August 28th - September 2nd
On August 28th I met with my fellow exchange students Zach and Maria so we could head off to Lyngdal to meet the other exchange students in Norway. We took a bus 2 hours away. It was my first time ever being on a double decker bus. The view from the top deck was so beautiful, full of rolling green hills, deep blue lakes and perfectly round sheep everywhere.
We arrived to find that they had booked us little cabins next to one another. It was like we had our own little rotary village. The cabins all had their own bathroom, living area (with couch and TV), dining area, a kitchenette and 4 bedrooms. I stayed with a girl from the U.S.A., Germany and Maria from Brazil. Maria along with Lais from Brazil and Gabriel from Mexico made spaghetti every night after dinner in our cabin. The area we were staying was beach front to a fjord and had an aquatic center where we went swimming and diving frequently.
The Australian students do their exchange year from January to January. This meant that they had already attended a language camp in January. Therefore, they joined us after we had been in Lyngdal for 3 days. The next couple of days rotary kept us very busy. We visited a refugee housing facility and met refugees from Syria, who had been living in Norway for 3 years. We split up and did a bunch of challenges such as shooting down cups with a Nerf gun, catching M&M's in our mouths and limbo. My group didn't fare to well but it was certainly a lot of fun.
Later that day we went to see a salmon fisherie. They detailed about the way the had designed a man made tunnel to help the salmon reach the upper level of the river. We had a small hike around the area and saw many salmon swimming upstream.
We spent the next couple of days preparing songs and introductions for rotary as well as getting to know each other. In total we have 33 students from 10 different countries. In January our current Australian students will go home and we will receive 9 more. This will make our group 36.
The food we ate at Lyngdal was incredible. It was fine dining actually. We would come in and they would serve us. Then, the chef would come out and explain to us what we were eating which was usually organic, grass-fed, local meat with potatoes and a type of root vegetable. Afterwards they would come out with a dessert. They even took into account the fact that I don't eat all red meat and they would come look for me, explain what we were having and ask me if I would like something else instead. We were all very impressed with the quality of food and service we received.
At the end of the week we had our district conference. Each country took a turn presenting themselves to the rotary members. We then performed the songs and dance we had prepared. I had partnered with a fellow Canadian and a Brazilian to perform "Riptide" by Vance Joy. The group also performed songs such as the Norwegian version of " Frère Jacques" and Per Spellman. It was a fun ceremony, we even got to carry our country flags in and everything.
The morning we were set to leave we headed to the aquatic center where we watched the students compete on the high dives. It was somewhat of a hilarious disaster. The boys tried to copy a student from Australia who used to be a competitive diver. Their fails were certainly entertaining. I actually heard one boy went home bruised after lading poorly from the 5 meter board.
Eventually it was time to go home. For the Australian students this meant saying goodbye for good. The Australian students come in January and leave in January. The next time we meet as a group will be in February. It was fantastic meeting them though. I befriended one of the Australians in particular and we plan on meeting up again before she goes. We all said goodbye and went our separate ways back to our towns, eagerly awaiting our winter camp in February.
