Me on May 17th, with my christened cap!

One of the big moments in a Norwegian students life is russefeiring (russ celebration period). Russefeiring is the traditional norwegian videregående skole (equivalent to high school) graduation ceremony, and almost every student in Norway take part.

I was russ in the year 2005, which made me a commemorative russ as the tradition celebrated it’s 100th year (1905-2005). The ceremony in itself wasn’t any different than the other years, we only got some stuff for free (our Russ cards (see a photo below)). I didn’t go all out on the celebrations, for an example I didn’t go to the events outside of Oslo, but I did go to the Tryvann event.

The Tryvann event an outdoor event where everyone gathers and party like there’s no tomorrow! Mostly it’s about drinking, dancing, drinking some more, doing perhaps some things you’ll regret in the morning, then some more drinking! Although for me it was a lot of dancing, a little drinking but I did nothing I’ll regret! I went with a girl friend and we had promised to look out for each other! It was also awesome because on the way home waiting for the bus to take us to town center, me and my friend bumped into a guy we had met earlier during the day (completely random meet, we didn’t know each other from before), but lost each other amongst the other thousands of russ present.

Me at Tryvann

That was kind of a random meeting with this guy. Almost like destiny had intervened My friend Rikke is, and was back then as well, into anime and manga. And on the subway up to Tryvann another russ came on, and my friend almost shrieked out loud when she saw he had the word “Kekeke” on his pants (russ decorate their overalls with images and slogans). I didn’t know what the crap she was talking about, so I completely ignored the guy and let Rikke talk to him. As I said earlier, we lost each other in the crowd rather quickly, but found each other again randomly waiting for the bus. So we hung out for the rest of the night (or shall I say morning ?). And as we hadn’t exchanged numbers or anything we had no way of contacting him. But on May 17th, Norway’s Constitution Day, amongst thousands of russ present in Oslo town centre, I managed to bump into him (and he was a rødruss (red russ) just like me so he wasn’t easy to spot!)! And after that we exchanged numbers and hung out.

And me and him became really good friends, and we’re still friends today, 5 years later!

Me and Kim after a little wading in Spikersuppa at 4am

A video from Tryvann 2009 (not mine!). The dialogue is in Norwegian, but it’s not really important. He’s just saying how cool this party is, and asking every one what they think of the event. Although after viewing this you might think, what the hell are those crazy Norwegians doing?? Mad country! lol! But yes, it’s an insane event, with a LOT of alcohol consumption (and for some probably something a bit stronger as well), but overall it’s a really fun event. And there’s a lot of police and guards present, as well as a medical team just in case. You can see in the beginning of the video the police searching every one who comes in for weapons.

Russ also get “knots” to put on their cap when they do certain things/stunts. The list varies from year to year, but some common ones are:

• Drinking a 6 pack of beer in a phone booth with ? number of co-russ in there with you.
• Eating a BigMac in 3 bites or less.
• Getting in a news article in a major news paper.
• Having sex with a stranger (this one is recurring from year to year).
• Sitting under your desk during an entire class (usually about 45-60 minutes).
• Stand up in class every 5 minutes and yell “cheers!”.
• … and a LOT more weird ones.

And all of these have different things that are associated with them. Like if you get in a news paper you would cut out the article and put it on your cap. If you sit under your desk for an hour you get a ruler.

I don’t remember a lot of the knots from 2005, but I remember two that I did/got:

• I got in the paper edition of a major Norwegian newspaper, Dagbladet! You can read (in Norwegian) the online article or get it translated (though poorly) via Google Translate.
• I sat under the desk for an hour

Russ also have russ cards, which is a russ’ “business card”. You usually put your name or nickname on there, and some other fun stuff. I’ll copy & paste a little info from wikipedia:

Russ cards (russekort) are mock business cards that the russ will hand out to anyone that asks for them. They contain a picture, contact details, and a slogan. Usually the picture is either a funny picture of the graduate him or herself, or a drawing, picture of a celebrity, or other funny picture. The name and contact details are usually spoofs, and the slogan is a joke.

Russ will exchange such cards for fun and to remember other russ they are introduced to during the festivities. Having a large collection of other russ’ cards is a status marker, as it is regarded as a sign of popularity, especially cards from members of the opposite sex. Since the extensive festivities of the russefeiring is an excellent opportunity to meet members of the opposite sex, it is common for the cards to sport lewd jokes or suggestive remarks.

Here’s how mine looked:

My russ card

My nickname is Jules, and I wrote my address (adr.) as “in the suitcase”.

Jeg går aldri over streken,

Jeg skyver den bare foran meg.

“I never cross the line,

I just push it in front of me”

I’ll end this with two more photos of when I was a russ!

My friend Kim in a shopping cart

What do you think? Has this post made you think us Norwegians are even more crazy? How does your country celebrate high school graduation?

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