Tag Archives: good company

02/5/12

Skating~!

Sundays are pretty slow in Ås, so it’s up to the students to make their own fun. 😀 Today at noon, I attended a free skate hosted by the ISU (International Student Union). It was a lot of fun to lace up our skates and glide out onto the ice. Since it was my first time actually skating outside, it was extra exciting for me.

Compared to the tiny, cramped ice arenas I was used to skating in back in Canada, we had a lot of space to not run into anybody (and not have to skate only in one direction). There were Norwegians playing hockey, dogs, and plenty of cross-country skiers out and about. A lot of the internationals had never skated before so I somehow ended up as a sort of ‘teacher’ (even though I only know pretty much the basics) for a lot of newbies. I have to thank my mother for putting me in skating lessons as a child.

It was really lovely because everyone was helping one another, learning and teaching. Some of my friends who were more experienced skaters taught me how to stop in different ways and even start to skate forward and turn midway to skate backwards (I’m still working on it – but I’m getting better). It was difficult to skate sometimes because the ice wasn’t always smooth (no zambonis here) and no walls to run and stop into like in indoor arenas. Basically, I was forced to really skate, which in itself made me a better skater in the end. I ended up trying hockey skates for the first time and although I still need to get used to them, I like them much better than figure skates.

All in all, it was a wonderful environment to try, learn, and grow together as a community of UMB students out on the ice. I love that you can just holler and ask if anyone can skate, dance, or even ski and they’ll be willing to teach you. I’ve already taken up learning to ski from a couple people (cross-country and downhill). I’ve also offered newbies to teach the basics of snowboarding even though I haven’t gone in years. There will be a ski trip in the beginning of March that I’m absolutely PSYCHED for. I just wish I had brought my nice snowboard goggles. :

Next week, skiing! 😀

01/28/12

Of Dinner Parties and Good Company.

So I was invited to a dinner party in the flat across from mine tonight, and it was really nice to meet people and have fun. 🙂 Three of them were straight from China, my friend Natalie from Singapore, a Sri-Lankan girl, and a Russian guy. It was surreal to hear so many foreign languages being spoken around the table: Natalie would often translate Mandarin into English for us when our Chinese friends couldn’t find the right words in English. I said a couple things in Korean and Japanese. Our Russian mate taught us a bit of Russian and Norwegian because he could speak it. Cantonese. A bit of French. It was great because everyone mainly used English to make sure everyone was included and understood at the very root of the dinner conversation. Plus the food was delicious. I was given a lot of different Chinese treats that I had never tried before.

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(ASIAN FOOD. There was more than this – I should have taken more photos! Next time.)

The people themselves – all studying for their master’s degrees – were all very friendly and great to talk to. I’m finding the international students a lot easier to connect with than Norwegian first years for sure. I can’t wait until next week where I’ll be able to meet with more people from the international community. Plus swing dancing on Monday! 😀

There will be more dinner (and baking parties) for sure as the weeks go on. As my Norwegian room-mate told me, in Aas, since there isn’t much to do, it is the people that bring life to the town and campus life.