Two beers with Julie Westergaard Karlsen: “You can have a lot of fun based on a lie”

We meet Julie on a bench outside Hunkattloftet. As an experienced journalist, she has brought two cold beers which we enjoy in the spring sun. I am ready to learn about Julie’s life on the Agrarmetropole, and how good she is at roller-skating.

Journalist: Simen Walbækken Tangen
Photographer: Margreta Brunborg
Translator: Sofie Palstrøm

Forest Science
When Julie started at NMBU, her initial goal was to become a construction engineer. She wanted to use her science subjects from high school, and the environmental focus in Ås was tempting. It turned out that the required admission points for construction engineering had gone up, and instead she ended up with landscape architecture. It was not quite what she had in mind. When Julie was deployed at an architect firm where her job was to mark which trees not to cut down, she got a desire to switch studies. Next semester, she took some courses in forest science, and on her second year she officially switched to the forest science programme. Julie describes it as one of her most random choices. She did not have much knowledge about forestry before starting, but it seemed both important for the climate and very future-oriented. The opportunity to work outside is, in Julie’s words, quite lovely, as long as it’s not too cold.

From the Nuns’ loft to Hunkattloftet
When Julie started her third year she felt almost as if it was too late to join a social club, but many of her friends from landscape architecture went on an exchange semester abroad. Therefore, she joined Hunkattene, which without a doubt had a little less “macho vibes” than her forest science class. This fall, she moved to Hunkattloftet, which in some ways is the end of a roundtrip for Julie. During her first year she lived in the nuns’ loft, the collective next door. When we later go up to Hunkattloftet to take some pictures, we see the door Julie and her friends painted while living in the nuns’ loft. The rest of the painting was used to paint the Hankatt-house in the middle of the night, but a security guard appeared during the attempt. Julie and her friends, who back then were all freshmen, were convinced they had done something illegal and hid themselves. Luckily, the security guard was well aware of the long painting tradition by the duck pond, and Julie didn’t have to go to Securitas-jail.

The Office God
Julie expresses that she is very glad the pandemic hit now, at the end of her studies. When not much is going on, she does not have to excuse herself for not joining a party because she needs to study. The corona virus has also been easier to deal with at Hunkattloftet. Earlier this spring they had a bar to bar (room to room) event, and got pretty wasted. Julie’s portrait wound up hanging in the office (the bathroom), nobody knows or wants to admit to moving the picture. The disagreement over who crowned Julie as the office god is still ongoing, and quickly became a topic for discussion during our visit to Hunkattloftet.

Roller Skates
One of Julies favourite activities during the pandemic has been roller skating. While the rest of Ås went to Skogsdammen, Årungen or outside Eika to go ice skating, Hunkattene were dancing around Inferno on roller skates. “Had it not been for the pandemic, Hunkattene would have set up a revue with the roller skates act of the century”, Julie tells energetically. Her roller skates have even been to a party at Samfunnet. They were not well received there, and she was told it was not allowed to wear roller skates at Samfunnet and was kicked out. Julie feels quite cheated, because she later had a position in the Core Members’ Board (now House and Finance Board) where she found out there are no rules against roller skates at Samfunnet. Julie is more careful now after she got a bruise the shape of a Viking ship, and gets to borrow a pair of wrist protectors when performing the art of roller skates. “It is not long ago since a girl in the loft broke both her wrists”, says Julie, who does not want the same injuries and gives us the advice to “never drink and roller skate”.

Tuntreet
Julie found it neat that people were writing and making a student newspaper, but had not previously done much writing herself. When the Editor Hauk asked if she wanted to join, she accepted a trial period which later became a fixed position. One of the main reasons for Julie to join was to have an excuse to dig in other people’s business, and to get a good overview of everything happening in the Ås-bubble. One of the first cases she covered was about Studfadd. A buddy arrangement for students who wanted to be buddies for refugee children who had arrived in Ås. After the case, Julie joined as head of marketing and held this position for two years. “After one year I had plans to quit, but nobody else knew how to book rooms so I stayed put”, Julie tells sarcastically about her IT-skills.

During UKA 2018, Julie was editor-in-chief for UKA’s magazine. She points out the front page, which she considers the best front page the magazine has ever had. Julie felt a little corrupt when she was editorial-in-chief for the UKA-magazine, as all the articles she wrote for Tuntreet in that period was about UKA. At the General Assembly that fall, the plan was to propose a friend for the editorial position in Tuntreet, but unfortunately, that friend had left. Instead, Julie was proposed, and after a speech where she promised to make a new farmers’ heir catalogue at NMBU, she was elected.

