Offerings to the Troll King

'Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.'  -Joesph Campbell

Today I had the best class I think I have every had in my entire educational career. I had my first real Individual Society and Environs class, along with my first excursion. For class today we took an all day hike in one of the local mountain ranges. We broke up into 3 smaller groups with different guides and went through the ranges. My professor was our guide. On the way she stopped us frequently to talk about the different plants around us and the various uses for them. We also discussed the changes in the way people are experiencing nature, specifically in the sense of cabins. The size of cottages here in Norway are changing drastically- traditionally the idea of a hut in Norway are to be very small and the focus attention on the surrounding nature; however, now most are becoming more like houses. We then made a fire and spent lunch at an old summer farm, where we made bread and learned about some Norwegian myths. 

Farmers used to bring their livestock to a summer farm to spend the season in the mountains, however they were very strict about being out by September 14, because it was thought that that was the time in which the trolls, huldra and people of the mountains returned. The huldra were beautiful women, with long blonde hair, dressed in long skirts. The way you knew it was a huldra was the tail which stuck out of the bottom of her skirt. These women would enchant men to follow them to a beautiful farm and then they would never be able to leave. You could break the huldra's spell by either throwing a knife over the head of the huldra or marking yourself with a cross. 

After eating we hiked to the top of a mountain, but on the way up we had to stop and give a rock offering to the troll king, because he lived in the mountain and we needed to ensure our safety. Then we came back down and that was that!

I'll end with some (a lot) pictures of my day's adventure. More will end up on facebook soon. Miss and love you all!

The beginning

My professor- Tune

Where we had lunch

Old summer farm

Most of my group

Cooking bread

Finished bread with blueberry jam

Offerings to the Troll King

Finally made it

The view down (if you look close enough you can see the summer farm where we ate lunch)

Walking back

The view of Bø from another peak

Make New Friends

"Let us always meet someone with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."  - Mother Teresa

I figured I'd take a little bit of time to tell you some stuff about all of the new people I am meeting. The photo above is a group shot of most of the new international students here at Bø, along with some of our fadder. Fadder were the Norwegian students (here the ones in front with the purple and yellow t-shirts on) who helped introduce us to Norway. They were the ones to pick us up from the bus station and show us around Bø and the university and organize the different events for us the first week. Each different program here at Bø  (international students, economics, business, outdoor life, etc.) has a different group of fadder who help organize and plan events for them. 

In total there are about 90 international students, but only about 20 of them are new international students. There is a large group of people who have studied at Bø before or have studied somewhere else in Norway and are back to finish up their program. We actually met a guy from Utah who is here to get his bachelor's and this is his 3rd year in Norway. He's fluent in Norwegian so takes his classes intermixed with all of the other Norwegian students. Out of the other 70 of us new international students, majority (about 15 or so) are from Slovakia. There are also a large group of us from the States and then Whales, Latvia, Poland, and some from the Czech, Germany, Finland, Georgia and Australia. Within the group of us from the US, there is 5 from PLU in Seattle, Washington, 1 from St. Olaf, ! from a smaller school down in Missouri and I other girl from Madison. Only 1 guy from PLU is  also staying the whole year, otherwise the rest are headed home. 

My classes are made up of only other international students, so it's a great way to get to know each other. However, that makes getting to know the Norwegian students pretty tough. The ones I do get to talk with though are really friendly and interested in where I come from.

That's all I can think of for now! Miss and love you all!

Updated

"Church isn't where you meet. Church isn't a building. Church is what you do. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let's not go to church, let's be the Church."  -Bridget Willard

Nothing to much has gone on. On Saturday morning we went to a flea market at the primary school. It was completely overwhelming. It was set up in a gym with 4 or 5 long tables just filled with different stuff- pile upon pile. And it was packed! I could barely move without bumping into someone and then I couldn't even say sorry if I did because I haven't learned it yet! So I got out of there pretty quickly. I ended up going back on Sunday afternoon,which was much better because there was not nearly as many people and I could actually look and even made a purchase- a cheese cutter! 

Here is a sample peak at the complete chaos of the flea market...

Instead of hiking to the lake Saturday afternoon (we got kinda lost) we ended up hiking around the farmland behind the university and ended up around by the churches. Here in Bø there are two Lutheran churches- Norway is a predominately Lutheran country. There is the Old Church, which is a stone church dedicated to St. Olaf build in 1180 C.E. in a Romantic style and is huge! The New Church replaced the Old Church in 1874 and is completely wooden. They were both beautiful. Surrounding them both were graveyards, which would up-kept so well they just added to the beauty. 

