My Lessons on Friluftsliv, Life, Laughter and Norwegian Traditions

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I can’t believe how quickly time is passing. Today our third week at the University of Agder started. Within our course we learn various things about the Norwegian life with Nature. From my observation the Norwegians have a much stronger connection to nature. Most of the families go out for hikes on sundays, no matter if it rains or snows. Spending time Outdoors is deeply rooted in their understanding of life and their national identity I believe. On every Monday the Norwegian class of Friluftsliv students takes us for a day field trip. Last week it was a typical family hike in the forrest as you can read in the assignments.
Today’s trip was about group dynamics. We we were divided into groups and had to accomplish various challanges, as for example boiling an egg on a bonfire, carrying a person up a hill or learn a norwegian song.

There is always something to discover here in Norway. Since we got here we spent most of hour free time either playing cards or discovering nature. Here are a few impressions:

During the short time I have spent here I only had a few chances to pick get to know some of the Norwegian traditons. However I had the luck to witness one of the most bizarre Norwegian traditions there can be. Since alcoholic beverages, tabacco, meat and basically everything is quite expensive in Norway the Norwegians love crossing the border to go to Denmark or Sweden. Living in Kristiansand this means taking the ferry to Denmark. So the last wednesday I decided to take part and boarded the three hour ferry ride Only to run to the closest Rema 1000 in Denmark and fill up our fridge storage and then head back to the ferry. The ferry takes 3 hours each way, so this is quite a long time just to do some shopping, but however we have to adapt to the norwegian culture eh?

My Week of Socializing

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It’s been more then a week now since I left Cologne and drove up to Kristiansand. The first days were mainly socislizing and getting to know the other internationals and our buddys. On the Friday we had a general Introduction to the University by the suprisingly German Rector. After that we discovered the campus. For the weekend there was a Party planned at Ostisia, the Pub located within the University itself. We got instroduced to the Norwegian custom of preparties. However since alcohol isn’t affordable in this country everybody stays sober for parties.
On the next day we could discover the city center of Kristiansand. Kristiansand has a really nice small city centre with lots of small shops and cafés.
On Monday we finally met our lecturer Len who will teach us for most of the semester. After one day of Introducing ourselves we already started with some theoretical lessons on Outdoor Education, Friluftsliv, camping, fishing, hunting and so on.
Seems like we will have many things to learn within this term.

My Journey Begins

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The last couple of days before our departure were a bit stressfull. I had just returned from skiing holidays in Switzerland and had loads of things on my to do list. Most important was of course getting the car registered Richard and I bought. But also figuring out what to take and what to leave at home was a task that took quite a long time. Althought we had planned to leave on the 4th of January we had to change our plans and leave in the morning of the 5th. Having bid our final farewells we left direction north.

Luckily we managed to get the traffic really quick and had our first little break in Hamburg, filling uo on fuel and engine oil. After that it took us a few hours until we reached the border of Denmark. After ten hours of driving we made it to the ferry terminal in Hirtshals, where we had to wait for another three hours for the ferry. We borded the ferry at around 21:30 and after another three hours on the ferry we finally got to Kristiansand where our buddies awaited us with the keys to our flat.