By James O’Callaghan

Life outside of studies in Bergen

I have now been in Bergen Norway for what is coming up to be three months and have thoroughly enjoyed embracing a new culture and adjusting to what life is like outside of New Zealand. In this blog post, however, I want to focus on what student life is like here in Norway including some of the activities easily accessible for students in and around Bergen and also on the Studies.

Student Life

Starting with student life which is hugely prevalent throughout the city due to a number of higher education institutions including the University of Bergen. Also helping to contribute to the student atmosphere is the Fantoft accommodation which houses around 1000 students (I think) from both Norway and all over the world. Sammen (who own Fantoft and many of the other student accommodations) regularly host events both during the week and the weekend like quizzes and movie nights and also student bars and associations host similar events. These provide fantastic opportunities to meet people and also nice ways to spend an evening if you don’t have much on. There was also a well-organised welcome week for each of the faculties comprising of games an other fun things throughout the day and then events at different bars around the city in the evenings providing a good opportunity to get more familiar with the city.

On top of this is all of the activities there are to do in and around Bergen starting with the 7 mountains of course. These mountains surround Bergen on all sides and are great walks to do either on nice afternoons or weekends and there are extended trails between some of them available for longer hikes including one involving all 7 in one day. Adding to this are the museums and aquarium which have either free or discounted entry for students, the fantastic bakeries and coffee shops and just some of the other’s sights around the city. Also reachable in just a few hours from Bergen are some fantastic hikes such as Trolltunga (Trolls Tounge) and Predikstolen. If that isn’t enough there is the scenic train to Oslo as well as a decently well-connected airport offering trips across Europe.

Studies

The way of learning over here is very unique and quite different from back home as they are more focused on letting students do the learning themselves which means many hours of reading. For my courses (which are the equivalent of papers) they have around 10 lectures in total meaning that we do not have many classes, and this can lead to the problem of being caught in two minds of whether to study or enjoy the many activities listed above especially if the weather is nice. Luckily for me the weather is starting to worsen now as the temperatures drop in the lead up to winter which makes studying slightly more appealing and the content is very interesting coming from a very independent legal system like New Zealand to one so connected through EU legislation.

Ultimately, I have loved my time in Bergen so far and will very likely continue to do so for the remaining time left especially as we move towards Christmas and hopefully some snowfall. It can be a big risk making the decision to study abroad but I am already stoked in my decision and highly encourage others considering making the leap as well.