DAY 7: So sad to leave!

Today, 13th of December, is the last day of this Erasmus+ experience. It's a pitty to say bye to Oslo and come back to routine. It wasn't new that the boys today woke up late. When the girls entered to their apartment, they faced the fortification made by the boys during the night. 

After a fast breakfast, we visited the city hall which has a very strange architecture and paintings, from the monumentalist movement. Because of the short time left we couldn't visit the Akershus fortress anymore. But in fact, Oslo teachers strongly recommended us to eat a waffle in Honse-Lovisas Hus. It was delicious! While going to this place, we had some trouble: In Norway, as in all places around the world, you have to pay the ticket for public transport. But we didn't because we didn't find the place nor machine to buy it. The inspectors sometimes pass through the tram to revise if the passangers have bought their respective tickets, and we were not lucky. Fortunately they didn't fine us because we apologized a lot. 

Finally, we cleaned up the apartments and went to the airport by train (this time with the right ticket). We made a scale flight to Barcelona, stopping in Frankfurt and Aniol found the city as he had imagined. Once we arrived to our native city, we all said goodbye and we kept with us a small Norwegian coin as a memory of the trip. So sad to end this nurturing experience and this blog.🫂

DAY 6: An unforgettable experience💘

Today we got out of the bed on the right side, because the Norwegian students who celebrated St. Lucía gave us some traditional breads (we took more than we had to). We first had Spanish class with Mette, and then we had two more classes. At the lunch break there was a special high-school musical between the diferent gangs, and they threw some big tifos that covered all the hall. 

After this, we went with public transport to Ekebergparken, where Lucía got her white jeans dirty with mud. Then, we got separated: Lucía and Júlia went to ice skate (they spent more time on the floor than skating), and the rest of the group went to a floating sauna in the sea. We could change between the sauna (which was really hot) and the sea (which was really cold). We could jump from a platform to the sea, and Aniol and Xavi did some flips there. Once finished, we went to the (Edvard) Munch museum, where we saw some important artwork such as "The Scream". 

Then we went to "Barcode", a place which serves street food from different countries. Once we were entirely full, we returned to the apartment after a long day as teenagers can only go out until 10 at night in Norway. We had to pack our suitcases, but when it was time to go to sleep, the boys found out that Lucía and Júlia had robbed their key of the bedroom. After a useless and long discussion, they went to bed. The guys were afraid that Lucía and Júlia would enter at midnight at their bedroom, so they constructed a fortification with everything they found. Let's see what happens...

DAY 5: Oslo from the sky

Today, 11th of December, we went back to school after the day off, that we were very thankful for. At the beginning it was planned to go to three classes of English with our mates from Oslo, but we were lucky to assist to a Norwegian class instead and we were able to learn some words and to present ourselves. At the last class of the day, with our friend Fabienne (the theacher), we watched a movie, and we say that she's our friend because of her lovely detail consisting of giving us pop corn (it wasn't the best one but the intention was still there). Meanwhile, some of us were falling asleep while watching the film. We don't understand how the students from here can survive the long hours from school eating only a sandwich at the lunchbreak. 

In the afternoon, we went to the opera to see the city from above. We were going to say that the views were amazing, and it was the case, but we are a little bit frustrated by the fact of having to climb up stairs hundreds of times. Afterwards, we visited the library, a very peacful place where we rested and played with the chairs and with a curling table game that was interesting. Then, after a long discussion to decide what we were going to do between going to a sauna in the middle of the ocean or going ice skating, we arranged to go tomorrow and see if Júlia is getting better, because today she wasn't feeling extremly fine, we hope that you are going to get well soon! 

At the end of the day, we went to the Christmas Market where we bought some presents and we also got on the ferry's wheel. Our impression was that Guillem and Xavi were really scared by the incredible height because of their screams that scared the other visitors. They must think that we are crazy, but the reality is that we are CRAZY! 

Finally, we did some pizzas for dinner and we tried our best to do a lasagna that we put in the shopping cart the other day when we went to the "kiwi", our supermarket of confidence without letting the teachers know that we had bought it (spoiler: they discovered it as soon as we got at the apartment). The lasagna wasn't as good as we expected it at first when we bought it, but it was eatable. See you tomorrow for more interesting facts of our journey in Oslo, only tow days left! The time goes too fast.

DAY 4: Day off

Today, December 10th, we were able to wake up later because instead of going to class at 8:25, like the previous days, we had a tour at 10:15 (along with the Japanese exchange students also in Oslo) through the bunker under the school. This bunker was founded during the Nazi-regime when the Germans occupied parts of Norway. It is a special museum now! Our mates from Japan were really nice and they told us that they ate rice with chop sticks, they are amazing but also crazy, how can you eat rice with a pair of sticks?

