Springterm at Hald!

Since we came back from our internship places we have been spending the last 8 weeks together at Hald.
It has been a great time with allot of humour, hugs, excitement, information work, and interesting classes in the Big Hall.

The first week back we had alone with the Norwegian Focus and Connect students, it was a great debriefing week. I remember I was so glad to come to Hald as I was not so prepared to be home at my parents' house for the first weekend. The second week the internationals came back and we got some time before the Act Nowers came back as well.
The time left at Hald this spring was spent preparing for the different theme nights: Asian and Serbian night, South American night and African night. And also the Hald-day had to be planned carefully.One weekend in the beginning of the course we had a weekend together with just the Connectors, and it really brought us closer to each other and I'm really grateful to them for making it an amazing weekend!
We also had allot of time off to spend together. So we played cards and watched films and series on the big screens in the Big Hall. Me and Gregory, the one year volunteer from Brazil, decided that it was time to renew the boardgames at Hald so we went down town in Mandal one afternoon and searched, and came back with a Ticket to Ride game and a Settlers game. And it was a hit! Everybody were playing them all the time after that! And I love the games!

On 17th of May there was allot of activity at Hald. There were many girls with bunad - Norwegian national clothes, and all the boys were suited up. We watched the childrens parade, ate allot of ice cream and ate hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. We had activities around the school which involved dancing, throwing balls on cans, running with potatoes, and jumping in bags races! It was really fun! We also joined "Folketoget"- commoners parade, where we danced, drove the Strømme Stiftelsen car (a sheep) and played drums. We won the first place with a prise of 1500 kr!! That was amazing!

When the information week started the students spread all around Norway. As we did not leave until the Saturday I spent some hours watching "How I met your mother" with Gregory in the Big Hall while we ate some ice cream from 17th of May. I went to visit Sara-Jeanette in Asker together with JP, Sophie and Henry on the Saturday. There we did some information work about Cameroon with presentations in the schools which her sisters attend. We also had a Cameroon night with some of my friends in Arendal and enjoyed a weekend of summer there.

The two and a half weeks of school after that went by so fast, first we had preparation for the Hald-day then we had the African night, where we all went to the beach where we sat on the sand and all the Africans (Norwegians and international) had made food and prepared a role play for all the others. It was a great night! I had allot of fun!

On the 9th of June many of the students went into Kristiansand and had a stunt there with outfits and placards to get the people aware of the different people in the world and that we should all see each other and care about each other. There were many people who stopped and cared and thanked us for the job we were doing.

On the 13th of June it was time for the Graduation party and the last night we had together. We had a nice dinner together and Åsmund and Namphueng were leading the night with entertainment, speeches and coffee and cakes breaks. It was a wonderful ending to a fabulous year! I will never forget it!



This has truthfully been the best year of my life! I will carry it with me for  the rest of my life.
Johanne Teresie