It's already been two weeks?

Hi all! Wheew, I honestly can't believe that two weeks have already passed! Part of me feels like I've always been here because I'm so comfortable, but the other part feels like the time is going by so quickly. It's strange. The weather's been pretty nice actually. It rains almost every morning but clears up and reaches about 70 degrees almost every afternoon. I even saw the Northern Lights the other night! Talk about amazing. The Haugland Center on campus is great, it has this huge hot pool that's like a massive jacuzzi, as well as saunas. I can already tell those are going to be really nice on some cold Norwegian mornings.

I've just finished my first week of classes, and it's all gone really well. I'm happy with all my classes, or at least happy with all my teachers, except for Norwegian. I haven't really learned much from that class, but being in Norway and surrounded by native speakers kind of forces you to gain an understanding of the language. My history teacher is a bit monotone, but the course material is really interesting. It's very focused on the U.S.S.R. and Stalin, which is cool because it's a subject I don't know very much about. Philosophy is also fascinating, albeit difficult because I'm the only native English speaker in my class. Try discussing empirical vs. a priori knowledge with non-English speakers! Oh well, still really great.

I'm also getting involved in some things around campus now. I'm going to work at the campus cafe that opens on Friday nights called Snikkerbua, which will be tons of fun. I'm also joining the college magazine as well as a debate group that puts on a presentation on controversial current events every Friday evening. It's just amazing to be able to debate global affairs with people who are actually living them. Like last week, we had Lebanese girl and an Israeli girl debate Hezbollah and the current conflict in the Middle East. Perhaps a bit heated, but also really interesting.

Alright well, this is getting a bit long so I should finish it up. I can already tell that I'm going to miss this place and this experience when it's all over. I caught myself talking to someone and referring to my room as "home" earlier this week, which is doubly nice and scary. And to think, I've only been here for two weeks!