I have been meaning to write this post for some time now so some of the following events that I will recount actually happened a few weeks ago.
Anyways, a few weeks ago it was the mentor week for the new University of Bergen students - both the internationals on exchange and the Norwegian freshmen. Now mentor week back at my home university is really boring compared to here: we have a day at orientation where the new students are showed around the campus and get to know some of the other students in their faculty - there aren't really any parties (at least hosted by the mentors) because majority of the new students are still only 17 years old. However, in Norway most students begin university at 19 or 20 years old (or at the very earliest 18 years old) so they are legally allowed to drink, which makes the mentor week COMPLETELY different. The whole week was literally one big party, there was some event on every night and it always included a pub crawl. Every faculty had similar events but they made them more unique to that specific faculty. I was in the faculty of humanities, and this was my program for the week: Monday - quiz and concert (with a pre-party before the quiz), Tuesday - a sort of scavenger hunt around the campus followed by more drinking at the student club Kvarteret, Wednesday - "Olympics" and concert at other student club Hulen, Thursday - Pub crawl across the town and then clubbing at Luux, Friday - costume party at Bryggen nightclub.
I couldn't handle drinking every single night of the week (not because my liver couldn't take it - although I had ruined it on my Contiki tour when I was 18 - but more so because my budget wouldn't allow for it). If alcohol was cheap here, perhaps I would of gone a bit more crazy, but I just saved myself and my kroners for the pub crawl, and the other nights I didn't drink or maybe just had one Hansa (Norwegian beer). Even though I held back a little bit in the mentor (as did many of the international students I have spoken to about it), the Norwegians did not. In fact, a lot of the international students left around midnight whereas the Norwegians stayed and partied until the wee hours of the morning.
This was another culture shock as I had no idea the Norwegians drank so much, especially compared to the Europeans who have super cheap alcohol unlike in Norway where it costs about 200NOK (roughly $40) for a six pack of cider. I swear once I get back home, if any of my friends ever complain about the price of alcohol I will just glare at them and say "You don't know what expensive alcohol is".
Anyways, getting off that tangent and back to mentor week. When I asked some of the Norwegian students if they always drink this much and during the week, they told me it does not happen all the time but on specific occasions like mentor week or "russ/russetiden/russefeiring" which is a little similar to Australia's "leavers" except the Norway's is a lot more intense. Instead of celebrating their graduation after their exams (unlike us back in OZ), the Norwegians graduating from high school celebrate their graduation party BEFORE their exams, and it's not just for one week like leavers, no, theirs is for three weeks nonstop. When I was first told about this, I sat there in a state of shock "Are you crazy?!" - I would be unbelievably stressed out if I was partying and having the best time for three weeks only to be reminded I still had to do my exams which would determine whether I could go to university. I was to continue being shocked hearing more stories of this celebration as some of my Norwegian friends explained to me that some students save so much money just to fund their alcohol consumption of the three weeks, one friend in particular told me that she knew someone who spent 10,000NOK for the russefeiring... that's about $2000! Another friend told me that they have to do particular tasks so they can get ribbons (or badges?) to put on their hats - some of these tasks were quite easy and tame for instance skulling a pint of beer, but others were more extreme, for example I was told one task was to have sex in a tree. What didn't strike me as insanely shocking was the fact a task was to have sex in a tree, but the fact you had to have someone watching you do it - in order to get a ribbon for the task, you need to have a witness or witnesses who can vouch for you that you actually completed it. Crazy insane, that's all I can say. Yet I do not think badly at all of the Norwegians, in fact I find it incredibly interesting they have these events because it is not broadcasted to the world - so for us international students, especially me coming from the other side of the world, this is not what you expect when you meet the students of Norway.
My friends often reminisce about leavers and how it was the best time of their lives (I actually didn't go because I saved my money for my gap year trip around Europe, which the Contiki tour I did was the best time of MY life), yet I think if they had seen or known what the leavers was like in Norway they would be gutted about living in Australia and wished that we were more similar to here (except maybe not having the celebrations before the exams, but after) - I know when I was told about russefeiring and participated in the mentor I did think that Australian students are missing out on the crazy student life that we all idealise but just accept what we have available and tell ourselves that's good enough.
