Louisa’s IYFE trip to Norway:
I was fortunate enough to be selected for an IYFE trip to Norway this summer, setting set off on the 23rd of June. It was organised that I would stay with two families over the four weeks of my trip, both in the Hordalandcounty in West Norway.
Everything was going to plan as I departed from Edinburgh airport en route to Amsterdam. However panic set in after I found out that my flight arrived into Amsterdam late, leaving just enough time for me to manage to reach my connecting flight to Bergen, Norway. Nevertheless, I arrived in Bergen and was warmly greeted by my host mother, Astrid. She was extremely welcoming and we got to know each other well on our hour and a half trip back from the airport toØystese, where I would be staying for the next two weeks. My first host family stayed in a lovely wooden house, elevated into the mountainside above the Hardangerfjord. I stayed with Astrid, and her husband Terje, and their three children Aine, Erik and Elane, aged six, four and one, respectively. Throughout my stay I got to know the children- although I couldn’t speak to them, we found ways of communicating- so it was my host mother I spent the most time with. She was an English teacher at a local secondary school and therefore there was noissues regarding the language barrier.
My host mother showed me around their area, giving me a thorough feel for the Norwegian culture. One of the first outings was to Bergen, the main city in Hordaland. In its day, it would have relied heavily on its fishing trade, although considerably less now, fishing markets still occur by the harbour (which we visited), although probably to entertain the huge amounts of tourists that arrive on enormous cruise ships each day. Bergen also has a funicular railway up its mountainside that we used, allowing us to see a great expanse of Bergen and beyond, which I have illustrated.
Another highlight of my exchange was visiting a glacier, which, on a clear day, I could see from my host parent’s house. We took the ferry across the fjord and climbed up the mountainside onto the glacier where people, from all-over, came to ski in the summer months. I never thought I would be able to experience this on my trip, and was definitely worth the journey.
Although my host family did not live on a farm, my host mother was brought up on a farm, so we travelled to the next village to her fathers farm. This 18 acre sheep farm astounded me as to how you could make a comfortable living of such a small acreage. While I was there, the sheep were up in theirsummer pasture, allowing hay to be made on the lower lands. The process of hay making was labour intensive when compared to the mechanised hay making processes in Scotland. After having coffee with homemade waffles, jam and crème fresh (an apparent popular Norwegian treat) we headed home.
I did many more other things with my first host family including traditional bread making, gardening, shopping, visiting art galleries and beaches however these three events were most memorable. I thoroughly enjoyed staying with this host family, however my time came to an end and I was passed over to my second host family who lived North of Bergen in a place called Seim.
Similarly, again, my second host family also lived in the countryside, nestled into the hillside looking down at the fjord. My host mother, Karen who works for 4H, and her husband Xerier, who worked in animation, warmly greeted me. They both had older children themselves who lived in Bergen, which we visited.
I thoroughly enjoyed my stay with this family and gained some new experiences on the way. The first week consisted of riding Karen’s horses and fishing in the fjord, where I caught my first fish, which we had for dinner the following night! It was interesting to hear of Karen’s differing views of her styles of riding, and I certainly got to see the country in more detail through the trek’s that she kindly took me on.
One experience that I will never forget is the time that my host parents told me that we were going to a Viking festival, and had to live, dress and act like Vikings for three days. After our five hour car journey, and a few complications with the electric car that we were driving, we reached the festival at 1am and set up our Viking tent in the pouring rain. After a not so pleasant start to the trip, the festival was certainly an eye opener! It was a small festival with around 40 tents of Vikings, of which people would bring their homemade arts and crafts to sell for the tourists that arrived on their buses. There was never a dull moment at the festival, as I found out there were a lot of English people who tour Norwegian festivals in the summer to sell their crafts. After this, we visited some friends and then made our way back to Seim, where in a few days I would be back in Scotland.
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Norway, and grasped every experience that was thrown at me. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I enjoyed it nonetheless and would like to take this time to say thank you to my two host families, but also to the YFA and Scottish Association of Young Farmers Clubs for helping to fund my trip.