With Julie as the editor, there were several special editions. The “Tun & Tre”-edit was made because there was an urgent lack of journalists, and a tabloid edition can easily be filled with nonsense. A Tuntreet Geographic-edition was also made as a good parody on National Geographic where the photographers got to knock themselves out. There were also a lot of newcomers in the editorial staff, so Julie seized the opportunity to lie, and told everyone it was normal to attend the internal Tuntreet-events. Thus, the attendance rose, and it got more social within the editorial staff than before. “You can have a lot of fun based on a lie”, Julie expresses. After five years in Tuntreet Julie has been photographed in the Blæsten-uniform, in a collision with the Rector, with roller skates on ice and in several other weird settings. “I care a lot less about what people think of how I look”, Julie emphasizes as a good thing she has learnt in Tuntreet.

Her masters’ thesis about how early the forest in Rogaland is cut is soon completed. A job at NORSKOG awaits and the plans are to move to a collective to save money. Julie is very ready to move to Oslo after many years in Ås, but “The good thing about living in Oslo is that it isn’t far from Ås and I can go to semester-kickoffs or birthdays”.

Greetings to Julie

Dear Julie, Edelkatt and 304

We all met you a late night/early morning with a red silk bow on your head, wearing a jute bag and with Kildebrygg in your hand at Qlturens Høiborg. Since then, we have spent many hours up here, and you spread huge amounts of joy, humor, and caffeine among us. It is not without reason that we have developed collective separation anxiety!

It is not a rare sight to see you peeking your curious face out of 304. No matter the subject of the conversation, there is always a “ka så skjer?”(What’s going on?) from the door, especially when boys are the subject. You are indeed pretty concerned with our uninteresting love lives, and would preferably like to know who, what, where and when. It is great, because you genuinely care for those around you. That being said, you are a little devil with a lot of shame in your room! Discussing with you is a tough affair, you always have a clever reply that you deliver with a twinkle in your eye. It is also easy to be fooled by Karlsen.

Among the things we like the most about you are that you are always in on the action, whether it be drunk haircuts, fake weddings, ear piercings with paper clips, drunk roller-skating, latinell-evenings, or to beat the birthday out of the birthday child with the birthday stick. No matter what we are doing, it is always “badly planned, so extremely badly planned” – but you are always in! Loftet loves you, and you will never find anyone who are as much fun to live with as us, teehee <3

We often remind you that not everything is about you, even though you STRONGLY disagree. So, enjoy the words you just read, because they are ONLY about you!

Lots of hugs from your fellow Loft-livers: Mette x2, Erika, Maren and Ingrid

Dear Julie.

Since our first meeting in 2017, you stuck out from the other journalists of Tuntreet. The conversations just flowed by themselves, and that is how they went on. “WordArt is the stuff!” you claimed several times while being editor, and after. Your great commitment and creativity have been a true inspiration. Something that started as being co-editors, turned out to be the start of a beautiful friendship. You have made an impact on Ås with your great involvement and your sharp pen. Oh yes, it was sharp, which among other things ended up causing a great discussion about swearwords in the magazine. The result: you stood your ground, and the swearwords were included. You also go to great lengths in your innovations, which resulted in a new branch of Tuntreet, Tuntreet Geographic, in addition to an issue of both the “Odelskatalog” and Tun & Tre. As co-editors, we want to thank you for a pleasant and educational partnership.

Big hugs from Jardar and Anne Tove <3

When we first met you, you were but a young girl straight out of the bible belt, who drank blackcurrant wine from the bottle and blushed when we mentioned tits. Despite this being truly charming, we are so glad that we got to follow your transformation to a strong and fearless studine. Because you definitely have become one!! With both legs planted well in the ground like a spruce (or a pine?) there is hardly anyone who compares to you when it comes to your moral compass, clear speech, eagerness, and YES-attitude. Do you want to make rules for a new drinking game? Yes! Do you want to be editor for Tuntreet? Yes! This all adds up to you being such a lovable human, who always brings those around you along on your mischief. We are so lucky to have experienced our study time with you.

This is a farewell from your crew here in Ås – after all, you will be leaving the safety of the cradle pretty soon – but at the same time, it is a welcoming into the big world. Luckily for you, we are waiting for you out here ;)

Lots of hugs, from 1 meter’s distance

from the best table <3