POULSBO — When Mina Ingebretsen thinks about her hometown, she thinks of family, and the ocean. She thinks of being on a boat. Summer.

Not so much Vikings and lutefisk, like what she’s found people asking her about since she arrived in Poulsbo from Stavanger, Norway. But that’s not to say Little Norway isn’t without similarities to the old country.

Downtown Poulsbo, the 18-year-old foreign exchange student said, is similar to an old-fashioned Norway town. But most of Norway is just as modernized as towns in the United States, she said.

Some of the food in Poulsbo, such as that offered in Marina Market, is the same as what she can get back home. In fact, Ingebretsen brought her host family presents. She found out later, the added luggage wasn’t necessary.

“I figured out later I could buy the exact same stuff downtown,” she said outside of North Kitsap High School on Wednesday.  The food has helped fend off homesickness. What Norwegian exchange students miss the most, she said, is the chocolate. Unfortunately, the high school senior has consumed too much and doesn’t want to eat it anymore.

Ingebretsen is a participant in what is known in the United States as ASSE-International Student Exchange Programs. She’s spent her 12th-grade year at NKHS. She will leave in August. While she’s a senior in the U.S., Ingebretsen has at least another year of school when she returns to Norway. There are 13 grades and depending on what classes transfer at her school — fingers crossed — she may have to take 12th grade over.  Originally, Ingebretsen wanted to travel to Australia. That didn’t pan out.

“It’s kind of embarrassing,” she said. “I was supposed to go to Australia, but because I’m afraid of sharks, I decided not to.”

She then had a choice of seven U.S. states. One of her top choices was New York, the most popular. She wanted to be on the coast, east or west.

“I’m a coast girl,” she said.  Stavanger is located on the coast on the North Sea, west of Norway’s capital, Oslo.

Though some of her peers opted for California, she felt she could get what she wanted out of an exchange program in Washington. The weather in Poulsbo, Ingebretsen said, is almost the same as where she hails from. It’s a little cooler in Stavanger this time of year. It snows more. There’s just as much rain.

So far, the only time she has been homesick was during the Christmas/New Year holidays. In Norway, everyone dresses up and there are big family dinners. In the U.S., “They’re a little more chill about stuff here,” she said.

During the holidays, including Norway’s national holiday, Syttende Mai — May 17 — the people of Norway don their bunads, the traditional costume. Ingebretsen gets to wear hers few times a year at most, usually only at confirmations or weddings. It is presented to children at age 15. Her costume cost about $6,000. It is black with silver that her grandmother collected for years and decorated with flowers.

“It’s just something I can say I have that is super-Norwegian,” she said. “Something we cherish a lot and we wear it with pride.”

While she won’t get a chance to wear her bunad, she will participate in Norwegian festivities in the Northwest. She attended the 17th of May Festival in Ballard. The festival is the biggest Syttende Mai festival outside of Norway.

She also plans on attending Viking Fest. Viking Fest is today through Sunday.

As far as Vikings go, she said they are not really part of the current culture back home. The most someone might see of a Viking is on a logo for a sports team, she said.

“I’ve talked so much about Vikings here,” she said. “I probably haven’t talked about Vikings that much since I was in seventh grade.”

Lutefisk? Ask her and she’ll say her parents love it. It’s an acquired taste.

Ingebretsen said she was lucky to get the host family she did and meet the friends she has gotten to know. She enjoys attending NKHS. High school is what she thought it would be — with drama and all.

“It’s an experience,” she said. “And I’m glad I did it.”