BI Norwegian Business School Exchange Report – Fall 2014

Matthew Leung – BBA in Management

Monthly Activity Log August I arrived in Oslo Gardermoen Airport by myself on the 7th of August. As Oslo’s main airport, it is served by a train company, Flytoget, which will take you to the city center for 85kr (1kr=1hkd) in 20 or so minutes. Remember to bring your admission letter so you can get the student discount. BI offers an arrival service in which their staff can help you on your first day, but they only did this within a 4-day time period, and because I arrived outside of that period, I had to do everything by myself. I immediately bought a student travel card for the local subway, called the T-bane. This costs 410kr and needs to be renewed and validated every month.

IKEA is the place to go for all the basic necessities; free shuttle buses leave from the city center once every hour (twice an hour on Saturdays). IKEA, all supermarkets and many other stores in Norway are closed on Sundays, so it’s advisable not to arrive on a Sunday there. School orientation activities started at around the second week of August; I joined a couple of them and met people from all sorts of places. Be sure to join Binner, a free dinner provided by the school once a month. Classes started on the third week of August.

September I spent September continuing to explore Oslo and joining the occasional activities organized by BI. By this time, I had a good idea of what my classes required, so I spent quite some time finishing up all the homework and projects I had for the entire semester so I would have more free time later on.

I took a short trip to Bergen, a city on Norway’s west coast, during the middle of the month, but other than that, this month was fairly quiet for me.

October Project deadlines for classes may arrive during this period, but I had already finished them previously, so I had the chance to go with some friends to Helsinki and St. Petersburg for a 1 week trip. October also saw the temperatures start to drop quickly, with snow falling on a few occasions.

November I had my Norwegian language exam at the beginning of the month, and after I was done with that I went on another week long trip, this time to Brussels, Bruges and Paris. Classes ended in either the 1st or 2nd week of the month, and we then had a 1 week break to prepare for our exams. I had 3 exams which were scheduled together in the end of November, so this weeklong break was important for me. I also had a term paper to complete for another of my courses, but that had been long completed. After my last exam on the 27th, my time in BI was over.

December I took advantage of my early end to exams by travelling for most of the month. For the first two weeks, I traveled to Kraków, Budapest, Berlin, and Gdańsk, which was quite an adventure. Eastern Europe tends to be cheaper and less accessible from Hong Kong, so it really was a wonderful area to visit. I returned to Oslo for a few days before heading up to Tromsø, which turned out to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. We were lucky enough to see the Northern Lights every night we were there, and we even saw them while dogsledding.

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I spent Christmas and New Year’s in Oslo with friends from a church I regularly attended there. Christmastime is always the best time of the year, and Norwegian Christmas culture is much more ‘traditional’ than that in Hong Kong. It was truly a wonderful experience I’ll never forget.

January I had time for one last trip, to Liverpool, before heading back to Hong Kong. After 5 months in Norway, it was time for me to return home.

General Exchange Information 1. Visa Procedures Hong Kong residents do not need to apply for a visa, but they do need to apply for residence permits. It would probably be better for you to apply in Hong Kong, as you would get your permit quicker. I would advise applying for it at least one month before you leave for Norway. To apply, send an email to the Norwegian consulate, who will give you a list of items you need to prepare for the application. Afterwards, you can shoot them another email to book an appointment to hand in all the forms. After about a month, the consulate will give you a paper that lets you get the residence permit in Norway. When you arrive in Norway, you have two options. Bring 1) Go to the immigration police station (not the real police station) in Grønland to book an appointment with them. A few weeks later, you have to return there to attend the appointment, take a picture and wait about 2 weeks to get your residence card in your mail. 2) BI marks out one day specifically to help you book the appointment so you don‘t have to go all the way to Grønland. You still have to go there for the appointment, though, similar to the option above. The residence card isn’t exactly a necessity, but it is a huge convenience if you want to travel outside of the EU, namely United Kingdom and the Russian Federation. Norwegian Embassy: http://www.norway.cn/Embassy/Hong-Kong/Welcome/ Email: [email protected]

2. Orientation Activities Months before the exchange starts, you will receive some information from BI, and they will invite you to the exchange students Facebook page. Here you will receive information about all the orientation activities in the weeks leading up to it. Most of these activities are free and only for exchange students. There is also another student orientation which is for all new students to the university. You will be assigned to a buddy group and events will be held throughout the week before school starts.

3. International Services & Activities Excursions around Oslo are regularly held for free by the international student association. You could also choose to join the monthly ‘Sunday in the City’ tours, which are hosted by the university chaplain. Once in a while the student association would host a bigger event, such as a cabin or skiing trip out of the city. These tend to be more expensive, but everything is organized for you. If you need any help in school, there is a help desk at BI specifically for international and exchange students.

4. Accommodations Housing is provided by either BSN or SIO. BSN is operated by BI alone, and the housing provided is only a very short walk away from the university. The other housing accommodations are provided by SIO, which cares for all the students in Oslo. SIO has many student villages located throughout Oslo. I stayed in Kringsjå student village, which is located a bit outside of Oslo‘s city center, and a bit farther to both the center and school. I chose the most common type room, in which I had a room to myself and shared a bathroom with another and the kitchen with 6 others. Transportation to Kringsjå can be a bit annoying for someone from Hong Kong because it is quite infrequent, but it is a very nice environment to live in, especially with Sognsvann within walking distance. Housing information will be provided to you months before you go to Norway. Be sure to apply as soon as possible because spaces do run out quite fast.

