a lawn in Liffré somewhere.

Sweden flag and IKEA

From the left: Fiona, Jakob, Wilma and me !

After New Year, I went through a tough period where I missed my dear ones back home and I did NOT want to go to school… But after a week or so it was all better! Also my computer broke during this period, but now it is fixed, with windows 7 French J

When it comes to sports I am continuously progressing in Western horseback riding, and handball is too easy, we win about 45-17 almost every time. 

After New Year it was time for galette de roi witch is, judging by the name goooood galettes! It has more or less the same concept as risengrynsgrøt (med mandelen). Here though it’s like a cake and there is a collective piece in it. 

Gingerbread war house...

Gingerbread airoplane.. 

Awesome Indian game, love it!

Olympic Games opening ceremony!

Brazilians just loooove norway ;)

In tha car!

Some uality time in the car :O

Pure norwegian sexyness ;)

Moillau au chocolat :)

Then a week ago I was halfway in my exchange year! The first week of February all the exchange students were invited to do an international week in a hotel and restaurant school. It was so much fun! We made beef bourguignon, moillau aux chocolat and other things! Honestly the best week so far! During this week I was in another host family, and it was sooooooo nice! The family’s name was Lempereur (the emperor) they lived really close to the ocean, in a cozy house, with a dog. I had during this week two host siblings: Marcelo and Liliana, really adorable! I laughed so hard at Marcelos jokes and Liliana was just adorable. The parents was Dayu and Jannick a really nice couple, with whom I could have interesting discussions and great moments!

And now this weekend I was for the first time at a Fest Noz, a traditional way of “partying” in Bretagne. It was really cool, and I think it’s something worth experiencing. I felt I got closer to the traditions in this region, and I liked it!