STUDY TOUR OSLO NORWAY

Our hotel in Oslo

Our Study Tour destination was Oslo, Norway. We stayed there for four days and had three different company visits.

I had never been to Norway before which is why I was excited to go there. Norway´s prices got me off guard. I was aware that Norway is an expensive country, but still, I couldn´t believe the prices. For the first time in my life, I was in a country that was more expensive than Finland.

If you want to read more about my learnings through the Study Tour course you can find that blog post here.

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DAY 1 SIGHTSEEING & DINNER WITH CLASSMATES

Right before our flight me and my classmate got a message from our Project Manager that one of our classmates was unable to come to the trip. So, we started to send messages all around and figure out what we should do. After a short sleep, we started our journey to the airport at 4 am. Our flight was at 7.30 in the morning.

We all arrived at the airport on time and checked in. The flight was pleasant, never had so smooth a flight. We arrived in Oslo in time and traveled from the airport by train to the central railway station. Oslo got the first snow the day we arrived, so everything was covered in snow. After arriving at the Central Station, we went to our hotel which was Citybox Oslo, and we were pleasantly surprised that we could already check in to our rooms.

On our first day, we didn't have company visits or planned activities except for the evening dinner with our classmates at TGI Fridays. So, we just walked around in the center. We went to Los Tacos where I ate the best burrito in my life. ​My friend told me about this Japanese store that is close by, so of course, I had to go there. I found many candies and other stuff that I missed from Japan. The best thing we found on this trip was this statue of three chickens. One of us names it "kanadramatiikkaa" which is translated in English as chicken dramatic.

So in the evening, we all gathered in TGI Fridays for our dinner. The food was good, but we were all seated quite separately, and I felt quite outside from everyone.

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DAY 2 OSLO OPERA HOUSE

On our second day, we visited Oslo Guidebureau, a small tourism office in Oslo. They told us about their company's history, what they do there, and about Oslo´s tourism industry. It was very nice to be able to visit them.

After the visit, we had a couple of hours of our own time before our second company visit, so we decided to visit the Oslo Opera House. We climbed up to the roof and took some pictures.

Our second company visit was to Clarion Bastion. ​Our host Lukas Larsson, the Regional Sales Manager, told us about Nordic Choice Hotels and their plans. We also talked about his history in the company and how he started to work there.

The hotel was very cozy and welcoming. We also had a chance to see a couple of their rooms.

After a long day, we decided to eat in an Indian restaurant, and it was my first time trying Indian food. It was delicious!

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DAY 3 VISIT OSLO, GRAND HOTEL SCANDIC & MUSEUMS

On our third day, we had an interview with Oslo Visitor Center for our Nordiska Studier report. We interviewed one of the workers in the Oslo Visitor Center and asked questions about Oslo, what kind of questions they get, and where should we go in Oslo.

And our last company visit was to the Grand Hotel Oslo Scandic. It was one of the most beautiful hotels that I have ever seen. Our hostess told us about the Grand Hotel and what kind of things they offer there. She also told us about her history and how she came here to work.

After that, we decided to visit the National Gallery where you could see the famous painting Scream, of course, we had to take a cheesy tourist photo with it. After that we hurried to the Museum of Cultural History, which was closing in one hour, so we ran up and down the museum and saw all the exhibitions they had there. The most interesting ones were the Ancient Egypt and East Asia exhibitions. Unfortunately, the Viking Exhibition was closed so we couldn´t see anything about Vikings... There were also changing exhibitions of modern art.

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DAY 4 LAST DAY IN OSLO

On our last day, we didn´t have any time to do anything so we only checked out from the hotel and started our way back to the airport.

The flight back to Finland was one of the worst flights that I have been in. First, it felt like the pilot didn´t get the plain up and we had a lot of turbulence. When we landed the pilot was going down way too fast. When we stopped, and I got outside I felt like kissing the ground.

While waiting for our baggage some of my classmates saw a famous rapper and wanted to take pictures with him. I didn´t have any idea who that person was... Haha!

But the trip went well and I´m happy that we had this opportunity to visit Oslo. Next time I visit Norway I would love to see the fjords.