This is becoming old news but happy news none the less. I have got my security clearance last Thursday. I consider this to be my last hurdle and with this out if the way I see no reason why I should not be going to Oslo. I got an e-mail from the Danish ambassador in Oslo with the decision of Danish Security and Intelligence Service/Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark/SIK. This e-mail I have forwarded to the International Office at Aalborg University since they consider the security clearance a confirmation of the internship. I am very happy about this development even though some friends on Facebook were arguing that giving me a security clearance must be a mistake. :-)
There is no doubt that Oslo is going to be an expensive place to live, according to ECA International Oslo was in 2010 the 2nd most expensive city in the world after Tokyo. One way that this can be seen explicitly is when it comes to pizza, if you go and compare www.justeat.dk and www.justeat.no you’ll see that a pizza in Oslo is way more expensive that in Aalborg. If you want to buy a pizza in Aalborg you’ll pay around 55 DKK (7,38 Euro) but in Oslo you have to pay 130 NOK (16,66 Euro) that is more than double! I am happy that I don’t eat pizzas that often, but that doesn’t mean that I’m not in trouble a pint of beer in Oslo is unfortunately suffering from the same problem as the pizzas. On a more serious note I think that it’ll be hard to make ends meet doing my internship, I will of course get my state education grant, and with 3000 NOK (384,54 Euro) per month to help cover living cost The Danish Embassy in Oslo is one of the more generous of its kind. But with living costs so high, no time for a job and me wanting to experience Oslo/Norway something more is needed. I have already applied for a grant from “Internationaliseringspuljen” at Aalborg University which can give my about 5000 DKK (670,47 Euro). But I also need to be looking at other grants and as this story proves it is possible to gain quite a lot of money from that: (A former Danish student who managed to get nearly 100.000 DKK (13.409,38 Euro) from grants during her 5 years as a student). Fortunately I still have 11 month before I am leaving for the internship so hopefully I’ll be able to get some grant money as well.
Yesterday evening I got the now completely filled out intern agreement back from the ambassador, so today I have printed, signed, scanned and e-mailed it back to him. I also got an e-mail from my study coordinator saying that he has now signed and sent the supervisor approval form to the International Office at Aalborg University. This means that the only thing left is the personal information form and I plan to have pictures taken for it and send on my way to a meeting with my project group at 16:00.
I have gotten an internship at The Danish Embassy in Oslo. I applied on the 30th of March and only a couple of hours after I sent the application I got a positive reply. I was applying for the period from the 1st of September 2011 to the 29th of February 2012 but since that position was already taken I was offered the period from the 1st of March to the 31st of August. Since the rules for European Studies at Aalborg University are that I have go on an internship on the 9th semester I had to apply The Board of Studies International Affairs for a dispensation so that I can interchange my 9th and 10th semester and write my master thesis before I go on internship. I am expecting a positive answer for my application for dispensation tomorrow.
When I get my dispensation I can go to the next step in getting all the formalities in order. I have to fill out two forms and return them to the ambassador. The first form is an “intern agreement” from The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark that I have to fill out and return by e-mail. The other one is a “personal information form” that is used in the process of granting me my security clearance this has to be filled out printed in two copies and attached a photo before being sent by mail to the ambassador. I will go the photographer on my way to work today to have the photos ready for sending the form tomorrow.
