Lysere og lysere hver dag!

Here's a picture from Bergen at Christmastime. I am pretty sure it was the middle of the day, early afternoon--check out that darkness! Plus, check out the Smartwool socks I found in the window! Steamboat is international :)

Every week since December 21st the sky has gotten markedly lighter every day! This is great because although the darkness was durable, it sure is nice to remember what the sun looks like! Christmas in Bergen was fantastic--my host family and all of their extended family is just wonderful. I really love it! We had a wonderful day (Christmas Eve is when they celebrate here) of singing in the Church, afternoon grøt (something like grits and porrige?), and an evening meal of pinnekjøtt which is rib of lamb! It was pretty incredible--now I understand why family and good food are so important at Christmastime in Norway! It is so dark out, I think everyone is always excited for Christmas because it brings a little bit of light in even the darkest of dark days. I didn't even get the worst of the dark, either. Up in North Norway they get next to none, so I actually felt pretty lucky in that respect.

Plus, now we have SNOW! I have gone skiing twice already--once in Kongsberg (it was really pretty epic with the landscape and how truly cross-country it was) and it is so much fun :) Even if I do tend to fall quite a lot--I know I should be a pretty decent skier since I come from Steamboat but in all honesty I have always snowboarded, and had almost no recollection about how to ski! But I still love it though! New Years was pretty fun, too. My host family had a party at their house with tons of delicious desserts, and it was pretty fantastic. We only had about nine days off of school, but it felt like quite a long time because now I've only got about five or six weeks until our winter ski camp with Rotary, seven weeks until our winter break, and we take our Eurotour in April! I've been so busy with friends and family that I don't know how I am going to manage to come back to the U.S. Especially with all of the things I need to experience before I get back! I am so worried the second half of my exchange is going to fly by before I even get a chance to catch my breath!

I feel as if every step I take towards becoming fluent in Norwegian, the more homework and schoolwork I have because I understand it all now, which is good and bad. This is sort of bad because I no longer have the "I don't understand" excuse--not that my teachers ever REALLY let me use that one. This is great!! as well because it is wonderful being able to speak another language and understand what everyone around you is saying when you thought it sounded like gibberish just five months ago. I have also learned how much language says about the culture. In Norwegian, there are so many words that mean "nice," or just have euphonic sounds to them, and it really says a lot about the positivity of the Norwegian culture. Another wonderful thing about the New Year is that I can officially say I can joke in Norwegian. There are definitely still some jokes i just haven't gotten yet, but I'm to the point where I can thoroughly enjoy the language for all that it is. Plus, translations are just hilarious sometimes! Trust me!

Anyway, as I begin my second half of my exchange, I just want to state a few things:

• I really apologize if my English grammar and spelling goes completely down the tubes--except for skyping my family I speak Norwegian to everyone and have for the past three and a half months or so, but it is REALLY beginning to take it's toll on my English!
• I plan to do everything positive and possible to make the second half of my exchange full of experiences, travel, and just to take every opportunity I am giving as a challenge and succeed!
• I promise I still love Steamboat, and I won't walk around moping when I get home, but I think I will have quite a bit of hjemlengsel for Norway!!

I hope everyone in Steamboat had a great New Years, and everything in general is just going well! Wish me luck, I am presenting to my fantastic Rotary club this Monday about me, my life in Steamboat, and OUR Rotary club!