Trip to Norway

The first day, I met with the other 4 students and with the teacher that would go with us to Norway in the train station. I was very happy because it was my first exchange. We went to Barcelona’s airport where we took a plane to Oslo. There I was extremely surprise because of the price. Everything was so expensive. When we arrived to Tromso’s airport we had our bags very quickly. There, some Norwegian students were waiting for us with the Bulgarian and the Irish people. On the way home we started talking with some Norwegian students. The journey was very long, but finally we arrived. The bus left us in front of the school. I had just left the bus when I realized there was really cold. When I arrived home I had to remove my shoes, thing that I wasn’t used to do.

The real trip began on 5^th. I got up at about 7:15am and I had breakfast. It was the first time of my life I saw such a beautiful landscape. When I arrived at school I went to a maths class with Ida (the Norwegian student who I live with) I noticed a huge difference in the class, compared to Spain everyone seemed relaxed and every student had a laptop to work with. Another difference to our school was that they had break time between every class. After the maths class I went to a Sami lesson where I learned some words and the numbers. Then all the students went to the auditorium to give our presentation and listen to the others. We, the Spanish team, were the first. We all were very nervous but everything went right. After the presentations some of the Comenius students and some other Norwegian students went to a café in the town where we got to know each other. On the way to the café I realized it was midday and it was getting dark.

On Saturday the 6^th of November we all went to a Sami handcraft shop. It was interesting, we were allowed into the workshop to see all the things. After seeing the shop I went to see a reindeer. It was really nice and I touched it. Going home the host mother showed me the town. It was really cold and when I was outside to take photos my hands were paralyzed. At 6:00pm I went to the school for a party. There I ate reindeer for the first time, it was surprisingly good. A reporter interviewed one student of each country and then our teacher coordinator and the head of studies of the Norwegian school were interviewed too. Afterwards we had a few games of football between all the students and the Nicaraguan students who were on exchange to Norway.

The next day I met everyone at 11 am. We went to a Sami village. First we saw a video about a Sami cultural festival. We had lunch there. It was reindeer again, quite good. We had a Sami language class with all the students and teachers, where we learned some basic words. Then we came back home where my host mother have prepared a typical Norwegian dish. It was reindeer another time, and like always it was really good. At about eight nearly all the student came to Ida’s house to watch a movie, "Alice in Wonderland". All in all it was a good night and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. That night I had to pack the baggage and Ida gave us a present.

It was 8^th of November and I was extremely sad because that would be my last day in Storslett. When I went to the school in the morning I brought my luggage with me. I went to a Sami lesson again but this time I played a game and I enjoyed it a lot. Then it was when I realized that there the teachers are closer to the students. After this we had our last lunch in the school. Then we took pictures with everyone and said goodbye. We were with the Irish people going to Tromso. On the way to Tromso it was snowing very hard and the road looked completely white. When we arrived we got to the hotel, we left our bags in our rooms and left to go to an aquarium where we watched a short video about the Norwegian wildlife. Then we missed ourselves with the Irish people playing with the snow having fun. After that we had dinner and returned to the hotel for the rest of the night. We played cards for most of the night. At midnight we said goodbye to the Irish students because they would be leaving latter than us the next morning and we went to pack all the things and finally to sleep.

The last day we got up really early and we went to the airport. There we took a plane to Oslo where we had to wait 4 hours to take the second flight to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt we had to run to arrive to the right gate and very quickly we boarded. During the flight we were talking with some students from Valencia who were coming back from Poland. They were doing a Comenius project too. Finally we arrived in Barcelona’s airport and I arrived home.

I enjoyed a lot those days in Norway. I liked it so much and of course all the people I’ve met. I’ve seen all the differences between Norway and Spain like the culture and the lifestyle. If I could I would repeat it.

by: Mireia Castellà

Trip to Norway

The first day, Tuesday 4th of November, was the largest of all. We had to be at Vilassar de Mar train station at 8 o'clock to take the train to the airport. There we took our first fly.
When we arrived in Oslo's airport we recorded a video about our arrival. The we took another airplane to Tromso.
When we arrived in Tromso, the Norwegian, the Bulgarian and the Irish students were waiting for us.
When we went out of the airport we became frozen! We run to take the bus. It would take us Storslett. In the first two hours each team was separated from the others, but we decided start talking with the Norwegians.
We arrived in Storslett very late and we were tired so Jordi Roig and me went to Henrik’s house to sleep. We were his residents for all those days.

In the second day we went to Storslett School. There every team presented himself to the others. Every presentation was different and I think it was no boring. Then, all teams weren’t as shy as before. In the afternoon Jordi, Henrik and I played Wii together. In the evening all the Comenius project students went to the football tournament to see how the Norwegian girls played.

In the third day, in the morning we had free time. We went to the Kronebutikken, a special and famous shop in Storslett. There were cool and interesting things but it was too much expensive for our economy. In the afternoon we had a party with Nicaraguan people who were there for an exchange, too. Also an interviewer came to talk with some students and teachers about the project. It would be written at the Tromso newspaper. Then, we all played football matches in a gym of the school. In the evening we went to see the girls, who won the tournament.

On Sunday we took the bus to a Sami village. There, we learnt a little about the Sami language and also some words and phrases. Then we went to see a video of the Sami’s festival called “Riddu Riddu”. Every year more people went to the festival. It’s becoming famous. In this festival you can see the traditional Sami dances and songs.

On Monday morning, we went to Storslett School to make some work about the project: translate common phrases, which are said in different situations, to all the minority languages. Then we took another bus to return to Tromso, because we had to wake up early the following day to take the fly to Oslo. We stayed in Amy Hotel with the Irish students. When we arrived to Tromso we went to an Arctic Museum, where we can learn a little bit more about Norway.
In front of the hotel there was a park, all covered by snow. The hotel directors lent us some sledges, with which we could throw ourselves through the snow.
At night we all played cards and made some noise.

The last day we woke up at 7 o’clock and went to the airport by bus. We travelled all the day. This time we stopped at Frankfurt and then continued to Barcelona. We arrived to Barcelona at half past seven, we were at home!