Sarah Yates
Bachelor of Engineering (Medical)
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim (S2, 2018)
*Results are not guaranteed as I literally have no idea how to speak Norwegian. Sorry.
- Silently mutter the Norwegian words for things as you try and pack everything you own in to your car. When this doesn’t work (the muttering, although the whole car thing is a bit irritating too) spend a few hours watching Norwegian TV (with Norwegian subtitles on!) and get really excited when you understand the word for welcome (Hint: it’s velkommen).
- Attempt a conversation in Norwegian over text with an exchange student from France, before realising that they do not, in fact, speak Norwegian.
- Book a train ticket entirely in Norwegian! This is a great idea but honestly I’m not entirely sure … when … the train … is leaving …. yep.
Moving on from my “guide”, it’s almost exactly one month until I fly out to Norway! I’m unbelievably excited (and unbelievably scared) but mainly I’m just thinking about whether or not I can get a jar of vegemite through customs. I’ll keep you updated on that one.
At the moment my life seems to be a hectic mix of packing and admin. You would not believe that amount of forms and applications I have done in the last few weeks. Most of them actually are half written in Norwegian, which makes it exciting. Very difficult to tell the difference between a housing application and a cancellation form when one is a leieavtale and the other an angrerettssjema. Fun times all round.
It’s almost impossible to decide what I need to bring and what I should leave behind. My climbing and hiking gear are going to take up about 95.55% of my bag so I’m probably going to have room for a single pair of jeans and maybe a jumper, if I’m lucky. Hey, priorities.

Getting very, very excited to see this view ^ in 32 days! And no, I’m not counting. For real though, if you actually want to learn a bit of Norwegian my uni in Trondheim (NTNU) has made a handy little site which you can find here. Or you can just use my fantastic guide, which is really some quality stuff.
Cool. I’m going to continue finding new ways to procrastinate actually packing.
Ha det!