Oh yeah, I forgot to tell this before but Rauland has 1200 habitants. It’s one of those places that you’ve probably already seen in some movies, where the same lady works at the hostel, at the local café and hosts some Folkdance classes as a hobby (true story, her name in fact is Ingrid and she’s the cutest American that I ever met!)

And speaking of Folkdance – guess who went to the weekly class hosted by Ingrid? Yes, of course I did. And I have to tell you, it was one of the most magical experiences I ever had. Try to understand my context. I never ever imagined that I would even visit Norway one day, but yet I was in this tiny village, with this fairy tale background, having Folkdance class with a bunch of incredible people… And then the final plot twist – I was feeling like a gringo learning samba for the first time! Hahah

-A quick update for the ones who don’t know. In Brazil we call foreigner people “gringo” usually doesn’t matter where the person is from, but you definitely know a gringo from his huge smile, flashy clothes and usually his/her struggle to learn samba.-

 

I just couldn’t get the rhythm! In Brazil we have a huge presence of drums and other beating instruments that mark the time. In Folkmusic the violins are the boss, you’ll only hear the musicians mark the beat softly with their own feet. It was cra-zy for me. And definitely was one of the highlights in my experience in Norway!

Here you can watch how the dance is suppose to go, and here you can see me struggling…

Every Wednesday Night they have this Folkdance class, where the whole village is invited to take part for free. The room itself is property of the Hostel but students often use it for other activities!

 

Written by Vanessa Ferreira Costa, revised by Sandra Meglićand and Ingrid Hamberg.

This blogpost is a part of a series of articles written by Vanessa Ferreira Costa and Fernanda Miranda Cunha. They are participants in HI Norway and HI Brazil’s exchange project funded by FK Norway, and are working in Brazil for one year. You can explore the project further here and at the project’s social media channel.