The end of Oslo :)

Monday!

Museums seem like a necessary part of every vacation, something I never appreciated as a child, so museums were Monday. Karianne, Heidi and I went to the Viking Ship Museum first. There were 3 huge Viking Ships that were dug up over a hundred years ago, more impressively that they were built 800 AD.

We then went to the Kon-Tiki Museum. I’d never heard of it, but the night before one of the trailers was for the new movie so I knew a tinyyy bit about the Norwegian adventurous. Watch the movie ;) When you do I can tell you I’ve seen the real ‘boat’ that they were on. Cool Story Bro. 

Heidi’s Mum made a lovely meal for dinner. After we ate we played another round of President, where I went from being ‘Bumps’ (Bum/Homeless) to being the Vice President. Jan’s tactic of talking a lot of his success and commentating on every move made me laugh. We then ended the night watching the swimming in the Olympics, and the Norwegians playing handball. Shocker I’ve started rooting the Norwegians on.

Today we said goodbye to Heidi’s parents as they’re going to meet some friends in their Mountain cabin. Then Heidi and I met with one of her friends, Johanna. We went to the Opera House. It was GORGEOUS. Four out of five of the days I’ve been here have been sunny. The view was spectacular, and that we could lay back and enjoy it on the roof was glorious. (The only kind of iceberg that I ever would like the pleasure to be on top of, thank you very much).

Heidi and I finished the day by going to Wayne’s Coffee, a place we went again four out of five of the days.

Tomorrow I shall endeavour to help Heidi pack, we’ll be out of the house by 1 and meeting Rhys at the airport by 3!

Love,
Abi J

 Ronja and I are ready to conquer the mountains.

I lose my balance easily.

I'm exhausted, but she will still protect me.

Olalaaaa

The Egelands! In front of their house :) Minus Ane, who left for The Netherlands 2 days ago.

Barefoot at last. On top of the Opera House.

Necessary.

Day 3, Hiking& Royalty

Saturday night was great J we ate the Thai soup, bread and played a card game called President. Simple to understand and very entertaining to play. I have made a personal mission to make sure my family sits down and plays cards next time I’m home. We don’t do it enough.

As Jan put it Sunday was a 16-hour Heidi camp day.

Heidi woke me up at 8; we were out the house by 9 in full hiking gear. Though I won’t be able to say (or remember) any of the places that we went, it was just over a 3 hour hike, with Ronya (their adorable Jack Russell). Beautifullllll. It was the first time I’ve ever used an outhouse. We also stopped at a cabin-café all the way up at the top, which was closed since so many Norwegians are at their cabins in July. Even so there was a little room where the family had left fresh cinnamon and vanilla buns, and a cooler full of different sorts of drinks. As with the trains, it’s trust-based. They hope you’ll leave the correct amount of money for what you’ve taken. I was amazed. Never had I seen anything like it before.

Karianne, one of Heidi’s friends is staying for the next two nights. After being picked up by Jan from hiking, and boasting of my epic ‘Hikers’ blister we went home to prepare for royalty. Well not the family. But the building at least. We had an hour-long guided tour (in English thankfully) of 16 rooms of the Royal Palace. The funniest thing I thought was a hole in the ceiling of the Birdroom. This is because the building was one of the first to get electricity in 1899, so a few years later they auctioned off all of their chandelier’s since they thought they weren’t necessary any longer. Some have been found and restored, but no one knows where this particular one is. Another room had replicas of the chandeliers that were once there (the Danish own them now), and for the first time they were being cleaned. Thankfully the replicas crystals can be put in the dishwasher now! I am now much more knowledgeable about the Norwegian royalty. Grandma will be proud.

From there we went to have dinner with Heidi’s parents at what is supposedly a ‘guide book recommended’ restaurant. Delicious Asian cuisine. Lots of sushi. Lots of laughing. Sadly we had to miss the dessert that Heidi’s mum insisted on us getting or we’d be late to the Dark Knight.

What a movie! We in this ‘THK’ sound movie theatre, with a massive dome ceiling and curved screen. One of the biggest in Europe apparently. On another note Oslo is the only place in the world that I have now been handed a free coco-cola can (in the street) and free Pepsi bottles in the movie theatre for no reason other than advertisement. I thought it was great!

Skrik

Last night was… wait for it, lovely.

I was told repeatedly that at the *sign* of summer (not start, since that may never officially happen), Norwegians will grill. Everything. So that is what we did. I found it funny how they ate their hotdogs, on what looked like tortilla rolls instead of buns. Probably healthier though.
Ane’s friends were all very interesting, kindly conversing in fluent English for me to keep up. One of the guys, Knut, had just spent a year living in Jerusalem and told some great stories, in an American accent no less. Another friend was so enthusiastic about everything; she’s an amazing cello player and was ecstatic about the idea of me living in a place like ‘the Pirates of the Caribbean movie!!’

