OSLO, Norway – Former NAU women's soccer player and the current women's soccer CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-American of Year Kristi Andreassen is in Oslo, Norway playing soccer and taking classes at the University of Oslo. Andreassen, who's family hails from Norway, sends us her final blog entry as she experiences the culture of her native land and prepares for the rest of her time abroad.

Picture: Kristi on Karl Johans St in downtown Oslo. The road leads directly to Det Kongelige Slott, which is the Norwegian Royal Palace and serves as the main residence of Norwegian King Harald V (seen at the end of the road in the distance).

Blog - Week 4

In the past week, I have had to make some important decisions.  I have decided to play for Øvervoll Hosle, a team in the division below Røa.  Even though the team overall is at a lower level than I am used to, I think it will still be a fun experience!  I also think that I can possibly help them move up a division this season.  That is my next goal!  Finding work in Oslo is very difficult for me because I am still not fluent in Norwegian.  There are very little jobs available for American students.  Luckily, my soccer experience has landed me a job at the local soccer club.  Next week, I will hopefully start training some younger soccer teams.  This is the perfect job for me because I can learn Norwegian from the kids and I can help them learn English.  Also, I love working with children and teaching soccer!  School has started to speed up and my brain is full of new information!  My Norwegian is coming along, but I still have more practice and learning to do.

Even though I am having a great experience out here, I have realized how much I miss Flagstaff, NAU, my soccer girls, and of course, my family!  At the same time, this is such a great opportunity for me and I plan on making the best of it.  While I am here, I plan on doing a lot of traveling to different European countries including Paris, France to visit my cousin, Krakow, Poland to visit my other cousin, and Alicante, Spain with the soccer team!  I also have planned a 4 week long Eurorail trip through Europe with my sister this summer, while catching some Women’s World Cup games in Germany.  There are still a lot of things to look forward to while I am away in Norway! Thanks for reading my blog!

Kristi

Andreassen in Oslo: Blog Entry Two

OSLO, Norway – Former NAU women's soccer player and the current women's soccer CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-American of Year Kristi Andreassen is in Oslo, Norway trying out with professional women's soccer club Røa and taking classes at the University of Oslo. Andreassen, who's family hails from Norway, will be sending updates stateside as she experiences the culture of her native land. Here is her second entry:

Picture: Kristi's first outdoor practice with Røa on the frozen fields of Oslo.

Weeks 2-3

The past two weeks have been full with school, soccer, observation at a physical therapy clinic, and spending time with my family. School has picked up pace, and I have been learning a lot! Unfortunately, you cannot learn a language in three weeks and I still have so much more to learn. In the house, we have started to use more Norwegian and I must use the Norwegian word if I know it. Soon, my uncle says that he will no longer speak English to me, Ah!

Soccer practice during the past two weeks has been really tough, and I hit the wall this past week. My legs did not want to work anymore and I was completely exhausted! This typically happens during preseason at NAU as well, and happens to everyone! Last weekend, I had the chance to play the whole game for Røa at center back, my position. We played a team in Division I, which is one level below the top series. We played outside and all had a hard time kicking the ball well due to frozen feet! It was still a lot of fun and we won the game. We were missing a lot of girls because they were at training camp with the Norwegian National Team. Unfortunately, after three weeks of tryouts, I did not make the final cut for the Røa team for the upcoming season. I was disappointed to find this out, but I knew that I took a risk by trying out for the best team in Norway (literally, they are the best in the professional league). On the positive side, the coach truly believes that I have potential and wants me to continue playing so he can keep his eye on me. Also, I am proud that I was able to train with the best players in Norway for three weeks! The coach could have cut me from the team earlier!

This is the next part of my adventure! I need to decide if I want to try out for another top series team, or maybe play on a team in the lower division, or maybe not play soccer and get a job and travel during my semester abroad. I have a couple of coaches that are interested and want me to play for them, but I have to make sure that this is what I want to do. The possibilities are endless and there are so many exciting opportunities for me here!

