1. What was your favorite vacation location and how did you heard about it?
My favorite vacation location is Oslo, the capital of Norway. I am a teacher and at our school came two teachers with some children from Norway , to change experience. Every year we receive them with our open arms and they also do that with much pleasure. They came after the summer vacation and we went in Oslo before the Christmas vacation. Oslo is a beautiful city and I enjoyed every minute there.
2. Did you travel alone or with your family/friends (how many) ?
I traveled to Oslo with another teacher and 6 children. I teach to primary school so the oldest child was 9 years old. We organized this trip most of all for the children ,it was easier to plan it because the European Union gave us a material support so the costs were little.
3. How much time did you spend finding out information about this location and what resources did you use to do it (online sites/traveling agencies/friends).
I didn't spend so much time finding the informations about Oslo , because when the Norwegians came to Berlin they gave us a lot of brochures and postcards with their country ,so the majority of the informations we already had them. But I also searched on internet about the costs of the trip and to look for places to visit there. I also gathered informations about their tradition and culture, which is very different from ours.
4. Can you tell us the thing you like most in this place?
There were a lot of things that I liked in Oslo , because I was in a new place where all was different of what I was used to. Their culture impressed for example the city is richly decorated with sculptures. Oslo's architectural style range from medieval to postmodern and there are many monumental , magnificent buildings of national significance. I also was impressed with their language, they have 2 languages, Bokmal and Nynorsk so I think it is very interesting.
5. What were the bad/ugly sides of your vacation?
The bas side of this vacation was definitely the cold weather. Sometimes it was so cold that we had to stay in our rooms. It wasn't so bad for us, the grown ups, because in a way we could bear the cold weather but he children couldn't, so we had to stay with kids in our rooms and I couldn't go visiting as much as I wanted.
6. How was your room (did you had everything you need).
My room was good and big. We stayed in a 2 stars hotel and I shared my room with 3 children and the other teacher stayed with the other 3 ones. It was comfortable and we had our own bathroom and T.V. and what was really good was that the hotel provided us every day the breakfast and diner at their restaurant.
7. Did you take a digital camera (what model), a laptop or any other gadgets with you? (name of the gadget).
I took with me my digital camera, my Kodak CX 7330 and my Sony video recorder with whom I recorded the events from school and the festivals where we were invited.
8. How were the people there (the reception and people you meet)
The people were very nice, everyone was gentile and they tried their best to make us feel just like home and for us to have the best experience ever. And the reception from the hotel was excellent, they were very gentile and treated us like kings.
9. Did you make any new friends (are you still keeping in touch).
Yes I did made some friends ,some of the teachers from the school were we were invited with whom I keep in touch by email, postcards and letters.
10. How did you spend your time? Did you participate in any recreational activities?
During the day we stayed at school were I told the Norwegians children about our country, traditions ,culture and history. I was very amazed that children responded so well to all these and they were very curious and wanted to know more. We participated to all kind of festivals were we presented our popular dances and our folklore, our tradition and we tried to teach the Norwegians children our dances.
11. What places did you visited? (Museums, resorts, sport facilities)
During our visit I went to the Opera in Bjorvik and to museums where I was simply amazed about their style and art. Oslo has almost 50 museums and many art galleries, amongst the internationally known attractions and were we went were the Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Viking Ship Museum and of course the Munch Museum and Holmenkollen. And I must not forget the Royal castle which impressed me most and the Reptile park where the children wanted to go.
12. What other vacation location would you recommend to the public?
I recommend to the public to visit Norway because it is very beautiful and you have a lot of places to visit even if it is cold and the language is difficult.
