1 Week On!

It has been 1 week since we arrvied back to gloomy Shetland! I can safely say we are all missing Voss very much!

On our last day in Voss we had a lovely lunch at Husflidskule - (Randi's School). They prepared a traditional Norwegian soup for us that I thought was quite similar to tattie soup - it was yummy! After that we had coffee, tea, along with plates of fruit and brownies. We discussed our trip, said our goodbyes (reluctantly) and made for our accomodation to commence the packing! That night we also went out to eat at the Park Hotel with James for a lovely farewell meal. We were up very early the next day for some last minute packing and to give our accomodation a bit of a clear up - we were all very sad to all hand in our keys. Our trip home went very smoothly. We got the train to Bergen in plently of time. We had time to spare in Bergen, however it was cold and wet so we decided to just go straight to the airport. We had a couple of hours spare in Aberdeen where a few of us did some shopping or got something to eat before heading on the boat home.

We would like to give a huge thank you for everyone involved in this trip and for giving us this opportunity, we had a brilliant time, it was a great life experience and we all miss it and have great memories of our trip. Not only that but we've met some wonderful people and made some new friends!

We all plan to come back some day!

GO GO POWER RANGERS! (Windtunnel)

We've just arrived back from the newly opened "Vossvind" windtunnel.  We got a group talk from an instructor who gave us a few tips and some advice before we went into the tunnel!  The speed of the wind tunnel was around 180km and we each got two turns in the tunnel with the instructor.  We all absolutely loved it, it was definitely the most exciting single 3minutes of the trip!  We're desperate to have another shot so it's a shame it only opened towards the last days of our time here!  The instructors were kind enough to take lots of photos of us in the tunnel, and here is one of us beforehand, our hair was slightly more volumised after the experience to say the least!  We all recommend the wind tunnel to anyone who gets the opportunity to have a go in one!

Linsey, Joanna, Izabela, Joanne, Sarah Rhianna & Becky. :)

Daytrip to Bergen!

Today we got the train to Bergen in the morning, we walked around and saw an old church and then managed to find the cable car, which took us to the top of a mountain where we got an excellent view of Bergen as it's been a clear, sunny day all day!  After we went back down we visited the fish-market down by the pier and tried some fresh fish in a cafe nearby.  Afterwards we went to the Aquarium where we saw penguins, snakes and seals being fed, saw a film about killerwhales and saw lots of other reptiles, birds, fish and insects.  The cable car and Aquarium were definitely highlights of the day.  Before catching the train we ate at a little Thai restaurant, the food was delicious!  When we got back to Voss at around 9pm the sun was still shining and the streets were lively with students who are preparing for celebrations for the first of May parade tomorrow!  Going to Bergen has been once of best parts of the trip for me so far and the great weather made the day even more enjoyable!

Joanna.

Sun 29th April - Glorious day!

- Beautiful day in Voss!

Sarah, Louis, Scott and I went to Myrkdalen for some skiing since it was the last day they were open. We took a few breaks to sunbathe too which was lovely - and no sunburn which is a plus! Me and Sarah were a bit more adventurous this time so went higher up the mountain, and didn't fall all the way down this time! After the bus journey back to Voss we were starving so Louis, Sarah and me went to the chinese for some denner. Afterwards we got some pretty impressive ice creams since it was such a lovely day!

When we got in in was still so warm outside that Joanna, Sarah and Me went for a peerie walk around the town, then took some lovely photos by the lake. Had such a lovely day - planning on a trip to Bergen tomorrow - can't wait!

Linsey.

Here comes the sun.

It's been a beautiful day here in Voss, so we walked down to the culture house and enjoyed the sun on the grass roof overlooking the lake!

Friday 27th April - where has the time gone? I can't believe we only have a week left! I don't want to leave!

Friday was our day at the Voss Museum for a guided tour. We were a bit unsure to where it was at first, but after looking at our map we found how to get there. It turned out to be a half hour uphill trek but it was worth it! When we got there we joined a class from an another school who were also getting the tour - the tour guide was nice enough to do the tour in english for our benefit! We got shown around some Norwegian croft houses and were told about how they lived at this time. It was really good and there was some interesting similarities to Shetland life at that time I thought. After that we were free to roam around ourselves and look around the Museum. I was really impressed with the museum, they had some beautiful things. One of my favourite things that I saw were the patterned fiddles!

Izabela, Sarah and Linsey x

The final week.

