Hei, Jeg heter Viki :)

Hi! Hei! Pryvitannie :)

...How exciting it was to read this blog before a project, how exciting it is to create a new post by myself, enjoying incredibly amazing sunny weather in Stavanger. My second Norwegian class starts in one hour, and now I have a little bit time for blogging :)

Soo... let's get acquainted! I'm Victoria, a new volunteer for Hundvåg and Kvernevik youth clubs. I came from a small "blue-eyed" country in Eastern Europe. Have you heard anything about Alexander Rybak or Darya Domracheva? Yeah, we're countrymen! I'm from Belarus, which is probably "terra incognita" for a lot of Norwegians, but I gonna change it :)

I arrived two weeks later other volunteers because of visa, so I'm here for not very long time, but I've already fallen in love with Stavanger! I actually could never thought that I would live in Norway for the whole one year... One year, full of new people, beautiful places and just new impressions in general! Now I'm thinking about it more and more and understand that I've made definitely right decision to come here. I decided to stop my studying at the university in Minsk and take a gap year before graduation to get an experience, which really differs from formal education, just develop your personality and soft-skills. I have no bachelor degree at the moment, but I gonna come back to Belarus, finish my studying and get a major in Communication. I worked a bit in PR and media during my studying, so I'm very passionate about that. I like watching football and I also took an internship in a young belarusian football club :)

Just two days after my arrival to Stavanger all our gang went to Balestrand to meet other volunteers in Norway, know more about Erasmus+ projects and ourselves as well. Oh, that week was so great! We had a lot of fun, playing games together, singing, dancing, hiking, collecting apples and even swimming in quite cold Sognefjord! We tasted norwegian national dishes (and pretty delicious cider!), watched and discussed a modern norwegian film, made funny performances about norwegian history, and, finally, learnt norwegian troll song, which is playing in our heads all the time now :)

There were 41 volunteers from more than 15 countries...  I've never seen so many open-minded and friendly people at the same time at the same place. I'm very happy that we will meet again in Oslo on February on our mid-term (or hopefully earlier). Btw, we already have the first guests at our place! Kate from Ukraine and Camille from France, volunteers in Mandal, came to Stavanger just one week after seminar. That's so pleasant surprise and so nice reason for a party ;)

The weather in Stavanger is very warm now, so we shouldn't lose an opportunity to enjoy the nature. We had an amazing hiking trip to Dalsnuten on Saturday. Btw, it was my 21st birthday, probably the most unusual in my life till this moment :)

Hope you enjoy your day!
See you soon :)
Viki

New in Town

Hey, Hello, Hei and Servus Everybody 

My Name is David. Or Dave. Sometimes Dave the Wave or Mountain Goat... just call me Dave :) 

I'm 25 years old and I come from up the mountains in a Land far far away... Austria. 

Yeah, Austria, that's right! 

You sure know what we are famous for, yeah? 

If you answered this question with either "The sound of music" or "inhuman Monster" instead of "Mozart, Schnitzel, Freud etc.", you're now officially grounded and doomed to do some research :D

But back to what this all is actually about - Norway, the glorious NORTH

Like all my volunteer colleagues, I will spend 1 year in Stavanger, Norway too.

When I was looking for EVS projects in Norway, I was especially looking out for one where I can be creative and also bring my Ideas to the people we work with. 

                                                        And so I ended up here in Stavanger at Ungdom og Fritid.

My Educational Background is quite a simple one. I have no Bachelor Degree whatsoever, nor do I have concrete plans to take on one in the nearer future. 

I used to be a professional dancer in Austria. Something I never lost my passion for and it will certainly have its place in my Future somehow. Since my "retirement" I had a lot of time to find out more about myself. I'm kind of a driven creative, I love to shoot videos and make little art films out of them. Here's a link to my YouTube Channel if you feel like watching some :): B R E A T H E (that one even features Norway)

I also do a little bit photography, with no higher aim tho so lets not talk about that haha!

It's a bit more than a month now since I moved and I gotta say that I absolutely love it. We have a fairly big flat in a very nice house which is located in Storhaug, just a 10 min walk from the city centre and a 5 min walk from the sea. From Day one we were treated very well here, I can't think of a single human that was not helping and very welcoming to us. No matter what problem or question comes up, we always have someone to go to for help. I'm very thankful for that.

We are still the newbies so obviously work isn't sooo smooth yet, especially because we have just started with the Norwegian Course, but we will get there.. I hope.

Speaking of which! As a German Native Speaker, Norwegian apparently is a tad bit easier to learn  for me than for my colleagues. Especially understanding what's been written seems to be the thing. Other than that - the struggle is real!

But I think you've heard enough blah blah from me for now so, 

Take care & talk to you soon! 

Dave