{"id":1,"date":"2017-01-11T11:35:37","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T11:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/?p=1"},"modified":"2017-01-22T19:42:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-22T18:42:56","slug":"hei-verden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/2017\/01\/11\/hei-verden\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to Norway"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a crazy 2 weeks since I\u2019ve arrived in Norway. The journey went well even if it was long and very late by the time we arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n

Week one consisted of many early starts and an onslaught of information to take in! Most mornings we set off for University in the dark and returned to our accommodation in the dark as well! So all in all it was about a week before I saw much of Kristiansand in the daylight. <\/span><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s lectures began on the subject of \u2018friuftsliv\u2019 which directly translates to \u2018free air life\u2019 it is a Norwegian concept of exploring and appreciating nature. We looked at the history and origins of this concept most of which come from having to use nature in everyday life, for example foraging in the summer months or hunting in the winter. It also stems from the need to use outdoor activities such as skiing as a means of transport especially in the more northern regions of Norway.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In week 2 we began to get stuck into the practical side of the course. On Monday we were taken out by the Norwegian friluftsliv students on a typical \u2018family day trip\u2019. In Norway Sunday is a day of rest, where the majority of people have the day off. They often take this opportunity to spend the day as a family in nature, typical activities include hiking or skiing in the winter and swimming in the many lakes or rivers in summer. It is also normal for families to collect wood and build fires on which they cook or heat up their lunch.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Norway there is a law called \u2018allemannsretten\u2019 this can be translated to \u2018every man\u2019s right\u2019. It means any person has the right to travel across any uncultivated land as well as extending to the right to build small fires and the right to camp on any land that is 150m from any residence where you can stay in one area for a maximum of 2 days. This is all possible as Norway has a very small population of 5million people meaning that the majority of Norway is uninhabited and therefore the nature is untouched and well preserved from erosion that occurs with frequent use of an area.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Wednesday we spent the day orienteering around the local forested area of Jegersberg. We are very lucky being in Kristiansand as there are many forested and coastal areas within short walking distance of our accommodation and the university, with Jegersberg being a 5 minute walk behind the university.<\/span><\/p>\n

Tuesday and Friday mornings were made up of lifesaving practice in the university swimming pool. This is an essential aspect of the course as without it we will not be able to partake in any water sports in the spring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The program ahead looks to be very full on with frequent trips away skiing, hiking and doing water sports to come. But even with our busy schedule there is lots to fill our weekends with. This Friday we spent the evening building a fire in the forest just a 5 minute walk from our accommodation which we then cooked our evening meal on! It was interesting to see all the different ideas and experiences people had with cooking different foods on the fire. The most popular option was of course the hot dog and bacon carefully balanced on a stick, closely followed by the banana and chocolate wrapped in tinfoil. And on today (Sunday) we went climbing at Odder\u00f8ya a piece of land that forms and \u2018island\u2019 just off the town\u2019s sea front. It was a beautifully sunny day even though it did threaten to rain just as we arrived at the crag. Even though the sun was out the rock was freezing, when you finished a climb you came down with numb fingers.<\/span><\/p>\n

These 2 weeks have been a huge learning experience with multiple trips to every supermarket under the sun trying to source the cheapest food especially meat and cheese! Along with trips to the S\u00f8rlandssenteret the local shopping mall (20 minutes away by bus) to buy last minute gear and a whole set of kitchen equipment from IKEA!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a crazy 2 weeks since I\u2019ve arrived in Norway. The journey went well even if it was long and very late by the time we arrived. Week one consisted of many early starts and an onslaught of information … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1\/revisions\/42"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.uia.no\/elouif16\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}