Springfield

Today it was very warm outside, so we had to wear shorts, T-shirts and sun glasses. We stood up early, took with us our camera, and on the way to Isabel’s and Anthony’s (our friends) apartment we saw a ground squirrel. We tried to take a picture of it, it just disappeared like the wind in the air. We did not understand anything and we went to the place where it was gone. And then we saw its hole in the ground.


When we were outside the Isabel’s and Anthony’s apartment, they came out and we were all packed up and were ready to leave to Springfield. With my necessary stuff (phone with games, film and music) we in the back seat could hold ourselves in company. After 1 hour and 15 minutes we were in Springfield, but may be not in the Simpson’s town (there are 47 other Springfield’s in the USA).


Isabel drove her car in the parking building and we walked from there to the Lincoln museum. When there, we bought the arm bracelets (paper tickets) and could go through the gate and enter Lincoln’s life. There were 2-3 shows there about him with his opinions as the president and how he lived as a kid, from his childhood to adulthood, and assassination death. And those shows about him were incredible: one in 4D and one with holograms (ghosts at the Presidential Library).


We went out for a lunch, and after we had some sandwich we found a popcorn shop! As you might know, popcorn is my fuel so I had to go in this shop. Here they had all kinds of popcorn with different flavours: cheddar, chocolate, strawberry… and whatever you call it! But I was after the original type – without butter (people here overdo the amounts of butter).

Can't wait to come back

My time here is running away. We only have 10 days left and I am looking forward to come back to Norway. I am looking forward to my “old school” where school days are shorter and I will have time to speak to my friends. At Urbana Middle School summer holiday begins at June 7-th this year, and some years even earlier if they had not used up their “snow days”. It means that when there is snow on the roads, may be just 2 cm. the school is closed, and then they have to go to school one extra day before the summer. I think they had four “snow days” this winter.

Summer is coming and even more animals are coming out from their “houses”. We got some good pictures today with the new camera I bought five days ago. It is very sharp and quick so we could get closer to the different creatures. For example this creature!


We thought it was a chipmunk, but when we checked at Google (pictures) we found out that it was a Ground Squirrel. That explains the holes in the ground just outside our apartment!


The first time we saw this red bird we thought that it was a very rare one. But after we saw this bird we understood that is wasn’t so rare after all. We saw the same pictures of the same bird on the t-shirts of one American football team. That is how we learned the name of the bird: Cardinal.

May 17-th – like a normal day…

On May16-th we made a Norwegian flag. It took long time to finish. It was dark when we went out to look for a flagstaff (a stick).


Nobody here celebrates May 17-th here :( I went to school today, like on normal day. The weather was bad. It was raining and I got so wet when a big water pond splashed on me when I was going on rollerblades to the school. We didn’t just get wet, but also late for the school. The teacher was not so happy but said: “So good, so far!” So, this May 17-th was a bit different from other days here after all.

Gym and parks

I have gym every day in second hour. We do different things all the time: We warm up and do fun activities such as dodge-ball, basketball, a game with small board with wheels, and other activites… Dodge-ball is a ball game where about seven balls are in the middle of the gym. There are two teams against each other and both of them start behind a green line. Between the students and the balls there are three pins in a line. When the teacher blows in his whistle, each team runs to get their balls and try to shot down the pins. The winning team is the one who shots all three pins before the other team.


In gym some students use the school gym-clothes that have the school logo with a tiger. Tiger is the schools mascot: http://www.usd116.org/ums/. I have bought clothes like that.

We sometimes have PE (Physical Education) outside. There are large, green soccer fields (soccer is what we call football in Europe) outside the school. There is also a running track close to the school building.


Not far away from the Urbana High School there is a park with the statue of Lincoln. I think he is very popular here because he was from Illinois.


There are many other nice parks in Urbana and Champaign. Another of them is the Japanese garden. It is very nice because is 100% Japanese and it feels like it took ten minutes to get to Japan, instead of travelling one day by plane.

Easier than you think

Once we were at the Meijer, we saw some tennis rackets, much cheaper than in Norway. We did not buy them then, but some days later, we did. We did not know exactly where the tennis court was, so we trained outside our house. Here is a picture from the parking lot outside our house.


On her way home from the university, Biljana saw many tennis courts where we could play for free. We still play on the parking lot if we just want to train a little bit and don’t want to go all the way to the courts.


The first day I started at the Urbana Middle School there was a test in Math. Since they had learned something that I did not learn in Norway, it didn’t go so well with me… I got a F :( But it is going better and better now. I am doing well in classes - I even got some “A+” in the subject “consumer foods”, and regular “A’s” in: Homework Connections, PE (gym), English, Math Literacy, Consumer Foods, Science, Math and Social Studies.

