Farewell, Nesna, farewell...

I have no idea when the time has passed. I remember the day we arrived here. It was early morning, I was completely exhausted after the whole day and night in travel, but I couldn't stop to marvel at all these amazing views I've been surrounded with. Nesna was peaceful and quiet place, which I've been discovering step by step. Even though it is a small town, there was always something to see, something to rediscover. It didn't take long before I felt at home. I have been dreaming for the whole life to go to Scandinavia, to see these fjords and many other things... I can't believe I experienced it all. It was amazing adventure. If you have been reading my previous posts, you could probably see that I've been delighted all the time. But you know - what I wrote here is just a part of what I have seen and experienced. The rest is undescribable, something that I even couldn't put into words. That's way I do and I will recommend such an exchange to everyone who is interested in it.

We tried to use the last days as much as possible. We were spending the whole days together, going out to the gym, shopping, doing photo shoots or just sitting in front of our computers but... together! Yup, nerd parties become really popular those days. We took the last look at Nesna from the view point (and the first, if we don't count being there during night). I really liked this place.

Here is Nesna, seen from the view point in March

And the same in May

There is a book, every one who goes there can write his/her name with date and time ;)

Look, there is my dorm! 

When I say jump, you say how high ;]

I'm so high... ;)

Agata & Alex

Last glimpse...

And some other pictures I wanted to show you:

Some crazy people have jumped into the fjord...

Once we went out at 3 a.m. to see sunrise and eat matpakka together ;)

1.40 a.m. on 24th of April. It's getting brighter and brighter outside...

Guess what! View from my kitchen at midnight. I've taken this picture in the middle of May, just before I left. Midnight Sun is amazing. You spend night with your friends, waiting when it's getting dark, and at last, in the morning you realize that the night doesn't exist any longer. Weird, but awesome at the same time.

Setting Sun, seen from my bed ;3

Good-bye Nesna! Last four months here were amazing. I would like to thank all great people I've met here - thank you for beautiful memories and time we've spent together. I wish you all the best! Helgeland, I miss your mystic beauty already! 

International Coffee Hour

An International Coffee Hour took place today at our University. We were divided into several teams, each concerned with different country. Agata and I represented Poland, and rest of Poles agreed to help other teams with preparations. There was also Austrian, Russian, Czech and Norwegian group. It turned out that even our teacher - Maria, who is from Spain, decided to prepare a traditional dish.

Here is the poster:

Do you recognize these pictures, huh? ;)

 Olga brought the matryoshka dolls, one of the most recognizable things from Russia, I think.

I baked a gingerbread cake and Agata fried faworki. Actually, many people were asking about it, as if they saw it for the first time. Faworki derive from Poland, but Norwegians have something very similar called 'fattigmann' (= poor man). As one man explained - it was made with alcohol, that was really expensive. So if someone managed to prepare this dish, automatically became a poor man, because of spending a lot of money for the ingredients. Interesting! During the whole meeting Agata was explaining how she did that. When someone asked me, I just said that it's fattingman or angel wings, because I didn't even remember. Nevertheless, I have baked the first cake in my life! In Norway ;) Otherwise, I probably wouldn't even try. (Shh!) 

Delights of Czech Republic.

Russian and Austrian delicacies.

We brought some music from our countries, but songs from Czech Republic were unbeatable, because Tereza sang and played them herself. I have to admit that she is a really gifted musician ;)

Happy students with baloons :)

PS. Almost all food disappeared very quickly, which is very nice - I hope people liked our amateur & traditional bakings. :]

Nesna University College

Actually, the first place we have seen there, was our school. So now is high time to show you what does Nesna University College look like. ;)

"University in Nesna"

Library. Here you can use the Internet, print for free, borrow books, newspapers, movies and... music albums! 

The oldest student - Mr Skeleton ;)

The very first thing I saw when I just entered the building in the day of my arrival. Goose. Or actually two geese, hanged below ceiling. I have no idea what do they mean, but seeing these strange animals above your head is quite odd.

An ecological monster

Yes, we have a piano in the hall. What a pity I can't play!

Seriously, I can't.

But it's always nice to have one. ;)

Canteen

One of my favourite places. You can always buy some delicious food, that is not especially expensive. Lunch break lasts for 45 minutes, and you should be prepared that during this time almost nobody is available. It's funny, when at 11.30 the whole university becomes empty, just because people are having lunch. ;]

The old building of University.

Ok, outside college on the wall there are some unusual sculptures, but...

