Adventures from Norway: It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Hei alle sammen,

Once again a much over due entry here.

I hope all is well. I want to take this opportunity to write a big thanks to many people. Grab a box of tissues and get ready, because this one is going to be a tear wrenching experience.

I would like to start by thanking my family. Throughout this whole experience in Oslo, my family has been there to support me. There has never been a moment that my parents, my sister and Andrew, my grandparents and many more have said I'm on this adventure alone. I am truly thankful for all the help they have given me from day one!

Since I missed out on a Thanksgiving post, I would also like to say that I am extremely thankful for many of my friends back home. Cody, Teresa, the boys (Jake, Jeff, Jordan, Ryan, and more) are all a great group of friends. I can't wait to see you all when I get home. Drinks are on me.

I'd also like to say how thankful I am to my second family back home, the EGF speech team. Kristine and Sam Gruenberg, Andrea Lorenz, and Chantel Thompson were all a large reason I stayed here in Oslo for one year. As a both a competitor and coach, I can honestly say I have always enjoyed the experience with this wonderful group.

Finally, I'd like to thank all of my new friends here in Oslo. A group of us came together calling ourselves the "O bo shi na tin tah tin" group (named after the childhood game which I showed to my friends here in Oslo). Since my arrival here in Oslo, they have welcomed me with open arms. My roommates Sarah, Nina, Marius, and Claudia have made the experience here in Oslo a more than wonderful experience. I can't express how amazing you have all been

Hopefully that wasn't cheesy but I really cannot express how blessed I am to have met all these wonderful people.

Now, lets get to what I've been up to lately.

In the last few weeks I've done a lot. Up until December I didn't do much (at least not much that I can think of haha). However, I did have an exam on November 25th which went well. My next exam was a take home exam handed out on December 2nd. It was honestly the hardest paper I've ever written. To be honest, it was the hardest class I've ever taken. My next exam was December 3rd and it was the spoken exam for my Norwegian exam. I did ok, but I would have liked to had more preparation time. My final exam will be Wednesday which is why I'm procrastinating by writing my blog now. On December 5th/6th I got to bring in my 21st birthday with my friends here in Oslo. A big apology to my family for not being able to Skype with them on my birthday. We'll make it up!
On Friday, I also had the pleasure to accompany Sarah and Iris to Vigelandsparken. Vigelands, for short, is a well know sculpture park in Oslo. The park has a plethora of different statues of people doing various activities. The park is particularly well known because the statue figures are all naked. Here are a few pictures from the park.

This man is featured throughout the park often standing in very 'manly' positions

Two person statue sets are also coming. Iris and I were almost exact replicas here. Almost ;)

This is one of the most famous statues at Vigelands and you can tell by the fading on the baby's hand

Up to my old antics again

Here is the famous pillar at the end of Vigelands. It is filled with entangled humans. 

Iris and Sarah also up to no good at Vigelands haha

Multiple ages and emotions are personified through the statues at Vigelands.

Sarah doing her best impression of whatever this emotion is hahaha

 Friday was capped off when the "o bo" group celebrated Christmas and my birthday on the night of the 6th. The evening started with a speech by me which was the first time I've had the pleasure to speech in front of a crowd in a while. Then we enjoyed a delicious smorgasbord (for those who don't know what that word is, it means a buffet style meal). I then had the pleasure of receiving a ridiculous amount of presents from all my friends here. I got a Sweater, chocolate, candies, a dutch clog key chain, two cakes, and a happy birthday video. You can see some of this below.

Birthday Cake from the Group

Birthday pie from Miriam and Eva at Tobi's place. It says Brent.

A sweater from my friends, a clog from Iris who visited that weekend and the only candy I have left haha

Me with my cake. Pretty close resemblance between me and the mini Brent on the cake haha.

The party was a lot of fun and I could not believe what all my friends had done for me. I also asked that everyone make a "camera confession" and just say a final goodbye for me. It was so nice to listen to what they had to say and I do have to admit that it brought a small tear to my eye as I watched them all. The people here are truly amazing!

Saturday was a nice recovery day for those who were at the party. The next day videos and pictures were pretty funny and we're still laughing about all the ridiculous things we did that night. On Sunday, Sarah, Iris (here visitor from the Netherlands) and I went to go find somewhere to go snow sledding. It had finally snowed on Saturday night so we wanted to make the most of the snow. The sled rental place was not open yet, however. Instead we decide to enjoy a snack at a local restaurant. Here's a picture of us on the way home from our adventure. Really no significant reason to add this picture. It's just nice:)

After the weekend I was able to enjoy some more fun in the snow with Marius, Nils, Daniel, and Alicia. We had a short snowball fight and then had a makeshift sled expedition. Here's a picture of us afterwards and if you're really bored, then you can go to my Facebook and watch the video of me sliding down a hill..

I hope all is well back home and you will here from me soon after my trip from Paris!

Also, here's a shout out to Iris: I only mean to the people I like. Ask Sarah

Stayed tuned for more Adventures From Norway!!!!!