Two beers with Aksel Heggernes Njaa
Two beers with Aksel Heggernes Njaa
T wo cold beers are placed on one of the tables on the Pergola. On the other side of the table sits a well-known character. A guy you might have seen with a whistling clarinet dressed in a Norwegian knit cardigan (lusekofte) or a yellow dressing gown, singing with gusto wearing tails and a funny hat or proclaiming vocabulary in Nynorsk from the inside of a dark hood. Who is Aksel Njaa?
Journalist: Åsmund Godal Tunheim
Photografer: Ben Børilden
Translator: Eva Szemes
Web distributor: Martha Ingeborg Evensen
A suburb lad
In order to understand who is hiding behind the pleasant and handsome appearance, we have to travel back to the year of 1997, the year Aksel was born. After a couple of childhood years in the suburbs of Oslo, his family moved to Lørenskog when Aksel was about to start year 5. Here, he grew up among tower blocks and single-family homes.
Even though Aksel has always been fascinated by animals, it was in secondary school the dream of becoming a veterinarian started taking root in his mind. This was also around the time he started playing the clarinet. But as he points out “in your teenage years, you think everything’s cheesy”, and it was the frequent encouragement from his family, who is more musical than average, who saved the clarinet from a silent fate on the shelf.
The springboard
The high school student Aksel was an insecure young man trying to figure out who he was and what he wanted to become. At Lørenskog, the culture of the “russetid” was dominating, and the environment was characterised by grouping and a strict social hierarchy. He could never really come to terms with this, and he was not among those who cared the most about where he belonged.
At school, he had high expectations for himself. His parents did too: “When we first moved to Lørenskog, I was a bit negative towards school, a bit like a protest against the fact that we had moved, so I think they wanted to constantly push me that one bit further”. With a bit of help from mum, in his first year of high school the dream of becoming a veterinarian formed into more than just a crazy idea. He decided to make the Veterinary Medicine studies his goal and put his head down in the books.
A young university student
Aksel was offered a place at Veterinary Medicine in 2016, but at the same time he had to do his national service in the military. The studies were put off, and after a year of freezing fingers and snowmobile driving on the border towards Russia in the south of Varanger, he started his studies at Adamstuen. “I probably wouldn’t have been accepted if X and Y was not written in my cells”, he remarks. In 2017, the gender points were removed – and he was saved by the fact that he had applied the year before. Aksel tells about a convoluted start: “Oslo was a big city, and Campus was a jungle of concrete with strange Soviet-like brick buildings and even older buildings made of shale. And then there was a lot of girls.” But nevertheless, the social environment at Adamstuen was small and tight-knit, a good thing for a man who was still a bit insecure and in the process of getting out of his shell and finding himself.
At Adamstuen, the social life was built more around the studies. “We got drummed into our heads that we would have the same courses and become colleagues, so getting to know each other is important”. Aksel and many others took this to their hearts. A lot happened, and the quite wild parties came one after the other. Adamstuen was a place with few rules, an “oasis free from everything called liquor laws”.
After a school-focused autumn, he joined Veterinærmedisinsk studentforening (VSF), the study association arranging parties and other events. He describes this as his ticket to the social student life.
But VSF was only the beginning of Aksel’s broad commitment and expression in different student associations. Throughout his time as a student, Aksel has spent two years with a position in VSF, been the leader of Den Norske Veterinærforenings studentorganisasjon, he has been the “førstegjetar” of Promosjonskollegiet (Collegium Promovendi), been active as a singer and conductor in Mannschoiret Bjældeklang and playing the clarinet in both Corpus Luteum and Flatlusa Spelemannslag. Now, he has also stepped into the world of student choirs and turned himself into a Lærke. “It is important to be committed”, Aksel comments.
The musical drive of veterinary science
Aksel has been a part of Mannschoiret Bjældeklang from the beginning, as it is mandatory for the guys at VET, after all. Here, he has also contributed with conducting and writing music. Aksel explains his active participation in the choir by pointing out some important core values: The value of a strong camaraderie among the few guys at VET, and the opportunity a lot of them get to be pushed out of the comfort zone by using their voice and performing for an audience.
He has been a part of the veterinary marching band Corpus Luteum since his second year, but only playing the clarinet and as ‘Solanum tuberosum’, or in other words a “potato”. Still, he has not been able to keep his hands out of the game completely, and he has, among other things, made the association part of the national student marching band community.
With VET on his mind
Aksel got a grand total of 3.5 years at Adamstuen before he moved to Ås. He describes the transition as crappy. Their plan was to have a lot of cool farewell parties and have a dignified celebration of the end of an era, but this was wrapped in a chokehold by the pandemic. “Things were kind of in a rough shape when we were all of a sudden moved to a new environment”, he says. Nevertheless, Aksel felt the drive to preserve the culture of the veterinary science students.
