So yesterday I finally met the new exchange students. We had a mentor meeting at 10 which was followed by a giving a campus tour to the members of our group, and helping them set up their NHH passwords so that they could get internet in their rooms as well.
In the evening was the 'Baptism' ceremony, so we started a pre-party at 4.30 where we had some food and played some getting to know you games before heading down to campus at 9pm for the baptism ceremony and a small party. The party was pretty quiet - maybe because there are only 80 new students and not all of them have arrived yet, but it was still quite fun, and I got to meet a few people from other mentor groups but not that many. As the week progresses I'm sure I'll meet more people.
Tonight we are going to have a Pub Crawl although the route has not been organised, hopefully we shall meet up with the other groups at Metro nightclub. Then tomorrow I will be a tour guide of Bergen as I and my fellow mentors show them some of the most important locations in town.
Thursday 8 January 2009
Monday 5 January 2009
Semester 2
So I am back in Norway for Semester 2. I have arrived quite early and Hatleberg (where I live) is almost like a ghost town. I am really looking forward to more people arriving, my friends returning, and getting to know the new people arriving.
I arrived late last night after an uneventful journey, the worst part was having to drag my suitcase through the snow here in Norway as the wheels didn't roll very well and the suitcase kept falling over :(
Today I just went to NHH, to try find my exam grades out and I bumped into someone I knew so it was nice to talk to someone in what has otherwise been a very quiet day. I spent the rest of the day shopping for groceries, and watching TV....funny how when I need to revise I can find plenty of things to do, yet when I have plenty of time it seems there is little to do!
Tomorrow I think I may go for a walk up Floyen and see the town in the snow again, hopefully it won't be too icey on the path up! Then on Wednesday the orientation activities start, so not too long to go now.
Sunday 28 September 2008
Week 7
Wow can't believe I have been here for 7 weeks!! Time has flown by so quickly! Good news this week is that my student loan finally arrived so I now have money....maybe soon I will be able to buy some chicken. I have been saving up as it is so expensive ;) (£9 for 5 chicken breasts!!)
This week there have been a lot of parties :) Of course we went to Tiger Tiger on Thursday although this time we actually got a taxi home rather then walking in the pouring rain. The music in Norway is still at least 2 months behind the UK. Every night out includes an obligitory play or two of Duffy's Mercy and recently Katie Perry's I kissed a girl. I start to get bored of hearing songs and then they suddenly appear in the Norwegian clubs. Also discovered that you can buy cocktails for only 49kroner (£4.50) so it was nice to be able to have some Woo Woo's rather then beer, and am slowly converting others into drinking them too :)
On Friday me and Flora were invited to Floras mentor from Welcome Week (Kristine)s house warming party, it was a nice evening where we chatted and played a drinking game before heading off to a party at NHH where one of the exchange students was DJing at. I left at about 12.30 though as I was very tired.
Then on Saturday I had a very lazy day and just watched a few TV shows, and then in the evening was a Spanish Party. We all paid 80kroner and they provided lovely spanish food and sangria for us. They made paella, bread with prosciutto and tomato, and a delcious spanish omlette/tortilla.
It was a very interesting night as most people were a lot drunker then me and Flora so we got to watch people being driven around the flat in a trolley, a box, (and my favourite) a wheelbarrow. There was an elevator party which involved riding up and down in the elevator stopping at every floor, jumping after the count of 3 when we were on the 7th floor (which was very scary!) and playing a mailbox as a drum. Very strange, but fun! The Spanish people put up lots of decorations like spanish flags and lanterns, and there were a few hats as well. Here is a picture of me wearing a hat normally worn by Bull Fighters....
Although to me it looked more Russian, I am assured it is a typical Spanish hat!
The rest of the week has been a bit quiter, on Monday Me, Flora, Nat and Ana went to the movies to watch Wanted, which despite my reservations I did actually enjoy. I hated the first 10 minutes as it all seemed so unrealistic, but once you got over that it was a fun movie with a good plot-twist. I also watched a movie in Norwegian this week. Klara my Norwegian teacher arranged for us to watch a movie to celebrate completing our mid-term test. We watched a thriller set in Bergen (which was nice as everything was so familiar looking) and I really enjoyed it.
