After a hectic flight, where I lost one of my suitcases (for a short time don’t worry) and got sick on the flight (note: flying is still not my thing),  from Düsseldorf with a stop in Oslo to Kristiansand I finnaly arrived in Norway. Now the adventure really begins! My study of half a year in Norway, outdoor education at the University of Agder (UIA)! But before the adventure really can start I had to go 10 days in quarantine because of COVID-19.

During this time I stayed in Clarion Hotel Ernst in the city centre of Kristiansand. Luckily the quarantine wasn’t as bad as it sounds! It was ten days of exploring the city and the surroundings, ten days of roomservice and ten days to chill in a hotel room.

Kristiansand is a lovely little city at the southern coast of Norway. It is the capital city of the province Agder. The city centre is called ‘Kvadraturen’ and the streets are build like a chessboard pattern. Close to the city centre you find Odderoya and Baneheia.

Odderoya is a peninsula that was very important throughout history. It was military active during the war as a frotress, marine base, quarantaine station, port and cargo space etc. . Now it is a lovely recreational place where you can go on hikes, go for a swim or do rock climbing in the untouched nature. It is also used as a concert venue.

Baneheia was back in the days used as a watch post for the fire station, also located in Baneheia. Now it is just as Odderoya a recreational place (with a sinister background of the Baneheia case). In the beginning of Baneheia you find a lot of lakes, big and small. If you walk further you will come to the Ravnedalen Scene, an open theater. You will also find the dam there. For the rest you will find beautiful hikes in Baneheia with a lot of viewpoints on the way.

I’m glad that I had the time to discover all this places on myself but also with new people. People who also just wanted to go for a hike and socalize and people from my class, who already wanted to meet up. I hiked a lot of times around with my new roommate Claire and with the other dutch persons from my class, Wydse, Luca and Wil(lemijn). It was nice to get to know them already a bit!

My hotel room was nice! I had a double bed for myself, I had a bath and a shower and every day I got delicious things to eat! For example salmon with potatoes, a salad with chicken, rice with chicken and last but not least fiskekaker. Fiskekaker is a typical norwegian dish. It is kind of a fluffy pancake with fish flour. A lot of people hated it, but I liked it very much (so thanks for the people donating their food to me).

The rest of the time I chilled in my room, because it still is a quarantine where I was in. I worked for my bachelor thesis, called with friends and family and joined the online meetings the university organised. They were a lot of fun. We played online games together, watched a movie, did a quiz and also got some practical information about the beginning of the semster and our housing.