Can anybody explain me what is this? I mean, ok, a baby. But I have no idea (and anybody I asked had) why did they put a naked infant with a face contorted with pain on the wall of college. 

Front of University

The College was established in 1918 as a Teacher's College and reorganized in 1994. University College consists of two faculties - Faculty of Culture and Society and Faculty of Education and Nursing. Each of them is divided into a set of departments as:  Drama, English, Norwegian, Arts and Handicrafts, Religion and Philosophy, Music, Mathematics, the Natural Sciences, Social Science and Teacher Education, Sports, Information, and Nursing. Currently University has around 1200 students but some of them study in other towns e.g. Mo i Rana or Sandnessjøen in satellite campuses. At first, I thought that studying outside university must be really difficult, but now I know that it doesn't have to be like this. On the university page there is a tab - Moodle page - when you register there and assign to your course, you will get all materials to certain subjects, schedule, all necessary info concerning the course with forum for discussions. That's where you're uploading your papers, homeworks etc. Teachers are usually checking if have you visited this page or not, so... be vigilant! ;)

Nesna

When I heard name "Nesna" for the first time, I couldn't associate it with anything familiar. Actually I didn't care, until my friend had shown me on the map, where Nesna really is. It turned out to be a small town (or village with 1800 inhabitants) in northern part of Norway, 100 km far from Arctic Circle. At first - I was really scared about two things - how to get there, and how to live in such a place - far from cities and civilization, in land of never ending winter and a country with high prices. Now you know how proceeded my travel here and it wasn't that bad. So now let me say something about living in Nesna.

Studies are organized in gatherings - around 5 during semester. It means that we have around 6 days of classes during month, and the rest is our free time. Strange, isn't it? In Poland I used to have 12 subjects, here - only four. It's simply because I need to get 30 ECTS points for each semester, and here one subject has 7,5 point. At my University majority of subjects has 3,0 points. During gatherings, each subject lasts two days with exception of ICT in Society - we do not attend classes but only work online. Moreover, Wednesday is free day at the University and then we don't have classes at all. As you can see - there is not that much to do. So how to spend your spare time and not go crazy?

Nesna College University offers free entrance to swimming pool with sauna three hours a week. There is also a gym - one pays once for the whole semester, and it's really cheap for students. Additionally, you can sign up for step, yoga, volleyball and ever choir. It's really nice that Norway promotes active and healthy lifestyle. It's also good for people who like outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing or climbing in mountains. What I like here most, is being close to nature. On one side I have fjord, on the other - mountains. It's great place to have long walks with camera, admire views, discover new paths... Now you can slow down, far away from cities and crowds. I think, I was missing it recently.

What else is here? Two supermarkets, hairdresser, restaurant, petrol station, camping, library, community centre, police, bank, port, second-hand, church, cemetery, museum, pub, primary and high school. It seems to be enough, at least for people living here. If you need something from city - the nearest one is Mo i Rana, around 60 km from Nesna.

I think what we (i.e. students) are missing here, is a place where we can meet. There was only one party since my arrival in community centre and the entrance was really expensive for such a disco. In Poland student clubs are very popular and very often entrance is for free. I have never been to the pub (yet!), but alcohol in Norway is really expensive (if only available). Pint of beer costs there 70 NOK, it's approximately 6 times more than in Poland. In the supermarket one can buy only beer (one can - ca. 35 NOK) and it's allowed only till 8 p.m. Stronger alcohol like vodka or even wine are available only in liquor shops (where they cost fortune), and there is less than 300 of such shops in the whole country. What is more - you're not allowed to bring more than 1l of vodka from abroad. So as I said before - Norway promotes really healthy lifestyle. And anti-alcohol policy.

How do I spend free time? I decided to do everything for what I haven't time before. Almost everyday I go to gym, I'm watching movies, reading books, cooking, I started to learn Norwegian, I'm taking a lot of pictures, sleeping a lot and definitely spending too much time on the Internet. ^^'

We're also meeting with other international students, usually in our dormitories. We have 8 people from Poland (quite a lot), one from Austria, Russia and Czech Republic. We sometimes talk about our countries and compare languages. It's interesting that we communicate in English, while it's not a mother tongue for any of us. Sometimes if we cannot make up with the word in English, we just say it in our languages. In most cases it sounds similar, even though we don't understand each other. It's always a good experience. And what is most important - I'm not bored of being here! : )

Some pictures I have taken here: