Memorial Ceremony

Not much has happened lately in connection to my upcoming internship and therefore I have not been posting any updates. Unfortunately this weekend gave me a reason to post when a horrible terror attack happened in Oslo and on the small island Utøya. Any incident as horrific as this obviously makes a deep impression on everybody and when this then happens in Oslo and is an attack on the democratic institutions in Norway it makes an indelible impression on me also. It is incomprehensible how this Christian right-wing terrorist managed to convince himself that what he did was right and needed to be done. My heartfelt condolences go out to who lost friends or family and my hope is that the Norwegians will stand by the words of Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg: “We meet terror and violence with more democracy and will continue to fight against intolerance,”. On Saturday I went to a memorial ceremony, outside the Norwegian consulate in Aalborg, for the victims in Oslo and Utøya.

I am no threat to the nation

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. :-)

Zagreb

When I applied for the internship at the Danish Embassy in Oslo I also send out applications for a few other internships among them the political/economic department at the Danish Embassy in Zagreb. Two days ago I then received a rejection of my application, but apparently they do not think that I am completely useless because they asked me to consider an internship in their trade department.  Obviously I am very happy having got the internship at the Danish Embassy in Oslo and I would not trade that for the position in Zagreb not least because I will rather be an intern in a political-economic department than in a trade department. There is though especially one thing that I do find particularly interesting about the position in Zagreb and that is that the internship is 12 instead of the normal 6 months. I can imagine that spending the double amount of time on an internship could be very beneficial for both the intern and the embassy. Anyways it is always a nice feeling to get a somewhat positive response to an application.

Student with a butler

One thing that I’ll need when I move to Oslo is a place to stay. The embassy can help find an flat and will support me with 3000 NOK/month for living costs. I have been looking at www.hybel.no to see what prices I can expect and they are quite higher than in Aalborg. A two-room flat is more than 7000 NOK/month and a room in shared flat is from 3500 NOK/month and up.

The other day a friend of mine was so kind as to share an article with me, the main point of the article is that there is a lag of housing in Oslo and that this problem will escalate the coming years to a state where a two-room flat in Oslo by 2016 will be 15.000 NOK/month. But it is not all bad news apparently the Norwegians (Danish, Norwegian) have invented a fantastic concept for study flats – flats with a servant… Unfortunately this concept has yet to be introduced in Oslo so I guess I still have to do my own grocery shopping and such. But it might be just the same since I think the price tag of 6900 NOK/month would be a little on the expensive side for me anyway. If you want to read more about the concept you can go to the website of Sorbonne the company behind the concept.


UPDATE: I just read this article today about the housing market in Oslo it is in English and touches on some of the same issues as the Norwegian article: http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/04/18/oslo-becoming-like-manhattan/

Lisbon

I just had a call from The Danish Embassy in Lisbon, but I told them straight away that I already accepted the offer from The Danish Embassy in Oslo. Now I am wondering what they would have asked me and if I could have gotten that internship instead. I am sure I made the right choice but I can’t help still being a bit curious…

Woop Woop

Yesterday morning started really really bad, I had not been sleeping well had a fever, sore throat etc. and I had and exam that I was not to well prepared for. The exam was in course literature from the courses; EU Law, The Political Economy of Europe, EU Institutions and Policies and Culture, Identity and Politics but even with my fairly bad starting point I still managed to get the grade 12 (A)… I know this does not have much to do with my internship in Oslo but I thought I would still mention it.  :-)

Money Issues

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.

The Beginning

I have gotten an internship at The Danish Embassy in Oslo. I applied on the 30^th 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 1^st of September 2011 to the 29^th of February 2012 but since that position was already taken I was offered the period from the 1^st of March to the 31^st of August. Since the rules for European Studies at Aalborg University are that I have go on an internship on the 9^th semester I had to apply The Board of Studies International Affairs for a dispensation so that I can interchange my 9^th and 10^th 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.

Read the internship advert (Danish): http://www.amboslo.um.dk/da/menu/OmOs/Praktikant/