A report from Katharina Sauer

Introduction

I started my Erasmus semester at the appreciated UiT – the Arctic University of Norway with a mix of high hopes and a blend of excitement and apprehension. My time in this small but beautiful city turned out to be both demanding and rewarding – a great journey that not only broadened my academic horizon but also influenced my personal growth a lot. Traveling alongside one of my fellow students, I arrived in Tromsø ready to embrace new experiences and challenges.

The university

Overall, the university was great. It is enormous compared to the PH Steiermark, but after just a few days at the university, it was not too hard to find every room we needed to go to. Unfortunately, all the primary education courses were only offered in Norwegian, but we found two English courses which fit perfect for us. You could also notice some differences between the teachers at the UiT in Norway and the PH Steiermark. One very different thing was the attendance at the courses. It was not required to attend the lectures and seminars, but the teachers were very happy if many students were present. The university campus was very well-organized and had much space to study or socialize. The food in the cafeteria was very good and reasonable priced, as we all know, Norway being an expensive country. It was very comfortable to travel to the university, because the bus almost stopped in front of our student housing and right in front of the university. We also got great support at the university from the internationals office, everybody was very friendly there.

Accommodation

Unfortunately, we were told too late that we should register for a room in the student residences in good time, so we still didn’t have any accommodation two days before we were due to start. After countless apartment searches and advertisements on Facebook and the like, the only solution at that point was to rent an Airbnb. The Airbnb was sufficient, but unfortunately cost us a lot of money. In the first three weeks in Norway, we spent as much on accommodation as we wanted to spend for all four months. After countless visits and phone calls to the office, we finally got a room in a student residence. I had my own room, shared the bathroom with two other girls and the kitchen with the girls and three boys. Everyone was a bit shy at first, but after just a few days we were cooking together, eating together in the evening and having fun. As my colleague lived in the house next door, it was very practical that we had two kitchens to choose from in case there was too much going on in one and we had to make way for the other. Our student residence consisted of many small houses that were similar to ours and also larger ones in which entire families lived. Our little “village” had a shared laundry room with washing machines and dryers, a sauna and a common room. After our rough start in Norway, we were then really lucky with our rooms and our roommates and neighbors were all very friendly and accommodating.

The city

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from the city of Tromsø. I had never even heard of the city before my semester abroad, but in hindsight I can recommend everyone to go there. The city is not very big, but there is everything you need. There are shopping centers, lots of different supermarkets, cool bars and restaurants and very interesting museums. In particular, you can learn a lot about the indigenous people of Norway, the Sami. Tromsø is not only home to the northernmost McDonalds in the world, but also the tiniest bar in the world, where you can enjoy delicious hot dogs and mulled wine. The sauna in the harbor was also really cool. You could go into the sauna, especially in winter, and jump into the ice-cold ocean straight afterwards to cool off. We were allowed to feed reindeer and stroke them, saw free-living orcas on a whale safari and the Northern Lights were simply incredible. Every time we saw them, they were even more extreme and even more beautiful than the times before. But not only the city, but also the landscape around Tromsø is truly unique.

Myself after this great opportunity

After this unique experience, I can say that my personality has changed. After our hopeless living situation and the new challenges that kept cropping up at the beginning, I learned that no matter how bad something looks at the moment, there will be a solution for everything. I have also become much more open-minded and have learned not to give up straight away. Meeting people from different countries and cultures has also broadened my horizons considerably. The trips to neighboring islands, to Lapland and Finland, exploring the beautiful, breathtaking nature of Norway, as well as the spontaneous evening aurora observations have made new friends and made the semester abroad even better.

My exchange semester in Norway far exceeded all my expectations. I was able to develop enormously both professionally and personally and the cultural impressions were also impressive. The unforgettable experiences, valuable encounters and profound insights I gained there mean an incredible amount to me. I couldn’t have wished for a better place for this experience. Looking back, this semester was one of the best and enriching times of my life.