According to Aksel, the veterinary student associations have done a good job with keeping their head above the water, while still getting inspired: “Through good cooperation with actors like NMBU and Samfunnet, we have managed to both keep our best traditions, integrate, and to top it off, add something new.” Still, he thinks it’s important to acknowledge the fact that a lot of people appreciated the nice, tight-knit community at Adamstuen, especially because of the lack of rules.
A fresh start
In his fifth year at NMBU, still his first year in Ås, Aksel started the research line, where he studied calves’ respiratory infection: “I spent many hours swabbing calves’ noses, and in the lab, doing cultivation and testing for antibiotic resistance.” The social life was extra important this year, as this was the year that he established himself in Ås.
The combination of relaxing restrictions and a new campus resulted in a new drive, and Aksel was captivated by the student environment in Ås: “Here, I found what I might have wanted more of at Adamstuen, namely the strong interest in student associations.” Among other things, he took the opportunity to join Flatlusa Spelemannslag, after massive advertisement by a certain Løk from Sunnfjord named Ida Beate: “Y’know, it is possible to ‘ave a clarinet there, too.”
Aksel took the chance and joined the open practise. There, he was met by pleasant people, a relaxed setting and learning by musical ear. Musically speaking, this was very different from what he was used to, but the social aspect made him stay. With time, his interest for folk music has grown big and passionate. He adds that in Flatlusa, it was “very refreshing to have conversations with people about other things than veterinary-based stuff, because there is a lot of that among veterinary students, you can bet on it!”
The driving force
Aksel sees the value in the student culture and has wanted to work towards strengthening it and keeping it alive: “It has been my cornerstone, especially after I moved to Ås.” On the question of what makes him have such an extensive commitment, he mentions his big love for music among other things: “The music is a very nice contrast to the heavy everyday life as a student of veterinary science.” Another driving force is his fondness for partying, drinking and all things crazy. He says he has been attracted towards the places with fun parties, fun events and fun people.
Time is… plentiful?
Surprisingly, Aksel has more than enough time to himself. He quotes his old music teacher, Wolfgram: “Time is not something we have, it’s something we take.” This reminds us that we really have time for a lot of things. It’s all about what you tell yourself. Aksel gets inspired by people who manage to combine many different things and “make it work”. At the same time, he points out the importance of not taking on too much: “You have time for more than you think but trust your gut feeling. Do things because you want to, not because you feel you have to.”
The foam is sitting lonely at the bottom of the beer mugs. With Aksel’s quote still resounding over the flagstones of the Pergola, we bring the nice conversation with a real legend of Ås to a close. A legend that from here on out will just finish his studies and enjoy the music, something we think he will fully master.
Greetings for Aksel
Dear sAksel!
It is really noticeable when you enter the room. You fill the air around you with (usually) well-made and accurate puns, clever and witty comments, and importantly clear tones and beautiful harmonies from your lips, with or without an instrument. We, the members of Flatlusa are so lucky to have both you and your woodwind instruments.
You are known as a world champion in combining things, and it is a true honour to be prioritized among the other things you are doing. We never hear you complain about too much stuff going on or that you have too little time, on the contrary you seem to have energy and a wish to contribute – always.
You are an unusually nice and musically talented chap, and few can match you as socially steady. May your commitment always burn with a fire as hot and lively! You make the Ås bubble a more colourful, playful place to be.
Love from Flatlusa
Dear Notarius Emeritus Aksel Njaa
With a belly phull of nectar, the sound of your voice has gone far. With countless practices, you have led the novices well. Been extremely patient with us, made fermate an everyday thing.
With scrotum wrapped in the sock, it is soon your turn to leave the school behind. You are a man of distinctive quality, complementary tones and with word poetry at the tip of your tongue. A true joy phor all of us. On your journey from Adamstuen to the land of Aas, you never shied away from a quick swig, but you have brought us together once again. Yes Aksel, you are our harmony
Thank you again for your great contribution, we will never forget you.
Our biggest greetings
The grateful owners of scrotums
Det Blandede Mannschoiret Bjaeldeklang
Vyrde!
A Høvedsmann with a capital H. Dear Aksel! You wandered in at Lærsetet at Fåvitsbakken in 2017, and with an exceptionally good mood, determination and as an unusually good gjætar (student at NVH), you left a mark. After the big emigration to the land of Aas, you have thrown yourself into the joys of student life, and you have become a well-known character. At the same time, you have achieved a legendary status at Hippusgarden as Notarius in Det Blandede Mannschoiret Bjældeklang, Høvedsmann in Promosjonen, initiator and maker of a good atmosphere. You stitch together the traditions from Adamstua and the traditions of Ås with your perfect stitches in an ongoing mattress suture. The marks you leave behind in Ås will be big. Hippusgarden and Åsgarden will for sure never be the same when you in a few months’ time put on your hiking shoes and wander on. And the place where you end up should count their lucky stars.
All the best from Collegium Promovendi, Collegium Ordinis and Egil Storskald
