Motivation
My motivation for going on exchange was wanting to experience immersing myself in life, and student life specifically, in a new country. I chose Norway in particular because I was interested in the educational and pedagogical differences between Norway and Australia.
Personal Development
The main thing I gained from this experience was confidence. Confidence in my ability to make meaningful social connections and friendships, confidence in my academic skills, confidence in my ability to overcome the challenges of living in a new place.
Academic Development
An interesting difference I noticed was that the study environment involved less pressure than I am used to. The expectation was that lecturers and professors provided you with information and resources and it was up to students to determine how much they engaged with their studies (as opposed to being 'forced' to engage through assessments and other pressures). This made me reflect on my work ethic as this system requires more internal motivation, and less reliance on the system to 'force' you to study. This meant the semester felt fairly low stakes up until the end of semester assessments. It was a good learning curve for me and a challenge to find my inner motivation. The workload overall was less that my usual UQ workload because there were less assessments and less contact hours.
Professional Development 
This experience helped me build skills in making connections across cultural and language barriers. It also prompted me to think critically and innovatively about social and cultural institutions - seeing what benefits and drawbacks come from different ways of life. I thought a lot about what value I can bring to society and how I can bring things I've learned back to my life and career at home.
Costs and Budget
I made a simple budget spread sheet. I calculated a generous budget plan of $17,000 (based on weekly, monthly, and excess estimates) because Norway is an exceptionally expensive country. Thankfully, I only ended up spending ≈ $14,000 (still a lot!). My expenses were broken down into weekly costs, monthly costs, and extra trips.
- Weekly costs included food, extras (clothes), and necessities (toilet paper, shampoo etc) which averaged $175/week for 23 weeks (total ≈ $4000).
- Monthly costs included rent, phone plan, transport card, and gym membership was about $975/month for just over 5 months (total ≈ $5000).
- Extra trips totaled roughly $2500.
A tip for students is to make a detailed budget plan before leaving (that is not dependent on extra funding), then break down and track their weekly spending against that plan. This strategy helped give me peace of mind and allowed me to make the most of my money. But most importantly leave room in your budget to go on trips! Part of the international experience is exploring within the host country as well as, especially in Europe, surrounding countries. This gets expensive fast - but is well worth it.
Funding 
The funding I received gave me extra wiggle room to not have to worry so much about my weekly spending. Norway is a very expensive country but receiving funding helped me feel like I was still able to make the most of my time. The funding contributed to my trips budget.
Accommodation
I did a lot of research into accommodation options many months prior to my exchange. The University of Oslo provided detailed information on their exchange student page. I chose to go through the popular third party student accommodation provider called SiO (sort of similar to Scape and UniLodge in Australia). This gave me peace of mind as the application process was clear, they have diverse options, and they give priority to exchange students.
I lived in the Vestgrensa student village. I has a 2 person flat about a 6 minute walk from the university. I had my own room but shared kitchen and bathroom. It was small, but tidy and modern. The pros were that it was close to the uni, I only had to share with one other person, and that it was fairly affordable ($850/month). Cons were that the kitchen was small so I couldn't invite my friends over easily, and that there was not a strong community feeling in the building so it could feel lonely at times.
For other students going to Oslo: consider your priorities! I chose based on closeness to the university, city, and gym. I was also nervous about living with more than one person (you can share flats with up to 8 people I think!) so I chose the 2 person flat as my first preference. In hindsight the 4 person flats seem to be ideal as they are slightly bigger and you get to meet more people. Also the Sogn and Kringsja student villages are veru popular for exchange students and are easily accessible by metro. (The public transport in Oslo is FANTASTIC!!). Its also important to remember that regardless of how much research you do it will always be very different when you get there so keep an open mind!
Highlights 
Being able to experience the different seasons in Oslo was definitely a highlight - from the long sunny days in August spent swimming in the fjord, to the colorful autumn leaves, to the icy, snowy December filled with Christmas lights and mulled wine. I also learned a lot of interesting things about the Norwegian education system through the course I did on it - this was really exciting for me! I also did some travel in both Norway and the nearby countries including: Sweden, Finland, Estonia and the Netherlands. I will never get tired of seeing cool new parts of the world. And finally, of course, I will always treasure the friendships I made with people from all over the world. I miss my exchange friends dearly, and hope to see them again one day!
Top Tips
I went into the experience thinking I would be focused on my studies alone and that I would be very frugal with money. Instead found myself faced with an incredibly rich and exciting student life that offered as many opportunities for growth and development as the academic component. I'm glad (and lucky) I had the means to allow myself to experience the social part as well. My advice for making the most of student life is to say yes to things (especially the little things)! Trips, coffee dates, hikes, trips to IKEA, nights out - these all make for the best memories and you never know who you might meet. Budget wisely beforehand so that you can say yes to things. My budget gave me the peace of mind that I could spend money on fun things and make the most of my time in Oslo. Speaking of time - it is going to absolutely fly. I could've sworn I'd only just arrived and suddenly I was home again. This makes saying yes all the more important. I sometimes thought 'I'll do that later/another time'... which inevitably meant I didn't end up doing it! On that note don't beat yourself up about missing out on some things - you can't do everything, so focus on what you can make time for and have fun!