Afterwards, another guide from the highschool, Johanna, took us to see the south of Oslo, and at the end, dropped us off at a restaurant in the area. There, we could choose from three different dishes but we ended up eating more than three. It was our first meal out and we enjoyed not having to cook. Once we finished eating, Xavi and Aniol went to the bathroom, and because it was really cosy they had an extraordinary atomic bomb 😎. We wanted to take a ferry, but since it wasn't running, we ended up taking a bus to the Norsk Folkemuseum. There, Guillem explained a bit about the exhibiton. First, we visited the inside, because it closed earlier, and then we visited the entire outside area, which mainly featured houses from that era as the impressing church. 

Then, we took a bus to a café, where we were able to try the typical Kannelboller ("cinnamon roll.") with some hot chocolate and coffee. We finally went to see the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. While Xavi, Guillem, and Júlia were having fun with torches, Aniol and Lucía went inside the Nobel Peace Center because unless other days, today it had free entrance and it showed a very interesting exhibition about it's development. Now we're cooking dinner: today we're going to have soup and omelette. 

DAY 3: Spanish speed dates

Today, 9th of December, we attended the class Maths for foreign students who are learning Norwegian. That's why the level was easy (not for everyone). After, we went to our first Spanish class. We talked in little groups to know each other better and improve the communicative skills. Every Spanish teacher and class wanted us, we are so popular! 

Normally, we do an oral presentation introducing ourselves, our high school, the typical Spanish and Catalan food, the languages spoken in our country and the touristic monuments. As it is Christmas time, in every class we explained what is "Caga tió", "Els Reis Mags" and the tradition of New Year's Eve. Students are shocked by the "Caga tió". And Xavi and Guillem have won some Norwegien students in Fifa game because in the high school there is a cozy room for students with playstations, billiards, couchs, etc. 

After school we "rested" for 10 minutes and we walked to the city center. We discovered the Grünerløkka neighborhood which is the alternative region of Oslo. We get funny lollipops for free in exchange for a good review on Google Maps. While coming back to the apartment, we saw the ice ring and we agreed to try it on Thursday. Now we are cooking salmon with broccoli and playing board games. See you soon!

DAY 2: The first day in the high school

Today, 8th of December, we started the day having to rush to have breakfast and going to the school because Aniol, Xavi and Guillem were late. Once we arrived at the school, Petra, the international coordinator, welcomed us and accompanied us to our first class, with a special gift from the staff: clementines. 

Today we assisted to two English classes and one Spanish/German class. At the English class we have seen that they don't study grammar because they already know it, because since they are children, they see all the films and series in the original version. At the Spanish class we could see that the students were beginners and they don't have a very good level, but the other class, which has come to sing us a Christmas carol, can speak Spanish fluently. Also, we explained to them what the "Caga tió" is and they showed us their nativity scene ("pessebre"). At the German class, nevertheless, it was quite messy. Everyone was eating, with the headphones or not paying attention.

We are very pleased with the treatment that we received from the students and teachers of the school. We were talking for a while with some students about Spain, Norway and life advices, and they have invited us to a house party.

One thing that was surprising for us is that the girls were a lot of makeup and that the people of our age look like they are older than us. Also, a lot of students told us that they think the system of education of Norway is very strict, but we don't agree with that opinion because unlike us, they can eat at class whenever they want and whatever they want, they put the feet on the table or they just don't attend the teacher because they are with the mobile phone or listening to music with the headphones.

After we got out of the school, we had lunch and then we visited the Vigenland park of the city which was very beautiful and with some strange sculptures. Then, we went to the supermarket to buy the food of the week but a woman told us that we were buying in the most expensive supermarket, so we left and went to another one. Finally, Xavi and Aniol went out running and after that we had dinner and went to bed to rest for tomorrow.

DAY 1: The arrival

 Today, 7th of December, we flew from Barcelona to Oslo (Norway). We met up at INS Arquitecte Manuel Raspall at 8 a.m., to go all together to the airport. Once there, we did the security pass, and Guillem was nearly arrested for a technical mistake. After we solved that little problem, we were ready to take off!

We landed in Oslo at half past two, and Aniol found out that Norway was the same as he'd expected. On our way to the train we met a gentleman who gave us some important and helpful life-advice (he told Lucia that it is vital to go to sleep early and to obey the parents). After a 30 minute train trip, we arrived to the apartment, which in fact surprised us beacause it was really big. After we settled down a little bit, we decided to go to have a walk around the norwegian's capital's streets. We visited the Royal Palace and we took some pictures with the guards, and then we returned to our "new home". For dinner, Guillem tried his luck cooking some soup (which ended bad), and then we all went to sleep after a long day.

RESULTATS DEL PROCÉS DE SELECCIÓ

Compartim els resultats del procés de selecció dels 5 alumnes que participaran al projecte Erasmus+,  que tindrà lloc a Oslo (Noruega) del diumenge 7 al dissabte 13 de desembre. 

Per fer les reclamacions, disposeu de 24h (fins dimarts 11 al migdia). Podeu enviar un correu a carmeroldan@raspall.cat i per fer les revisions podeu venir dimarts 11 al Pla lector i a l'hora del primer pati al departament de llengües estrangeres.