There is a very good food for lunch in the cafeteria, such as: pizza, cheese- /hamburger, pasta, French fries and you can choose between chocolate milk and regular milk. They call “beverage” what you want to drink.

Spitting on us

Here are some films from our trip to Chicago: One from our rollerblade-ride by the lake, and one from The Millenium Park where you can see a large digital water sculpture in action.

Chicago - again

This weekend we visited Chicago. We took a buss from Urbana after the school on Friday. It took about 2,5 hours and some minutes with cab. We borrowed an apartment from one professor and stayed there to Sunday – when we again took the bus back to Urbana.



The buildings in Chicago were much, much higher than the largest buildings in Norway. We could see them from the balcony … and we could also see the lake from there. The Michigan lake was so large that you absolutely could not see over it!


There were large waves on the lake when we went for a rollerblade –ride on the Saturday evening. The bike-road tilted to the side where the lake was, so that the water could flow back to the lake and we would not drown.

On the Sunday we went to The Millenium Park and The Art Museum.

At The Art Museum we saw paintings made by very famous painters like Van Gogh, Monet and Matisse…


… and original sculptures of Ganesha and Vishnu.

Hearts

Every morning in the school is the same: find the locker, leave your backpack, take your binder, find your classroom, stand up with your hand on your heart, and say the same poem to show that you appreciate your country (USA). I haven’t learned it jet, but when I come to Norway I will at least be able to say the half of it :)


The rules are very strict at the school. In the hallways you have to walk on the right side of the line. In the cafeteria, the guards are very suspicious about the students. They walk around and watch the students to see if anyone does something against the rules. But I don’t know all the rules jet! I tried to throw my apple in the garbage can. But one student, sitting at the same table like me, warned me not to do it. He said that I would get two days of suspension from school - for that little thing!

Today in the science lesson (Thank god it was after the lunch!) I came in the door and heard my teacher say: “Take on your overcoats, plastic glasses and gloves!” We all did so. She carried four boxes in her hands. She picked out four groups and took each of the boxes on their working tables. In the boxes there was one big pig heart for the three of the groups, and one frog for the one group. It was very clear that were just going to see and do something disgusting.

I found some pictures about what I saw with my own eyes …
Recommended age / anbefalt aldersgrense = 10+ If you are younger, you might never eat meat again!
Pig heart: http://nette93.blogg.no/1236698361_vil_du_se_noe_ekkelt.html
Dead frog: http://www.bio.ntnu.no/users/toralm/tekst/zo2050/anatomi.htm

Way to victory

At UMS (Urbana Middle School), we have two types of math: regular math and “math literacy”. What we learn in seventh grade is probably what I will learn at high school in Norway. For example “ y = -2x + 6 “. Today (on Sunday!) I have been working on my homework because if you have something you want to get a good grade for, you have to work for it! And if you are lucky you might become a student of the month - like my friend Anthony was a few months ago!



I am doing well at school – I can now find almost all of the classrooms and I know almost all of the names of my teachers. We have the same schedule every day, but sometimes we may be have a trip outside the school. Last Wednesday my team called Journey, visited the planetarium in Hassel park with a school bus. It was amaizing, they showed us how planets look like in the sky at night – Did you actually know that you can see Mars? It is a red, round spot. And also we learned about the North Star. See more here: http://www2.parkland.edu/planetarium/index.html

Urbana’s Animals

Wherever we go around in Urbana we hear and see animals running by. People here do not like them as much as we do because some weird things have happened to them: Anthony’s mother told us that her car stopped one spring. She opened the engine door and saw a nest that squirrel had made so it could be warm during the night. To make a nest, birds use sticks and twigs, but instead of the sticks the squirrel used wires from the car :0

Birds sometimes also make nest at weird places … like this, where none can reach them.

Some animals like to keep themselves clean, and when they visit a free swimming pool they can bring whoever they want… as long as they hold a law profile…

But when they get busted, they have to find another place to have a bath!

Today there was marathon run close to our house. They run so fast that they looked like they were in competition with rabbits. This rabbit had time to take a rest on the parking lot.

No bus, no shoe

I live too close to the school, so I do not use the school bus.


We woke up early and had enough time to get to the school. But when we got there, we realized that we forgot to take with us my shoes. I had my rollerblades on, and no shoes to change to! I had to borrow my mother’s shoes and she went beck home and got my shoes. We agreed that she should put them in my locker… I hoped she remembered the numbers… I was glad to find them there after the second lesson, but my mother told me that it was not so easy:

First, she had some problems cycling in her socks. For the second, the guards at the school would not just let her go in, so she had to apply to the office to get a permission. And the third, she had to find my locker and remember the combination!

