No worries

Well, here I am again. I return with the ability to waste 5 minutes of your life. To tell you all the truth, going to school here in Norway is alot like going to school in the states, boring. The only plus is that every week we do get to go on a field trip to some pretty interesting places around Norway. This weeks field trip was to Oslo. We went through a history of war museum on the Norwegians. It was pretty interesting to see the evolution from Viking swords to modern Ski Patrols. Also in Oslo we visited the Nobel Peace Center. The building has been completely revamped and turned into a modern artsy show of how much conflict can cost mankind. That was the aim of the exhibitions, although the meaning kind of left me wanting something more. It began with a presentation of the last Nobel Peace Prize winner, a lady from Kenya that has planted like 3 million trees. Now what that has to do with peace is lost on me, but she won none the less. After that presentation, we entered a circular room where the hopelessness of conflict is supposed to be shown. I read a few of George W Bush's quotes in that room, they seemed to be comments that were full of hope of saving people from tyranny, but apparently it doesn't matter what was said as much as who said it. Then we toured a display by Amnesty international. That was a display that aimed to control small arms distribution. It made sense to me that we should attempt to keep AK47s from al qeada hands. we finished with a room full of descriptions of all the past winners. You could have spent an hour in just that room and still not have read about them all. All in all, the experience there was nice, if more than a little to artsy. It art of it almost washed out the message, which was that peace is something that we should all pursue. And to that I think everyone can agree. The problem with America and the world is that we all have different ways of getting to the end.

I think that I have taken enough of all your time. I just want everyone to know that I am still alive and well running around in Norway. Didn't want anyone to worry *cough* Paige *cough*.

anyway thanks for keeping up with me.

blake

An interesting proposition

I was sitting at dinner today when my professor asked me to join her at her table...personally i thought "Uh oh, what did i do this time?" But the reason she called me over was much better than I had first assumed. They were preparing for the peace conference to take place here in Moss. It sounds like an exciting endeavor for the city here as kids from all over the world will be converging here to both celebrate the peaceful dissolution with Sweden in 1905 and to enjoy this peace seminar. Anyway it turns out that I have been chosen to appear on the radio with another student and describe the reason behind my coming to norway and to describe what I have learned and what my experiences are. I am more than a little nervous about all of this, but i feel that being questioned like this in an interview session can only help with my experience of things that I have never done. Well, I just thought it was a neat little tidbit that everyone would like to know. Thanks for putting up with all the writing...who knows how many of you are keeping up.

blake

Less political...more school

Ok, so I can tell from the lack of any replies to my last couple posts that either there is nothing at all happening at home worth talking about, or it turns out that not everybody enjoys a good political debate like me...(or maybe its just that my argument was so fantastic that nobody could add or come up with a rebuttal) regardless of the reason for no comments I feel that it may be necessary to back away from the political scene for the time being anyway. I suppose I could explain the class that I am taking over here. The college I am attending is called the American College of Norway (ACN) and I am currently enrolled in a Peace Studies course that concentrates on conflict management. The class is pretty interesting, my only grudge is that everything that we are covering in class is something that I have covered over the last two semesters at UND in a much more complex class with Paul Sum. I know that most of you are thinking that I wouldn't enjoy a Peace Studies class, some may call me hawkish. I guess that is true to a point, but I also believe that what everybody wants, even hawks, is eventual peace for everyone. The difference is the methods used to achieve that peace. Now everyone in this course are, well, they are all doves. So, I think that my point of view is something that can at least add to the discussion of the class. I have so far really enjoyed both the professor and the class, yeah you can call me a nerd if you want...a political science nerd, its not like I haven't heard it before. I really have enjoyed this class, and it may actually open me up to attending similar classes back at UND. Well, that is all for now i guess. I hope everyone is doing great at home and all the crops are wonderful. I do have a question for Joey though. I was wondering how soon do we have to worry about you leaving to teach? I was hoping that I would be able to catch you in Bismarck one last time before you left, but I have no idea if that would even be possible. Anyway I better go and begin work on that fun peace studies homework.

blake