September 4 and September 5
On Wednesday the 4th of September at around 4pm, the German participants of the student exchange met in front of the water park in Stadtroda and waited for the bus that would take us and the students and teachers from Arnstadt to Norway.
The bus arrived in Stadtroda at around 4:30pm so we said goodbye to our parents, put our luggage in the in the bus and started our journey.
We went from Stadtroda, Germany to Hirtsals, Denmark and from there we took the ferry to Langesund, Norway at 9am to continue our journey at 1:30pm on the Norwegian mainland.
We drove for about for about twenty-three hours, so we arrived at Drammen videregående skole on Thursday, the 5th of September at 3pm.
The Norwegian students, teachers and the minister president of the county Buskerud welcomed us. The minister president held a speech, we ate some fruits, were shown around the school and talked about what was planned for the upcoming week.
Afterwards, we went to the homes of our host families, ate dinner and spent the rest of the evening with them. Some students, though, already met in the evening to explore the city for the first time.
One of the first pictures taken on the bus. Everybody's still settling in and trying to get comfortable in what will become their new 'home' for the next few days.
This picture is showing one of the first of beautiful sights we would have on the journey ahead of us, it may be even capturing the hopefulness and high expectations we have had for the time awaiting us in Norway.
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September 6
On Friday, September the 6th, everyone's day started like a regular school day would, i.e. between 6am and 7am.
Most of us took the bus to school together with our Norwegian students. We had the chance to join our Norwegian students in the first two periods at school. Some of us had Norwegian, Math or Company and others had IT, Chemistry or even free periods. It was astonishing to experience the differences in the schedules as well as the curriculum.
While our Norwegians students had PE, we went to the city together with the students from Arnstadt and bought our bus tickets that would grant us free access to the bus for the whole week. That took quite a while but in the end we all received our bus tickets.
After that, the teachers asked us whether we wanted to go back to school or take the bus to one of the bigger lakes around Drammen, lake Ladfalltjern. The Norwegian students could have joined us but they wanted to get ready for the evening so they stayed in Drammen. After we arrived at the lake, we went on a little hike in smaller groups to explore the nature in its proximity, took some pictures and admired the view.
On our way around the lake to take some pictures.
The Stadtroda students Lena, Lena, Annemarie, Nils, Leoni, Lilly, Hanna und Pauline with Mr. Wagner at lake Ladfalltjern.
After arriving at the school again, all of our Norwegian students already awaited us there. The rest of the day was spent at Emilie’s place. We ordered some pizzas, played cards and spent the evening together watching a movie.
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September 7
On Saturday the 7th of September only the German students and their teachers went on a kind of field trip up North, while our host brothers and sisters spent some time with their families.
But before that, we all met in Drammen as the Norwegian students were giving us a proper sight seeing tour of the city itself.
Our first stop was the ski jumping hill in Vikersund. In the whole area are eight ski jumps, amongst them one of the largest ski jumping hills in the world, and which we also conquered afterwards. There, we had to go up a total of 1048 steps to enjoy the view from the starting plateau. The biggest problem were the wet steps which made the climb rather difficult.
Our second destination led us, to the delight of the biathlon fans that were among us, to the life-size statue of Ole Einar Björndalen, one of the greatest biathlon legends in the world. He won 95 World Cups, 20 World Championships and 8 gold medals at the Olympic Games. He finished his carreer at the age of 44 und will coach the biathlon national team of China for the next World Championship. No wonder that our teachers took the chance to take a picture with him.
The third and last station of this day was the Haugfoot waterfall, which is nine metres high. There we had enough time to take pictures and drive with a small raft. The funny thing was that it needed the muscle strength of three of us to pull the raft over the river.
When we reached Drammen again, our host students picked us up und we spent the evening individually, e.g. watching Netflix or meeting in small groups.
Lena showing us how a true 'ski jumping hill climber' is supposed to look like. While others were struggling to even articulate how exhausted they were, Lena was able to smile all the way up. A true icon!
