I Fell in Love with Norway! I am Sure that I will be Back.

Anna Iagudina, a student of the Faculty of Social Sciences shares her best experience at University of Oslo, Norway, where she spent the spring 2015.

My semester in Oslo was the best experience I have ever had! I met a lot of new incredible people from all over the world, learnt a lot about the European lifestyle and matured as a person. This country is definitely worth visiting. I can’t really think of any reasons why someone might dislike Norway. 
 
I was told that making Norwegian friends is very hard because they can be “cold”. I disagree. Most of my new foreign friends are Norwegians. They are like flowers: the more they know you, the more they open up to you and reveal their personalities. They are also very honest! Becoming a part of a Norwegian quidditch team helped me get to to know Norwegians better. I am proud to say that we became Norway champions in 2015. I am going to continue playing with my quidditch team even though I have left. My advice is to join some student organisation or sports team to make new friends. 
 
Norwegians are crazy about sport. Everyday you can meet many people jogging or skiing. On Sundays almost every Norwegian is outside. This is also because there are no shops open on that day. Be prepared for that! 
 
Norway is unbelievably beautiful. I was lucky to visit Stavanger (where my friends and I hiked to the amazing tourist attraction of Preikestolen) and Ålesund. Also, Norway is very safe and comfortable for living. It is so easy to travel around Oslo or the whole country because of the transportation system. It rarely takes more than 30 min to get from one part of the city to another. But be warned that prices there are very high for everything. 
 
UiO has a big nice campus. Students spend there a lot of time, especially at the end of the semester before exams. There are many comfortable places for self-study or studying with classmates in groups. Usually, a class consists of a series of lectures and only few seminars. For homework, there are long lists of literature to read which are obligatory. It is very important not to put off this reading during the semester, otherwise you will not have enough time to prepare for exams. The temptation to do everything but study is very high there because most exchange students do not study hard but travel and party. 
 
I fell in love with Norway! I left a huge part of my heart there. There's honestly nowhere in the world I'd rather be. I am sure that I will be back.