Crunch Time

Oslo is a peaceful city. People stroll here. They take their time. I, on the other hand, have been running around like a maniac. Its crunch time people, and the last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind. The first part of my activities was arranging the food for the International Cultural Evening, which took place last night. Pretty much this evening is the peak of the global cooperation the International Summer School is supposed to promote. As a member of the Student Council, I was elected co-chair of the Cooking Committee. This has been quite the effort, including weeks of planning. This past week I have been meeting up with 3 or 4 people each day trying to nail down some details and make sure everything gets done. The big day yesterday went really well, and I'm proud of our outcome. Everyone, the ISS staff, the Blindern staff, and the students, seemed pleased. The event itself was incredibly cool- we saw performers from over 20 countries performing their national songs and dances.

School is an additional stress. I would not recommend to anyone taking 8 credits in difficult classes when you are in a different country during the summer. At the same time, I really have learned so much from my classes and it will help me (hopefully) to graduate early. I have a final exam on Wednesday and a final paper due on Thursday... yikes! Proof of the incredible amount of work my Gender Equality class and Scandinavian Government and Politics class have been is below: my 6 course compendiums and 5 books. Oh,not to mention various packets and booklets. I can't really complain though because for each of my classes we also took about one excursion to a relevant site. My favorite for the gender class was visiting the most highly rated Crisis Centers in all of Norway. The government class had a number of interesting excursions, including visiting Parliament, the Supreme Court, and the City Hall.


Last on my list is preparation for going to Peru. All sorts of plans for housing and classes at the university there are happening. A little overwhelming, but a lot exciting!