On Wednesday I went shopping to buy some winter clothes as all the ones I brought over here suddenly decided to get holes in them. So I had a lot of fun shopping :) and one good thing is that clothes are not really more expensive in Norway so I managed to get quite a few new clothes without spending too much money.
Finally I've just been doing some school work, as I mentioned earlier I had a Norwegian test so I did some revision for that, then I also have to do group projects for my other three classes, so today I have had to go around doing some market research for our brand management project about Gillette Venus.
Next week I only have 2 classes as there is a half term in Norwegian schools, so a lot of lectures have been cancelled. I currently don't have many plans, but think we may try eat out, have a movie night, and maybe do some sightseeing if the weather is nice.
This week there have been a lot of parties :) Of course we went to Tiger Tiger on Thursday although this time we actually got a taxi home rather then walking in the pouring rain. The music in Norway is still at least 2 months behind the UK. Every night out includes an obligitory play or two of Duffy's Mercy and recently Katie Perry's I kissed a girl. I start to get bored of hearing songs and then they suddenly appear in the Norwegian clubs. Also discovered that you can buy cocktails for only 49kroner (£4.50) so it was nice to be able to have some Woo Woo's rather then beer, and am slowly converting others into drinking them too :)
On Friday me and Flora were invited to Floras mentor from Welcome Week (Kristine)s house warming party, it was a nice evening where we chatted and played a drinking game before heading off to a party at NHH where one of the exchange students was DJing at. I left at about 12.30 though as I was very tired.
Then on Saturday I had a very lazy day and just watched a few TV shows, and then in the evening was a Spanish Party. We all paid 80kroner and they provided lovely spanish food and sangria for us. They made paella, bread with prosciutto and tomato, and a delcious spanish omlette/tortilla.
It was a very interesting night as most people were a lot drunker then me and Flora so we got to watch people being driven around the flat in a trolley, a box, (and my favourite) a wheelbarrow. There was an elevator party which involved riding up and down in the elevator stopping at every floor, jumping after the count of 3 when we were on the 7th floor (which was very scary!) and playing a mailbox as a drum. Very strange, but fun! The Spanish people put up lots of decorations like spanish flags and lanterns, and there were a few hats as well. Here is a picture of me wearing a hat normally worn by Bull Fighters....
Although to me it looked more Russian, I am assured it is a typical Spanish hat!
The rest of the week has been a bit quiter, on Monday Me, Flora, Nat and Ana went to the movies to watch Wanted, which despite my reservations I did actually enjoy. I hated the first 10 minutes as it all seemed so unrealistic, but once you got over that it was a fun movie with a good plot-twist. I also watched a movie in Norwegian this week. Klara my Norwegian teacher arranged for us to watch a movie to celebrate completing our mid-term test. We watched a thriller set in Bergen (which was nice as everything was so familiar looking) and I really enjoyed it.
On Wednesday I went shopping to buy some winter clothes as all the ones I brought over here suddenly decided to get holes in them. So I had a lot of fun shopping :) and one good thing is that clothes are not really more expensive in Norway so I managed to get quite a few new clothes without spending too much money.
Finally I've just been doing some school work, as I mentioned earlier I had a Norwegian test so I did some revision for that, then I also have to do group projects for my other three classes, so today I have had to go around doing some market research for our brand management project about Gillette Venus.
Next week I only have 2 classes as there is a half term in Norwegian schools, so a lot of lectures have been cancelled. I currently don't have many plans, but think we may try eat out, have a movie night, and maybe do some sightseeing if the weather is nice.
Wednesday 17 September 2008
1st - 17th September
Ok so I have been a bit slack updating this blog recently. The good news is that the internet in my bedroom is working a lot better now, so I don't have to go the the library every time I want to get online.
