One of my favorite parts of sharing this upcoming journey with friends, family, and colleagues has been the countless pieces of advice offered up in conversation. It is interesting because these goals really tell me a lot about what the advice-giver values in life and what they wish for me as well. Things like “travel as much as possible”, “make your new city feel like home”, and “actually try to learn the language” have all been spoken countless times at this point but one thing is for sure, these tips have made me really reflect on what I hope to gain from this time abroad.
Setting goals helps me feel more grounded when heading into a new experience, phase of life, or adventure. Over the course of the upcoming months, I know that I will write this list out in my personal journals and on paper as a poster in my room which can help keep me focused through tough days.
Here are the goals I hope to achieve while in Oslo!
Cook the Norwegian way🔪
Learn basic conversation in Bokmål
Make friends who are Norwegian🤸
Make friends who are international students
Travel to a new country at least twice a month (Italy, Spain, Germany, UK, Croatia, Poland, Finland, Sweden, Greece, Portugal)✈️
Travel to a new Norwegian city at least twice a month (day trips!)🚟
Visit the Fjords
Swim in the ocean 🚢
Try a sauna on the beach
Adopt some European clothing trends👖
Learn to pack quickly and lightly
Savor little moments in a new place
Send hand written letters home 💌
Be a strong student (but don’t stress about school)
Feel like a local in Oslo
Visit the Nobel Peace Prize Museum
Learn how to use train and bus systems (or really just gain any general sense of direction) 🚂
Say yes to as many unique opportunities as possible!
Post-application pose! Strapped up backpack because it was holding literally ALL of my valuable items!
While a student visa looks quite simple, really just a piece of paper, it can take a few weeks or even months to obtain! A student visa allows a current or prospective student to stay in a country for 90+ days safely.
Here is a run down of what it took for me to get my student Visa.
Overall the online application process has been quick and painless…quite the relief! Honestly that hardest part was just being patient and waiting for my Norwegian university to send me my letter of acceptance. I am naturally a huge planner so being forced to wait for months on end was quite the challenge for me!
Once officially receiving my acceptance letter to BI Norwegian Business School, I was able to go online and submit my personal information onto The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration’s website. The main reason why I had to wait to officially be enrolled to get my Visa was that I needed a student ID number and an official Norwegian mailing address.
Here’s a crazy fact…it costs over $600 to get a Visa!
Despite the fact that I pay thousands each year for a college degree (a piece of paper), I was still a bit shocked to know how much it cost to document myself in Norway.
The most intriguing part of the application process was the trip to the Norwegian Visa Application Center in Chicago. I have heard so many stories about how the Foreign officials can be intimidating but luckily my trip went pretty smoothly!
The drive to Chicago is around 3 hours from my hometown so my mom and I decided to make it a girls trip. I am very grateful for her ability and willingness to take time to accompany me to the city.
We arrived an hour prior to my scheduled appointment to be sure we could find the consulate and get snacks (iced vanilla lattes and Garett’s popcorn).
When the time came to arrive at the consulate, my mom and I went up to the 17th floor as instructed but she was quickly told she needed to leave the building and wait for me to complete my application solo.
This is the part where I felt really bad for her because I ended up waiting for my appointment for TWO HOURS!
This was one of those times where I was extremely grateful that I have a book on me at all times because I wasn’t allowed to have my phone out and passing time without a book would have truly been painful! (Luckily the chairs in the consulate also looked like knock offs of Herman Miller’s so I killed a bit of time trying to remember the name of the products).
It was intriguing seeing all of the different people inside of the consulate…honestly I thought more might be blonde with blue eyes (Okay maybe that is a little stereotypical) but there was quite a mix. Lots of couples with babies and an older gentleman with a large briefcase who seemed to be helping a young boy through an application.
When it came time for my appointment, it took less than 10 minutes. The “interview” that I had been prepping myself for was completely nonexistent. The only thing that required my presence was that I needed to retake my visa photo. I was honestly impressed because the photographer seemed to have a great eye for detail and kept asking me to move my head 2 or 3 millimeters in specific directions and knew right away if I over or under compensated.
So after waiting two hours and then turning in my paperwork for 10 minutes (tops) I was told I could pay and leave. $675 later, I am patiently waiting for my passport to be mailed back to me with a fresh new student visa inside.
While the visa application process was a bit boring and extremely expensive, it was not the least bit stressful for which I am very grateful!
It is a bit mind-blowing to thing that acquiring my visa was the last big thing I needed to do before booking a flight and heading straight to Norway this fall!
I am relieved knowing the majority of the work is behind me so now I can enjoy my summer internship and appreciate the people around me!
The biggest virtue I practiced while applying for my student visa was definitely PATIENCE. From waiting for my BI Norwegian Business School acceptance letter to literally waiting 2 hours to sign my visa application, I was constantly reminded that good things come to those who wait and despite not seeing the end result right now, I know I will be glad I took time to wait for this awesome trip to happen!
When I tell people I am studying abroad, I am often met with wide eyes and smiles filled with pride. When I tell them I am traveling to Oslo, Norway, I am met with raised eyebrows and a now familiar phrase, “oh, Norway…that’s an interesting choice”.
