Due to my unbelievable busy schedule, the first
post has been delayed a bit – I’ve actually been here in Oslo for over two
weeks now, and even though my intention was to write the first post a week ago,
somehow I’ve found no time for that. But for now, let’s throw hurry and rush
aside, and focus on this post now; here it comes, my first week in Oslo!
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| Sunrise from the aeroplane |
I arrived to Oslo on the 31st of
January early in the morning. I had chosen the day to be Friday (cheaper
flights!), so that I could have the whole weekend to adjust to the new place,
and maybe stroll around the city a bit. Of course my plans were ruined by my
body, which decided that it’d be cooler to feel a bit under the weather than
getting to know the city – so my first weekend went cuddling with my pillow and
blanket. How cool is that?
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| Photo from the study |
On Monday morning I was supposed to start my
on-the-job-training, and I was sent straight to the “battlefield” – I had to
find my way from my apartment at Holmenkollen to the address I was given on
Friday, when we had a short meeting with Anne, who is part of Lent’s staff. She
also had drawn a map of Oslo for me in case my phone’s Internet connection
wouldn’t work (I had some problems with it when I arrived). I was also told to
“be ready for anything” (which later confirmed to be taking photos of a study) -
in the end I actually surprised myself by getting straight to the right place,
and even on time (actually almost half an hour early..), and the first task was
completed successfully!
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| First task - completed! |
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| Photo from the study |
After the first task we went to Lent’s office,
and had a “Monday meeting” which they have every week. All the people were so
nice, and I got the chance to meet those people who weren’t present on Friday
when I arrived. We also discussed with Eivind about my upcoming schedule, which
looked great – interesting cases, different situations and places, and lots to
do. And I could get even more tasks if these aren’t enough. I’m so going to
enjoy my stay here!
Rest of the week is partly blurry in my
memories because I had so much to do and so many places to be. At the same time
I was really trying to get to know the city, so that I wouldn’t get lost and
had to resort to Google Maps in every street corner - and as I came to notice,
even Google Maps can misguide you. I was totally lost for 1,5h on Wednesday
evening, when I was supposed to be having dinner at Eivind’s!
On Tuesday I was editing photos at the office,
and I had the first glimpse of the awesome lunch buffet they’re having here
every day – thanks to my research I wasn’t surprised that the lunch was served
cold, but the deliciousness of the food still strikes me every day. I always
eat with my eyes, and end up being so full for the rest of the day.
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| Absolutely amazing lunch buffet at Lent's office |
Wednesday and Friday went with filming stop
animations on white boards for Lent’s educational platform project. I was
teamed up with Daniel who did the drawings and I was in charge of filming and
afterwards editing – actually my first thought was that I’d suck at it, but in
the end it went kind of smoothly, and I had lots of fun!
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| Filming stop animations |
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| Close-up |
On Thursday I was taking photos at the Oslo
Kongressenter, where Lent was hired to facilitate Helsedirektoratet’s (The
Norwegian Directorate of Health) event where they discussed about how to engage
senior citizens better in society. I had lots to do with documenting all the
groups and speakers!
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| Lent's idea development method "Open space" in action |
To summarize, the first week was kind of hectic
to me, but absolutely rewarding. I was (and still am) amazed how great English
everybody is speaking here (including those elderly people in Kongressenter!),
and how helpful people are. I’ve also surprised myself by getting along not
only with English but also with Swedish too – and if you’d check out my notes,
there’d be even a bit of Norwegian and German too to be found! It’s so weird
that I can speak some sort of mixed English and Swedish (Swenglish?), and still
everybody gets me.
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| Such an idyllic metro station (T-Bane) at Besserud |
Second week, coming right up!
(Those of you who are interested more up-to-date information about my trip, why don't you check out my Twitter account here!)
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