On the 3rd of February six Transition Year students from Borrisokane Community College, accompanied by two teachers, set off on a trip to Otta, Norway.
The students were travelling as a part of the Erasmus+ project which is run and funded by the European. Union. This project gives second level students the opportunity to travel to a different county within the E.U and experience their customs and values. The program commenced in the school in 2016 and is currently due to finish in 2020.
As part of Erasmus+ each school participating in the project holds a ‘Host Week’. This involves each student being matched up with a fellow student from one of the other participating partner schools and putting them up in their home for the week. Borrisokane’s four partner schools are from Germany, Norway, Lithuania and Spain. Borrisokane held the first host week in early November. This was a positive for Irish students as it gave them an opportunity to get to know their partner before the return trip.
The six Irish students flew into Oslo on the Sunday evening and were met by temperatures of -16°C. They were soon reunited with their partners from the Irish host week outside the airport and they then began their 3-hour bus trip north to the town of Otta in the Oppland region.
Having settled in to their host houses for the week each student arrived on Monday morning at the partner school, Otta Umgdomsskole, and began their week.
The aim of this Erasmus+ project is for each school to create a Utopian & Dystopian storyline and to develop it throughout the course of this two-year project. These storylines are best/worst case scenarios for the human race respectively. On Monday morning each county presented their current storylines to the group and each student gained an understanding of the themes of the trip.
During the week the students took part in a series of activities that were oriented around the themes of the project. On Monday the students travelled to a local museum and were given an informative talk about the effects of climate change in the locality. Over the last number of years researchers had found a variety of artifacts in the area that dated back to the bronze age. Although this is positive and allows us to gain an insight into the past it is, sadly, a direct repercussion of climate change. The artifacts had been preserved in glaciers for thousands of years and only in recent years have they been accessible due to these glaciers melting as a result of the rising heat. This talk was linked back to the dystopian theme.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the students took part in workshops within the school. There were four workshops split over the two days. The workshops included a creative writing session, a genetics demonstration, a sustainable transport workshop and a cookery class. However, the cookery class was of note as each student prepared a traditional Norwegian dish, the reindeer stew! This gave the students another opportunity to experience Norwegian culture.
On Thursday the students took part in what was, for many, the highlight of the trip, sledding. This involved getting a bus into the mountains of Otta and sledding down ski slopes. It was brilliant for the students to experience this activity that, evidently, came as second nature to many of the locals.
A variety of extracurricular events were held for the students in the evenings after school such as an indoor soccer tournament and visits to each other’s host houses.
On Thursday afternoon the six students departed Otta train station to catch their flight from Oslo the following morning. For some it was an emotional goodbye as during the two weeks, both in Ireland and Norway, each student had really got to know each other and formed what will hopefully be long-standing friendships.
The trip was an incredible opportunity for all involved and is an experience that the six students will certainly not forget about in the near future.
A special word of thanks to Ms. Ryan and Ms. Hogan for travelling with and looking after the six students. Another word of thanks must go to Ms. Linehan and Ms. Morgan for their organization of the trip and their continued work towards the project in class.
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