A week today we will be boarding the boat home in Aberdeen.  There's still a lot of fun to be had in our last week though!  On Monday, along with a few of the other Shetland students, I'm going to go to Bergen by train and visit some of the sights there, a wind tunnel is also opening here on the 1st of May, the first one in the whole of Scandanavia and the second one in the whole of Europe I have been told by one of the staff at my work placement here.  If it's possible to book a session we hope to go and try it out!  We're going to try and fit as many activities into the next 6days as possible and take advantage of the sunshine which has made an appearance today and is meant to stay here next week too!

Joanna.

Bunad og Kleloftet

Me and Izabela have been working at Bunad og Kleloftet for a few days since we got here. I was there for 4 days and I think Izabela for 6 as she is interested in fashion and dress making whereas I am working towards a fine art project perhaps using pattern as a key visual element. The women that work there all have their own individual businesses but also manage to work as a team which is nice. They were really welcoming towards us although maybe a bit uncertain as to what to do with us at first. The first day we were able to look around, chat to all of them and take lots of photos to get a feel for the place. We were then shown how to use the machines and did a bit of sewing work. I think we both learned very useful new skills such as traditional hardanger embroidery techniques (very hard work, took us around 2 days to complete a tiny square), cross-stitching and bead work. The women were very helpful, in particular, the woman in the photo above speaking to Izabela as she taught is all the embroidery and helped us whenever we got stuck - which was a lot! I am very grateful to her as it is such a busy time of year for them as the 17th of May is coming up (which is when they celebrate the anniversary of Norway becoming an independent country) yet she continued to give us unlimited help. Their work place was very homely and I think what was so attractive about it was that everything was done entirely by hand. Nowadays, I think that is quite difficult to find and they clearly loved and valued what they were doing.

Oatcakes and dancing...

Today at Vangen Skule me and Rhianna brought a flavour of Shetland to the pupils of the class we work with.  In the morning we worked with a group of four pupils and made some Shetland Oatcakes.  The whole class tried the oatcakes (including the teachers) with cheese and butter.  They seemed to go down well!  Some oatcakes were taken to the staff room so the teachers from other classes got to try them as well :) After lunchtime we taught the class 'The Boston Two Step'.  I brought in my ipod and we used sets by 'The Cullivoe Dance Band' for them to dance to.  They learned the dance very quickly and we all had good fun!  We are going to teach some more Shetland dancing to the children next week. :)
Kaela.

Our animation we did at Husfildskule

Rødruss

Yesterday, Izabela, Sarah and I took part in some Art & Design lessons at Husflidskule - Randi's school. We did some painting and then made an animation involving an orange. It was a bit odd but was lots of fun! While we were there we met some very nice Norwegian girls (Ida, Sunniva, Frida, Ingrid and Synne) who invited us out after school to 'cruise' in their party van, which they have to celebrate "Rødruss". Basically, this is when 18-19 year olds celebrate their last year of school by partying and drinking lots, and also playing lots of practical jokes (for example, having to go into a supermarket and bark in front of dog food for 3 minutes)

It goes on for 20 days and happens around the end of April just before exams, each colour in this celebration represents a different school - red, blue, black, green. Red represents Husflidskule. This means they wear special red trousers and some have their own red party van. We went with them to get their van serviced at a garage to see if it was safe enough to drive, and if it was safe they get a sticker to put on the van so police can't stop them while they're party-vanning. It didn't pass its service - but they're going to get it fixed and try again! It was so much fun driving around in the van! It had all the girls names printed on it and "HANGOVER" spelt on the bonnet. 

It sounded like great fun, but somehow we don't think we could get away with this in Shetland...

Linsey.

Plei

For 4 days I worked in a small, computer based shop called 'Plei'. They had 3 employees,  Per Arne - the manager, Kristina - who did the administration, and Kenneth, who was a sort of apprentice. They were all lovely and welcoming, and explained to me how the business worked. They wanted me to act as a 'graphic designer' in a way, and to help them with designing their brochures, leaflets, business cards etc. I really enjoyed my time there and learnt a great deal. They seemed happy with my work.

 On my last day they decided they wanted me to come up with their timeline picture on their Facebook page. They gave me their (very fancy) camera and asked me to go around Voss and take some nice pictures of the town and the landscape, and then I would incorporate their logo into the photo. I walked around for nearly 2 hours taking pictures of the snowy mountains, the lake and the town. I absolutely loved it! When I came back, Kristina and I looked through the photos, and decided on one to use. I then edited the photo slightly on Photoshop to bring out the colours, and then integrated their logo into the photo.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plei/197844723272 - here is the link if you'd like to see it!

I really did enjoy it and will definitely go back and visit them before we go back to Shetland! :)

Linsey.

