Hiii we made it here in one piece!!

it was quite the journey here,

SUNDAY DAY 1: Beginning with my first plane ride that i can remember. it was a lot of fun and i very much enjoyed it!! my favourite bit of the flight was seeing the beautiful sunset from above the clouds!!

we then went to the moxy hotel which was brilliant! such beautiful design!!

MONDAY DAY 2: we all woke up, had our breakfast, then left to catch our flight to Bergen. it was a beautiful sunny day in Aberdeen. the flight was stunning!!! with amazing views of land and the sea. the landing wasn’t so pleasent due to high pressure and me having horrible earache due to issues i had when i was little. once we had landed it was fine i was able to relax on the bus and train all while being mesmerised at the stunning views in Norway!! the pure beauty of this country is just amazing!! ❤ Later on we just got settled in! we went to Peppe’s pizza for dinner at night! it was sooooo tasty!! I had the Meat Feast Pizza! so good!! we then all had an early night as we were all exhausted and ready for our beds.

TUESDAY DAY 3: we went out and had a tour of our work placements to familiarise us with the schools we would be working in. After we had finished our tours we went for a walk around the lake in Voss and into the forest then went shopping for stuff for tea that night. dinner was prepared by Ariya, we had spicy noodles with this fiery asian hot sauce stuff that will burn your mouth!! Funniest part of it was that before Jack had even tried the sauce he clerted it all over his dinner and couldn’t finish it because it was too hot!! we all laughed at him!! Gavin was right in there eating the sauce and sweating it out though! After all that i made my mint green tea and went to bed.

WEDNESDAY DAY 4: we were picked up at 10;30am by Monica and taken on a bus tour to the second longest Fjord in the world (i don’t remember the name) it was an absolutely stunning fjord, i love every minute of being there! we then had our lunch on the bus and Monica drove us to a ski resort where there was meters of SNOW!! waiting for us!! it was a rare sight for us Shetlander guys!! Wednesday was amazing!! Dionne made her famous and very tasty stir fry. It was exquisit!!

THURSDAY DAY 5: we got on the bus at 7:45am as planned for going to our work placements, when we arrived we were all individually shown to our work stations and me and Ariya got our office! we were very happy with our little office and we were eager to get to work. Helge showed me my work laptop and had to rush away but sadly the laptop crashed every time i tried to edit a video. I ended up helping Ariya with research. Later that day we got a message from Jack who had his placement at Voss Gymnas that they were closing for 2 weeks. about 10mins after the message there was an announcement over the PA at Voss VGS (the school me, Ariya, Dionne and Davina were at) it was all in Norwegian so we didn’t understand it and me and Ariya gave each other a confused look when we heard cheering from the students. Until Trond walked through and told us about the school closures that were happening throughout Voss. I remember in that moment thinking “oh crap, are we gonna have to go home?” so i asked Trond and he had no idea so we went and had lunch and finished our day. At the end of the day Trond explained that he would meet us at the dorm after a video conference with Lewie and Leanne but he did say that it was likely we would leave on Monday or Tuesday. We got the bus to the dorm but ended up stopping at the tourist information centre to find out what activities we could still do before the Monday. we found out that all was uncertain so we used that time to get gifts for home. we then got shopping for dinner and stuff like that. when we got back to the dorm I received an email confirming the trip would be cut short but no confirmed leaving times were stated. Trond came later that night and told us about all the stuff Leanne said in the email. we all felt vexed with the news!! me and Davina cooked dinner that night, we had fried pork and veg with noodles (i totally didn’t forget to turn the hob on ;p) it was a good dinner that night! I ended my night with video calls home and a mini Netflix binge!

FRIDAY DAY 6: I woke up at 10:30am with Dionne thumping my door to tell us we might be traveling on the Saturday to Aberdeen!! I was shocked so we planned to do the cable cars so we could at least fit in one activity before we left but while I was having breakfast at 11:10am Dionne got a phone call from Leanne telling us we have to get the had to get the 12:36pm train to Bergen for our flight that evening!!!!!!! SAYYY WHHATTTTT??!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Dionne gave me a look as if to say go pack now!! I had only just unpacked all my things 2 days prior so i had already made myself ready for that room to be mine for a month but we suddenly only had and hour and a half to pack everything and run!! I have to say that was one of the most stressful hours I have ever been through!! Never the less we made it to the Bergen airport In one piece!! we checked, went through customs and finally we got a long awaited/needed Starbucks!! We then grabbed some stuff from departures and got on our flight and soon enough we were back at the Moxy! we went to our rooms and showered before ordering ourselves a KFC via Just Eat. when we all had our food we went to Dionne’s room and had a movie night. After the movie finished we all went to bed in preparation of our Red Eye flight the next morning.

