By James O’Callaghan

Hi, my name is James O’Callaghan, and I am in my fourth and final year of studying a Bachelor of Law here at Waikato. I am about to embark on an exchange to the University of Bergen for my final semester at Uni. Going on exchange was very much an impulse decision for me which I know sounds strange but heading towards my final semester before full-time work I figured now was as good a time as any to do some exploring. While I was not sure where I wanted to go, I felt that after being in and around Hamilton for basically the past 10 years it was the right time to head overseas. Something in particular I wanted from an exchange was to go somewhere that was not necessarily the easiest place to get to. I know this comes across strange considering the larger disconnect from family, but I figured if I am going to go all the way to somewhere like Europe I may as well make it somewhere interesting.

With this in mind, I decided on Bergen in Norway which I felt had the right balance of the reasons I wanted to go. It is firstly naturally stunning but also has (what appears to be) a welcoming (and English-speaking) population. It is also located relatively centrally, making it accessible to mainland Europe where I will hopefully have the opportunity to do some further touring around some of the most iconic places in the World. There is more than just sightseeing and travelling to get out of this exchange however and I am hoping that there is the opportunity to meet some awesome people while over there too. Hopefully, some of these can become lifelong friends and maybe this exchange will even help in other areas such as my career. Although this is just a theory, I am hoping that maybe studying the law overseas may help, if I ever do decide to head back that way, in finding work in unique places. While I am unsure what else to expect, I cannot wait to get over there and find out.