New Church 

 Old Church

Yesterday (Monday) I spent the morning grocery shopping. There are 6 or 7 grocery stores here in Bø, which are all pretty small and are only open from 8 till about 5 or 6 during the week and are completely closed on Sunday. Then after class we cooked some dinner and celebrated a friend's birthday by going to one of our Norwegian friend's houses and then out for wine night at "Den gode nabo" pub. 

Today it's pouring outside and so I think most of the day will be spent catching up on some reading and work for classes. Well, until later! Goodbye- love and miss you all!

First Day of School! First Day of School!

"Any fool can know. The point is to understand." - Albert Einstein

On Thursday, I officially have started classes and I'm so happy to get back into the swing of things, especially because my first class was Introduction to Norwegian Language. I am kinda bad at learning other languages, but I am hoping this might be easier because I am completely surrounded by it. I learned how to say "Hva hetter du?" and "Jeg hetter Marissa" (What's your name? and My name is Marissa), as well as "Hvor kommer du fra?" and "Jeg kommer fra USA" (Where are you from? and I'm from the USA). Norwegian is an interesting language because it is very bouncy/sing-song like. Your voice has to go up and down a lot when you talk, especially when you compare it to the way English is spoken. On Wednesday I had my Telemark Regional Identity class as well as Individual, Environment and Society. In T.R.I. we are going to be learning a lot about the local culture here, such as the art, religion, music, etc. and in I.E.S. we are going to explore the Norwegian idea of 'friluftsliv', which is the way they interact and dedicate so much time being outdoors. I am SUPER pumped though and feel like I am back in elementary school again because in both of these classes I get to go on what they call 'excursions' which are basically field trips! Next Friday, we are spending the day hiking with I.E.S. in some mountain near by talking about living in Norwegian cabins. 

I guess saunas are very popular or at least very common here, because in every student dorm there is a sauna in the basement. So on Thursday night, some of us tried out the sauna. The past couple of nights there has been concerts for the students at KROA, but they have been too expensive for most of us to go, so instead we have been hanging out at some of the dorms or checking out another pub called "Den gode nabo" or "The Good Neghbor". I've listened to the one of the musicians that performed- Mikhael Paskalev and he is pretty good. Here is one of his songs Come On and Jive Baby which is pretty good. 

This morning we are headed to a flee market and then plan on going spending the day/ night by a local lake. So I'm off, but I'll leave you with one last image... This was the sunset I saw last night...

Absolutely beautiful.

Snozzberries Taste Like Snozzberries!

'To be whole. To be complete. Wildness reminds us what it means to be human, what we are connected to rather than what we are separate from.' -Terry Tempest Williams


Yesterday (Monday) was our first full day of orientation, so basically it was a day full of sitting. Telemark did have its opening ceremony for all university students, where the president spoke and a musician performed. Unfortunately everything was in Norwegian so I couldn't really understand anything. However, before the singer started he did say "For all the international students, this song is about keeping your feet on the ground and kicking ass on the weekends!" Which of course made us all laugh. After the ceremony all of the international students were taken to KROA, the student pub on the other side of town, where we could get some different information about things going on around Bø. That night, at Bresias (one of the dorms) the Norwegian students taught us a bunch of games and then took us back to KROA for a 'Sunglasses Disco'. Today (Tuesday) I had my first class, really it was just an introductory class, but still very exciting! After we were taught how to use the student webpages and signed up for classes. I'm going to be taking Ecophilosophy, Coastal and Maritime Norway, Introducing Norwegian Language, The Individual, Environs and Society, Telemark Regional Identity, and Modern Norwegian Literature. It is really different from Madison, because my classes do not meet at the same time every week or necessarily at all. In fact in a few weeks I don't have any class at all until Friday morning and one of my classes doesn't even start until late October/early November. It will be really nice once I get everything else figured out because this will hopefully give me lots of time to explore Bø/Telemark/Norway/Europe. This afternoon I went berry and mushroom picking with some other girls on a beautiful path. I wish my photos could serve the scenes justice, but they can't. So here are some images from our hike, but look at these and then imagine them 500% more beautiful! Well, actually there is quite a few pictures and normally I would apologize, but it was all just so amazing!

After we decided what better way than to complete the day by cooking up the mushrooms (don't worry we Googled them to make sure they were edible) and making some delicious scones for dessert!

When it comes it makes me want to wail- MAIL!

