Russ Bus!

oh yeah, almost forgot the Russ. these are high school students in Norway, and a right unruly bunch they are! they were matching red dungarees for a whole month (you can spot them in bbq pictures of old). they basically cause pandamonium for a month and party none stop (they were banned from the may 17th parade this year, and often hold their own parody parades. they buy buses and paint them and deck them out for parties (sometimes spending up to £40,000 a time....rich parents), and drive them around town, drinking and having a jolly good time. last week just outside oslo 40 of said buses met up and had a mass party...excellent. this russ bus i rode past on way home on sunday....unbelievable artwork on the side...oh, and the funny part, they stpo the month of partying on may 17th...which is actually just BEFORE their exams...hmmmmm

Russ is a tradition and cultural phenomenon in Norway. Students who graduate from upper secondary school are called russ and celebrate with the characteristic festivities (russefeiring) during the first few weeks of May. In Sweden, a similar celebration is called Studenten ("the student"). In Finland students celebrate the start of the final test in a similar tradition called penkkarit. Also in Denmark graduation from high school (studentereksamen) is celebrated in similar ways as in Norway, including the wearing of caps in different colours and riding in open trucks, while the Danish term rus refers to first-year college students. There are many local variations of the russefeiring but the spirit of the celebration remains uniform across the country; it is a symbol of breaking free from the necessary shackles handed down by parents intended for the young generation's well-being and protection. It is a rite of passage, an abrupt way of ending childhood and of entering into adulthood, but it also marks accomplishing high school. The spirit of the russe-celebration represents exactly what Nobel Prize laureate in literature Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson tries to convey in the poem "Jeg velger meg April".