Summer school in Norway – 2022
In June 2022, nine students from different regions of Ukraine visited the Summer School in Norway as part of an international educational project “Water Harmony” by the EURASIA program. This year, the Ukrainian State University of Chemistry and Technology was represented by Oleksandra Chepynska, a 1st-year master’s student of the department of technology of inorganic substances and ecology specialty 161 chemical technologies and engineering with professional direction “chemical technologies of inorganic substances, rare scattered elements and nanomaterials”).
In addition to Ukrainian students, another 60 students from different countries of the world joined the Summer School in Norway: Moldova, Norway, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Uganda, USA, Germany, Romania, Mongolia, Poland, Brazil.
The summer school lasted three weeks from June 13 to July 1, the participants were at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences< /a> (NMBU), located in the small town of Os, not far from the capital of Norway – Oslo. The small, but very green and picturesque city immediately gladly accepted students in comfortable new dormitories.
All students were accommodated in a large dormitory consisting of several blocks. Each student had his own room, in each block there was a shared tidy kitchen-living room, in which we always gathered together to study or relax. In order for us to make new international acquaintances, all blocks were inhabited by students from different countries, girls from Romania and a student of NMBU from Nepal lived in our block.
The university itself was located very close to the student dormitories, as well as a sports hall, shops and a green university park. The large number of flowers and plants amazed the imagination, because even in the summer in Norway it was sometimes cool.
Every day, students attended interesting and useful lectures on water treatment and water treatment by the leading teachers of the Norwegian University of Natural Sciences. Lectures were also given by invited professors from universities in Canada, the USA, Iceland, etc. Disciplines included even such new areas as Nanotechnology in water treatment, Bioeconomy, Digitization and Cybersecurity in the water sector. Each lecture was accompanied by a meaningful presentation and video materials on the use of water treatment technologies at modern enterprises. The course also included introducing students to the newest programs for modeling water treatment and water resources management processes, such as: STOAT, SIM4NEXUS, Adaptive Planning. Also, one of the lectures discussed various platforms for professional communication, publishing one’s achievements, finding employers or like-minded people, for example, using the LinkedIn platform.
After the lectures, we did joint projects in international groups, our group included students from America, Germany, Brazil and Poland. We defended each project in front of teachers and other students, made presentations and reports in English.
At the end of the course, we had an exam where we could summarize our knowledge and see what we had learned during these weeks.
But we gained new experience and knowledge not only from lectures, but also from excursions that were included in the course “Water treatment in a cold climate”.
In the very first week, participants of the Summer School visited underground water treatment and wastewater treatment stations and got acquainted with modern technologies for monitoring water treatment processes at the station. It was an amazing trip through the huge water treatment plants set in the rock! The latest technologies, online monitoring of all water treatment processes, scale – all this made an unforgettable impression on all students. During the entire excursion, we had the opportunity to ask all the questions we were interested in, take photos, and look closely at each stage of the water purification process.
We also had the opportunity to visit the largest indoor snow arena for winter sports. All equipment for skiing and snowboarding was specially prepared for each participant of the Summer School.
By the way, Norwegians cannot imagine their life without winter sports and even in summer they spend their free time skiing and snowboarding. I had never learned to ski before, but after two hours in this snow arena I felt like a real Norwegian!
Throughout their studies, students visited Oslo and other cities close to the capital by train. Participants of the Summer School could explore the city of Oslo on their own, go on excursions to the popular Oslo Opera House and the Munch Museum.
In the last week of summer school, we went on a cruise on the huge ColorLine ferry to Sweden. We started from a small port in the town of Sandenfjord, a majestic ferry sailed to the North Sea, which originates in the North Atlantic Ocean. The entire trip took no more than two hours, but we thoroughly enjoyed the breathtaking seascapes, took lots of photos, and visited the shops and buffet restaurant right on the ferry. It was something incredible, this trip brought us all together!
We arrived in Sweden in the town of Strömstad, and from there we went by bus to the largest Swedish shopping center with many shops for every taste. By the way, many Norwegians go to Sweden for food and clothes by ferry, it is convenient and fast.
Norway is a very expensive country, but all expenses were covered by a student scholarship, which was given to each participant of the program. We were able to regulate our own expenses and buy everything we needed for our stay in Norway.
In Norway, many students have discovered a talent for cooking, so on the last day of the Summer School, the teachers organized an international evening, where students from each country prepared national dishes and shared them with others at parties.
The group from Ukraine chose to cook dumplings with potatoes, cherries and borscht (on that day it was recognized as a UNESCO cultural heritage, as a Ukrainian national dish). We spent a long time preparing our dinner, but all our efforts were not in vain – our dishes created a sensation among other students and teachers!
Every day in Norway was full of unforgettable experiences and interesting events, each of the students found new friends, got new goals to strive for, discovered new skills and habits, acquired unique knowledge and was able to assess his abilities.
I will never forget this trip, during it I discovered a new way for myself, with this approach to learning, new knowledge was given very easily and casually, I worked with pleasure on all projects programs, communication and learning English turned out to be natural and there were no problems with it. Summer school gave me new friends from Uganda, Brazil, Tajikistan, Poland and different parts of Ukraine. I had the opportunity to communicate with teachers from the Norwegian University and other countries, I really appreciate the fact that I was able to communicate with Professor Harsha Ratnavira (who is the head of the Water Harmony project), Associate Professor of the Department of Water and Environmental Engineering Zakhar Maletsky and Professor Alex Orlov from USA (State Univ of New York, Stoney Brook, USA).
Я дуже вдячна моїй рідній кафедрі технології неорганічних речовин та екології та безпосереднім організаторам Літньої школи проф. Х. Ратнавірі та його норвезькій команді за можливість приєднатися до міжнародного проекту «Водна Гармонія» та відвідати Норвегію і поринути у життя справжнього норвезького студента, – це було неймовірно цікаво, весело та пізнавально. Я вважаю, що це незамінний досвід, і як сказав нам проф. Х. Ратнавира на першій лекції «It is an opportunity of a lifetime, and use it for form your future!»
Олександра Чепинська