Studying in Oslo, the green city: a great experience!

On first sight, Oslo is not the most attractive city for students: drinks are expensive, the weather is often lousy and in the fall it quickly gets dark. Obviously, I took these things into account when making my decision to choose a city for my study abroad period. Nonetheless, the fun, social and practical possibilities of this city, this country, this university, and studying abroad by itself, are endless.

I have always had a weakness for Scandinavia, but ultimately I filtered out my destination. I wanted to stay in Europe and I wanted to study in a country in which, roughly, norms and values are similar to those of the Netherlands. Additionally, I wanted to study in a country that I had never visited before, which left only the Northern-European countries to choose from. Next, based on attractive universities and attractive cities, I selected BI Norwegian Business School as my number one destination!

Oslo city

Since my arrival in Oslo, I kept being amazed by the qualities and benefits of the city! As the title of this article may suggest, Oslo, in terms of nature, is the most green capital city in the world! Norwegians make great use of this in and around Oslo. I have seen many different men jogging while pushing their baby buggies forward! Who claimed that men cannot multitask? Moreover, the city is the exemplary for sustainability: a quarter of the cars driving around here is electrical, busses come by every five minutes and are overcrowded, and the air is clean due to the enormous amount of greenery in the city. This diversity in nature makes the city especially attractive to live in! Student housing, by the way, is arranged outstandingly by BI. They guarantee you have a room for your entire study abroad period! Myself, I got a room in the Bjølsen building, which is only 10 minutes away from university. Perfect!

“Typical for Norwegians: on first sight they will just see which way the wind blows, but when you get to really know them, they will be friends for life!”

BI Norwegian Business School

The building of the Business School is by far the most modern one of all universities that I have seen so far. Nearly everything you need is incorporated in the building! A remarkable difference with education in Tilburg is the participation of students in lectures. Can you recall the moments in class that a lecturer raises a question and it is followed by a three minute deafening silence? Nothing is farther from the truth in respect to participation at BI, where the amount of students is far less and lecturers focus on open discussions. Here, I mainly chose Finance courses, but until now they are very similar to first and second year courses. That does give me the opportunity to do something besides my study: become a member of the Student Union: SBIO! I applied to SBIO Invest, which is comparable to A&F Investments. Unfortunately, I did not get selected. Therefore, I am now planning to join the Business Society and help organizing events that host guest speakers. In Norway, it is important to become a member of something, no matter what! Joining a group, committee or society, makes sure you are part of something and will ensure you that you will make friends for life! That is typical for Norwegians: on first sight they will just see which way the wind blows, but when you get to really know them, they will be friends for life! The rest of my time, I work out and try to meet new people. Cava Wednesday at KROA, the student café of BI, is where I spend most of my Wednesday evenings. Generally, friends bring other friends or acquaintances which they introduce to me. In this way, you get to know a lot of new people!

Oslo ‘night’ life

Going out in Oslo is totally different from Tilburg! There are plenty of nice bars and cafes, but most of the parties last until 02.00 and you pay ridiculously much for your beer: converted, roughly €10! Norway is simply much richer than the Netherlands, which inflates almost all prices and especially for beer! You should therefore aim for the house parties. By the way, when Norwegians party, they are nothing like themselves during the day. At daytime, Norwegians seem to be quite reserved, but at night (during and after the pre-party) they are the most open people on earth and they love to talk.

“The international experience you get here is stunning!”

Another event you definitely should not miss is the introduction week named Fadderullan! Unlike the Top-week in Tilburg, you may choose which days you would like to join and which days you stay at home. After all, the Fadderullan takes about 10 days and tickets for events generally cost more than 300 Norwegian kroner, which is roughly 33 euros… Nevertheless, there were some events I definitely did not want to miss: there was a performance by Lemaître, a famous Norwegian DJ-couple, a boat party, for which I could not get any tickets, and the final party with Galantis! Even when you could not get tickets for events, there was plenty to do during the week! All in all, I learned a lot of new people from all over the world while enjoying some drinks.

Planning

Obviously, I still have plenty to do here! Soon I will visit an old roommate in Stockholm! Next I am planning to visit Lillehammer, Copenhagen, Stavanger and Lapland! In Lapland I hope to see the Northern lights and make a trip of whale watching. Furthermore I want to make a couple of hikes in the areas surrounding Oslo and other Norwegian cities. Even though nearly everything is more expensive over here, and the weather is even worse than in the Netherlands, the international experience I get here is stunning! The city, the country and everything you experience during a study abroad semester, with no doubt, pay out! In short: an amazing experience!