The last few weeks have been a lot less hectic due to my workload from classes increasing. A couple of weeks ago Lizzi came to stay with me and we went on a mini-tour called Norway in a Nutshell where we got to go on a lovely train ride and on a 2 hour fjord cruise. The on the Sunday we went for a walk up the nearest mountain which was nice.
Then the next 2 weeks I have just been to my classes during the day and in the evenings had meals with friends, or gone to parties, which there have been a lot of :) Lots of birthday parties, and then also nights organised by societies at NHH, such as Bierstube which was organised by the Big Band society which was supposed to be similar to the Munich beer festival.
Then last weekend me and a few friends went for a lovely hike up a mountain on the other side of Bergen, the weather is still very nice and so we thought we should make use of it as we know it can't last much longer! After all it is supposed to rain at least 200 days of the year here! So we went up the mountain, ate our lunch at the top with an amazing view of Bergen...we even got to see the navy doing some target practice. Then on our way down we spent a while sunbathing by a lake. It was my favourite hike so far in Bergen :)
So I'm now up to this week, well yesterday we had a mexican evening to make use of the free tortilla wraps we had been given which was fun. We made some jelly as one of our friends had never tried it, and it was funny to watch him eat it for the first time! Then we watched the first Indiana Jones film before bed. Today I have the day off university and so I'm having a nice lazy day. Catching up on some TV shows and doing homework and readings for the next few days.
I'm going to (another) birthday party tomorrow and then don't have too much planned for the weekend yet.
The last few weeks have been a lot less hectic due to my workload from classes increasing. A couple of weeks ago Lizzi came to stay with me and we went on a mini-tour called Norway in a Nutshell where we got to go on a lovely train ride and on a 2 hour fjord cruise. The on the Sunday we went for a walk up the nearest mountain which was nice.
Then the next 2 weeks I have just been to my classes during the day and in the evenings had meals with friends, or gone to parties, which there have been a lot of :) Lots of birthday parties, and then also nights organised by societies at NHH, such as Bierstube which was organised by the Big Band society which was supposed to be similar to the Munich beer festival.
Then last weekend me and a few friends went for a lovely hike up a mountain on the other side of Bergen, the weather is still very nice and so we thought we should make use of it as we know it can't last much longer! After all it is supposed to rain at least 200 days of the year here! So we went up the mountain, ate our lunch at the top with an amazing view of Bergen...we even got to see the navy doing some target practice. Then on our way down we spent a while sunbathing by a lake. It was my favourite hike so far in Bergen :)
So I'm now up to this week, well yesterday we had a mexican evening to make use of the free tortilla wraps we had been given which was fun. We made some jelly as one of our friends had never tried it, and it was funny to watch him eat it for the first time! Then we watched the first Indiana Jones film before bed. Today I have the day off university and so I'm having a nice lazy day. Catching up on some TV shows and doing homework and readings for the next few days.
I'm going to (another) birthday party tomorrow and then don't have too much planned for the weekend yet.
Sunday 24 August 2008
So this week I started classes, I only have to take 4 courses and so it means I have a pretty good timetable with Wednesdays off. The only thing that is strange here is how long the lectures are. Normally they're between 3-4 hours long! Although you do get a break every hour.
I have also attended a few Norwegian classes so now I can say in Norwegian what my name is and where I am from. It's pretty hard at the moment as it words aren't really written how they sound but it's nice learning a bit of Norwegian.
The weather has continued to be lovely so I have spent a lot of evenings having a BBQ and watching the sunset. I got some lovely photos but I am having trouble uploading them at the moment. Then on Thursday night I went for a night out in Bergen which was fun -although it is hard to get cheap food after a night out like you would in the UK. We resorted to paying £9 for a McDonalds!!
Then last night it was the homecoming party which welcomes the returning Norwegian students back to NHH so we had a pre-party downtown then came back to campus to attend the party. It was another fun night, and I am even getting used to the price of alcohol!