Skiing at Myrkdalen (Sarah, Linsey & Becky)

On sunday we managed to borrow some ski stuff from Randi and find our way to the ski slope which was around 30mins away by bus from Voss. It was really beautiful up there and it was such a lovely day so we ended up sunbathing in the snow high up the mountain. ...We didn't quite realise how high the ski lift was gonna take us and the problem was coming down! We had all been skiing before with school trips but we realised our skills were rather rusty as we attempted a Red slope!

Trows in Voss!

On placement ...

I am on a work placement in a nursing home called Vetleflaten, I am learning a lot from the staff and residents at the home and really enjoying the experience of working abroad.  The language barrier can be difficult at times but I am now picking up Norwegian words and phrases and finding communication with the residents easier every day.  The scenery in Voss, the town we are living in, is very picturesque and it is a very peaceful place to live.  I have visited two schools nearby and enjoyed being shown around the different classes by pupils at these schools, we did lots of fun activites on the Open Days there, including making oragami frogs! (Pictured above)  I hope to visit Bergen on Monday and see what sights a larger city here has to offer. 

Joanna.

Rhianna and Kaela go skiing!

Today me and Rhianna went skiing.  The teachers we work with at our placement, which is at 'Vangen Skule', arranged for us and the class to go to 'Myrkdalen Skiing Resort' for the day.  We met at 8.45am and got a bus to get to Myrkdalen.  We got to the resort at 9.30.  The teachers arranged for us to have an instructor as neither of us had tried it before.  After renting skis the instructor helped us with learning how to ski.  Afterwards we were able to move onto a higher slope after practicing on the lower slopes.  We both fell several times but by the end of it i think we improved quite a lot!  At lunchtime everyone on the trip had hotdogs which were cooked on a barbeque.  They were very good :)  Everyone skiied some more after lunch and then went right up the mountain to a cabin which one of the women accompanying the class owned.  To get to the top of the mountain me, Rhianna and some of the class sat in a trailer hitched to the back of a snow skooter.  We had great fun being towed up the mountain.  When we got to the cabin we all had pancakes.  It was really sunny up there and the views were amazing!  To get back down the mountain the man who drove the snow skooter came to get us.  Me and Rhianna sat behind him on the skooter as he didn't bring back the trailer after dropping off the children.  Going down the hill was terrifying, because it was so steep, but good fun!  We got back to Voss at 3.30pm after a fantastic day.

Kaela.

We almost got really lost trying to find the centre of Bergen but as you can see, we made it eventually! We managed to have time to visit all 4 of the art galleries and have a look at the shops but after the early start, not much sleep and an information overload we were absolutely knackered by the time we got on the train back to Voss! It was really handy that all the galleries were right next to each other thought and also really lucky that Thursdays are free for students! One part of the big Kunst Museum was closed though... & that was the part we really wanted to see most! Might try to squeeze in a look when we pass through Bergen on the way home!

Knitting factory

- One of the machines at the Knitting museum (I think it was called "trikojesaum"?) we went to, just outside of Bergen. Pretty cool to see the history of the place and how the factry had such an impact of the people who lived in Saulhus.

Raknes, Osteroy. Went for a walk and explored. View from right outside Randi's cottage. Such a beautiful place! Would love to go back!

An example of a really cosy Viking style blanket

Me, Linsey and Izabela took a two day trip with Randi, staying overnight on the island Osteroy and visiting Bergen the following day. Here we are getting a guided tour of a folk museum by a woman who is currently writing a book with Elizabeth Tait from Shetland and another woman from Iceland that she met at a weaving class. They were interesting in the similarities and differences between the cultures and particularly the historical background of producing textiles.

Sarah

A View of the Mountains in Voss...

Settling In

Hei/Hello!

We are a group of 10 students from the Shetland College in the Shetland Islands.  Shetland is a group of isles situated in the North of Scotland.  We arrived in Voss, Norway on the 10th April.  We will be in Voss until 5th May and will be working in different places according to the subjects which we take at College.  Our trip is being funded by the 'Leonardo da Vinci project'.  Two of the girls who study childcare are on placement in a Primary school and the other two childcare students are working in a kindergarten.  The social work student is on placement in a care centre for the elderly and the three art students and the two digital media students are doing lots of different placements including working in a computer shop and a dressmakers.
  So far we have really enjoyed ourselves.  We hope to keep you posted on things we get up to! :)

Bye for now!

Izabella, Joanna, Joanne, Linsey, Louis, Kaela, Becky, Rihanna, Sarah and Scott.