We tried to make our own cotton candy and epically failed. So instead watched the end of the Opening Ceremony performance, which besides from J K Rowling and Mr. Bean I was perplexed over the extravagance and how it related to the ideals behind the Olympics. Watched the countries come in with their flags up to (you guessed it) Cayman Islands!

Today has rained. Heidi and I ventured out though. Experiencing it all right? We went to what at first I thought was a ‘monk’ museum, but in actual fact it was the Munch Museum, a particular art summer art exhibition of the painting Puberty.  Even got to The Scream (Skrik), the only painting which if I’m honest I recognised. Some of it was really exquisite, so many colours and interesting stories. Others I didn’t think Edvard would have even managed to pass the Higher Level Art in the IB with. But then, what do I know?

Home again, where Heidi’s parents have arrived. After hearing some intense mountain-man stories of Jan chopping wood from 40 metre trees (a strange hobby), and comparing tan lines (he wins),Heidi and I are getting to work on some Thai soup she’s excited to make.

Lots of Love,
Mye Kjærlighet

Abi

 Vigeland Statue

 If I lived 100 years ago, I would have obviously been his model.

 Heidi gets artsy.

 Royal Palace, under construction

 Made me smile :)

 Rhysssssss.

 Opera House

 Henrik Ibsen statue, writer of the Dollhouse, in front of the National Theatre.

Heidi! :D

Norway, Day 1- Fjords

Flying went smoothly; I got to sit next to a girl that I knew somewhat from the year below me at my old school, instead of a complete stranger which was comforting.

Eleven hour flight, than six in Heathrow. I always thought the people who fell asleep in airports were insane. But there I was, in the middle of the chaos, with my sleeping mask secured, holding my handbag as a teddy bear and my legs resting on my suitcase fast asleep for a good two hours. Classy.

On the two hour flight to Oslo I made friends with an Indian-Norwegian. She was lovely J

Heidi met me at the airport, we took a bus for an hour into the centre of Oslo where her older sister, Ane and her 6”6 boyfriend (made my day feeling so petite hugging him, not gunna lie) picked us up from there. Asleep when it got dark, so… 11. NBD.

Twelve hours of asleep. Heidi woke me up after doing a morning jog of 14k (again, NBD). We took a train to the centre of Oslo where we walked all around. It was just so beautiful. Through a park that had only statues of naked people called the Vigeland Sculpture Park. To the Prime Ministers house. Past the Royal Palace. Strolling along the rode we bumped into Rhys! So funny, one moment where you’re thinking ‘hmm that looks like someone I know,..WAIT- that IS someone I know!’

Heidi and I then took a two hour boat ride through the Fjords, passing the Opera House and lots of tiny islands with summer homes. The sun was out, which I was so thankful for. It really was a beautiful day.

Now we’re back at Heidi’s home. Her sister leaves to the Netherlands on Sunday for half a year for something to do with her Law degree, so she’s having friends over tonight. Heidi’s parents come back tomorrow (they were in their Southern cabin for the last week).

So it begins again...

Summer in Cayman was as expected. Beautiful. Warm. Relaxing. Loving. How nine weeks went so fast is incredible. I managed to do nearly everything on my To-Do list! Success. I’m even leaving, dare I say it, tan. I hate saying good-bye though. To friends, the concept of all the adventures, stories that we won’t share together is sad. For my family, well it goes deeper. The word 'miss' doesn't portray the momentum of the feeling.

I still have two weeks until I’m back to St Donats.

But travelling starts now! I’m in the departure lounge in Grand Cayman, waiting for good ole British Airways to transport me back across the Atlantic. Just under 5,000 miles, no big deal.

Five hours of two-days-before-the-Olympics-craziness in Heathrow and then two more hours of flying- than… OSLO! Six full days in Oslo with Heidi. <3
From there we meet with my second year, Rhys, in Oslo airport and travel down to Nice where we’ll spend another six full days with Chloe [with an accent] and her family.

Hopefully I’ll have time to keep everyone updated with what happens!

Kaibo (North-East) Side of home <3

The End...

So the format to post on this website changed mid-April, and for some reason the computers at AC didn't like that, not one bit. It means that the crazy rush of the last month passed by. I regret now not typing it up, day by day, moment by moment. But then, I may have missed something.
I visited the Watch Tower. We had a Morgannwg Barbecue on the cliffs. We celebrated the second years finishing exams. We ran back from Marcross. We had a Second Year show, mocking them as they did to us. We signed yearbooks, made promises, hugged constantly.
From being the homesick girl across the Atlantic, leaving AC was horrible. I didn't want to. Much to my mothers dismay, when she told me '3 sleeps left!', I nearly began to cry. I didn't want to leave my second years. It was proof to me that I was in the perfect place. If not wanting to leave for summer vacation is my biggest problem... well life is good.