'To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.' -Phyllis Theroux

Hi, so just a quick note today. We had our first orientation with all internationals today where we were introduced to everyone and took a tour around the school. It's really funny going from Madison with it's giant campus to Bø with everything in one building. But, with my great sense of direction I'm pretty sure I am still going to get lost...After we took a short tour of the city and then went to one of the dorms Bresias for some pizza. Then a bunch of us decided to hike to a lake nearby. Well, at least that's what we were told. Our nice 20 minute walk turned into an 1 hour and a half hike through the forest in which we got lost multiple times until we found it. Unfortunately I forgot my camera (which I will never do again!) so I can't show, but let me say the long hike was definitely worth it! It was absolutely beautiful. And there was a bunch of wild blueberries around it- delicious! 

But my main reason for this post was to give you all my address. I'm 90% certain this is what it is. It's what I've been told so I'm just hoping I'm writing it correctly.

Marissa Hojnacke

Gullbringvegen 28- H-205

3800 Bø i Telemark, Norway

So start sending those letters folks! I don't discriminate against any form of mail- handwritten, typed, postcard, care package, pictures, etc. I love all types of mail! And I'll send one back too! I promise!

Lots of love to you all!

And The Grand Total Is....

"Traveling is a brutality. It forces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiar comfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing is yours except the essential things- air, sleep, dreams, the sea, the sky- all things tending towards the eternal or what we imagine of it."- Cesare Pavese

I made it!!! After quite the adventure traveling I have finally made it to Bo and I have never been more revealed. Do you know the feeling when everything in life is just going too perfectly that you know something bad is bound to happen? Well that is exactly what happened to me. Before I set out on my adventure, life was great! Had a dentist appointment and not only did I not have any cavities, but I also didn't get yelled at for not flossing well enough (which ALWAYS happens to me), went to the doctor and didn't need any shots, checked my bank account before I left and had a lot more than I remembered, and I actually fit everything I needed into my suitcases! It was going perfect... then came the airport...

Just as an FYI before we left, my mom and little brother and I had a bet going of how many times I would break down in a public place crying before I actually arrived... I believe my mom was 5 and Erik had upped his to 6. Me, well, I thought the number was going to be to high to count. Let's just say the grand total surprised me. 

Thursday afternoon, after saying goodbye to everyone else in my family, my mom, little brother and grandparents took me to the airport to see me off. As I go to check in they inform me that, due to storms in Chicago, my flight had been cancelled until tomorrow, but they would see what they could do. At this point in time I was doing just fine, just patiently waiting for them to work their airport magic and get me here. After about 20 minutes they reworked my flights so I left later that night went through Chicago to Munich to Oslo, which was great! Until I realized that meant I would miss all the buses and trains out of Oslo to Bo, meaning I would be stranded at the airport- in Oslo, Norway- overnight- completely by myself- without any means of communication. Bring on public breakdown number one!

After figuring out and sending the necessary e-mails and hanging out at the mall/airport for way too long, it was finally time to leave. Saying goodbye to my little brother and mom for the next 9 months= public breakdown number two!

The flight to Chicago went wonderfully and I even found my gate right away without any struggle. I was feeling pretty good, until I go to get my boarding passes for the next two flights and was told my carry-on was too large for Lufthansa's policies so they would need to check it. I calmly got out my Nook and paperwork and handed it over. I then proceeded to sit down and wait for my flight and then got to thinking...If they lose my other bags, I had packed extras of everything in my carry-on, and now that's gone. What if they lose it? My computer is in there, what if is breaks? My life is in there, what if I show up to Oslo without anything?! And they don't know where it is!?! Hello, public breakdown number three!

Luckily, I arrived in Munich safe and sound, but tired as ever. I passed customs and found my gate just fine and arrived in Oslo with no problem. And thank the Lord, I found every single piece of luggage! And then I had the fortune to spend the next 12 hours or so in Oslo airport...I learned three things that night- 1.) The Art of Racing in the Rain is a wonderfully book. 2.) The game Solitaire is absolutely impossible! I think I played about 25 times and didn't win a single game without cheating. 3.) You can't jump to conclusions about the strange people camping out in the airport, especially when you are one of them. But guess what?! No public breakdown the whole night long!