It is hard to express all of the great reasons to pick Norway in a brief interaction which is why I am sitting down to expand upon that very question,”Why Norway?”
While some of the reasons for choosing this icy Scandinavian country are personal, there are many reasons why I am excited to explore this new city on the sea!
Academics
I decided to switch my major a little late in the game and will be a 5-year university student. This means that while I could finally study abroad for a full semester, I needed to find a program that was comparable with my curriculum back home. BI Norwegian Business School (BI) offers nearly 10 courses that all fit in seamlessly with the WMU Business and Marketing requirements. This was seriously a dream since many students chose a study abroad program and have to hope that they will be able to transfer those credits back to their degree.
BI is also a very forward-thinking university. In the past year, the school has hosted conferences and open discussions focused around the ideas of equal-pay and female leadership, both of which I am committed to pursuing.
Nature
Here’s a fun fact, just 25 minutes outside of Oslo’s downtown center lies the Oslo Forest…you read that right, Oslo is a city with its own forest! How cool is that?!? On top of that, Norway is known to be one of the most beautiful countries in the world! While the country is a bit small in population, it runs very far north and is home to fjords, mountains, and even the northern lights! You can bet I plan to take a few hiking trips while abroad!
City Life!!
I have never truly lived in a big city, especially on my own. Growing up in a town just shy of 4,000 people and then moving to a city of 75,000 makes Oslo (635,000+) seem like a country in itself! So many beautiful movies show the dreamy life their characters live while exploring shops and eating out in their new-found cities and I am very ready to try that life out for myself.
Hygge
Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word that I found a few years back while scrolling through Pinterest. Yes, I am totally the kind of girl who would pick a city based on a cool word but once you learn what it means, you certainly won’t blame me!
Hygge (noun : HUE-GUH) the Danish art of creating joy & coziness in life’s everyday moments, whatever the season or time of day; creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people; ritual of enjoying life’s simple pleasures.
I fully understand that being in a city so far north in the winter, I will experience less daytime than other parts of the world but I take comfort in knowing that this culture is one that helps itself cope by spending their time wrapped in the comfort of good company and mentality.
I am currently writing this in a cozy coffee shop filled with photos of flowers and boy oh boy just thinking about snuggling into a Norwegian coffee shop with a pastry has me beaming! I am definitely ready to bring some hygge into my life.
Family
While there are many more reasons I could list behind my choice to live in Oslo, there is one small thing that makes moving half-way across the world a bit more easy…my Swedish sister!
Our family has hosted exchange students for over 4 years now and there is no doubt in my mind each girl who has lived in our home has become family! Hilda is no exception!
I have visited Sweden once before during the summer of 2017 and I have never stopped dreaming of my return. Knowing I will only be a train ride away from Sweden and one of my favorite people on the planet certainly made the city of Oslo the ideal choice for me!
Today was another check on my study abroad to-do list, study abroad orientation. Despite traveling on a short-term trip once before, I have never actually attended study abroad orientation but it certainly gave me all of the butterflies and excitement that I have needed!
While orientations can often be dry and filled with senseless information, this was a fun way for students to get to see first hand how many others will be embarking on a similar journey in the coming year. In the two hours I sat through orientation, I met students who will soon be located on nearly every continent!
One thing that really surprised me was the lack of nerves I seemed to have compared to the other students. Now don’t get me wrong, I have LOADS to be nervous about, but in that moment I realized that I was totally at an advantage.
1. I have traveled before, and internationally for that matter.
2. I am also comfortable introducing myself to complete strangers, something that I suspect will come in handy in the future.
3. I did not have any parents attending this event which to me shows that my parents trust in me and my ability to navigate new situations.
One of my favorite parts of orientation was a game we played while sitting at different tables. It was fairly similar to euchre in that it was fairly complex but luckily each table was given a set of paper instructions before we began. The first round we were able to openly speak with one another to clarify the rules and make sure we were playing correctly. After that there was no speaking allowed…at all! Honestly this was super hard because as we continued playing, and eventually switched tables with other students, we seemed to get more and more confused by the rules. It was only at the end we found out that each table had been given different rules to begin with.
This game totally fired me up! In all honesty, it has been a long time since my everyday ideas and motives have been challenged but this game totally gave me a flashback to my previous experiences abroad. I am super excited to be living in a country where I have to learn to play someone else’s game, and sometimes while navigating a different language altogether.
The second half of orientation included mini-sessions that students selected. I attended one session which gave a brief overview on the differences of academic systems in other countries. Some places like the Netherlands don’t even let you register (yes, register!) for your exams if you haven’t been reaching high enough grades over the semester. It sounds like Norway has a fairly similar system to the U.S. in that we can expect to have lots of group projects, essays, and large final exams.
The other session I attended was much more vague but opened up discussions about culture differences and how to navigate tricky situations. Honestly most of them seemed so specific to a particular situation that they weren’t very relatable but regardless I appreciated the sentiment.
Leaving orientation has be so ready to get immersed in new culture and ways of thinking! I can’t believe this dream of mine will someday become a reality but man am I ready!
