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Jevnesveen feels right at home coming from Norway to BEA

By Staff | Nov 15, 2015

Marie Jevnesveen is an exchange student from Lillehammer, Norway and is going to school at Blue Earth Area this year. She is pictured in the photo with her host family, from left to right:?Brad Wolf, Tannor Wolf, Jevnesveen, Jerica Wolf and Misty Wolf.

She stays busy, but that’s nothing new for one exchange student currently attending Blue Earth Area High School.

Marie Jevnesveen, of Lillehammer, Norway, says she has been very busy since coming to America and that’s just the way she likes it.

Jevnesveen is staying with Brad and Misty Wolf and family in their home in Winnebago, and since arriving Jevnesveen has felt like just another member of the family.

“I’m not too shy of a person, so I felt part of the family right away,”?she says. “But, I did not know at all what to expect about Blue Earth.”

Jevnesveen says that her hometown of Lillehammer is not too different from Blue Earth in that they are both small towns.

Jevnesveen is with her family in Norway, above, with brother Oskar, father Knuttore and mother Solvi.

“I think she was surprised to find out that there are so many people of Norwegian descent around here, too,”?Brad Wolf adds.

Lillehammer has a population of 26,639 but is well known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. In fact, one of the focal points in Jevnesveen’s hometown is the ski jump.

However, while in Norway, Jevnesveen has hobbies other than skiing. In fact, most recently, much of her time was spent preparing to come to the U.S.

“I?used to dance and play soccer,”?she says. “But now I?mostly go to school and work. It was all motivation to come to the USA.”

And while she has always had an urge of her own to come to America, her cousin’s experience is what really sealed the deal.

Jevnesveen is pictured in her cheerleading uniform with Emma Lofblad, who is also an exchange student at Blue Earth Area this year.

“My cousin came to the USA and said it was so fun and that I?had to do it, too,”?she says.

So, she set her mind to it and did whatever she had to do to make it happen.

That included spending a summer in England to get accustomed to the experience of studying abroad.

“It a program where you stay in England and live with a host family to prepare for coming to the U.S.,”?Jevnesveen explains.

She finally arrived in New York on Aug. 5, meaning she has been in the U.S. for more than three months.

“I haven’t really felt homesick at all yet,”?she admits.

And perhaps that is because she has already been so busy.

“I?started cheerleading almost right away,”?she says, which is where she made a lot of friends from BEA?including two of the other exchange students.

She also plans to try gymnastics this winter.

“Sports are different here; in Norway we have our sports as clubs that go all year,”?Jevnesveen says. “Here, since they are with the school, it’s easier to try new things.”

And aside from sports she has been able to do some traveling with her host family already.

“We went to the Mall of America the first week I?was here,”?she says. “And, that was really something else.”

She admits she didn’t buy much but she was content just looking around.

Then she spent some time in Duluth as well where she was able to see some of the fall colors on the trees.

“Duluth was beautiful,”?she says. “It kind of reminded me of Norway.”

She has also been camping with the Wolfs a number of times already since she has been in the Blue Earth area.

“I’ve never been camping that much,”?she says. “But, it is fun and I have met a lot of people that way.”

Jevnesveen says although she has done a lot already, she wants to continue making lots of memories.

“I just want to do more,”?she says. “It’s a good thing they (the Wolfs) like to travel.”

In fact, they have plans to travel to Mt. Rushmore and Chicago while Jevnesveen is here.

When she is not acquiring new experiences through traveling and participating in new activities in school, she is doing what she is meant to do be a student.

“I?like school here so far,”?she says. “It feels like the teachers care more about the students.”

In Norway she is used to having eight classes all week and attending different classes each day.

Here, it has taken some getting used to, but she enjoys the routine of moving from class to class each day.

But, she misses her media classes she was able to take in Norway, since she hopes to pursue media as a career.

“We had four different media classes where we learned things like photography, communications and how to work a camera,” she says.

She was surprised she did not have any classes with her host siblings Jerica, who is a sophomore, and Tannor who is a senior.

But, they have all been able to bond outside of school.

“I like having her here,”?Jerica says, and has enjoyed having a sister around the house.

Jevnesveen also has enjoyed the experience of having a sister since she just has a brother in Norway.

Her family includes her mom Solvi, dad Knuttore and her brother Oskar.

She says she hasn’t been homesick but is grateful she gets to talk to her family often thanks to technology such as Skype.

“I talk to my family probably once a week or so,”?she says.

And it was also thanks to Skype that she felt right at home with the Wolfs before she even arrived.

“We Skyped with her and her parents before she came,”?Misty Wolf says. “So we felt like we knew her already.”

Now, Jevnesveen hopes to stay busy and make the most of her time in the Blue Earth area, especially since her first couple of months has already gone by so quickly.