So I apologise for not writing in the blog. I suppose the beginning needed constant updates... and then I became comfortable that it didn't seem necessary.

I love AC. August 7th I get to go back. Third Term is 'death term'. Or so they say. Challenge accepted.



***Two of the first years wrote a song for the Graduation Ceremony, and Jacob from Denmark sang it while playing the guitar. It was beautiful. It described my love for the castle, and the people that made it my home.

The Land of Sheep.mp3 - Google Docs

docs.google.com

If that doesn't work, here are the lyrics:

Oh second-years, are you still leaving us tonight?
 We heard that you missed bus 145.
 To London Heathrow

You're ever welcome with us, any time you like.
 Let's go to the sea side and revive our nocturnal night rides.
 And we won't get worried, no. X2

And you won't get weary.
 We're sure you'll be fine!
 We love you, we love you, oh siblings so kind.

In the quivering forest,
 where the dead Lady Anne rests.
 There's a withered old castle,
 that we made our dear nest.

And the valley got rainy,
 and the fridges got empty.
 And the dayrooms lit up the night,
 till the morning light.

Promise you'll miss your flights,
 or at least that you'll write.

In the quivering forest,
 where the dead Lady Anne rests.
 There's a withered old castle,
 that we made our dear nest.

And the valley got rainy,
 and the fridges got empty.
And the dayrooms lit up the night,
 till the morning light.

Promise you'll miss your flights,
 or at least that you'll write.

Please...

AOC weekend 30/04/12

Let’s test how fast I can type without breaking my laptop shall we? I apologize for spelling mistakes and sentences that don’t actually grammatically make sense from now.

First Year Exams are overrrrr

Yes that’s true! We’re done. Three weeks of codes left but those exams are over. YAY! Though I don’t know how I did in any of them yet and that’s a bit worrying.. I will soon enough and these aren’t TOO important for me as I’m not applying to the US, where your predicted grade is extremely important.

AOC Service Weekend

What a weekend! I’m so happy I went on it. Turns out the majority of my friends are lifeguards and this weekend they had a trip to prepare for their beach lifeguard exam this week. Luckily my service took 11 students to the North of Wales for a not-so-intense outdoor weekend.

On the trip there were the AOC instructors Simon, Rob, Phil (also an English teacher) and Alan (also a Chemistry teacher). And students:

Oli- Hong Kong

Gerry- Nambia

Agnete- Denmark

Ilisha- Signapore
Karl- Ireland/ Bermuda

Claire- England
Hana- Norway

Ine- Norway

Eleri- Wales

Liesl- Australia

Friday night: Leave at 4:30, stop and have dinner at Pizza Hut. Arrive in a very farmer house, in the middle of nowhere by 9:30. We were joking about it being perfect for a horror film…but the joke was short lived as it got later and we realized how there was not only no cell reception but the need to lock the house was pointless… no one came that far out. It was perfect for what we needed though.

Saturday: Wake up at 7:30, bowl of muesli J I was SO shocked that it was cold enough to see my breath indoors. Never had that happened before.

Hour and half drive to the start of our hiking day! 10:30- depart on my first climbing of a mountain: Cader Iris. Mount Snowdon would have been an extra hour drive, with more hiker ‘traffic’ and only 200m extra climb to say we’d been to the highest point in Wales. I was quite content. The hike really worked my legs, and I was so proud of my borrowed hiking boots… I felt unstoppable in those beasts. We made a good pace and stopped little. At one point it started snowing as it was so high up- but since we were climbing at such a slope it was cold. Phew. I had such a sense of pride getting to the summit after about two and a half hours, 890m in the air and looking over the beautiful mountains all around. There was even a special room the was sheltered to eat our sandwiches in… though it became really cold as the sweat dried on our bodies. Onwards!

IAs

The work that I do have to do in the next three weeks will keep me very busy nevertheless: two Internal Assessments in my Higher Levels. In History we have to write a research essay on a topic of our choice, but it should somehow link to what we’re studying. I chose to write about women in the First World War, how their involvement contributed to getting them the vote in 1918, focusing on Britain. It’s not as exact and precise a title as I’m sure it will be in two weeks’ time. So much fun ahead…

Geography I have to do a write up on an experiment we did at the local Llantwit Major beach, measuring gradient of the beach compared to the pebbles and whether the steepness correlated with the erosion. Doesn’t sound too complicated yet but I know there’s a lot of calculating and analysation to come.

Both of these are worth 20% of the subject… so in total these two IAs are worth the same amount as my Extended Essay and my TOK essay combined.

Second Year Exams

Started today. For the next three weeks they’ll be in exams, finishing on different days. Sadly it seems French is always the last day (May 22^nd this year), and I will be taking that exam next year. Which means my celebrations won’t really happen at AC since second years leave the next day. L