After a very long night, I got on the Flytoget (Airport train) and took it to the main station Olso S at about 6 a.m. I went to the central station to find my ticket to get on another train and take it to Bo. Well by this time I am hot, wet from the rain, my arms are killing from pulling around 100+ pounds of luggage and my back is breaking from another 50 or so pounds on my back, when I look up at the schedule to see the only train that is cancelled is the only train I need to take. I take a deep breath, look at my sheet and tell myself it's okay, I'll take the bus instead. So I grab all of my things and hike through the pouring rain to the bus station only to realize two things- 1.) I have no idea/can't find where they are selling tickets. 2.) If I take the bus I have no way of telling my adviser so no one would be there to pick me up at the station and I would be stranded in Bo. So I grab all of my things again and hike back to the train station in hopes of finding someone to help me. Once there I look back up at the sign and see that off to the corner it says that the train for Stravanger (the one I needed) is using alternate transportation for the 18th and need to meet by platform 19. Alright, then I'll just get a ticket and with there. By this time, the ticket machine informs me that because of the limited seating due to the alternative transportation, my ticket which was supposed to cost me roughly 280 NOK now is going to cost me 760 NOK. Excellent. I grab my ticket and head down to platform 19 and find a bus waiting. The bus took us about an hour and a half where we then switched and got on the train we were supposed to be on. At this point in time, I was so confused and to add to that confusion, the conductor comes on the PA system and goes off for about 5 minutes in Norwegian and then says in English 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the train to Stravanger. We are about 20 minutes behind schedule. Instructions will be primary in Norwegian today. Thank-you.' GREAT! I clutched my ticket and plodded what I would do if I ended up in a different city. Thankfully Bo popped up on the screen and I practically ran out off of the train (well it would be running if I hadn't been dragging 150+ pounds behind me).

There was a girl waiting for me and took me to my dorms and I spent the afternoon getting settled and taking a nap. I then went with a couple other students to the school and got my internet password, then grocery shopping and finally I'm here!

My grand total was only 3 public cryings, which I am not entirely proud of, but I thought it would have been a lot more. I'm so happy I made it with everything. I'll spend the night sleeping and recovery before we start orientation and everything tomorrow afternoon!

Here is what my dorm looks like from the outside. It's called Gullbring and is about a 5 minute walk from the school. 

And here are some photos of my room/bathroom. I've got a lot of storage and practically nothing to fill it up with so it's pretty bare. So...if anyone wants to send me pictures (photos or hand drawn) to fill up my walls- go for it!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya tomorrow!

"I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it." - Rosalia de Castro

Tomorrow I start off on my grand adventure to the land of my ancestors. For the next 9 months or so I have the opportunity to study abroad at Telemark University, in Bo, Norway. Bo is a small town with about 5,300 residents, with about 1,800 of those being students. It is nationally and internationally for its folk music and it is surrounded by beautiful countryside. While there this first semester, I'll be studying Telemark Regional Identity; Norwegian Language; The Individual, Environment and Society; Modern Norwegian Literature: Film and Fiction; and Norwegian Literature before 1900. All of my classes will be in English, which is a blessing, because even with all of my family's help the only phrases I know are "Jeg elsker deg" and "Du er lubeen." Neither of which will get me too far over there!

I'll be living in dorms again, but this time I'll have my own room and bathroom and share a living room and kitchen with other international and Norwegian students. I'm responsible for my own cooking, and I've been told everything (food, clothes, entertainment, etc.) is a lot more expensive, so I've packed lots of peanut butter, oatmeal and EasyMac to help out for a while! Packing has been quite the adventure in itself. After much struggle and weighing of suitcases, I'm taking the easy way out and have decided to pay for a second suitcase, giving me an extra 50 pounds for everything. My mom is also helping out by shipping over all of my winter jackets, boots, hats, scarves, etc.

I fly out tomorrow afternoon from Appleton at 1 to Chicago, then on to Frankfurt and finally arrive in Oslo on Friday afternoon at noon. From Oslo, I'll take a bus into center of town and then a train down to Bo, where there will be someone from the university waiting to take me to my dorm. I've done some traveling, but never by myself, so these next couple of days are bound to be interesting...

I'm so very excited to get going. It seems so long ago that I began planning, filling out applications and finding tickets and now its finally here! I can't thank everyone nearly enough who have helped me out along the way. Your support and prayers were and still are much appreciated!

So long everyone! It is crazy to say I'll see you all in 9 months, but for most it is true. If anyone happens to have an itch for traveling or for some reason are going to be in my general area (Norway, Sweden, France, heck anywhere in Europe), let me know. I may just come and find you. For the rest of you, I'll try my hardest to keep you all updated on my life here, but I'm not going to make any promises. I'll post my address once I know what it exactly is and I absolutely love getting old school letters via snail mail. Otherwise, feel free to e-mail, Facebook or Skype.

Well, until we meet again- Farvel!