On 30th July 2019, I left Ireland to embark on a new adventure – the next step towards better understanding the world we live in; through study, practical action, engagement, and experience.

So, why Norway?

Three words: One World Institute (OWI)

OWI operates a number of different programs ranging from 10-24 months.

I joined the first team of the newly created 10 month Development Volunteer program: Study (3 months), Project (6 months), Conclusion (1 month).

The study period combines reading, lessons, presentations, investigations, and experiences to prepare you, and your team for the project.

Our team consists of 4 people: Anne (Germany), Eliah (Yemen), Eoin (Ireland), and Lumi (Finland) – having a team with varied cultures, backgrounds, experiences, and viewpoints continues to trigger insightful discussions – which offers a unique opportunity for learning and understanding beyond reading a book or article.

The school is located in the mountains with little access to functioning Wifi or 4G – believe it or not, this is not intentional, there is an ongoing struggle to strengthen the signal.

But… to try and paint a picture of how sh*t the connection is, let’s start here: To watch a movie – since Netflix refuses to co-operate – you must drive 40mins down to the nearest train station, download your movie, and drive back up.

Oh, and YouTube might as well be non-existent.

Good preparation for Zambia they say…

Long story short, this is not the place to keep up your Snapchat streaks! 

But I suppose if that’s your main priority, I don’t think you’ve thought long and hard enough about what you’re getting yourself in to \_(ツ)_/

On a positive note, you literally have no choice but to spend a lot of time getting to know your team (and other teams!) – it’s amazing how many people you can talk to when you take your head out of your phone!

However, the important task is making sure they understand what you’re saying…

Note to self as an Irish person living abroad:

• Don’t speak so fast – slow down!
• Pronounce your words fully
• Nanny refers to a ‘childminder’ in most countries outside of Ireland… so be careful when you say things like – ‘I like to spend time with my nanny and bring her on dates’
• Clearly explain what ‘the craic’ means, along with all other variations of the use of the word ‘craic’ (good craic, any craic etc.)
• Finally, continue to clarify until your lungs are on fire that we ARE an independent country and NO we did not contribute to the disaster that is Brexit.

Moving on…

When you join the school – regardless of your program – you join a community.

We all work collectively to contribute and maintain our living space i.e. cooking meals, cleaning dishes, taking out the bins, check the cars for oil etc. – we are all equally accountable so if you don’t play your part, you don’t just let down your team, you let down the community.

I rate cooking the meals as the most important task on any given day… nobody wants to deal with Hangry people.

As my culinary skills don’t stretch beyond a good omelette, I gladly step aside for the true heroes to take centre stage; and I proudly clean the dishes!

However, I did pull it out of the bag one particular weekend when I baked 8 loaves of bread – it wasn’t quite the feeding of 5000, but, it pleased the people… at least for a week.

And yes, they did taste as good as that view (below):