See this video for a peek at the russefeiring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UlrImMgb9s
However the Norwegian students don't just party all the time, they are still studious as well. What amazed me the most was how at first (during mentor week) they seemed like they just wanted to party before the semester started, but when the offer was presented of something academic, all the Norwegian students rushed to participate/attend (unlike the exchange students). For example, during one of the nights during mentor week there was a presentation by Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, who is a very well known Norwegian scientist. I think his presentation was called “The Universe” or something along those lines, but more to the point once this was announced to all us students drinking in Kvarteret, literally all the Norwegian students rushed down stairs to go watch it. I went as well, even though it was in Norwegian, but I could read the text and my friends helped translate it to me as well. It was really interesting, there were some facts I had known already about the universe but lots that I had no clue about or I hadn’t heard of before. What I loved the most though was how passionate the scientist, Knut, was when presenting his lecture. There’s nothing more I love than seeing people who are absolutely in love with their job/study and are so happy to share it with everyone else – that’s what I want to have in my future career. I also loved how in awe the students were, they listened to the whole lecture without moving/fidgeting/using their phones and when Knut asked if there were any questions, the students were more than willing to raise their hand. Furthermore these students I was with were not science students, in fact they were all from the faculty of humanities. If I was back home and there was a presentation organised similar to this, students of the same age studying in the faculty of humanities (or other faculties not associated with science) would not be willing to go unless it was something that really interested them. Yet these students really wanted to go and wanted to learn about something other than what they were studying. It was lovely to witness and to be a part of especially since I don’t get to experience this all that much back home.
The students here care so much about culture, politics and science; and this is shown by their vast amount of student organisations catering for it plus one of their main student clubs, Kvarteret, hosting lectures every week on one of these topics with well known lecturers/presenters/academics in the Norwegian society.
Of course I am going to miss the friends I have made here on my exchange, but I am also going to really miss their student club Kvarteret. It has been one of my favourite places to hang out, it has everything for students – a café with very good food at student prices, bars/pubs, concerts, films, lectures – everything that would interest a student; and it’s not exclusive to the University of Bergen students but ALL the university and college students who reside in Bergen. I wish there was something like this back home in Perth, but unfortunately at the moment there universities are individual in what they offer and do not have one place like this where all university and tafe students could come to hang out – just their own individual taverns at their campuses. Maybe one day soon there will be a place just like Kvarteret in Perth… if not at least I always had my experience of it here on exchange.
Anyways, a few weeks ago it was the mentor week for the new University of Bergen students - both the internationals on exchange and the Norwegian freshmen. Now mentor week back at my home university is really boring compared to here: we have a day at orientation where the new students are showed around the campus and get to know some of the other students in their faculty - there aren't really any parties (at least hosted by the mentors) because majority of the new students are still only 17 years old. However, in Norway most students begin university at 19 or 20 years old (or at the very earliest 18 years old) so they are legally allowed to drink, which makes the mentor week COMPLETELY different. The whole week was literally one big party, there was some event on every night and it always included a pub crawl. Every faculty had similar events but they made them more unique to that specific faculty. I was in the faculty of humanities, and this was my program for the week: Monday - quiz and concert (with a pre-party before the quiz), Tuesday - a sort of scavenger hunt around the campus followed by more drinking at the student club Kvarteret, Wednesday - "Olympics" and concert at other student club Hulen, Thursday - Pub crawl across the town and then clubbing at Luux, Friday - costume party at Bryggen nightclub.
I couldn't handle drinking every single night of the week (not because my liver couldn't take it - although I had ruined it on my Contiki tour when I was 18 - but more so because my budget wouldn't allow for it). If alcohol was cheap here, perhaps I would of gone a bit more crazy, but I just saved myself and my kroners for the pub crawl, and the other nights I didn't drink or maybe just had one Hansa (Norwegian beer). Even though I held back a little bit in the mentor (as did many of the international students I have spoken to about it), the Norwegians did not. In fact, a lot of the international students left around midnight whereas the Norwegians stayed and partied until the wee hours of the morning.
This was another culture shock as I had no idea the Norwegians drank so much, especially compared to the Europeans who have super cheap alcohol unlike in Norway where it costs about 200NOK (roughly $40) for a six pack of cider. I swear once I get back home, if any of my friends ever complain about the price of alcohol I will just glare at them and say "You don't know what expensive alcohol is".