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SATURDAY DAY 7: Today I woke up with some slight time zone confusion and I was up an hour earlier than needed (4am instead of 5am) It was quite amusing! We checked into the airport about 6:12am and we boarded at 6:30am arriving in Sumburgh about 8am and got my luggage. I had breakfast at Skipidock with mam and dad and spent the whole day trying to process the last 24 hours up till now as i write this!

Make sure to check out my latest video on my channel aswell!!!

Thank You for Reading!

-Sean Stephen McCormack

Sadly due to the virus Covid- 19 our journey in Norway was cut short, we have enjoyed Norway though and I personally plan to go back and visit. I am very thank full for this journey and we have enjoyed it, even though it has been short. I understand that this is for our safety, Personally my highlights for Norway have been meeting the students and getting to know them, exploring Norway especially the fjords and most of all the kindness I felt from everyone that I met. My hope is to be able to go to Voss again for a longer trip and hopefully do the Norway in a nutshell tour as well as other things.

When I was in Norway I was working in a school , the particular department was for kid’s who needed a bit of extra help. There were two classes working life and everyday life.

My first day working in a Norwegian school was quite exciting, the school is near the mountains so it is quite beautiful but it can be a bit chilly, I was a bit nervous to be working but everyone was so welcoming, I loved how they spoke to each person individually, they greeted you as a person not as a group they wanted to know each of us individually, they also tried their best with English and we tried our best to help too!. In the department where I was working morning was about preparation, they would have a meeting about what was going to happen during that day, it felt quite cosy sitting together as a group, they made sure that we never felt left out. Offering us coffee and starting a conversation. When I met the students I introduced myself and one of the students was actually fluent in English, they were so helpful and translated the rest of the lesson for me!, they were all interested in why I was there and wanted me to get involved in all that they were doing, they even showed me around and we had fun, laughed and joked, I really felt I had a lot of fun. What the students were learning was also very practical, life skills that they would need, for example, living in a flat. One of my favourite things we did was cooking! we made an Omelette’s with salad for our lunch and I learned two new Norwegian words Matt, which means food and Salat which means salad. I found that through the whole day as we did different activities I picked up more of the language, the students were also eager to teach me which made it a lot easier.

To anyone, who is planning to go to Norway I would definitely recommend it. The school that we are at was awarded as one of the best schools in Europe, they had facilities that accommodated all types of learning. The first day we saw the school, some of the students were going out for a breaking the ice session, they go to a frozen lake and the ice is broken under them, they are then graded on how they react. For construction students, they have contracts with local builders and the community can request them to build , for example, a cabin giving them realistic practice. They also bring in actual car’s into the school garage for the students studying to be mechanics to practice on

We visited the fjords today!

It was really beautiful, the particular fjord we visited the Gudvagan is connected to the 2nd largest fjord in the world!. We had an awesome photoshoot by the lake and also learned about how during the winter season the avalanches block the roads of the farmers and families staying on the other side of the fjord but how it has become a part of their lives and they are more prepared for it. It was interesting to see how much nature had been preserved I also loved how you were not allowed to fish near the fjord keeping all the fish there safe!

We also went to a ski resort Myrkdalen Fjellandsby the snow was so deep, we were told that one year the snow on the cabins was so heavy and so much that some of the roof’s caved in and they even had to get trucks to lift the snow becuase there was too much. We had a mini snowball fight as well!

Today, we visited Gudvagan Fjord which is a viking village, and it also had spectacular views.

We also visited Ski resort called “Myrkdalen Fjellandsby” which has a range of wide slopes for all ages.

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The first few days in Voss have been amazing. It feels like a home from home, everyone in the accommodation is very friendly and keen to talk to us. This past few days have been very busy going around getting tours of different parts of Voss: tours of both schools and a day trip to the Fjords and one the most popular skiing resorts.

Hello! , This is my 2nd full day in Norway and I have to say that it is beautiful, it is very scenic with huge mountains, clear skies and the little shops around the corners, one of my favourite parts of the trip so far has been the schools, they have amazing architecture but even the way they do things in the school like for example, having actual old car’s for mechanics to fix. One main thing that I have realised in Norway, more specifically Voss has its issues like for example that fish is depleting due to disease and fish farms. It is so interesting to take in the culture and recognise the things that reach their heart and what they are passionate about.

In terms of living in the dorm, I have found it to be very accommodating, it has had most of what we have required as a group and even for me personally, the bed is very comfy! and as a group, we even got our own fridge which has been very helpful when we have done the shopping. The people in the dorm are also very kind and it is a secure building, we all have keys to our own rooms. There is quite an interesting mix of people in the dorm because not everybody is from Voss, but from different parts of Norway, we have had a chance as a group to speak to some of the students and they have been really nice. The dorm is also close to the town centre so we have been able to take lovely walks over there!, I am looking forward to learning and seeing more.
Ha da bra, for now!

Davina.