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September 8
Sunday the eighth was our family day. Hence the activities were individually picked by each family. Some students spent some quality time with their host families, others met in little groups with other students.
E.g. Lilly went to an amusement park with three other girls from Stadtroda and their host sisters. In Tusenfryd (the name of this park) they were testing basically all of the different rollercoasters which not only must’ve been a lot of fun but also made them feel really close to each other.
I, for instance, met with four other students from Arnstadt and Stadtroda as well as their host brother/ sister. We decided to go hiking in a gorge which was quite an adventurous experience. We had a lot of fun, learned to support and help each other when somebody was struggling and thus strengthened our relationships as well as the sense of community.
Lena enjoyed a more traditional family day in the sense that she went on a trip to Oslo with the grandparents of her host sister. In Oslo she got to visit many different museums including one about the Vikings. Afterwards she also went to Holmenkollen, the ski jumping hill close to Oslo. Lastly, she was able to have a lovely lunch in a restaurant as the day was coming to an end.
In the evening, almost all students met to celebrate the birthday of one of our beloved students from Arnstadt. The Norwegians prepared a delicious cake which made this evening for all of us special. That evening we had a lot of fun together as we were showing each other famous songs from our countries and were trying to teach each other our native tongues.
Thus, an amazing day, which granted us some of the most special memories of the entire trip, came to an end.
The German students Emily, Hanna, Lilly and Tabea alongside their gorgeous Norwegians students in Tusenfryd.
Lena (middle) and Florian (right) with their host sister Emilie while having a lovely lunch in Oslo.
The gorge that the German students Nils, Nils, Pauline, Nick and I went hiking in, and without the help of our amazing host brothers and sisters we, and especially I, would not have made it out of alive :)
This beautiful picture was taken by the talented Pauline who was able to capture our excitement about the trip ahead of us just perfectly.
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September 9
On Monday, the ninth of September, we were driving to Oslo. First, we were visiting the ski jumping hill, and enjoyed a mesmerizing view over Norway's capital. Some of the greatest pictures were taken there.
Afterward, we went on a great sight seeing tour through Oslo as our Norwegian students joined us once more to help us out as tour guides. Some went shopping, others had a delicious lunch and a few even went through the city looking for the best spots to take some pictures.
In the evening, the students from Arnstadt were staying in Oslo to have supper together as the students from Stadtroda were driving home to meet at one of the houses of the Norwegian students to watch 'Dancing with the Stars'.
Hanna and Lilly cleverly taking a photo of the one person who's always hiding behind his camera, Mr. Wagner. (ski jumping hill, Oslo)
The Norwegian students joining the Germans as they were heading to explore the city.
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September 10
On Tuesday, the tenth of September, we drove to Oslo once again, this time by train. There, we first paid a visit to the Fagskolen Oslo Akershus, an architectural university, in which we were shown a lot of interesting and exciting technological features, including a kind of seminar room which one could access trough virtual reality and in which one could also show the 3D model of his/ her designed building.
Afterwards, we had a look at a more artistic sight of Oslo, the Vigelandsparken exhibiting lots of human statues. And of course, those had to be imitated properly by all of the students and also including some of the teachers as well.
After our excourse into art we visited the German-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce and were informed about the importance of Norwegian-German collaboration and gained insight into different jobs and their requirements in the chamber.
Interestingly, a very young team of members of the Chamber welcomed us and were open to all of our questions
In the evening, some students met again to go bowling. The Norwegians were playing against a strong German team but the latter sadly lost in a rather humiliating defeat. And although the Norwegian students defeated us but almost 100 points, the moments, jokes and laughter we shared looking at Leoni scoring zero points after the other was one that will stay with all of us for a long time.
Thus, another day filled with amazing memories came to an end.
Lena testing out the virtual reality seminar room through stylish and even futuristic looking VR glasses
Everybody enjoying others trying to become statues themselves.
Leoni and Ms. Waldenburger trying to demonstrate what the statues behind them look like.
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September 11
On Wednesday, the eleventh of September, we met at eight in the morning to drive to Kongsberg together.
