The Land of Oppurtunities

The good thing about living in the States is that there is always something to do. If you go for a walk downtown Milwaukee, you will see posters for all kind of events. Including the metropolitan area, Milwaukee has more than 1,7 million people and an hour south in Chigaco there are more people living in the city than in the whole of Norway. This is probably the reason why there is always something happening. Yesterday me and a friend wanted to try something new, so we got into our Thai-dye shirts and went to a alternative-reggae concert. During the concert, people made a big circle and people that had something to show could go into the middle to do their tricks. It was very fascinating to see all the people showing different things such as blowing dog balloons, making tricks with a crystal ball, juggling, dancing with hula hoops or with ropes that were on fire. It was like everyone tried to express their individuality, by showing their skills. This really made me thinking what skills I have, and it made me realize that I do not know any tricks like this. Maybe now is a good time to learn?
Video of the girl dancing with ropes that were on fire: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlNqkMWhoiM

Mid-Term Exams

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through the semester already, with mid-term exams coming up this week and next. The exams over here are a lot simpler than exams at Norwegian universities. The exams are simply 30-50minute tests, usually with one page of multiple choice scantron test plus some questions that you are expected to answer shortly on. This is very easy compared to the "normal" Norwegian exams where you sit 5-6 hours writing pages of answers.

March Study Abroad Fair

Wednesday March 10th was the international study abroad fair here at Stritch. As an intern at the International Office, I had to show up, with pictures and food from Norway. I had a lot of people coming up to talk to me, but it might have been because of the fact that it was during lunch hours and I had food to offer: WASA crisp berad with Jarlsberg, King Oscar Sardines(which was not that popular) and salmiak liquorish. People asked mostly about the language, and did not know there were universities in Norway that offered courses in English. And teachers and others came up to me just to chat about their travels to Scandinavia and the nature there.

The cheapest way for money transfers?

When I came here, I brought some dollars for startup that I had bought at a bank in Norway. After a short while I found out that it was cheap and easy to get an American account and debit card. I you go to Norwthshore, they actually offer you 50$ to open an account there. I used to transfer money from my Norwegian account to the American account, but now, when looking at my account overview, I have found out that this has been very expensive. I have found out that the cheapest way for me to get money over to my American account is to withdraw the maximum amount of money(400$) at the ATM at stritch, which costs around 1,5$ to the American bank plus 35NOK to my Norwegian bank. This is still cheaper, as they do not charge you a certain percentage like on international money transfers. The money that you get from the ATM can you just use as cash or deposit it on the American account. It is not as easy, but still cheaper than regular money transfers.

Game- and Casino Night

As said, Stritch arranges a lot of events for their students. This weekend they had gaming night and casino night with great success. At the game night, they had several TV-screens and different playing consoles such as Nintendo Wii, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 and Sega Megadrive. Everyone who entered got a ticket, and at the end of the night prizes were drawn such as MacDonalds giftcard, BestBuy Giftcard, Nintendo DS and Photocamera. I got the 10$ BestBuy giftcard.
The casino night was the most fun Stritch-event so far I think. When entering, people paid 3 dollars and got playing chips and slot machine coins in return. These playing chips could be used to play blackjack, poker and roulette, and could be changed into lottery tickets. At the end of the night, they drew prizes such as a 100$ Visa gift card, poker set and electronic equipment. This was a fun experience, as it was very close to how it would be at a real casino, and at the same time totally legal: the money that the casino earned was sent to Haiti and the players could not win real money (even though a visa gift card is practically the same as money). This has been a fun weekend, and now I am looking forward to Wednesday when the Stritch cars will take us down to "Noodles and Company" where we will get 5$ to eat for.