Leswi humeleleke ku fikela sweswi (01/04/2021-02/07/2021):

How the adventure 'Study Abroad in Norway' began (Arrival and Quarantine Time)

I have been in Norway for over a month now and I am finally starting this blog. I want to give a brief and rough summary of what has happened so far and what I have already experienced. I won't go into too much detail because I want to live in the present and not in the past :)

It all started on January 4th when I drove to Kassel to meet Sara. We spent our last night in Germany there and on January 5th, we set off early in the morning to Hirtshals, Denmark. In the afternoon, after a border control in Denmark, we arrived in Hirtshals three hours too early, where we waited for the ferry. The crossing took three hours and 15 minutes, and finally, at midnight, I set foot on Norwegian soil.

I had 10 days of quarantine with full board and the opportunity to go for walks wearing a mask and keeping a distance.

Since the quarantine was a travel quarantine, I was allowed to leave the hotel wearing a mask, and I took advantage of that every day to explore the city and the surroundings a bit. However, I do not recommend going jogging with a mask ;)

The time in the hotel went by really quickly, we already had our first online events at the university and we were given a lot of information that we had to pay attention to. The only downside was the food at the hotel, which was not particularly good, but that was only one more reason to look forward to the apartment.

Many new impressions and high prices (Moving in and furnishing on campus)

Then the day of moving in came quickly. Since we had a car available, it only took us an hour to transport our things from the hotel to our apartment on campus. The apartment is really nice. We have plenty of space to store our things, share a bedroom with two single beds, and have a large living-dining-cooking area. We will appreciate the size of the apartment later on. The 60€ that we pay more are definitely worth it compared to the size and space in the other student houses where most of the others in our program live.

The first weeks were not very exciting and the theory part of our study program was initially only online, and I started to doubt whether it was the right decision to come to Norway right now. On the first day after it had snowed, our teacher asked us to have a snowball fight outside, which we gladly did.

The first shopping trips in the various supermarkets in Norway were really shocking because although I had heard that Norway is an expensive country, I didn't expect such high prices (e.g. 20 tea bags for about 4.10€; 250g of cheese for about 4.80€).

Getting to know each other and first outdoor activity

On January 24th, we all in our cohort met for the first time at a BBQ. It was really fun to actually see the people and talk to them.

To test our expensive equipment, an overnight stay in the forest right behind the university was scheduled in the timetable. So we slept outside at temperatures between -6 and -9 °C, with three to four people per tent. Thanks to the sleeping mat and the good sleeping bag, I didn't freeze. Only my nose was a bit cold because it couldn't be inside the down sleeping bag (if down gets wet once, it loses its ability to heat).

I think it was very useful to have a 'trial night' because then you still have the opportunity to get other equipment if the one you have so far is not sufficient. But I am very satisfied with the equipment I have.

Skiing in Bortelid and Classroom Teaching

With a few other people from the program, we organized a trip to Bortelid where we spent a day skiing downhill. The area is quite small and there is neither a chairlift nor a gondola, but the landscape was just so beautiful and the area was not bad either. It was a lot of fun to be back on skis and 'speed down' the mountains.

A few days later (first week of February), the news came that classroom teaching at the university will be allowed again soon. The feeling of packing a backpack for university and actually leaving the house to have a lecture in a lecture hall has been forgotten. I haven't been to a lecture at the university for almost a year now. You can hardly believe it, but you have to plan more time and wear jeans instead of sweatpants ;)

So much for my somewhat longer summary of the time I've spent in Norway so far. In the future, I will hopefully upload updates more regularly. If you have any comments, improvements, or feedback on my first entry, please feel free to contact me.

Best regards

Yours Maike