Anyways, getting off that tangent and back to mentor week. When I asked some of the Norwegian students if they always drink this much and during the week, they told me it does not happen all the time but on specific occasions like mentor week or "russ/russetiden/russefeiring" which is a little similar to Australia's "leavers" except the Norway's is a lot more intense. Instead of celebrating their graduation after their exams (unlike us back in OZ), the Norwegians graduating from high school celebrate their graduation party BEFORE their exams, and it's not just for one week like leavers, no, theirs is for three weeks nonstop. When I was first told about this, I sat there in a state of shock "Are you crazy?!" - I would be unbelievably stressed out if I was partying and having the best time for three weeks only to be reminded I still had to do my exams which would determine whether I could go to university. I was to continue being shocked hearing more stories of this celebration as some of my Norwegian friends explained to me that some students save so much money just to fund their alcohol consumption of the three weeks, one friend in particular told me that she knew someone who spent 10,000NOK for the russefeiring... that's about $2000! Another friend told me that they have to do particular tasks so they can get ribbons (or badges?) to put on their hats - some of these tasks were quite easy and tame for instance skulling a pint of beer, but others were more extreme, for example I was told one task was to have sex in a tree. What didn't strike me as insanely shocking was the fact a task was to have sex in a tree, but the fact you had to have someone watching you do it - in order to get a ribbon for the task, you need to have a witness or witnesses who can vouch for you that you actually completed it. Crazy insane, that's all I can say. Yet I do not think badly at all of the Norwegians, in fact I find it incredibly interesting they have these events because it is not broadcasted to the world - so for us international students, especially me coming from the other side of the world, this is not what you expect when you meet the students of Norway.
My friends often reminisce about leavers and how it was the best time of their lives (I actually didn't go because I saved my money for my gap year trip around Europe, which the Contiki tour I did was the best time of MY life), yet I think if they had seen or known what the leavers was like in Norway they would be gutted about living in Australia and wished that we were more similar to here (except maybe not having the celebrations before the exams, but after) - I know when I was told about russefeiring and participated in the mentor I did think that Australian students are missing out on the crazy student life that we all idealise but just accept what we have available and tell ourselves that's good enough.
See this video for a peek at the russefeiring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UlrImMgb9s
However the Norwegian students don't just party all the time, they are still studious as well. What amazed me the most was how at first (during mentor week) they seemed like they just wanted to party before the semester started, but when the offer was presented of something academic, all the Norwegian students rushed to participate/attend (unlike the exchange students). For example, during one of the nights during mentor week there was a presentation by Knut Jørgen Røed Ødegaard, who is a very well known Norwegian scientist. I think his presentation was called “The Universe” or something along those lines, but more to the point once this was announced to all us students drinking in Kvarteret, literally all the Norwegian students rushed down stairs to go watch it. I went as well, even though it was in Norwegian, but I could read the text and my friends helped translate it to me as well. It was really interesting, there were some facts I had known already about the universe but lots that I had no clue about or I hadn’t heard of before. What I loved the most though was how passionate the scientist, Knut, was when presenting his lecture. There’s nothing more I love than seeing people who are absolutely in love with their job/study and are so happy to share it with everyone else – that’s what I want to have in my future career. I also loved how in awe the students were, they listened to the whole lecture without moving/fidgeting/using their phones and when Knut asked if there were any questions, the students were more than willing to raise their hand. Furthermore these students I was with were not science students, in fact they were all from the faculty of humanities. If I was back home and there was a presentation organised similar to this, students of the same age studying in the faculty of humanities (or other faculties not associated with science) would not be willing to go unless it was something that really interested them. Yet these students really wanted to go and wanted to learn about something other than what they were studying. It was lovely to witness and to be a part of especially since I don’t get to experience this all that much back home.
The students here care so much about culture, politics and science; and this is shown by their vast amount of student organisations catering for it plus one of their main student clubs, Kvarteret, hosting lectures every week on one of these topics with well known lecturers/presenters/academics in the Norwegian society.
Of course I am going to miss the friends I have made here on my exchange, but I am also going to really miss their student club Kvarteret. It has been one of my favourite places to hang out, it has everything for students – a café with very good food at student prices, bars/pubs, concerts, films, lectures – everything that would interest a student; and it’s not exclusive to the University of Bergen students but ALL the university and college students who reside in Bergen. I wish there was something like this back home in Perth, but unfortunately at the moment there universities are individual in what they offer and do not have one place like this where all university and tafe students could come to hang out – just their own individual taverns at their campuses. Maybe one day soon there will be a place just like Kvarteret in Perth… if not at least I always had my experience of it here on exchange.
Great reading Tash. You seem to have settled in well and enjoying your time in Bergen. I thought I would share this info with you. I was looking through a book list of good reads and one came up that intrigue me. It was about a woman who was tried for murder and it took place in Iceland. It was based on a real person in the 1800s but what I found most interesting was that the Author was an exchange student from Adelaide and at the end of her last year at school she went as an exchange student and left the heat of Adelaide and arrived in the midwinter and she describes her first impressions and how she felt do alone and really described how you must have felt in thise first few days. Her name is Hannah Kent and I believe she teaches creative writing at Adelaide University. I just googled her. Take care Tash love you loads Nanxxx
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