Click the calendar to search all of the Norwegian programs offered by Concordia Language Villages. We have something for all ages, so take a look!
Norwegian programs offered 2009 and 2010
Past Events
July 10th 2009 – International Day I at the Language Villages in Bemidji
July 11th 2009 – Skogfjorden Dean Knighted at Skogfjorden
August 14th 2009 – International Day II at the Language Villages in Bemidji
The four great Norwegian authors…Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, Alexander Kielland, and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.
Bjørnson (8 desember 1832 – 26 april 1910) is best known for writing the Norwegian national anthem, Ja, vi elsker.  He was born about 60 miles south of Trondheim and lived his childhood outside of Molde.  He was sent to Christiania to study at the age of 17 where he decided to pursue his talent for poetry.  Bjørnson graduated from the University of Oslo in 1852 and began his career as a journalist.
Bjørnson began his publishing career soon after graduating and focused his works on bonde-fortellinger (peasant tales).  He wrote several novels, plays, and poems during this period from 1857-1862.
In early 1865 he undertook the management of the Christiania theatre where he produced several plays.  In 1870 he also published Poems and Songs which contains the ode to Bergliot (one of Bjørnson’s finest contributions to lyrical poetry).
After this period, Bjørnson spent several years traveling throughout Europe and honing his skills as a dramatic author.  He began to write with more social commentary in his works than in his early pieces.  Some of his works even sparked violent controversy.
Bjørnson became an outspoken advocate of the Norwegian left-wing movement.  He supported Ivar Aasen and admired Henrik Wergeland.  His political opinions even brought about a charge of high treason and he had to take refuge in Germany for some time.  He returned to Norway in 1882 and turned his focus back to novel and short story writing.
In his last years Bjørnson was one of the original members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee (1901-1906) and he himself was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1903.  Bjørnson had done a lot to rouse Norwegian nationalism, but in 1905 when Norway was attempting to dissolve the forced union with Sweden, Bjørnson sent a telegram to the Norwegian Prime minister stating, “Now is the time to maintain a united front.” The minister replied, “Now is the time to keep our mouths shut.
His last work, NÃ¥r den ny vin blomstrer (When the New Wine Blooms), was finished in 1909 with the closing line: “When the new vintage blooms, the old one ferments.”
Read some of Bjørnson’s work…
Answer from Norway to the Speeches in the Swedish House of Lords
Check out this article!!! Â Way to go Norway!!
Norwegians are a powerhouse…especially when it comes to skiing. Â Two skiers in particular stand out in the records of two different sports.
Bjørn Dæhlie is the most decorated winter olympian of all time.  Dæhlie hails from Elverum and and is considered the greatest cross-country skier of all time.  He started his competitive skiing career at the age of 14 and specialized in the nordic combined event.  At the age of 16 he switched his focus to cross-country.  He attended the 1988 winter games in Calgary but did not qualify for any distance of competition.
In his Olympic career he earned a total of twelve medals, 4 silvers and an amazing 8 gold medals!  He competed in the ‘92, ‘94, and ‘98 winter games.  During the 1990’s, he won 47 of the 147 races that he competed in.  Dæhlie could have gone even further in the sport had he not been forced to retire due to a back injury caused while he was training on roller skis.  
Dæhlie now has his own line, Bjørn Dæhlie Technical Wear and is now part of Bj sports, which is now the leading brand in nordic skiing.  If you have been watching the competition, you have probably seen the logo on many of the athletes gear.
You will definitely see the Bj logo on the uniform of the other outstanding Norwegian Olympian who is competing in the Vancouver games right now.  Ole Einar Bjørndalen is a biathlete who was born 
in Drammen and is known as the Biathlon King.  In 1993, at the age of 19, Bjørndalen became the first biathlete ever to win a grand slam by winning all 3 possible gold medals on the Junior Biathlon World Championships.  He is also the only biathlete to win all four biathlon events in a single Winter Olympics.  In 2002, at the Salt Lake City games, Bjørndalen took gold in the sprint, pursuit, individual, and relay events.
He now has 10 Olympic medals to his name (5 gold, 4 silver, and 1 bronze).  In all of his competitions he has finished 112 in first place, 60 in second, and 34 in third.  Bjørndalen also claims a very rare bronze…a bronze statue of himself that was
created by Kristen Kokkin. Â The statue can be found in the town of Simostranda in Norway.
Check back weekly for more bios of famous Norwegians throughout history and modern day.
6 more medals brings Norway’s current total medal count to 14 at the Vancouver games, still in third place behind the US and Germany. Â Norway now claims 6 gold, 3 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Â Here are the most recent wins:
In the Men’s Team Sprint Free  Cross-Country event, the Norwegian duo finished 1.3 seconds ahead of the silver medalists.  Øystein Pettersen and Petter Northug claimed this gold ahead of the German team of Tim Tscharnke and Axel Teichman (silver) and the Russian team of Nikolay Morilov and Alexey Petukhov (bronze).  This is Northug’s second medal of these games.
