Nora Stadler, student at Windesheim, is currently living in Norway to study ‘Education for diversity and sustainable living’. She’s blogging for WIN about her experiences studying abroad.
I recently travelled to Stockholm! And because I had flown so much this year due to my multiple semesters abroad, I chose to travel by FlixBus. For over eight hours! But it was all worth it because I spent three beautiful days with my friends from GPCM, which at this point, I had missed a bit too much!
They are doing their Erasmus semesters in Jönköping (Sweden) and Jyväskylä (Finland) and we even got to meet a friend who is doing her Erasmus semester in Stockholm. So it was a GPCM reunion, which felt super good. We even sent a little postcard to the office of or lecturers in Zwolle (still don’t know if that will arrive).
Crocheting session
When I was back in the bus to Norway, I was looking for my headphones, only for me to notice that I forgot them in the hostel in Stockholm. So, I had a long bus ride and train ride ahead of me that I was planning to spend on watching the new season of a series I love. Well, that journey turned into a nine hour crocheting session with wool I fortunately bought in Stockholm.
Back in Hamar, where I study, two of my friends from here and I decided to realise a plan that we had made right in the beginning of the semester: hiking in the Norwegian forests and sleeping in an off-grid cabin! Doing it the Norwegian way. Because we don’t have a car or any equipment we borrowed sleeping bags, backpacks and bikes and rented a cabin on AirBnB. This cabin neither had electricity or heating nor an in-door toilet.
Stunning nature
After, taking the bus to a nearby city and biking for 45 minutes we reached the cabin, left our luggage there and went for a hike. It was freezing cold, the nature was stunning and I had to wear something red because that’s recommended in moose hunting season.
But once we were back, our feet felt like ice blocks and I was the only one of us with any experience for making a fire in a stove. And after that was done (let’s not talk about that it took me an hour), I had the huge need to defrost my feet as you can see here.
Now I had my first exam here, two are still waiting and I’m leaving Norway already in the middle of December. I cannot realise how fast the time here has passed, but I am really glad that the November brought such rich experiences!
