Rødruss

Yesterday, Izabela, Sarah and I took part in some Art & Design lessons at Husflidskule - Randi's school. We did some painting and then made an animation involving an orange. It was a bit odd but was lots of fun! While we were there we met some very nice Norwegian girls (Ida, Sunniva, Frida, Ingrid and Synne) who invited us out after school to 'cruise' in their party van, which they have to celebrate "Rødruss". Basically, this is when 18-19 year olds celebrate their last year of school by partying and drinking lots, and also playing lots of practical jokes (for example, having to go into a supermarket and bark in front of dog food for 3 minutes)

It goes on for 20 days and happens around the end of April just before exams, each colour in this celebration represents a different school - red, blue, black, green. Red represents Husflidskule. This means they wear special red trousers and some have their own red party van. We went with them to get their van serviced at a garage to see if it was safe enough to drive, and if it was safe they get a sticker to put on the van so police can't stop them while they're party-vanning. It didn't pass its service - but they're going to get it fixed and try again! It was so much fun driving around in the van! It had all the girls names printed on it and "HANGOVER" spelt on the bonnet. 

It sounded like great fun, but somehow we don't think we could get away with this in Shetland...

Linsey.