Aksel Lund Svindal claimed the gold in the Men’s Super G (super giant slalom) ahead of two Americans. Â Bode Miller took the silver and Andrew Weibrecht the bronze. Â This is Svindal’s first ever olympic medal. Â The other Norwegians in the event finished 12th (Kjetil Jansrud) and 25th (Lars Elton Myhre). Â The fourth Norwegian in the race (Truls Ove Karlsen) did not finish his run.
Marit Bjørgen claimed her 2nd gold medal of these olympics by winning in the ladies 15km pursuit in cross-country skiiing.  She finished ahead of Anna Haag of Sweden (silver) and Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland (bronze).  The fourth place finisher was also Norwegian (Kristin Størmer Steira) and this is her fourth fourth place finish in the olympics in the four games she has competed in.  She missed the bronze medal by 6 inches.  Therese Johaug came in 6th place and the final Norwegian (Vibeka Skofterud) did not finish the race.
The Men’s ski jumping team claimed bronze for Norway. Â The team consists of Anders Bardal, Tom Hilde, Remen Johan Evensen, and Anders Jacobsen finished after the Austrian and German teams who took gold and silver respectively.
Havard Bokko claimed a bronze medal in the Men’s 1500 m speed skating behind Dutch Mark Tuitert (gold) and American Shani Davis (silver). Â Bokko came in .56 seconds behind Tuitert and .03 seconds behind Davis. Â Mikael Flygind Larsen came in 8th, Christoffer Fagerli Rukke came in 20th, and Frederik van der Horst came in 29th out of the 37 finalists.
Norway’s Audun Grønvold claimed the first ever Olympic bronze medal in the men’s ski cross.  He finished after gold medalist Michael Schmid (Switzerland) and silver medalist Andreas Matt (Austria).  Anders Rekdal (the only other Norwegian in the event) placed 22nd out of the 33 competitors.
The medals are starting to stack up!!! Â Norway now has claimed 8 Olympic Medals in Vancouver (3 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze) and is currently ranked third in the overall medal count behind the USA and Germany. Â Let’s meet the medalists:
Emil Hegle Svendsen (who already has a silver medal in these games) took the gold in the men’s 20 km individual biathlon.  He finished 10.5 seconds ahead of the silver medalists…that’s right…medalistS. Another Norwegian, Ole Einar Bjørdahlen tied for second place with Belarus’ Sergey Novikov.  Bjørndahlen already has 9 Olympic medals and is one of the most decorated winter athletes of all time.  The other Norwegians competing came in 21st (Tarjei Boe) and 28th (Alexander Os) of the 88 participants.
Tora Berger also won gold in a biathlon event. Â She finished first in the women’s 15 km individual race. Â Elena Khrustaleva of Khazakstan took the silver and Darya Domracheva of Belarus took the bronze. Â There were two other Norwegians in the race: Ann Kristin Aafedt Flatland finished in 14th place and Solveig Rogstad finished in 61st of the 87 participants.
Marit Bjørgen won gold in the women’s individual sprint classic in cross-country.  She had taken silver in the same event in Torino in the 2006 games.  She beat out Justyna Kowalczyk of Poland (silver) and Petra Majdic of Slovenia (bronze).  The other Norwegians came in 6th (Celine Brun-Lie), 7th (Astrid Uhrenholdt Jacobsen), and 20th (Maiken Caspersen Falla) of the 54 competitors.
Marit Bjørgen also took bronze in the women’s 10 km free cross-country race.  She finished just behind Swedish Charlotte Kalla (gold) and Estonian Kristina Smigun-Vaehi (silver).  She was followed in by her teammates Kristin Størmer Steira (8th place) and Vibeka Skofterud (22nd place).  All three Norwegian women placed third of the 78 participants.
Petter Northug claimed the bronze medal in the men’s individual sprint classic cross-country race.  This is his first Olympic medal.  He came in third behind two Russian competitors: Nikita Kriukov (gold) and Alexander Panzhinskiy (silver).  Norway had a very strong showing in this race with all of the Norwegians finishing in the top 10 out of 62 competitors: Ola Vigen Hattestad (4th), Øystein Pettersen (6th), and Johan Kjølstad (9th).
We can all celebrate…Norway has their first medals. They currently hold two silver medals; one in men’s downhill and the other in the men’s biathlon 10km sprint.
Aksel Lund Svindal (who was voted Role Model of the Year in 2009 at the Norwegian Sports Gala) recieved the silver medal only .07 seconds behind Swiss Didier Defago in the men’s downhill alpine skiing competition with a time of 1:54.38. The bronze medal went to American Bode Miller. There were three other Norwegians competing in the event. Kjetil Jansrud and Lars Elton Myhre tied for 31st place and Truls Ove Karlsen took 46th.
