Norwegian School: Fall Edition

September 24, 2017

Norwegian School: Fall Edition

I've now been in school for five weeks and with only one week left until our week-long fall break, I thought it was an appropriate time to talk a little more about what I've experienced so far in the realm of school. I thought it might also be interesting to do another post about school in winter or spring or both to see if my views and observations have changed. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos and read a lot of blogs by exchange students and whenever they talk about their experiences with school or family life or food in the country they're staying in, it seems as though the comment section is overflowing with people telling them how wrong they are. So with that in mind, I am going to preface this by saying that these are my experiences at the school I go to in the city I live in. My school is known for having a certain "type" of student and for that reason among many others, my experiences are likely very different from all other exchange students' and other Norwegian teens'.

I'm going to start with some of the biggest differences between Norwegian and American high school that I've noticed so far.

Instead of the students going from classroom to classroom like in the US, here the teachers come to us, most often in our class's classroom. While it's nice to not have to worry about getting lost trying to find new classrooms, I do like the ability for American teachers to customize their classrooms with posters and such.
School does not start and end at the same time every day. I have the luxury of not having to be at school until 10 am some days, and I can end anywhere from 2:05 pm to 3:50 pm throughout a week. My schedule is the same each week, but not each day like I have at my school in the US.
The homework load is way, way lighter. Back home I can have anywhere from an hour and a half to three hours of homework a night, but here it's more like an hour at the very maximum. That being said, this means that grades on tests or big assignments mean more and therefore while I might not have a lot of assigned homework, it's my responsibility to find time outside of school to prepare for a test or write a paper. Again: this may just be my school and/or because it's the beginning of the year.
I'm pretty sure this is not true at all schools, but at Katta, the students are really interested in learning. It's not that that isn't the case at my school in the US, but even when taking honors classes, I feel that only half of the class really cares about what we're learning. Here we don't have different levels of classes but regardless, almost everyone is interested in the topics or at least willing to participate in class.
This one is actually not true at Katta but I think it's important to include because it's true at pretty much every other Norwegian school, or so I've heard. Norwegian schools typically do not have any sports teams or clubs within the school. While we don't really have sports teams at Katta, we do have various sports tournaments (Quidditch, anyone?) and lots of clubs.
Here you call your teachers by their first name. This one was a little weird to me at first, especially because I grew up calling even close family friends Mr. or Mrs. and their last name. Despite calling them a much more "informal" title here, I find that the relationship between teachers and students is relatively similar, maybe a little friendlier. I should mention though that I'm used to having good relationships with my teachers back in the US so to other Americans the relationship might seem weirdly friendly.
Math and science are general classes, with math encompassing some algebra, some geometry, and some probability in the same class. Science includes some biology, some ecology, some chemistry, and some physics. I'm pretty sure that is just first year and then you can choose to take a biology class or a chemistry class, etc. based on your interests.
I've now been on a couple field trip-ish things and the amount of trust the teachers have in us is through the roof compared to in the US. No sitting in busses here, we're given a time and place to meet and it's up to us to take the t-bane or a bus there. It's nice to be treated so much like an adult. I'm finding that's common here: teenagers have a lot of freedom and, of course, with that comes responsibility but we really are treated like adults in many ways!

Now I'll give some examples of things that are similar in schools in both Norway and the US:

The way material is taught is pretty much the same in my experience. It is common for teachers to use a PowerPoint or write notes on the chalkboard, but some classes are more discussion-based. The mix of styles is pretty similar to my experience with American high school.
The actual classes I'm taking are pretty standard. Since I'm in the first year, I don't have much choice in which classes I take whereas second- and third-years can choose a little more and pick a sort of "path" which is different from American schools. But my experience at least is relatively similar. I'm taking Norwegian, math, science, social studies, English, geography, French, and gym this year!
We also have a midday break for lunch when kids eat in the cafeteria or a classroom, go to club meetings, or hang out with friends. We are allowed to leave the school so sometimes I'll go with friends to one of the three grocery stores within a block from the school to get food, although I usually bring my lunch which is common. You can buy food at Katta (I think that's pretty unique to my school) but lots of kids bring lunch. Usually it's an open-faced sandwich with cheese or meat or veggies.

I really wanted to talk about school this week but I also had a pretty crazy week so here are a few highlights! Tuesday I ate typical Norwegian tacos (I know all Norwegians are cringing because it wasn't Friday but it'll all be okay) at my senior contact person's house which was super fun! I learned a new card game too that I really liked which will probably surprise my parents :) Wednesday I went to Norwegian singer Ane Brun's concert! She was backed by a full orchestra which was absolutely amazing. Thursday we watched Anne (my host mom) get the diploma for her doctorate degree she finished a few months ago. It was a beautiful ceremony and a good test of my Norwegian ;) Yesterday with went to a flea market, something very common in Norway in the fall and spring, then afterwards took a little hike to a place in the woods where we made pancakes. So Norwegian! Today is Espen's (my host dad) birthday so we had a little birthday lunch at the cabin with brownies!

Happy fall everyone!

Word of the post:

høst = fall/autumn

I took advantage of one of my classes getting out 10 minutes early to take some pictures of my school but I was a little rushed so the quality is not the best :(