Exchange Report BI Norwegian Business School Oslo, Norway By

Michelle Law Wing Yin BBA in Management & Operations Management Spring 2015 Exchange

TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I – MONTHLY ACTIVITY LOG ........................................... 2 PART II – GENERAL EXCHANGE INFORMATION .................... 8 PART III – ITEMS TO BRING ........................................................ 16 PART IV – FINAL THOUGHT ....................................................... 17

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PART I – MONTHLY ACTIVITY LOG

JANUARY 2015 I arrived Oslo on 2nd January. After arrival, I went to Central Station immediately with my friends to receive the arrival service from a BI representative. It is important and recommended to register the service in advance since you would receive tons of useful information from the representative, including the direction to your dormitory and IKEA and how to buy transportation pass. You would receive a booklet of Oslo survival guide too. Other than checking-in to my student housing, going to IKEA to purchase daily necessities on arrival day was a must, such as bedsheet, blanket and lamps. Semester started on the 5th January, but this month we were busy to explore the city of Oslo. We found this city amazing and went to Akershus Fortress and Viking Ship Museum, etc. In mid-January, I went on a short trip to Stockholm with my friends. Visiting IKEA flagship store and enjoying its 39kr breakfast buffet was the highlight of this trip. Don’t miss it if you plan to travel to Sweden!

Akershus Fortress

FEBRUARY 2015 The weather remained cold in February and heavy snow occurred frequently. So it was the time for me to try out outdoor ice-skating rink and skiing. Sometimes, we would organize indoor activities in order to ward off the cold and snow. Visiting National Gallery of

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Norway was a good idea. Here you could find the famous painting The Scream by Edvard Munch. Remember to visit the museum on Sunday for free entrance! We travelled to Copenhagen in the beginning of this month. It was super windy there, although the weather in Denmark was not as cold as that of Norway. Moreover, we could not wait to travel around Norway, so in mid-February, we went to Tromsø aiming at chasing northern light and Røros to participate in its annual traditional festival/market, which was called Rørosmartnan. I highly recommend you to join this event on February, so as to understand deeply the Norwegian culture from a small town. Spikersuppa Skating Rink

Northern Light

Røros

MARCH 2015 Since the course requirement for all my BI courses involved in group projects only, I had to start working on group papers or presentation in this month. Nevertheless, I was still managed to go on a trip to Poland before Easter holiday. Furthermore, I was very excited to

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watch a ski jumping competition in Holmenkollen (Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic). The wonderful performance of athletes took my breath away! What’s more, the long waited Easter Holiday finally started in late March. So, I seized the time to go on a trip to Eastern Europe for the rest of the month, including Budapest, Bucharest (Romania) and Varna (Bulgaria).

Sognsvann

Holmenkollen

Budapest

APRIL 2015 We continued our Easter trip in the first week of April and travelled to Belgrade (Serbia), Zagreb (Croatia), Pula (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Salzburg and it was perfect to end our trip in Vienna. Although some Eastern European countries are not well-developed compared to Western or Northern Europe, their spectacular natural sceneries surprised me. Furthermore, taking overnight trains and sleeping in a 3-bed/6-bed train cabin must be a special and unforgettable experience for me!

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The weather in Oslo became warmer in April, which encouraged outdoor activities. So, we went hiking in Oslo suburb area, not only to enjoy the wonderful natural landscape, but also to refresh ourselves in coming spring.

Zagreb

Belgrade

MAY 2015 Basically every month was a travelling month. In the beginning of May, I travelled to Amsterdam and Brussels. I was fascinated by the kingdoms of flowers and chocolates. A few days later, I went on a trip to Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon. Besides, as the deadlines for submitting group projects were approaching, I stayed in Oslo in mid-May to finish up all the papers and presentations. Meanwhile, we all celebrated the national day of Norway on 17th May. In the morning, we got up early to have a Norwegian

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breakfast. Then everybody would wear traditional costumes (For foreigners, we could follow the color code of blue, red and white, which are the colors of Norwegian National flag.) to watch the children's parade and greet the Royal Family at the Royal Palace. Remember to purchase a small flag in advance and eat hotdog/ice-cream on this special day. In late May, we travelled to Bergan by train. Finally we had a chance to enjoy the fresh seafood in Norway! Also, we climbed on the Pulpit Rock in Stavanger. With no doubt, precipitous rock/mountain climbing was a challenging task. But we eventually accomplished the mission!

Amsterdam

Pulpit Rock JUNE 2015 I went on my last trip to Germany in early June, which I had many meals of German knuckle with traditional beer. After returning to Oslo, I still had plenty of time staying in Norway before going back to Hong Kong. Therefore, I chose to explore the islands nearby (no more than 30 minutes ferry ride from the pier in city centre). Sometimes, we just needed

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a relaxing afternoon by sitting beside the sea and chatting with friends.