Emil Hegle Svendsen came in 13 seconds behind the French competitor Vincent Jay in the biathlon 10km sprint with a time of 24:20.0. In third place was Croatian Jakov Fak. The other Norwegian competitors in the race placed 17th (Ole Einar Bjørndahlen), 24th (Halvard Hanevold) and 46th (Lars Berger) out of the 88 participants.
- At the medal round of the men’s individual ski jump, the four Norwegians competing did not medal but did place well. Anders Jacobsen ranked 9th, Tom Hilde 12th, Anders Bardal 18th, Bjørn Einar Romøren 23rd out of a total of 51 jumpers.Â
- Three Norwegians are competing in the men’s 5000 meter in speed skating (Havard Bokko, Henrik Christiansen, and Sverre Haugli – who is ranked 2nd.)Â This is a medal event.
- Liv Kjersti Eikeland is competing for a medal in the women’s 7.5 km Biathlon sprint.
Thou, who sailest Norse mountain-air,
And Denmark’s songs by the cradle singest,
Who badest in Hald the war-flames flare,
And, heard in our children’s joy, gently ringest,—
Thou treasure of treasures,
Our mother-tongue,
In pains as in pleasures
Our home and our tower,
With God our power,—
We hallow thee!
Whispering secrets that Holberg stored,
Thou borest him home to a brighter morning,
Didst serve him with armor and whet his sword
For satire’s assaults and for laughter’s warning.
Thou spirit all knowing,
Our mother-tongue,
The ages foregoing,
The future now growing,
The present glowing,—
We hallow thee!
Kierkegaard thou to the deeps didst bring,
Where life’s full currents in God he sounded.
For Wergeland wert thou the eagle’s wing,
That lifted him sunward to heights unbounded.
Thou treasure of treasures,
Our mother-tongue,
In pain as in pleasures
Our home and our tower,
With God our power,—
We hallow thee!
Radiant warmth of a May-day
Thou to the spring of our freedom gavest.
In thy clearness our Norse flags aye
With song and honor afar thou wavest.
Thou spirit all knowing,
Our mother-tongue,
The ages foregoing,
The future now growing,
The present glowing,—
We hallow thee!
O’er the ocean unrollest thou
Thy carpet of flowers, a bridge that nigher
Can bring dear friends to meet even now,—
While faith grows greater and heaven higher.
Thou treasure of treasures,
Our mother-tongue,
In pain as in pleasures
Our home and our tower,
With God our power,—
We hallow thee!
Best of friends that I found wert thou;
Thou waitedst for me in the eyes of mother.
And leave me last of them all wilt thou,
Who knewest me better than any other.
Thou spirit all knowing,
Our mother-tongue,
The ages foregoing,
The future now growing,
The present glowing,—
We hallow thee!
Wergeland’s statue on May seventeenth
Saw the procession. And as its rear-guard,
Slow marching masses,
Strong men, and women with flower-decked presence;
Come now the peasants, come now the peasants.
Österdal’s forest’s magnificent chieftain
Bore the old banner. Soon as we see it
Blood-red uplifted,
Greet it the thousands in thought of its story:
That is our glory, that is our glory!
Never that lion bore crown that was foreign,
Never that cloth was by Dannebrog cloven.
I saw the future,
When with that banner by Wergeland’s column
Peasants stood solemn, peasants stood solemn.
Most of our loss in the times that have vanished,
Most of our victories, most of our longing,
Most that is vital:
Deeds of the past and the future’s bold daring
Peasants are bearing, peasants are bearing.
Sorely they suffered for sins once committed,
But they arise now. Here in the Storting
Stalwart they prove it,
All, as they come from our land’s every region,
Peasants Norwegian, peasants Norwegian.
Hold what they won, with a will to go farther;
Whole we must have independence and honor!
All of us know it:
Wergeland’s summer bears soon its best flower,—
Power in peasants, peasants in power
Norway, Norway,
Rising in blue from the sea’s gray and green,
Islands around like fledglings tender,
Fjord-tongues with slender,
Tapering tips in the silence seen.
Rivers, valleys,
Mate among mountains, wood-ridge and slope
Wandering follow. Where the wastes lighten,
Lake and plain brighten
Hallow a temple of peace and hope.
Norway, Norway,
Houses and huts, not castles grand,
Gentle or hard,
Thee we guard, thee we guard,
Thee, our future’s fair land.
Norway, Norway,
Glistening heights where skis swiftly go,
Harbors with fishermen, salts, and craftsmen,
Rivers and raftsmen,
Herdsmen and horns and the glacier-glow.
Moors and meadows,
Runes in the woodlands, and wide-mown swaths,
Cities like flowers, streams that run dashing
Out to the flashing
White of the sea, where the fish-school froths.
Norway, Norway,
Houses and huts, not castles grand,
Gentle or hard,
Thee we guard, thee we guard,
Thee, our future’s fair land.
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