Last week, I started observing at a physical therapy clinic. I really wanted to do this because I wanted to compare techniques the therapists use here compared to the therapists that I have observed in Arizona. So far, I have noticed that there are many similarities, but also some major differences. I will not bore you with these details!

I have really enjoyed spending time with my family here, since normally I never get to see them! They are all very supportive and just want me to have a good time while I am here. The city of Oslo is very interesting and beautiful. It is a very old city and has many historical buildings. I love historical buildings and learning about the history of my culture. Andre (Luciano), the NAU head soccer coach, came to visit! He started his trip in Bergen to do some recruiting, and then made his way to Oslo. We met up for some coffee and lunch at Aker Brygge, a harbor in Oslo. I really enjoyed his company and catching up! Even though I miss all of my teammates in Flagstaff, I decided that I do not miss spring season and early morning workouts! Andre’s visit was short, but I think he was charmed by the city and will come back again for vacation!

In my next blog, I will talk about the decisions I have made and how I will be spending my time abroad!

Kristi

Former NAU Soccer Star Andreassen Playing Professionally in Norway

OSLO, Norway – Former NAU women's soccer player and the current women's soccer CoSIDA/ESPN Academic All-American of Year Kristi Andreassen just completed her first week in Oslo, Norway playing with professional women's soccer club Røa. Andreassen, who's family hails from Norway, will be sending updates stateside each week as she experiences the culture of her native land. Here is her first entry:

Picture: Kristi's first indoor practice with Røa in Oslo and the Røa football club logo.

Week 1 (January 13- 20)
After a 10-hour flight to London, a 2-hour layover at the Heathrow-London airport, and a 3-hour flight to Oslo, my dad and I finally made it! We were greeted with big smiles by my uncle. This is the start of a new and exciting experience! As usual, I was starving, but luckily there were Norwegian waffles waiting on the table for me to eat (my favorite!). My dad, uncle, my uncle's wife Hanne and I enjoyed the waffles and good conversation, and then, soon after, we all went to bed. The rest of my first week was super busy! There were many things that needed to be taken care of before my dad left including setting up a bank account, cell phone account, student ID, and public transportation card. We were also busy with soccer- one of my main reasons for moving to Norway.

I was super nervous for the first practice with the Røa football club, a professional women's team which just won the top series championship. It was very interesting. Soccer training here is very similar to soccer training at NAU. Soccer is a universal language! We used a lot of the same drills, but the main difference was speed. The girls on Røa are so skilled and pass the ball around very fast. I felt like I was chasing the whole time and tired pretty quickly. All of their passes are mostly played in one touch and two touches; rarely did anyone hold on to the ball for more than two touches. The passing patterns are more complicated than I have ever done and make you think while moving and playing the ball quickly. One of the hardest things at practice is the language barrier. Most Norwegians speak English but are too shy to use it, so everything at practice was in Norwegian. Luckily, a couple of the girls were kind enough to translate for me!

As the week went on, I improved and started to feel more comfortable with the team and coaches. I experienced playing outside during the cold and dark Norwegian winter and played on ice! Everyone was slipping throughout practice, but it was still very fun. The coach invited me to play for the first match, which was very exciting. I got to watch the team play from the bench and learned how the coach wants us to play. For the second half, I played center midfield with the opposing team because one of their girls got sick and they did not have any substitutes. Even though I did not get to play for my team or in my position, I was very happy to get some playing time and I still got to experience the pace of the game!

I also started school this week at the University of Oslo, where I am taking a course in Norwegian! The class is designed for immigrants who want to learn the language and even though I am not an immigrant (yes, I am a Norwegian citizen), I thought it would probably be a great class for me to take! I am really excited to learn, and hopefully I will be fluent in Norwegian soon. On top of soccer and school, I am looking forward to trying new things, especially new foods. One thing that I have tried is sushi. Yes, I have had sushi back home, but sushi there does not compare to sushi here! Sooooo good!!! I always hated shrimp, but not anymore. The shrimp here is different than back home and definitely better!

I have already experienced so much, and I am looking forward to experiencing more! A new blog will be posted about every week!

Bye for now!
Kristi