Oslo-Hovedøya Island

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PART II – GENERAL EXCHANGE INFORMATION

VISA PROCEDURES You must apply for a study permit before departing from Hong Kong to Norway, which allows you to stay legally in Norway for eight months. Soon after receiving admission letter from BI, you should first send an email to Norwegian Consulate (email address: [email protected]) to make an application request. The Consular Official would reply you with detailed application guide. Please bring all necessary documents with original-or photo-copies and pay for the processing fee on the day with appointment. It costed me HKD $3,060. However, the amount would be adjusted every quarter. The handling process took approximately a month and I received an acceptance letter in December. During the first week of semester, I was required to book an appointment with the Police Station through BI International Office. So on the appointment day, I had to report to the police station with all required documents, including the permit acceptance letter, etc. The permit application was considered to be successful when I received the Residence Card, usually within a month.

ORIENTATION ACTIVITIES BI organized many different types of activities for all exchange students and I suggest you to join as many activities as you can. For example, a few days before the start of semester, I had joined an Oslo bus sightseeing activity. It was a perfect way to get a basic understanding of Norway and mingle with other exchange students. Moreover, exchange students could participate in a variety of activities during the introduction week (the first week of semester), such as attending a funny and relaxing talk of "How to be a Norwegian student" and having a drink with my buddy group after campus tour.

INTERNATIONAL SERVICES & ACTIVITIES International Student Association (InSA) is a student association in BI, which aims at integrating international students into BI learning environment and the Norwegian culture. It always organized different social activities, such as Binner. It is a free diner offered for all students (most participants are exchange or international students) on every month. It was a

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great way to save money and effort to cook dinner by ourselves, so remember to attend Binner with friends! Apart from Binner, you can join its ‘Sunday in the City’ events to visit Oslo famous tourist spots with other international students, such as Holmenkollen and Norwegian Folk Museum.

ACCOMMODATIONS Once students are accepted to be an Exchange Student in BI, they are guaranteed to be given student housing at one of the dormitories available through BSN (Boligstiftelsen Nydalen) or SiO (The Foundation for Student Life in Oslo). Remember to apply housing earlier online by following its instruction after receiving admission letter and corresponding guide as all rooms are distributed on a first come first serve basis. My friends and I chose to live in Kringsjå Student Village that is operated by SiO. (Same choice with previous UST exchange students). The rent is affordable with acceptable room quality. Furthermore, the village offers sufficient amenities. First, at the entrance of this village, there is a supermarket called Kiwi. The products there are cheap in price and it was so convenient that sometimes we just bought food right before our dinner cooking time at night. There is even a post office inside the supermarket. Also, for my block, it only required 5-min walking distance to train station and took around 15 and 20 minutes to BI and Central Station respectively. There are overnight buses (12 minutes walking distance from village) too. What’s more, there is a large park nearby (Sognsvann-one train station away from Kringsjå). It is a popular recreation area for citizens. People usually run and exercise along the lake there. Besides, I lived in a furnished single room. Two tenants share a toilet and seven people share a kitchen. If you apply for the same village with your friends, I strongly suggest you all live in the same block, but on different floors. So, each individual can obtain precious

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opportunities to interact with your flatmates from different cultural backgrounds. You can also introduce your flatmates to your friends too! Attention! Before moving out of the room, you should clean your room and toilet thoroughly. The staff would check your room seriously after you checked out the room. If they find any dirt or damage of furniture, the pre-paid deposit would not be fully refunded to you.

COURSES REGISTRATION A few months before registration, student can always refer to the course list (would be updated frequently) to read the course description of each course. The information is very helpful, especially when you have to apply for course pre-approval in UST in order to check whether the courses in BI are equivalent to those in UST (Please do so if you want to transfer credits smoothly from BI). BI would send you email regarding class and examination schedule for each course when the registration period is approaching. By summiting an online form, normally you could register the courses successfully as the course quota is quite flexible. I took four courses during my exchange in BI, although BI students can take a maximum of five courses for one semester. EXC3505 Strategy (MGMT 4210: Corporate Strategy) It was an informative course, which taught different theories and tools for analyzing and suggesting strategies of individual companies. Only a group project was graded throughout the course, including the oral examination (50%) and executive summary (50%). The project aimed to recommend possible strategies to achieve a breakthrough for a target company. By summiting the drafts (PowerPoint slides for presentation) frequently, professor was kind enough to provide detailed comments for improvement.

