The World's Busiest Airport

When travelling to Florida, we had to transfer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, which is the busiest airport in the world. Here we had to spend the night because of the delay we had when flying from Milwaukee. Finding our way around was not easy. At the airport there were trains going in different directions, and a lot of shuttle buses going to different hotels. When landing in Atlanta we had a lot of time and managed to find the right shuttle bus that was going to our hotel, but it was a lot harder finding our way around the airport the next morning when we were in a hurry, which resulted in us missing our flight to Florida. This gave us another four hours of time, before the nest departure to spend at the airport. My suggestion for people who are have to transfer when flying in the US is to avoid these big airports, as they are always going to be busy, and the distance between the gates might be too big to go between, if the transfer time is short. Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta handles around 80 million travelers each day, while General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee handled less than 8 million travelers during the whole year of 2008. 

Crossing the Atlantic the fun way

A total of 10 hour flights from Oslo-Copenhagen-New York- Milwaukee can be enough to make you tired for a couple of days. As if this was not enough, I had to wait another 4 hours in Copenhagen, without knowing anything about why the departure time had changed without notice.  When I contacted the flight company SAS I was told that the flight was delayed due to technical problems. There was nothing they could to make the flight earlier, so they just gave me some coupons for food and drinks which I enjoyed while waiting for the aircraft to get ready. When I got to Newark, New Jersey I had no chance to make it to my transfer in La Guary cadia, New York, so I went straight to SAS again, to ask them for guidance. Lucky as I was, a friend of mine came to pick me up at the airport by car. When we went to the counter to ask for coupons and free accomodation, the flight company thought that we both voctims of the flightdelay on the flight Copenhagen. When we recieved the coupons, we noticed that they had given us double up (50$ for food instead of 25$ and a double room with breakfast instead of a single room). This was really more than we could hope for, as we had more time to spend together and a lot of free coupons to use, so we decided to go out and celebrate. She drove us into the city, which was even more beutiful at night than I could imagine. The nightlife in NY was great, even on a wednesday, and we managed not to drink too much so that I reached my plane at 7 o'clock the next morning.

How to pack for a semester in the US

When travelling from Norway to the US, most flight companies allow you to bring two bags, each carrying 23kilos(50lbs) plus 8kg(17,5lbs) handluggage each. This might seem much, but one semester is a long time, and might require different gear and clothing. Instead of overpacking, which gives you a lot to drag on and costs a lot extra, try to think what you really need and what can be bought there.
Rolling suitcases might be best, as fully packed suitcases might be heavy to carry. A baggage-strap might be useful if your bags and suitcases are so full that they can burst open when handled by workers at the airport (personally, I can reccomend and ordered this one from the internet).
Folded jeans, shirts and sweaters can be placed together with heavy objects in the bottom of the suitcase. Light and small clothing can be placed on top, like socks and underwear. Consider which clothes and objects are the heaviest. Light clothing like a bading suit will not take too much space and weight, but objects like hairdryers and straighteners, are not that smart to bring as they can be bought cheaply in the US and be left there. Converters might be useful for the electrical things that you bring with you, but are not needed if you buy your electrical products in the US.
The things most valuable to you and the things that you will use during your travel should be kept in the hand luggage. Books, MP3-players and computers can be good to bring on the long flights. A little pillow can also be useful and make your trip feel shorter, as you will be fast asleep. Anyway, here is what my suitcases looked like:
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Plane tickets to Milwaukee

After some hours searching for plane tickets at Finn, Kelkoo and Skyscanner I have found out how to find the cheapest tickets from Oslo to Milwaukee. I have tried these tips on other flights as well (such as NYC, Amsterdam and Bankok) and they really worked for me:

1. Choose the right day to fly: Generally, the cheapest day of the week is Wednesday. The second best days to fly on are Tuesdays and Saturdays. This is probably becuase people travel less on these days.
2. The first flights in the morning are often the cheapest ones: This will make you arrive in Milwaukee earlier, but it might be pretty uncomfortable if the departure is at 4.00 or 5.00 in the morning.
3. Dont buy the tickets from a Norwegian page: I saved more than a thousand NOK by buying my ticket from US Airways directly, paying in US Dollars (5,60NOK)
4. Roundtrips are often more cheap than a one way ticket: a single ticket bought now would cost more than ten thousand NOK, but a roundtrip costs about 6 000NOK. I do not know how the flight companies will earn on this, but it is in my favour so I will not complain.
5. Book in time: Some might say that if you just wait a littlebit, the flights will be cheaper. I have done a little fare-compare and found out that this is not the truth. Try booking as early as possible, maybe even the day that you get the International Travel Guide from Cardinal Stritch.