Motivation
I had long heard many positive things about the social climate and attitude towards education in Norway. I had also seen a lot of online media about the country and how beautiful it was. Studying in a country that was both very positive about education and was a beautiful place to study motivated me to apply.
Personal Development
I made a lot of friends from many different countries. It also encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and talk to new people. Throughout the experience I also learnt to speak Norwegian quite well, as well as some rudimentary German. I would say that the experience positively changed me as I learnt to accept new challenges and ideas with more of an open mind.
Academic Devlopment
The exchange experience definitely impacted me positively academically. The new academic environment was great as it was quite laid back (similar to Australia) where professors and teaching staff insisted on going by first names. The classes were also quite small so it was easy for teaching staff to provide individualized assistance and feedback. The workload was lighter than at UQ and there seemed to be a much larger focus on work-life balance which, and these ideas seemed to be one of the most important ideas in Norway's social climate. The language barrier was definitely the biggest challenge of the experience. Fortunately Norway has very high levels of English proficiency but there were still times where I needed to try speaking Norwegian to do some things.
Professional Development
I got to collaborate with people from many different cultures, so I got to experience many ideas and learnt to work effectively in an environment where English is not the primary language. This taught me to be patient and understanding of people who were putting themselves in an uncomfortable situation just to communicate with me.
Budget
Fortunately I was able to stay in student accommodation in a smaller city so my accommodation costs were not very high. For budgeting I generally restricted myself to not eating out very often (as it is EXTREMELY expensive in Norway) as well as eating a basic diet consisting of a lot of rice/pasta/bread and fruits and vegetables. Additionally, catching only public transport. Other travel around Norway was also quite affordable as they have an extensive train/bus/ferry network.
The funding was crucial as Norway has a higher baseline cost of living compared to Australia. The funding was also very useful in subsidizing the cost of the flights there and back as well as the costs of the VISA application. It also allowed me to do a small amount of travel around Norway during the semester.
Highlight
The biggest highlight of my trip was being able to visit Longyearbyen on Svalbard in the arctic circle. It is a very unique place and when I was there there was no sunlight at any point throughout the day. The other highlights included a lot of road trips with 4 friends I met throughout the semester and the adventures that I went on with them.
Advice/Top Tips
NTNU offers an introductory Norwegian language course to exchange/Erasmus students about 3 weeks before the semester begins. This course had about 100 exchange students in it while I was there and helped me to meet many other exchange students, many of whom I am still in regular communication with and hope to visit again soon.
Secondly, cash is very rarely used in Norway so try to find a card at a bank in Australia that has low international processing fees.
Lastly, it can be very difficult to make Norwegian friends. Fortunately, I was in a 15 person dorm (Moholt Allmenning) with 10 Norwegians and they were all exceptionally open and friendly. If you want to make friends (particularly Norwegian ones) you should try to stay in a dorm with more people.