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ELE 3712 Risk Management and Governance (OM 3000-level Elective) There were two lecturers (take turns) teaching in this class and one of them was very boring! But the course contents were quite useful and applicable for both future career challenges and daily life decision-marking incidents. Group term paper was the only deliverable required for this course, so it counted 100% towards the course grade. Remember to design an easy topic for the paper since you could still receive good grade by applying appropriate theories extensively to different situations. SHI 3613 International Logistics (ISOM 4770: Supply Chain Management) Although sometimes professors taught difficult specialized concepts, I like this course. Since globalization is prevailing now, it would be great if we could understand complicated operations of global supply chain or any related issues. We had to finish three group written assignments throughout the course (Again no exam!). We could keep improving on each assignment by receiving feedback from professors before the final deadline of second draft submission. ELE 3701 Innovation & Entrepreneurship (MGMT Elective) Most people only paid huge attention to the result of innovation. However, this course was interesting that it explored the ingredients of both innovation and entrepreneurship. The course grade was based on a group project, including the delivery of a 5-page project sketch (20% of the grade) and a project paper (80%). Maybe you would be inspired by this course and become an entrepreneur in future!

TEACHING & ASSESSMENT METHODS Unlike UST, normally lectures in BI are around 3 hours long, but you only have to attend lesson once per week for each course. In order to maintain learning effectiveness and efficiency, students have the right to enjoy a 15-minute break after 45 minutes of teaching activities. Therefore, don’t be afraid about the super long class duration! Moreover, most BI professors encouraged student-teacher interaction in class, which is very different from UST learning environment. What’s more, the great news is for most of the courses, one final exam or one group project counts 100% towards the course grade and no attendance is required. So with no doubt, studying in BI was relatively relaxing compared with that in UST.

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SPORTS & RECREATION FACILITIES There is a gym located in BI campus. By paying NOK 1,350, students could have unlimited access to the gym room and attend group training classes for free. If you want to have a drink after lessons, the student pub in BI (Kroa) is a perfect place for a break. But you should never forget to enjoy outdoor activities in Oslo, especially ice-skating at outdoor rink and skiing. It is a good idea to rent skiing equipment from University of Oslo if you go skiing frequently. Otherwise, you should just rent it in the ski resort. Since we all lived in Kringsjå, the most convenient and affordable activity was to go to Sognsvann for a walk, which would definitely refresh your mind in this relaxing environment.

COST/EXPENSES It is very important to bring credit cards and ATM cards with you while going on exchange. Before departing from Hong Kong, I had applied an ATM card from Citibank as it claims that it would not charge any additional fee for overseas withdrawal and IT’S TRUE! I could withdraw cash from any ATM machine with ‘PLUS’ sign in European countries. The table below illustrated all my expenditures for this exchange journey. Expenditures NOK (Exchange Rate: 1NOK=1.05HKD) Air Tickets (Round Trip) Insurance Study Permit 20,508 Accommodation (Rent for Dormitory) 3,460 Transportation within Oslo ~24,000 Daily Expense (Food & Necessities) Travelling Total

HKD 10,480 3,084 3,060 ~48,000 ~114,990

HEALTH & SAFETY SiO provides extensive health services (physical, psychological and dental care) for students and the clinics are situated in both BI and University of Oslo. The diagnostic services are free of charge, but you still need to search for the right medicine in pharmacies by yourself. The problem comes when you don’t know which medicine is the most suitable for you. I suggest bringing sufficient medicine with you from Hong Kong in order to avoid this problem and save time cost of doctor consultation.

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Even though we all agreed Norway is one of the safest countries in the world with low crime rate, please keep an eye on your personal belongings at all times! My Taiwanese friend’s wallet was stolen in Oslo since the targets for thieves are always the Chinese in European countries.

FOOD Soon after you arrived Oslo, I am pretty sure that you would be scared by the extremely high prices for nearly everything and cook for your first meal very soon. (It is the easiest way to save money!!). For vegetables (Cheapest in Asian Market) and Chinese food/seasoning, such as Chinese dumplings, we bought them in a few stores in Grønland, such as Asian Market and A-food. It was also a great idea to buy chickens or chicken-wings in frozen meat shops in Grønland. I advice you to purchase other types of meats in supermarket, particularly in Kiwi or REMA1000. They offer lower-priced food. For example, sometimes I found small packages of beef in Kiwi and the price was only 19kr! What’s more, we always bought products from a brand called ‘First Price’ in Kiwi Supermarket. The prices were cheaper with acceptable or even good qualities. Attention!! Don’t forget to download an app called ‘Mattilbud’ on your smartphones to check for any promotions from different supermarkets!

