A bit delayed introduction

Hei folkens!

Sorry for the late update, but we were very busy arriving here (some of us had a real adventurous time getting to Norway), settling down, working and having fun!
Let me introduce the crew from left to right though. We are Laura, Moussa, Laurenz and Kriszti.

Welcome to the land where you meet polar bears at the airport (not alive), and to a city named Stavanger which is for hard-core people. I say this because of its crazy weather. No jokes, it is raining horizontal. Not to scare anyone too much I also have to admit that it's a lovely town with many faces. Old wooden houses in the center, a nice harbor, Norway's oldest cathedral, a lot of stunning nature around the city and cool street art to spice it all up!

The career of half of our crew started with an arrival seminar a little bit north of Bergen. Laurenz and me stayed at a place called Cider House (yummm) where we got to know other volunteers in Norway, gained information about EVS, explored the outdoors a bit (hiking in the mountains and kayaking across the fjords), played lots of games and ate delicious food. Sounds good, huh? :)

Balestrand

We spent a week at the seminar and returned home with lots of great memories. Work started the next week for us and was time to get to know more and more people and places in Stavanger! That is all for now, will write soon and try to catch up with all the happenings so far. Keep reading!

Kriszti

Winter in Norway

Hello!

After long and rainy winter in Stavanger spring came, last two weeks was full of sun ( I hardly could believe that I'm still in Norway!), but before I will write about spring and summer is also good to write something about winter time!

In December I was on Christmas in Poland. That was good time, full of meetings with friends and family, good food, some dancing classes and theater. (that's what I miss the most).

After coming back I had quite difficult time, I felt homesick and depression after coming back to Norway. Weather didn't help me, In Stavanger was dark, rainy and windy.

In the end of January me and Viktoria signed up for en extra Norwegian language course. I realized that one of my EVS goals are to learn Norwegian, because If I cannot learn it in Norway so neither in Poland. My motivation was higher because I could see that I became better and better.

In the end of February we had mind-term seminar in Oslo, so our Stavanger Team fight there. We had 3 days seminar where we were having fun together, visiting city, sharing our experiences with 49 other EVS volunteers which are in Norway. We stayed longer in Oslo, with other volunteer, we visited city together ( we couldn't see anything because all day was snowing), in the evening we was eating together.

My and Victoria dream was seeing the northern lights, so next we flight from Oslo to Tromsø. Tromsø is located 350 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle and is the largest city in Northern Norway. We spent there 4 days and 3 nights. We were hosting by wonderful couch-surfer. Second night he drove us out of the city ( enough far from city lights) so we could see the northern light even it wasn't so strong according to Kp scale, it was only 2 or 3. You can see how awesome it was on the photos which Amalia Pop took.

Next night we were on the hill from which you could see the view to Tromsøya island. We were lucky, the Northern lights was even stronger and we were closer to sky! Climate and landscape was so different then in Stavanger, It was good to see snow during winter ;)

What's more about winter?

I was with my youth club on skitur, so together with kids we were in Sauda. That was whole 2 days of skiing! What surprised me was that you can ski off the roads, of course that is much more difficult and you can easier fall down, but that is not forbidden ;)

The closest ski center to Stavanger is Sirdal, even that I was there in the end of April and beginning of May, there was still a lot of snow! I was there with SAPS (Stavanger Active People Society), international people who are living in Stavanger. That's cabin trip was great opportunity to rest after intensive Ester time in Poland but also to ski, play board games, party, eat and sing happy birthday probably in 13 or more languages.

Make it short, that's how I spent and enjoyed winter time!

Greetings!

Magda

Hei

I am Radek from Czech Republic. And I am 25 years old. And yes, I am last fourth volunteer at Stavanger Massive group! My biggest hobby is writing a blogs and new technology,
so I am sorry, that I am late!

I love music - I had many bands, but every band was so much good,  that we had to finish before that we became famous. Next thing what I love is art and making photo. Or making photo of art. Or making Art by photo.


My passion is cycling - top of my bicycle ride is that I arrive to EVS on my old Czechoslovakia bicycle from 1975. On a road trip I met nice people. Special Thanks to two guys from CZ, Jiří and Lukáš. And Big thanks to Jennifer from Alaska !!!
And next small things what I did at home is promoting concerts, skateboarding, making food for poor people on streets, Small DIY brands of clothes. Buildings skateboards mini ramps. etc.

What I doing at Stavanger on EVS?
I am working at Bekkefaret and Tasta youth clubs. Preparing small vernissage, and one smallest project with Tasta School and more great project.

Ha det bra og godt uke! 

The Worst Of All Bloggers

Hei og velkommen tilbake...

David here!
Yes, yes you are right, we are probably the worst bloggers ever to have attended this EVS project (jealously looking over to last years volunteers...) - BUT here we are and now you're in for an ULTRA Update! At least one from my perspective.

It must have been months since my last (and first lol) entry here, so lets start with what happened in Fall.

After having a glorious Autumn here in Stavanger, many of us believed that the shitty weather would never come anyways, leaving us with mistrust towards everyone who tried to prepare us for a terrible, terrible rainy and stormy and grey time that would last until March. We almost got heart broken because for a very long time it didn't look like there was anything like what we have been told coming our way. But then, it came, and it stayed. In fact it still is here! Grey in Grey with a bit of a shade of Grey. Our outside activities immediately were reduced to the casual grandiosa shopping and the zombie like walking to our work places in the mornings.
I knew that I can't stand this madness for a very long time so I actually decided to break out and do something out of my comfort zone. I went surfing... in December... in 3 degrees cold water. Together with my good Friend frank

I'm a kitesurfer, so wave surfing isn't really my thing but it still was quite some fun! The waves were pretty messy, the wind strong and the water definitely had the potential to kill me in a few minutes if it wasn't for one of those full body condoms incl. gloves and shoes! After a 20 min session of catching 3 waves, 1 of which I actually stood, and what felt like a total of 15 min paddling, I left the waters with numb fingers, ears and toes. SUCCESS! The curse was broken and even better, I got to visit a wonderful sunset at the beach at around 3:20 pm... glorious. 

Fast forward a week I found myself in the city of Bergen, where I spent my Christmas together with 2 volunteers from Germany and 1 from France. We had a duck, a ridiculously expensive duck (we believe we got fooled by the seller) together with potatoes, loooooots of potatoes, a weird cake because the French girl forgot to put the eggs in during the process of creation and we watched a utterly funny Norwegian Christmas cooking show. So, we had a blast to say the least!

Back in Stavanger, everyday life has caught up with all of us again, but the days grow longer again, love is blossoming, temperatures are rising, even the trees in the garden decided to already proudly wear their buds, completely ignoring the fact that it is mid January. Stupid Trees.

Well well, I think that is all for now! Please forgive me if I have missed out on something but I'll write another update after we had our midterm seminar at the end of February in Oslo. I'm sure that will make for some good stories :D

HilsEN (thanks Simon for correcting me)
David

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

Hei!

I'm Magda, I'm a new volunteer in Stavanger! I'm 24 years old and I'm from Poland. I arrived on Saturday and I will be spend there whole year! I will work in youth club (in Madla and in Byhaugkafeen). I'm interested in dancing, music and I love hiking! Also I like taking photos and travelling!




I really want to get know a Norwegian culture and learn a Norvegian langue ( Yes, I know that is hard but today I will have a first lesson! ;)) Before the EVS (European Volontary Service) I finished study, I studied Pharmacy, so I also good at chemistry too ;)

That's my 4th day here, and I have two beautiful and sunny days, I hope that It will be more days like that!

It's the view from ours neighborhood.

See U soon,

Magda!