After Balestrand it was the second seminar we attended together with 40 other volunteers who have their EVS projects in Norway. While the main topic in Balestrand was to get to know each other, the Norwegian culture and create a feeling of being welcome, Oslo was all about reflecting about the time that has passed here, about the projects, work and our free time.
It started last Wednesday and we four went to the airport at seven, very tired after definitely not enough sleep. But when we arrived our flight was mentioned nowhere and when we asked for help the lady at the information desk told us that our flight was cancelled a few weeks ago and they re-booked it on the flight at eight, which we just had missed. Nobody had told us about that so we had to wait until the next flight at eleven and were late when we finally arrived at the youth hostel in Oslo.
But everybody was very welcoming and we were so happy to see the other volunteers again after such a long time. The German girls I spent New Years with were there, too.
The Wednseday program was all about introduction of some new volunteers who did not attend the seminar in Balestrand and socializing. There were some group tasks about taking pictures in the surrounding area, some first minor reflections about our projects and a human bingo in order to get to know each other better. In the evening we played games and talked about all the things we experienced here. On Thursday the group was separated into two smaller ones. The first group (in which I was) went on a sightseeing trip through Oslo and the other one stayed at the hostel in order to reflect about the EVS in depth. We were in the sightseeing group.
So the next morning started with a trip to the parliament in the city centre. And it was great! Not only to see the parliament, which is called "Stortinget", but also to be in a bigger city again. With trains and a tram and big houses. We did not really miss it in Stavanger, but we really appreciated this atmosphere even though Oslo is not really a huge capital.
After a guided tour through the parliament we visited the Nobel peace prize center, which has a very interesting exhibition about the current winner, the history of the prize and also one recent exhibition about how soldiers are trained to kill people. It was both inspiring and frightening. at one o clock we had a big lunch at Peppe's Pizza and continued to our third destination: The Folkemuseet. At that outdoor museum they show a lot of old buildings from the middle ages and how people used to live in Norway in previous times.
Friday we spent with reflection sessions about our projects in Norway, what is good and what not, our daily life and how we can change certain things. It was very enriching to hear so many inspiring and interesting things from the other volunteers. In the end we all had the feeling to have learning a lot and were very sad that we had to say goodbye to each other.
But even though the seminar was over, our time in Oslo was not. We stayed at Haraldsheimen (the hostel) until Saturday, from where we then moved to other volunteers' houses in the city. We visited the student district, the alternative markets and the best of all: The opera. We got student prices for the tickets and got to see "La Traviata", an opera I knew from before and which made us all cry in the end. Such a wonderful experience!
Sunday we had to say goodbye to Pavel, Cristina and Vincent, because they went back to Stavanger while the German girls and me were heading to Narvik on Monday morning. Narvik is a place far in the north close to the Lofoten islands, where four other volunteers live. But they went to Iceland, so we were allowed to live in their house, which is called "The Blue House" (it is blue - obviously) together with their flatmates, who provided us with blankets and pillows and let us sleep on the couches in the living room. Very very nice of them! Most them are former EVS volunteers as well, so we had a great feeling of comfort. The north of Norway is not only a great place to visit when it comes to watching the Northern lights or enjoying the nature, but also a very live place.
We watched the Northerln lights at night at the Fjord and it was fantastic! I've never seen anything like this before. Suddenly the sky starts dancing above you and you are overwhelmed by the beauty of the green lights. I cannot wait to experience this again!
Other than that we went on great hikes in the snowy mountains, walked through the small city of Narvik and spent the evenings knitting and chatting around the fireplace. What a cozy holiday!
But time passes fast when you have fun and on Thursday we flew back to Oslo, where we took our seperated planes to Bergem, Haugesund and Stavanger.
But we will see each other again soon!
Thank you for this amazing time!