Although dinning out was expensive, we would do so on special days/events, such as Chinese New Year or farewell dinners. Usually we went to Jensen's Bøfhus for lunch (the price for lunch steak was 79kr only!) and T.G.I Friday’s for both lunch and dinner (average 200-300kr per person, but the food are at large portion with good qualities). Eating in kabab and pizza restaurants in Grønland are another good choices to save money.

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T.G.I Friday’s TRANSPORTATION Oslo offers convenient public transportation to citizens. As mentioned above, you should buy a 30-day student transportation pass (410kr) in convenience stores on the first day of arrival. With the pass, you could have unlimited access to the services of all public transports in Oslo (zone 1 only) within 30 days, including T-bane (metro), buses, ferries and trams. Since people are not required to pass through ticket turnstiles before taking metro train or show the monthly ticket to bus drivers, random inspections are conducted frequently aiming at checking if anyone steals a ride. Remember three rules: (1) Always keep the Ruter monthly card with you. (2) Pay for every month to ensure the card is valid. (3) Activate the card immediately after every payment. Otherwise, they have the right to charge you fine of 950kr once you get caught. In addition, ‘RuterReise’ is a nice app showing updated time schedule for upcoming metro trains, buses or trams for each station.

CLIMATE You will experience the coldest weather in Oslo, especially in January and February if you go on an exchange here in Spring semester. The average temperature in winter months is only 0°C, while the lowest temperature might drop to -15°C. Snowfall is common and humidity remains low. When I first arrive Oslo, I could not adapt to the short daytime in Norway that I could only enjoy 5 hours of daytime before its sunset on 3p.m. The weather gets warmer when approaching to late March and the snow will melt gradually. In May and June, the temperature could rise up to 20°C and it has around 18 hours of sunshine. The weather is so comfortable and this represents summer is coming!

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COMMUNICATION Normally, the Norwegian speak good English, so there should be no problem to communicate verbally with local citizens. However, it is not common to have English translation for public announcements in Oslo (of course, BI will definitely provide translation!) For example, only announcement in Norwegian was displayed on the stations when T-bane stopped metro services on several stations (including Kringsjå!) due to system malfunction. In order not to be confused by those announcements, I suggest you to download the ‘Google Translate’ app or some offline Norwegian-English Dictionaries apps in advance.

CAUTIONARY MEASURES If you are a native-born Hongkonger, I’m pretty sure you could not adapt immediately to the extremely cold weather in Oslo. Please prepare sufficient amount of thick clothes, down jackets, scarves, waterproof & thermal gloves and knit caps before heading to Norway if you don’t want to suffer from fever or cold in Oslo. Don’t forget to bring at least a pair of waterproof, antiskid boot with you to Norway in order to prevent slipperiness from icy and snowy roads there. I would recommend Timberland boot and it works well in snow too! Putting ice grips on your shoes is also a great idea to reduce the danger from slippery roads. What’s more, low humidity in Oslo is likely to result in dry skin and switching on the heater in your room would intensify the problem. Apart from using Vaseline moisturizing shower gel (can buy it in Kiwi supermarket!) when bathing, it is vital to put on body cream/hand cream frequently.

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PART III – ITEMS TO BRING

CHECKLIST 

Passport

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Insurance Documents

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Admission Letter

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Visa Acceptance Letter

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Thick Clothes & Down Jacket

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Small Amount of NOK Cash

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Scarves, Waterproof, Thermal

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Credit Card & ATM Card (Support

Gloves and Knit Caps

Overseas Withdrawal)

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Waterproof, Antiskid Boot

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Adaptors

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Skin Care Products (FOR BOTH

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LAN Cable and Wi-Fi Router (NO WIFI

BOYS AND GIRLS) 

Personal Care Products

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Notebook and Chargers

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Medicine

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EUR Cash (Optional)

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Backpack (More Convenient for

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Eyeshade and Neck-pillow (Optional for

Travelers like US!) 

Small amount of Summer clothing (For Travelling to Warmer Countries During Exchange)

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IN STUDENT VILLAGE)

Travelling)

PART IV – FINAL THOUGHT

Thinking back to the time when I was reading other exchange reports from previous UST students before summiting application for academic exchange, four out of five exchange students mentioned in the reports that going on an exchange is a once-in-a-life opportunity, which allows you to achieve a breakthrough and attain personal growth. After participating in the exchange program to Norway, I would say IT’S TRUE! To be honest, it is far better to learn and broaden our horizons by experiencing than just receiving knowledge from professors and attending examinations. Moreover, I must say Norway is a lovely place with fantastic natural sceneries, which is a perfect place to keep your mind and body refresh. Come to Norway if you want to step out from any concrete jungle! Come to Norway if you want to enjoy the relaxing, simple but happy life of a typical Norwegian. If you would like to seek for further information, feel free to get my contact from SBM Exchange Team by emailing at [email protected].

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