The first weeks in Norway

Hello everybody,

I'm in Oslo for almost three weeks now. Only 3 days after returning from my holiday I had to pack my bags to leave again, but now for a longer period of time. Once I arrived at Oslo Sentralstasjon a buddy from BI, the Norwegian school of management, was there to pick me and the others up and show us our rooms. From other exchange students I had heard that your buddy would give you your key. Unfortunately ours didn’t so we were one of the hundreds of students standing in line for multiple hours to receive it.

Norway is, amongst others, known for its beautiful nature and that is something I have noticed. The city of Oslo is really green and quite spread out. But still you can be from the city centre in the forests within fifteen minutes by public transport. During winters this means you can reach the slopes by public transport from downtown Oslo in less than half an hour and go skiing. From my flat it’s just a 5 minute walk to Sognsvann, a big lake with beautiful surroundings. Ideal for sporting or relaxing on a sunny day.

The first weeks InSA made us familiar with the school, took us to the best parties and showed us all around Oslo. This introduction week, fadderullan, is pretty much the same as the introduction weeks in the Netherlands. It is all about meeting new people and having a good time. Beforehand many people told me that the Norwegians would be more on their own but I don’t think they are that much different from the Dutch. Something I and other people from the Netherlands have experienced quite often during, amongst others, the fadderullan.

The BI building is quite different from our Tilburg university campus. Where Tilburg has multiple buildings spread over the campus, BI Oslo consists of one huge building. A really nice one but it looks a little bit like a shopping mall. It contains pretty much everything you need from class rooms, canteens, book stores, a sports centre, to everything you don’t need in a school, like an intersport store.

That’s it so far, for a better impression take a look on http://picasaweb.google.nl/111250985095698712771/Oslo#