Dear NMBU, I am not Norway's most satisfied student – so far.
Dear NMBU, I am not Norway's most satisfied student – so far.
Writer: Kine Lie
When I received the news in May that I had been accepted into the master's program at NMBU, I immediately began to Google my new place of study. "Norway's most satisfied students" was the first thing that greeted me, and my expectations rose. I mentioned it to people around me and always heard: "I know someone who studied in Ås, and the student environment there is fantastic!" Little did they know that the super-special student environment in Ås is only super-special if you let yourself be brainwashed by foreign words, choirs, and community service.
Join the welcome party
Just like at any other university or college, your studies in Ås start with a buddy week – or actually, two weeks. However, NMBU has its own twist on the concept. Here in Ås, the buddy week seems more like a platform for second- and third-year students to get to know each other better, while we newcomers are merely spectators. The students who are already familiar with the place get to party freely for two weeks and attend events under the alias of "buddy," while generously inviting the new students to their parties to participate in drinking games with inside jokes where everyone gets really well acquainted with their buddies, and not with each other.
As if that wasn't enough, you're not guaranteed to be placed in a buddy group with the people you'll actually be studying with. Neither I nor several others I've talked to were placed in a buddy group with their fellow students. Instead, we were put in a group with new students studying something entirely different, who naturally prefer to mingle and get to know their own peers. This only leads to shallow small talk. You don’t get to meet your fellow students, with whom you’ll be spending three to five years, and this results in not wanting to participate in the buddy week anymore. Especially when many of the events require tickets and cost money.
"Free" and "inclusive"
On NMBU’s website and during the buddy week's information meeting, it’s said that the buddy week should be free. However, throughout the two weeks, you're almost daily reminded to buy tickets for various events: concerts with Ringnes Ronny, the "grass course," or "bodega."
If you’re lucky enough to be able to spend hundreds of kroner on tickets and parties each week, it's still not guaranteed that you'll manage to buy a ticket before everything is sold out. The tickets are released at a specific time, and those who aren’t ready then, or don’t catch the announcement, miss out. It also doesn’t help that the tickets sell out immediately, and the chances of getting one are quite low, to begin with. Fortunately, the buddy week ends, and you can safely enter the much-talked-about "Ås-bubble."
The Ås-bubble
If you've spoken to more than one person on campus, you've likely heard about the much-discussed "Ås-bubble." If not, I can reveal that it resembles the somewhat more famous "reality-bubble." The students in Ås like to close themselves off in an exclusive, secret club where they have internal terms that no outsider understands, such as "grass course," "bodega," and intimate concerts with various choirs. As a new student, you must integrate quickly to keep up. If you don’t see the charm in Ås' exclusivity and (cult)ure, prepare yourself for a long and lonely semester.
Find your cult
Much of the good student environment in Ås lies in all the student associations (or "cult-culture," if you will) that exist here. There’s a lot to participate in, from choirs and dance to social clubs and sports teams. The "grass course part 1" can be somewhat traumatizing and is an eye-opener for newcomers. For if you don’t find a choir to join, perhaps you can join the pirate association! The number of student associations in Ås says something about how strong the volunteer culture is here – especially when students with the same hometown or county as their only common denominator form an association. Ås proudly promotes the idea of "something for everyone." If you still don’t find an association (read: cult) that suits you, there’s probably a ritual involving a swim in the Duck Pond that can wash away all skepticism toward choirs and associations!
All in all, a nice place
If you look past all this, Ås and NMBU aren't too bad. It is, after all, Norway's most beautiful campus, and they can also boast very skilled professors and a wide range of academic offerings. The buddy week passes, and many students thrive despite not participating in the volunteer culture in Ås. So dear new student, don't give up. There’s hope for you in Ås if you prefer the real world too.