I wanted to show you a picture of the lockers, but it seems like we have to ask for a promotion to take a picture. This image of the lockers is from: http://www.myschoolfolders.com/school-folders/?p=49

After the school, we went to a park on rollerblades. There were many sculptures and cool birds: we saw some birds that had red spots on their shoulders – they looked like they had uniforms with rank stripes or stars on their “uniforms”.

The school and the squirrel

The first time I came at the school office, I saw a picture of Obama and a letter on the wall. I asked what that was, and they told me that the kids from the school wrote letters to Barack Obama when he became president. And he wrote back signed with his own hand.

Today, I started at school. I was a bit nervous about the school because I knew just one person there – my friend Anthony. I hoped we would be at the same team, but when I came to the school this morning, they told me that I was not going to be in the same team as Anthony.

This place was very huge with many different classrooms. We were going in different classrooms for every lesson/hour. And every lesson, I was together with some other kids. I was worried that I will not find the right classrooms and get embarrassed, but I asked some teachers and got help to find where to go. Tomorrow will be easier because we always have the same schedule every day.

In the lunch time we could choose what to eat. Today we could choose between a hamburger and pasta with cheese sauce, between apple and peas, and to drink regular milk and chocolate milk. To pay, I used my food-card. And the rest is like in movies :)

On our way home we saw so many squirrels. We bought a dozen of almond nuts and tried to feed them. The most of them run away, but there was one little brave fellow that was not afraid!!!

The picture of super squirrel is from: http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=97702

The Loundry

The loundry was going around and around with an annoying sound,

hoping to stop at the special time it was running us mad.

It went around and around it wouldn't stop!

Going faster and faster, what should we do, should we go, or would it blow?

After a while it stopt and the ground was shaking, was it safe to look?

We went over to look, it was safe, but could have been worse what if it went reverse?

The clothes were clean, but was it safe next time, what if it went worse?

We were happy, went now out and it was wet,

Plopp, plopp and plopp it said outside we walked home and had to listen at that annoying sound.


Thomas Fredriksen

On Rollerblades

April the 22-nd we left from our apartment 9:45 a.m. with rollerblades to Urbana Middle School. When we arrived at 10:30 a.m, I got tested in English writing and reading, math and science. The test took about two hours, but felt like one. The school is going to use my scores to find out how my schedule
is going to look like. I will have the same schedule every day!

I think I did well on the test, the teacher who tested me told me that I will go to 7-th grade. I am starting on the next Monday. I will not have to bring any food with me to school, because they have canteen where we can buy food with card that works just like bus-cards in Norway. Here you can see the menu for this month: http://www.usd116.org//files/foodmenus/1004umslunch.pdf

Here the students can choose some subjects, for example a language they would like to learn, like Spanish or French. They have gym every day and use the same gym uniforms. All students have their own lockers, just like in movies.

It might be hard to find new friends here, but I have got one friend who I met close to where I live. He goes in 7-th grade and we might go in the same class!

After the test, my mother and I took on us our rollerblades and went to the library and to a shop called Meijer. It took about 2 hours. It was so warm outside that we had to use sun cream. It is so flat here and it is easy to role on wheels.

When home, we relaxed and I watched one episode of South Park that I bought 2 days ago. After the dinner, my mother wanted to read outside while I practiced with my new skateboard. And in the evening we watched the movie called “Up” from Disney Production, that we borrowed from my new friend. It was a great movie and pretty funny.

From Baltimore To Urbana

We left Baltimore April 19. to travel to our final destination which was Urbana in Illinois. We left our hotel at 7:30 a.m. and took the taxi to the Penn station (main train station in Baltimore). The train was leaving 8:10 a.m., so we asked the taxi driver if he could get us there on time, and he did. It took one hour to get back to Washington DC by train. (Look at the picture from Washington DC train station.)

Some people helped us with our baggage with getting it up the stairs. We thought: “Americans are so kind!”, but they were actually from Sweden!

At the train station in Washington DC, we had to take a taxi again to Washington Airport, and then take the flight to Chicago. From Chicago to Urbana it took 3 hours with buss to come to our apartment. I watched the Simpsons movie on my phone, so the last hour was nothing.

When we got there, we needed to find the key to our apartment. It was another place, but we didn't know exactly where. A guy (ho was also on the buss) helped us to find where the keys was, because he was living near by it. Thanks to him we found the keys.


When we were in our apartment (this picture shows “our” building), it was nice, but one bad thing: NO TV!

After a night without TV, the morning came. We had to get up early, so we could find a food market and talk to the headmaster in Urbana Middle School.

At the school there were 800 students, also around 260 students in each class! In the principal’s office, they told me that they needed to test me the next day, to find out which class I will go to. The Principal gave us some forms to fill out about me. By then the time was around 11 o’clock and we had still not eaten our breakfast because we could not find any food market on our way to the school. We were starving!