I have also been on a few hikes this week, one on Wednesday and one today. On Wednesday we went for a 4 hour hike up one of the mountains near our accomodation and we got another great view of Bergen, but at some points it was more of a rock climb then a hike - we even had to use a ladder to get up one part! Today's hike was a lot gentler and we just went out for a couple of hours, just to get out of the house and to make use of the weather which is due to get worse at any time.
Next week I don't really have much planned except attending classes. I'm going to try pick up some free tickets fot a classical concert being held on Tuesday night if they have any left and then Lizzi comes to Bergen for the weekend on Friday which should be fun and we might even go on a fjord tour.
I have also attended a few Norwegian classes so now I can say in Norwegian what my name is and where I am from. It's pretty hard at the moment as it words aren't really written how they sound but it's nice learning a bit of Norwegian.
The weather has continued to be lovely so I have spent a lot of evenings having a BBQ and watching the sunset. I got some lovely photos but I am having trouble uploading them at the moment. Then on Thursday night I went for a night out in Bergen which was fun -although it is hard to get cheap food after a night out like you would in the UK. We resorted to paying £9 for a McDonalds!!
Then last night it was the homecoming party which welcomes the returning Norwegian students back to NHH so we had a pre-party downtown then came back to campus to attend the party. It was another fun night, and I am even getting used to the price of alcohol!
I have also been on a few hikes this week, one on Wednesday and one today. On Wednesday we went for a 4 hour hike up one of the mountains near our accomodation and we got another great view of Bergen, but at some points it was more of a rock climb then a hike - we even had to use a ladder to get up one part! Today's hike was a lot gentler and we just went out for a couple of hours, just to get out of the house and to make use of the weather which is due to get worse at any time.
Next week I don't really have much planned except attending classes. I'm going to try pick up some free tickets fot a classical concert being held on Tuesday night if they have any left and then Lizzi comes to Bergen for the weekend on Friday which should be fun and we might even go on a fjord tour.
Wednesday 13 August 2008
My First Week
Hi! Thought I would start a blog about my time in Bergen as it makes it easier for me to let everyone who is interested know what I am up to.
Here are a few pictures of my accomodation:
I tried to post a few more photos of Bergen itself but they won't load so instead I have put them on facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2279989&l=cce72&id=61411100
I've been here for nearly a week now and there has been a lot going on! The International Society here at NHH have organised lots of events for us, such as tours of the campus and of Bergen as well as a pub crawl, movie night, concerts and a hike up Mt. Floyen where you got a brilliant view of Bergen.
I have made lots of friends and am having a really good time so far! Next week we start classes, but there will still be a lot going on in the evening. Tomorrow night I am going to an Italian evening organised by one of my new friends which will be fun and tonight we will have a big party as well.
I'll just add a few contact details here incase anyone wants them:
My address is:
Rachel Olijnyk
B Blokk, B, 220
Hatleberg Studentboliger
Hatleveien 5B
5041 Bergen
Norway
My Norwegian Mobile number is: +4794207927
My email address is: reo@gmx.com
Here are a few pictures of my accomodation:
I tried to post a few more photos of Bergen itself but they won't load so instead I have put them on facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2279989&l=cce72&id=61411100
I've been here for nearly a week now and there has been a lot going on! The International Society here at NHH have organised lots of events for us, such as tours of the campus and of Bergen as well as a pub crawl, movie night, concerts and a hike up Mt. Floyen where you got a brilliant view of Bergen.
I have made lots of friends and am having a really good time so far! Next week we start classes, but there will still be a lot going on in the evening. Tomorrow night I am going to an Italian evening organised by one of my new friends which will be fun and tonight we will have a big party as well.
I'll just add a few contact details here incase anyone wants them:
My address is:
Rachel Olijnyk
B Blokk, B, 220
Hatleberg Studentboliger
Hatleveien 5B
5041 Bergen
Norway
My Norwegian Mobile number is: +4794207927
My email address is: reo@gmx.com
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