My name is Charlie, I’m a third year Marine Biology student and I’ve just finished a semester abroad in Bergen! If you’re reading this, chances are you’re considering studying abroad too, so hopefully my experiences can help you decide whether this is something you want to do. While the experience has its highs and lows, I’m definitely glad I decided to go, as it’s really an amazing opportunity.
Early Days
My biggest worry going to Bergen was that I wouldn’t manage to make any friends, and that I’d have a very lonely 5 months away from home. Fortunately, my fears couldn’t have been more unfounded. I ended up staying at Fantoft student accommodation, which is where the majority of international students live, and upon arrival it became immediately clear that everyone else had exactly the same worries. There was an intense atmosphere of nervousness on moving in day, and after I had settled in and started talking to people, I discovered that they were all extremely chatty and friendly, being very grateful just to have someone to talk to. There was a welcoming week with many activities like quizzes, outdoor movie screenings and discos
to take part in, and you even got given buddy groups with people from your course so that you didn’t have to go anywhere alone. I missed out on my buddy group (I’m an idiot and didn’t see the email about it until it was too late), but even still I met so many people during that first week from all over the world, and made a lot of friends then that lasted the entire semester. Pairing that with my 16 person flat, and having a roommate (for the first time ever), meant that I was never alone and always had friends around. I had flatmates from Hong Kong, Germany, Slovakia, Ireland, Hungary….and 5 people from Italy, which meant by the end of the 5 months I spent there I was very sick of hearing Italian.
Everyday Life
I found Bergen to be very similar to the UK in a lot of ways. Nobody smiles at you, conversations are short and direct, and everybody goes about their business with an air of quiet politeness, trying not to disturb anyone else. I did not manage to make friends with a single Norwegian, as they are normally very private and reserved. They become a lot more sociable when they’re drunk, but with the price of alcohol being so absurdly high (£10 for a glass of cider!!!), I did not find myself going out at night very often. The weather was also very reminiscent of home, with rain and wind being the default state (buy an umbrella), and sun being a rare commodity.
Some of my flatmates from more outgoing, sunnier parts of the world had a pretty big culture shock, and spent a lot of their time indoors, cowering from the weather. But if you can handle living in Southampton, you can handle living in Bergen. The cost of living as a whole is quite high, and I had to be careful with my spending, but you quickly come to discover the cheapest shops and the best bargains. PSA: Do general shopping at Kiwi or Rema, NOT Meny. It is eye-wateringly expensive. Bergen is a charming city and had a lot of places to visit and explore, but I spent most of my free time up in the mountains. Bergen is surrounded by 7 peaks, and all of them are very accessible and fun to hike up. Bergen has a tram and bus system that goes straight from the accommodation to the University, and is very useful for getting all over the city. It is all included in one ticket which I would say is a must-have, although there are also plenty of electric bikes and scooters to hire if you’re brave enough to take to the roads.
Adventures!
Being in Bergen offered me quick and relatively cheap access to many other remarkable locations both in and out of Norway. Staying in a remote cabin in Mydral, out in the frosty wildlands of Norway, was a liberating experience, as it gave me the feeling of almost complete isolation, completely surrounded by stunning mountains and ice-covered lakes. It was very cold, but even colder was the Arctic town of Tromsø.
I visited for a few days in December, during a polar night that would not end for another month. The sun was never visible, but for a few hours a day the town was in a prologued state of dawn/dusk, casting everything in a beautiful red glow that spilled over the surrounding peaks. More importantly, however, there was loads of SNOW!! Global warming may have taken it away from me in the south of England, but there was still plenty up that far north, and having snowball fights was just as fun as I remember it being. My favourite adventure was in Bergen itself, however, doing the sjufjellsturen, where you go up all 7 of the city’s mountains in one day! It involved walking from before sunrise until after sunset, offered some amazing views and was incredibly rewarding to accomplish, although I could barely walk the next day. There is a place in Bergen called TUA, which lets you borrow all sorts of outdoorsy stuff for free! Sleeping bags, fishing rods, tents, whatever you need. I highly reccommend it.
Final Thoughts and Advice
Being abroad can be really hard at times. You’re hundreds of miles away from all your friends and family, in an unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people and an unfamiliar language. Life always has its highs and lows, but now you’re away from all your comforts and safety nets, it’s much harder to deal with those lows when they come. With that in mind, I suggest that you keep good contact with people back home. Schedule regular video calls, send pictures, keep texting people, don’t isolate yourself any more than you already are. Making friends abroad is very helpful, and luckily it’s also very easy. Go to events, talk to flatmates, get people’s numbers. Most importantly, just put yourself out there during the first week, while you have the energy to. Exist in proximity to other people and friendships will happen: everyone is desperate to make friends at the start. I also found I had another problem, not of being too lonely, but by being too surrounded by people. Having a roommate means you don’t have a safe space to yourself, and sharing a flat with 15 others can become quickly overwhelming. My advice, if you find yourself in a similar situation, is to find an activity to make your own. Something you can do and enjoy by yourself, whenever you need time alone. For me it was the cinema: there is a tiny little indie cinema hidden away in the docks of Bergen, which only shows 1 film every couple of days and is (surprisingly for Norway) very reasonably priced. Whenever I felt bad, I’d buy myself a ticket and go and treat myself to a few hours to completely switch off and enjoy whatever film was on that day. Being abroad may be hard sometimes, but it’s also amazing too, and I strongly, strongly advice you to take the plunge and do it if you’re on the fence. It makes you more confident, more interesting, gives you so many opportunities and experiences you might never have otherwise. Make the most of it and enjoy yourself, is my final advice. You won’t regret it.Â
Good luck,
Charlie
