On Monday, August 13, 2018, it’s my first day on campus Vestfold, at USN. I study in Norwegian Cultural Journey, and there are only ten students in our class. My impression to the teachers who will accompany us for the next four months is that they are all very friendly and enthusiastic. In addition, USN even provides free sandwiches and soda to everyone on Orientation day. It gives me a good reason to love this university. Every night during the first week of the semester, student society holds various events that help students make new friends. It’s a fresh experience for me to attend parties at campus because we don’t have this kind of activities in Taiwan.

Campus Vestfold

International Students

Beach Volleyball

On Tuesday, after attending the opening ceremony and concert, I go to play beach volleyball and team up with other international students. Although we lose the game, I still have a lot of fun with them. It becomes a really great memory for me because I play volleyball in Taiwan as a school team. And it’s a brand new experience to play volleyball with foreigners.

First time I take the bus to Horten to attend Orientation Race on Wednesday. We pass through many missions, such as guessing the names of songs, croquet game and running in circles then complete the requirements etc. My teammates are all smart and good at solving tasks. I’m very glad to be in a team with them.

Gaming Afternoon

In the afternoon of Thursday, USN holds a Gaming Afternoon for students. There is a classroom full of video games and Wiis, such as Mario Kart. This activity amazes me because it is impossible to play video games at campus in Taiwan. The staff in university will never agree to lend a classroom to students for playing games. By the way, you can also play table tennis in the hall of university. I like the relaxing atmosphere at campus Vestfold a lot for sure.

I usually have classes until 5 or 6 p.m. in Taiwan. Some students even get lectures at night. However, students in USN don’t have classes after 3 p.m. Therefore, the campus will soon become empty after that. I don’t get used to this situation at first because it is always full of people in my university in Taiwan. But I think I will feel more familiar with it in few weeks.

A Norwegian guy I meet in the pub tells me about friendship of Norwegian people. He tells me that even you play volleyball with a Norwegian over ten times. If one day you two meet each other on the street, and he or she doesn’t say hi to you, it is totally normal. I don’t have to be hurt because you two are not friends yet. I need to have more personal interaction with Norwegians so that we could become friends. Except for the situation that Norwegians are drunk. If a Norwegian talks about his or her family with you when being drunk, we’re still not friends. I think that not every Norwegian treat people like that. I will try to know more Norwegian students to prove this hidden rule is true or not.