5. Courses & Registration You register for your courses on the BI website. They will send you an email giving you all the instruction you need. This takes place about 1½ months before school starts. Normal course load in Norway is 4 classes, and the maximum load is 5 classes. My courses: EXC 2901 - Norwegian Culture and History - An Introduction This was an interesting lecture that focused on how events in the past have shaped Norway’s society today. This course is only open to exchange students, so it encourages discussion between students from different places. The workload is not high; there are a few readings to go through, but the only assessment is your final exam. EX 3410 – The Firm – Introduction Course This course was about the history of the company, and also delved into ethics and corporate social responsibility. The course itself is fairly interesting, but there are a lot of readings to complete. There are also two required essays (1 individual, 1 group) that are non-assessed, but required to be able to take the exam. EXC 2112 – Consumer Behaviour This is a basic marketing course on different strategies that can affect consumer behavior. The course content is relatively simple and easy to understand, but lectures were slightly dull. This course also has no final exam; instead there is a 10-15 page term paper to complete that can be done in groups of up to three.

ELE 3702 – Social Entrepreneurship By far my favourite lecture I have ever taken. As the course title indicates, we studied what goes on in social entrepreneurships. We had many lively debates in this class, and gain many insights into what makes a social entrepreneurship. We had one non-assessed presentation to do, but most of us didn’t see it as an assessment, but as a fun activity to share with others. Norwegian Language Course This course is not credit bearing, but I took it purely out of enjoyment. This was a highly enjoyable class, as we were introduced to one of the most important aspects of every culture, the language. Norwegian is not very difficult to learn for English speakers, as the syntax is very similar and many words share the same roots. In addition, once you learn Norwegian, an added bonus is you can understand some Danish and Swedish as well!

6. Teaching and Assessment Methods Most classes are held only once a week, but with 3 hour lectures every time. Classes in Norway are very interactive, and although not graded, you are expected to participate frequently. I had the privilege of taking 3 lectures under an excellent professor who was very good at inciting discussions and debates. Many classes assess your grade 100% through the final exam, although other classes may give regular homework or require you to write a term paper instead.

7. Sports & Recreation Facilities There is a gym provided by SIO in BI, and another bigger gym with more facilities located near Sogn student village. You get a short free trial, but there is a fee to pay after that. Should you live in Kringsjå, there is a sports university located there where you could use their gym for a cheaper fee. Kringsjå also provides free areas for football, basketball, tennis, ice skating in the winter, as well as the 3.3km track around Sognsvann nearby.

8. Costs/Expenses Expenditure Airplane Tickets Residence Permit Accommodation Groceries Travelling Miscellaneous Total

HKD $10,000 $3,500 $20,000 $10,000 $30,000 $8,000 $81,500

9. Social Club & Networking Opportunities There are many clubs that you can join in BI. These clubs only promote themselves on one day though, so you can only learn more about them on this one day. There are also career days where professionals come to the school, but they are not targeted towards exchange students.

10. Health & Safety Oslo and Norway in general is a very safe place to live in. During the winter, some streets without underground heating can become very icy, so you have to walk with caution. At night, the Grønland and Tøyen area is a bit shady, but nothing particularly serious there.

11. Food Eating out is very expensive in Oslo, with McDonalds meals costing over HKD$100. Learn to cook for yourself to keep costs down. Kiwi and REMA1000 are the cheapest supermarkets, and are located all over the place. ICA supermarkets are more expensive, but they regularly have discounts on foods, so you could check them often. There are ICA supermarkets at Ullevål Stadion and another near BI, at Storo. Most of the Asian supermarkets are located in the city center. They aren’t necessarily cheaper, but provide different foods to those in normal supermarkets. The Asian Food Market in Grønland provides cheap fruits and vegetables.

12. Transportation Oslo’s local transportation is run by Ruter. You can buy a monthly student card for 410 kroners, and this will cover for all transportation in the local Oslo area, including trains, trams, buses and ferries. Remember to bring your card with you at all times, as inspections can be frequent, especially during weekends in the city center. Regional trains are operated by NSB; these can take you all over Norway. If you plan to travel on lowcost carriers, you’d probably need to go to the airports in Rygge or Torp, and can get there by NSB trains.

13. Climate Summers in Oslo are fairly hot, with temperatures frequently going over 20°C. Daytime can be very long, with the sun not setting until 10pm at night, but the days quickly get shorter as autumn and winter approaches. Rain is fairly frequent, especially during the autumn months. Snow starts to fall in October, and usually settles in December. Oslo is not overly cold, with average winter temperatures usually around -5°C; however I did experience a few days when it got down to about -20°C.

14. Communication Communication with locals should not be an issue, as all Norwegians are taught English from a very young age and can speak fluently. BI offers a free SIM card from MyCall, which provides nice international rates to other European countries. The card can be topped up online.

15. Cautionary Measures Nothing in particular to worry about, just remember to use common sense at all times.

16. Other Notes A great way to save (or rather, make) a bit of money is to participate in the BI experiments. These experiments are fairly common and usually take less than 20 minutes to complete. Each experiment can give up to 200kr, and I earned almost 1000kr just by doing this. Stay updated on Facebook for more information.

Checklist 1. Clothing essentials 2. Jackets, gloves, beanie 3. Passport 4. Adaptors 5. Admission Letter 6. Residence Permit 7. Laptop, Phone, Camera, other electronics and chargers etc… 8. Financial Calculator (if you are taking finance courses) 9. Wi-Fi Router and LAN Cable 10. Medicine 11. Backpack for travelling

Oslo has become a home I will never forget. I had amazing experiences there, and forged so many friendships with wonderful memories that will always last forever. Norway itself is a spectacularly beautiful country, so do take the opportunity to study there. Immerse yourself in their culture, become a Norwegian and enjoy the lifestyle there. Jeg ønsker deg ei god reise!