Onøy & Lurøy

At the beginning of February, our coordinator invited us to her place - Onøy - an island on the northern - west of Nesna. Onøy is connected by bridge with another island - Lurøy. To get there, we took an express boat from Nesna. In less than half an hour we were on the spot.

From the port picked us up Elin with her friend, who is a taxi driver. They shown us the two islands, and then we went to Elin's house to have some tea. It was very kind of her - I can't imagine our teachers inviting us to their houses. It's rather unpopular to spend your free time with students, when you're a teacher, so we really appreciate it. Then we could chose if we want to go fishing or stay on the island. It was quite obvious for me to stay - I'm a kind of landlubber and  I don't feel comfortable on the sea. Instead of catching a fish, I went for a walk and took some pictures.

At the beginning of out tour we weren't alone. I was pleasantly surprised when Elin said that she has a Norwegian Forest Cat. They are really big and furry. I always wanted to see one of them. So you can imagine my happiness, when we just left her house and... fluffy guide has accompanied us. Needless to say, what was the main attraction of our trip...

 Our guide : )

By Tereza. I swear, I didn't kill him!

Yes, we took hundreds of pictures of this cat. He's pretty awesome. As it turned out - guys have caught some fish. It was our first and really good trip. We had been coming back during sunset, so I overcame my fear of rolling boat and I went on the board to take some pictures. Even though I was scared - it was worth to see beautiful seascapes.

But it wasn't end of this day! In the evening we met again and ate dinner together. Everyone prepared a meal, so we had a real feast. :)

Then we played a game - each of us got a flashcard with a name of popular person and we had to guess who we are. We were able to answer only 'yes' and 'no' for asked question, so it was quite difficult, even if I got Arnold Schwarzenegger. :)

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:

Accomodation

When we arrived, our coordinator has shown us the University College and got the keys to our rooms. As it turned out - Agata and I got to two different dormitories. I was really surprised and at first we thought that it was to separate us in terms of language, but later on both of us got another Polish flatmate. Nevertheless, it has a good impact on our relation when we spend some time apart and we are still in adjoining buildings.

As far as dormitories are concerned - mine is really great. When Elin has shown me my room I felt there like home - there was everything I needed. In Szczecin I used to rent a flat, because dormitories are not in especially good condition. Here are over a dozen buildings, each of them can house 8 people - four per each floor. Moreover, there are several dorms for students with kids or whole families. I share my flat with one Norwegian girl from local high school and one Polish girl who studies Russian at the same department as me, but we didn't know each other before. This place is really nice and outside my window I can see beautiful fjord and snowy mountains. It's the best window view I have ever had. Compared to prices of dormitories in Poland, this one is quite expensive - I pay ca. 2600 NOK per month, that is approximately 1300 PLN. Anyway, I got scholarship, so I can cover costs of the maintenance and food.

My dormitory - Hus 24 B  :)

Our living room

Kitchen

Hall. There is a bathroom on both sides, between two rooms.

View in the morning of our arrival. My favourite one ;)

Just in the back of my dorm ; )