Our first stop was at the University of Southeastern Norway, short USN, which astounded all of us.
Kongsberg as a whole is quite famous for its technology. Thus, it was quite reasonable for us to visit this university which has close relationships to a lot of industry leaders in the technical field.
First, a representative of the university presented some possibilities to study in Norway as a foreign student all of which were quite appealing as they covered a wide range of diverse jobs.
Secondly, we were given some information about the study course of an optometrist. To understand the differences between the German and Norwegian system was quite important as it showed us more directly which type of graduation is needed for us to pursue a semester abroad in this medical field.
After this presentation, we were given the opportunity to learn so many new things about the job as an engineer. It was so interesting to learn how much of an actual impact engineers have on all of our lives. The presentation was also quite inspirational in the sense that it showed us that by becoming an engineer one can be able to shape the future we'll live in.
Lastly, we had two tours through the parts of the university that were showcased in the presentations beforehand. It was really impressive to see how the values of this university were implemented in the facilities and in the way the students are able to learn.
After we finished our tours, we had some time to rest a bit before we walked to TechnipFMC. In a presentation about this company we were confronted with the concepts of one of the leading companies in the oil and gas industry of Norway. With more than 30,000 employees this company can regard itself as the biggest oil service company in whole Norway.
In a part of this presentation some of the services that TechnipFMC provides were explained. Project management, process technologies as well as research and development are only some interesting services. Frankly, quite a lot of students enjoyed their stay and some might even consider to apply for a spot at a later point in their lives.
As we arrived at our school in Drammen again, we were greeted with a lovely supper that the Norwegian students had prepared for us. Later, we were joined by our teachers and our host parents to spend an evening together one last time.
Lena and Emily enjoying their great-tasting coffee that we were offered at TechnipFMC.
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September 12 and September 13
On Thursday, we went to school with our bags. We waited close to the main entrance until everyone was there. Before we left, our Norwegian exchange students that were in class as we waited for our bus came outside to see us once again, and also to take one final group picture. After we said goodbye to everyone which honetsly took longer than everybody expected we left the town and drove two hours to Langesund. There, we went to a supermarket to buy some food for the journey still ahead of us. After that, we drove to the coast. Some of us went into the water and swam in the fjord. Then, we got on the bus again and drove to the harbour. Shortly after, we got on the ferry which took off at 2pm. At 3pm, we had a nice lunch at the commander buffet which our lovely teachers payed for us. But it was a little bit hard to eat that much because we had high waves. But after four and a half hours we we able to leave the ferry though most uf us could still felt as if the ground was moving hours afterwards. Around 7pm, we arrived in Denmark just as the sun set. The rest of the journey was spent on our bus which had become our second home by the time we arrived in Germany. Around 7:30am, we arrived in Stadtroda. We said goodbye to the students from Arnstadt and their teachers and went home still having beautiful memories presently replaying in our heads.
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Summary and Thank you note
I think we speak on behalf of every one of the German students when we say that we had a truly exceptional time in Norway. We'll be coming back to Germany with a lot of awesome memories to carry out into the world. Within those few days we spent in Norway we got to meet so many new people, we were granted so many new opportunities to consider for our future, and lastly we got to experience what it feels like to leave this place knowing for sure it won’t be too long until we come back to see our friends again.
And lastly, some great pictures of us saying goodbye to all Norwegian students. Don't worry, whilst doing that we already made plans to meet again in Norway in the summer of 2021. So this will definitely not be the last time we will see each other, and not the last time we will cry when having to say goodbye once again!
On behalf of all of our Norwegian and German students, I would like to thank the teachers for putting so much effort and work into this project to make this once-in-a-lifetime experience possible. Big thanks also to Mr. Wagner who was able to capture all of our emotions, our experiences and just the best moments of this entire trip for us to look at later!
Lastly, we would also like to thank ERASMUS+ for granting us the opportunity to experience what collaboration and cooperation across borders and regardless of distance feels like!!
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