Vi fikk bare 2 søkere på de 2 stipendene som ble utlyst i medlemsbladene til SON, distrikt 8 i oktober og dermed ble det ikke loddtrening. Stipendene ble gitt til Christopher Klarholm Laland og Eva Margrethe Wold Müller. Begge disse skal delta på det nye 4 ukers kurset på Skogfjorden i tiden 28 juni – 24 juli. Camilla Gjerdrun Laland, Karen Irene Jacobsen og Rolv Egelandsdal skal delta på det vanlige 2 ukers kurset fra 28 juni – 10 juli. Disse 3 har fått stipend fra den lokale lodgen.

Alle disse reiser sammen til Minneapolis og får en ukes opphold hos en familie som er tilknyttet District 1. Concordia Language Villages ønsker dem hjertelig velkommen til leirene. De er glad for å få så mange deltakere fra Distrikt 8 dette året.

Eva Margrethe var også deltaker på Skogfjorden i fjor. Hun var storfornøyd både med vertsfamilien og oppholdet på leiren. Jeg ba henne skrive til medlemsbladene våre og fortelle om oppholdet. Hun var ikke sikker på om det var til Viking eller D-8’s medlemsblader. Dermed kom det på engelsk – og det gir et inntrykk av hva de lærer på Skogfjorden. Og Evas drøm om å komme tilbake til Skogfjorden går også i oppfyllelse. Hun var en av de 2 søkerne som fikk stipend for 2010.

Johanne Hansen.

Eva’s sommerferie på Skogfjorden 2009

My name is Eva. I am 15 years old and come from Grimstad south in Norway. I had got a place to attend Skogfjorden and also spend one week with a host family. I want to share some of my experiences at the stay.

If you want to learn English, Skogfjorden is the perfect place. If you want to make new friends, it’s the perfect place. And if you want to have a good time; you can’t find a better place in the world.

My first day in Minnesota, I was very nervous. I couldn’t know anything about my host family, if they were a good family that would take care of me. After the first day I figured out that I was placed in the most loving, adorable family in the world. We went to their grandparents, and we went to Valley air, and Mall of America. We also celebrated 4^th of July. We did so much fun, and when the week was over, I didn’t want to leave.

At Skogfjorden, everyone acted like one big family. It is a good place to learn English because the counsellors speak Norwegian and I had to speak English; so I had to translate back and forth, which has helped my English a lot. My cabin at Skogfjorden was a good learning place for me too, because there we spoke English all the time.

Ridderdagen was an important day for Skogfjorden’s almost 50 years history. It honoured Skogfjorden’s dean, Tove Irene Dahl for her work at Skogfjorden and her work globally also. Tove has been at Skogfjorden for 37 years and the biggest day was the day she was being knighted by the king of Norway. There were so many great words said that day and I almost cried thousand times.

The last day was so sad, but also great. We woke up and had breakfast as usually, but everybody looked forward to the evening, when we were going to have a goodby party. Everyone dressed up and got ready for dinner. Afterwards we danced and then, in the end, we walked out and looked up at the sky and said goodbye to all our new friends… almost everyone cried and gave each other a big hug and told them which star was “their” star. So when I’m looking up at the sky, I’ll always look for my friends stars. Now I am so lucky to have many good friends “over there”.

Skogfjorden will forever be in my heart, as my scon home with my second family, even though we were there just for two weeks. I’m going bacvk next summer, no matter what. I just hope for a scholarship, because I don’t hink I can get all that money by myself.

By the way. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity tyo go to Skogfjorden. I’ll never forget.

Eva Margrethe Wold Müller, 15 years.

Participant at Skogfjorden language camp 2009

Concordia Language Villages, Bemidji,