When we went out, down the road, there was a gas station were we could buy some food and drink. But we needed much more food and were so lucky to meet new friends that helped us to get to a large food market by car! We had pizza for dinner and had nice time together.

Tomorrow I am going to the school to be tested! Wish me luck!

The new board

It was warm outside, so we went to a place called Little Italy, to get some very cold, tasty, Italian ice cream. I didn't want to be there so long, because being there is like to be back in Europe and I wanted to be in America as much as possible. But something was really wierd in Little Italy – if the time was the same as in Italy, the ice cream store should have been closed because it was late at that time in Europe. But it was open, so we bought two ice creams with home-made biscuit around, with 2 ice cream balls. Because it was melting, we had to eat fast. It really cooled us down, I even got “ice-brain” and that was really annoying! Some of you may have had it once, or several times?

I have been searching for skateboard shops since we came to Washington DC. The searching didn't work, but when I didn't search, we found a skateboard shop! Skateboards hang over the whole wall and it was difficult to choose between them. It was also cheap there, and I could choose whichever board I wanted, and I could buy it straight away!


I could also choose wheels, trucks, helmet I wanted. I chose an Enjoi board with stylish pictures under with golden wheels and trucks. I was so lucky and very happy. This was un unbelievable to me, but it was true.

The picture of Little Italy is from: http://www.annasantana.com/commissions/index.html

Dolphins

On the 16-th of April, me and my mom were going to a food store named Lexington Market. I thought we would find a shopping mall there with at least one skateboard shop :), but that place was scary… very scary. I saw two police officers that looked like it was their first day at work. I saw one or more drugged junkies walking around. When we were inside the market, I felt unwelcome, like they didn't expect some white people coming in their door. My mom didn't think about it, so we just walked around in there and looked for something to eat, but it was crowded on every food desk, so we went out. The street outside the market was scary and we never went to it again. Not only because of the crowd, but there was also screaming, garbage and bad smells. I am sorry that we do not have a picture of that street - it was too risky.


The same day, we went to the National Aquarium. There we saw different types of fish, other sea creatures, and even sea horses! The dolphin show was amazing! I knew that dolphins are intelligent, but we didn't expect that they were sooo... smart! They did triple flips in the air when they jumped up from the water (jumped actually 1 ½ meter), stood strait up and moved backwards, and did “saltoes”.

They also liked to splash water on the people in the tribunes, and they did it a lot! And then they also laught! Glad they didn't splash at us, for we had our cameras up. The show was very impressive and the most of the crowd liked it. After the show we were going to see a 4D-movie about the Earth. The man outside the entrance gave us some 4D glasses that looked just like 3D glasses. The movie was incredible, and the glasses made everything on the screen come straight to your face. When a man in the movie spit out, a lot of water from his mouth got in our faces, and when they showed mice on the screen, guess what...? Air blow at our feet under the chair, so we all thought there were real mice running by!
That was fun - I will never forget it.

Baltimore

The 2 days in Washington DC flew away. My mother had to attend an important conference in Baltimore, so we took a train to get there. It took one hour. We had many suitcases and they were heavy to lift out of the train when we arrived. At the station, we took a cab to the Holiday Inn hotel.
Baltimore city is the same size as Oslo (about 650 000 citizens) and is one of the Maryland’s (which is one of the states in USA) most important harbours. Baltimore was once an industrial town where many people were working on production of steel, shipping, auto manufacturing and transportation. But for some reason, Baltimore seems to be most popular for its sea crabs – some people even carry crabs on their heads :)
People are very nice in this city. If you don't know where to go, someone might come and help you. In the shops they always ask: «How are you today?»
When we are going out to eat, we go normally to a «food court» (It is some kind of mall with a lot off different restaurants).

Two Days in Washington DC

We spent 2 days in Washington DC traveling around by underground train. It was safe on the train, not like in movies when bad guys/girls were robbing innocent people. The train was very fast, so we where around The White House in a couple of minutes from our station.

The daily tickets for the train were very important to us. Without them we had to pay for a taxi every time we went to The White House and other buildings at the National Mall. (The National Mall is the area in front of the United States Capitol – see the second picture here. Some of you, as I did, may be thought that this is The White House… but you were wrong! … and so was I… )

The Washington Monument (that tall white monument that looks like a stick) was useful for our orientation in the area because it so was tall that we could see it from everywhere.

We visited the National History Museum. If you don’t know what I am talking about, I can tell you that this is museum they made the movie ''Night at the Museum''- May be this rings a bell?

We also visited Air and Space Museum where we saw the original top of the rocket that has been around the moon (Apollo 11).
We could also see how the Earth and other planets in our solar system look like on round 3D screen.