Regardless of study abroad, there is always a season for scholarships. This year brought some unique challenges though because I felt a much greater obligation to seek out funding opportunities that probably would not be served up on the silver platter that is “WMUFinancialAid.com”.
Not gonna lie…from October to March, I always have scholarships looming in the back of my mind BUT I have reaped some of the benefits and so like the dutiful little achiever that I am, I will always pursue scholarships for the challenge and potential reward they hold. The way I see it, even if 5 hours of work only awards a $500 scholarship…you are still earning $100 per hour of your time, far better than working at Starbucks!
The point of this post is to HOPEFULLY give a bit of guidance to approaching scholarships so that your process can be as pain-free as possible!
Figure out where you are studying
Whether you plan to study abroad or not, THERE ARE FUNDS FOR YOU. I can’t say how much but there is certainly something. Once I knew I would be studying in Norway I googled any article with the words “scholarship”, “Norway”, and “college” because you never know who wants to help you reach your dreams!
2. Talk to Financial Aid
Now I understand that people who work all day without ever seeing the sun might initially seem like zombies but they can actually be super cool and helpful! I actually ended up sitting and chatting with my financial aid advisor for 30 minutes after our “general business” was cleared because she turned out to be a friendly and creative person and GUESS WHAT…when we really started to connect on a personal level, that is when I felt I could truly trust her with more personal financial situations. Once we had a deep conversation and found our commonalities, our funding conversation became much more constructive because she was able to suggest unique scholarships that were more likely to award people with my interests.
3. Reach out to your student, greek, and campus organizations
Lots of student organizations like The American Marketing Association, Lee Honors College, and Alpha Lambda Delta offer special scholarships to students who are pursuing a study abroad experience. Some organizations even open their national scholarship apps to students who simply have a chapter at their school, even if the student is not a due-paying member.
One example is Pi Kappa Phi. They allow students to apply for their scholarships as long as their school has a chapter. While it is more likely for an actual active member to receive the scholarship, it is always worth the 5 minutes it takes to submit an application…YOU NEVER KNOW what might come out of it.
4. Use faculty as your resources
It is important to remember that scholarships have been around for DECADES and there is a great chance someone on your campus will have a nugget or two of wisdom that could help you in your search. It may seem a bit daunting to reach out cold to high-level student or professor that you have never met, but in my experience it never hurts to ask. If you are too nervous to make the initial introduction, you can always ask a fellow student or current professor if they can help introduce you and the rest will be history!
When applying for the Gilman Scholarship, a highly competitive national award, I was emailed by an advisor in the study abroad office offering his guidance if I wanted it. This was a no-brainer to me and we set up an appointment for the following week. It turns out that this advisor had a 49% success rate with a scholarship that normally only awards 20% of applications. His experience helped me understand what the scholarship committee normally seemed to be looking for and he was able to catch little mistakes that otherwise would have gone unnoticed.
5. Keep ALL of your essays and application resources
More often than not, scholarship applications will look EXTREMELY similar. One easy way to shorten the redundant application process is to save all of the short essays and paragraphs you write. It is likely that by your fourth or fifth application, you will be able to reuse large sections of these essays and save yourself loads of time. Just make sure to reread your essays before submitting them…nothing is more embarrassing than submitting an essay that addresses the wrong scholarship name.
6. Check the local community for other scholarships
Kalamazoo county has the Kalamazoo Community Foundation which is a nonprofit that connects donors with community members and organizations who need funding for school, business, etc. While many high school students apply for these scholarships, few college students even know this organization exists! Imagine…thousands of dollars are literally specifically set aside for college students studying business, engineering, english, and loads more but those dollars are NEVER given out!
7. Write a thank you note!
After all of the hard work you have put in to earn even one scholarship, it might be easy to want to kick back, relax, and avoid writing at all costs BUT there is one important step you must never forget! Thank your supporters! This task can be the simplest of them all but often means the most. Take five minutes to write an email to your donors as well as any professors or fellow students who have helped you secure these hard-earned funds. Want to go above and beyond? Handwrite a thank you note! Everyone loves receiving mail, why not send out little bursts of happiness that a donor or professor can keep for days, months, or even years down the road!
Well, that’s it! Those are my little tips for tackling the scholarship application process! Of course, every experience is different but the important thing is to STAY FOCUSED and keep trying! By the time you are off studying abroad, you will certainly thank yourself!
Be brave. Take risks. Nothing can substitute experience.
Paulo Coelho
Allow me to start off by saying I have no clue if ANYONE, ANYWHERE will EVER read this. And I don’t think I mind.
My main goal of this project is to track the progress I make toward studying abroad while creating a collection of tips and tricks for others to use in their future adventures. Of course I will not always do things the “right” way and I absolutely anticipate some outright failure on my part but I say hey…bring it on!
I chose to study abroad not to impress others but to impress myself. While I often tell myself I am a strong and capable young woman that is worthy of awesome stuff in life, I don’t always feel that I chase that awesome stuff. Well, here is my chance! If I can conquer a foreign country (with a very bubbly but terrifying language) I surely can conquer any other goals I set for myself.
Lemus Study Abroad 