Hei alle!

I’ve been home in the US for about a week now. I’m actually not “home” right now, I’m in Florida! My friend Ally, who was student teaching in Utrecht, Netherlands, and I planned this trip to “defrost” from our chilly climates in Northern Europe. I think I went a little bit past “defrosting” to “crisping”. My Norwegian skin wasn’t quite ready for that big ball of fire in the sky! Anyway, let’s backtrack back to Norway…

My last week in school was really bittersweet. I was getting excited to go home but I knew that I needed to cherish the time I had in Trondheim and at Charlottenlund. I felt bad that I had to give a test to my students (and that I wouldn’t be there to grade it) in my last week but I think the students forgave me. Unfortunately I was not able to even be with them when they were taking it because I was in meetings all that day. The meetings were really interesting because they were all about the school. We had the faculty adviser to the student government speak to us about how student government works at Charlottenlund. I found it to be really interesting because I was involved in SGA as a high school student. One of the things that I found most interesting was the unique positions that were featured. The elected board has a member who basically keeps the administration of the school in check. This person regularly meets with the principal, faculty, and even the community. I think this is absolutely wonderful because it makes sure that the student voice is heard. I would have loved to have this position in my student government because I think it’s a great way to keep communication open. I also think that it shows that the administration really appreciates and values the opinion of the students. Mutual respect is key.

One of our other meetings that day was all about the M-Base. The M-Base is an area of the school where students with severe mental and physical disabilities have their classes. Norwegian schools feature full inclusion for most of its students but students with severe disabilties are given extra treatments. Sometimes they do not go to the same classes as the other students in their Base. The M-Base rooms were really awesome. They had one room with a HUGE ball pit, Chuck-E-Cheese style. Another room was completely black with the exception of some fiber-optic lights. It is meant to help students relax and be stimulated. The White Room featured a water bed and a movie projector. The M-Base is open to all students and they are allowed to go in any of the rooms when they have breaks. I think that the M-Base at Charlottenlund shows a key difference between American schools and Norwegian schools. You would be hard-pressed to find a special education classroom like this in the States and I really think the main reason is money. It’s no secret that Norway is an extremely wealthy country and they invest a good amount of money into their schools. The students had Charlottenlund had resources that we only dreamed about in my middle and high schools (and I went to great schools in great school districts). It’s not that American schools do not want to have resources like this; in many cases it’s just not feasible. I can only imagine what an inner-city school would do if they had access to the resources that the Norwegian students do.

During my last week of school I completed one of my life goals: I judged a cooking competition! I am a huge fan of cooking shows (Top Chef being my favorite) so I’ve always wanted to pretend I’m Padma, Tom, Gail or whoever else is on the judging panel. The 9th grade students take food and nutrition class and part of their curriculum is learning how to cook. Each group (A, B, and C) competed in a class cooking competition. It was SO delicious and I was so proud of my students (and Megan’s students) for creating such delicious food! Choosing winners was a really difficult decision! I wish that I had this class when I was in 9th grade. Then maybe I’d actually know how to cook! =)

My last day of school came far too quickly. I had a few surprises up my sleeve and apparently my students and teachers did as well. In the English class that I taught we discussed summer camps (something they do not have in Norway). I was appalled when I found out that none of my students (or even my mentor teachers!) had ever eaten a s’more. I LOVE S’MORES and made it my mission to introduce this delectable treat to Norway before I left. My dad actually came back to Trondheim to help me pack/hang out for a bit, so he brought over s’more supplies. On my last day we made s’mores (using candles) in English. It was a blast! It was so much fun seeing everyone roast their marshmallows and eat their first s’more. I found out later that the candles made a little bit more smoke than I anticipated and other teachers began to smell roasting marshmallow. Whoops. They didn’t know what was going on so they made their classes put on their shoes in case my class set off the smoke alarms and we had to evacuate. Thankfully that did not happen. =)

Ove, my mentor teacher for social studies, told me that the students were planning something for my last day but I had no clue what it was. I was very surprised to see that some of my students had baked a cake for me! We had chocolate cake and lemonade and it was fabulous! I was so honored that the students would take the time to do that for me! I was also unaware that I would be getting presents from my class and my mentors! It was honestly like Christmas! I received so many great things like a Charlottenlund tshirt, coffee table book of Norway, and hand-knitted gloves from Gunvor (Megan’s mentor teacher). The best present, however, was a book I got from my students. Each student wrote me a short goodbye letter or drew me a picture. It was honestly the best gift I’ve ever received. It was so sweet to read such wonderful things from my students. I had to fight the urge to cry in the middle of class! I can’t think of a better way to leave Charlottenlund. It was kind of surreal to hand back my keys and clean out the Batcave (the conference room that Megan and I shared at school). I know that Charlottenlund Ungdomsskole is a truly unique place and I’ll never find another school like it anywhere in the world. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to teach there and become a part of the school.

The rest of my trip was rather uneventful. My last day of school was a Thursday so I spent Friday packing up my room and getting things together. Leaving on Saturday morning was sad. I feel like I have made so many great relationships and I’ve met so many great people in Norway. It’s really sad to think that, as my English mentor Jarl Henrik so delicately put it, I’ll “never see these people again”. I certainly hope that is not true but it’s hard to think where I’ll be after graduation in May and where my students, teachers, and friends in Norway will be. I hope to return to Trondheim one day (hopefully in the summer!) and maybe I’ll get the chance to see my students and teachers. Then again, maybe I won’t. I think the best thing to do is cherish the time that I spent in Trondheim and appreciate all of the wonderful people that I met and all that they did for me.

The day after my PSU supervisor observed me I put a slide on my PowerPoint presentation for my class that just said “Thank you for being awesome”. Apparently that quote really resonated with my students because many of them wrote that in my book and said it to me as I was leaving. I think it is time for me to return the favor once again. Thank you for being awesome, Trondheim.

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