BRENDA AND IRENE IN NORWAY

 Hald Internasjonale Senter is a vocational school offering courses in cross-cultural understanding and international work. The school is owned by the Strømme Foundation, the Norwegian Missionary Society, and the Norwegian Christian Student and School Association, which each have their own exchange program. The academic program is a mix of theory and practice in which all of the students spend six months of student internship in another culture. The Norwegian students have their internship abroad, and the students from abroad have their internship in Norway. Those studying at Hald International Center are eligible for full loans and grants from the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund. The school is located in Mandal. Hald is our second home and the days we have spent there have been the best in our lives. At Hald we have made new friends, learnt different cultures and shared ours. Hald has amazing teachers who listen, care and support us and most of all they are friendly a...

Norwegians celebrate Christmas on the 24th December. This is a special day for them because they spend it with family and close relatives gathering for Christmas dinner meals. They place presents under the tree and are usually opened after dinner. Also they walk around the Christmas tree while singing and dancing Christmas songs.The Christmas dinner is the main Christmas meal usually served between 5 and 8 pm. During the Christmas season at Hald, we sang Christmas songs every day, drank Jule brus (Christmas soda), ate Pinne kjØtt (goats meat/ lamb) and rice porridge. We had Christmas cookies and also made Ginger bread /pepperkake houses. On the last day of our infield at Hald we sang many Christmas songs and walked around the Christmas tree while singing and dancing Christmas songs. Lastly we played a Christmas game where each one of us got a present in the end. We had a wonderful time during the Christmas season.

What an amazing experience we had on the 17th December 2019 going on a skiing trip with all the international students and some teachers of Hald Internasjonal senter. It was our first time skiing and we were very excited but also scared. When we arrived at Bortelid located in the Vest-Adger country, Norway we all had to put on our skiing gear and began skiing. The funny part was that we lost count on the number of times we fell but never gave up despite being our first time skiing. It was a nice experience being taught how to skii by our teachers and learning some few tricks. After skiing we all sat together around a fire and had some hot dogs while talking and sharing our skiing adventures of the day. Afterwards our journey back to Hald began. Thankfully, no one was severely hurt making it the best day for us. It was a memorable day that we will never forget.