HPR Abroad

​Integration essential: Norwegian language school Alfaskolen

July 1st, 2016

By Logan Harle

Alfaskolen is a private language school in the city of Oslo that is entering its tenth year this coming September. The school teaches a range of students from 18 to over 40 years of age and offers language classes as well as social studies courses.

A professor at Alfaskolen, Lene Ness, said they have students that attend Alfaskolen for different reasons.

“About 90% just come here to learn enough Norwegian to get a job or a raise and then there is 10% who come to learn…

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Oslo Festival Overview

June 30th, 2016

By Logan Harle

loganharle@yahoo.com

Norway is home to a myriad of music festivals covering all genres, from Norway’s notorious black metal scene, to pop, folk, electronic, jazz, hip hop and many more.

Norway has one of the highest amounts of attendance of music festivals in the world, with over 1.8 million people who attended a festival in 2014, which accounts for nearly 40% of the population, according to musicnorway.no

The report also showed that a total of 4,470 concerts and events…

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​Wasn’t it good, Norwegian Wood

June 30th, 2016

By Logan Harle and Angie Perez

loganharle@yahoo.com

angieperez@csu.fullerton.edu

The festival market in Norway has increased tremendously in the past 20 years, so much that 40 percent of the population attended a festival in 2014, according to the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Cultural Industries.

One of those festivals is the annual and iconic Norwegian Wood Festival, which is usually a three-day-long festival that’s had an estimated eight to nine thousand people in attendance per day…

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​Robert Biedron on political Activism

June 30th, 2016

By Amy Venn

Within the confines of the typically left-leaning liberal European governments lies a country in a bitter battle with the ultra-conservative right. Robert Biedron, a former parliament member and current mayor of Slupsk, entered the Polish political arena in 2011 as the first openly gay elected official in all of Eastern Europe. He’s been chipping away at the controversial face of domestic democracy ever since.

Poland is a country that’s testing the limits of modern…

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​Pride comes to a close

June 30th, 2016

By Amy Venn

The Oslo Pride Parade broke its own record Saturday with 104 organizations, an increase of 34 from the previous record. 30,000-plus individuals participated in the march, and another 30,000-plus lined the streets of downtown Oslo, according to the newspaper Dagbladat. The 2016 Oslo Pride Festival theme was solidarity, and organizers recognized the pain Americans have been feeling since Orlando across Norwegian media.

The 10-day festival celebrating the LGBT communities of the…

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​In for the long haul

June 23rd, 2016

By Amy Venn

A need has developed in the LGBT community recently, both politically and personally. They are looking for solidarity, for a symbol of togetherness and progression in the face of adversity. The Oslo Fagottkor may be the answer, whether they like it or not.

Oslo Fagottkor can be simply explained as a gay men’s choir located in Oslo, Norway, but there is much more to the story. A 12-year history, a World Championship and even a Eurovision performance is only a fraction of this…

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​Mural artist Cassius Fadlabi

June 22nd, 2016

By Kaitlyn Huss

Our interview started in front of a mural that filled the entire side of a building. Brilliant with an electric blue background, the piece featured a Somalian man dressed in a spacesuit. Its creator, Cassius Erixon Fadlabi, posed for a photo in front of it with his arms crossed over his chest and a huge grin spread across his face. He titled it ‘The Sky’s the Limit.’

The mural towers over a playground in an area called Tøyen that Fadlabi explained was occupied…

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​Oslo Pride marches on

June 16th, 2016

By Amy Venn

Oslo Pride 2016 marches on in the wake of the Orlando tragedy, with a message of solidarity and a determination to celebrate acceptance and equality.

“It’s been a couple of very intense days,” Petter Ruud-Johansen, information officer for Oslo Pride 2016, said about the effect the shooting has had on the festival starting this Friday. “It does something to our pride.”

Oslo Pride, running June 17 through June 26, takes place across the Norwegian capital and boasts a…

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Can Jesus come back to Norway?

June 16th, 2016

By: Angie Perez

Religious affiliation in Norway has been on a steady decline in recent decades. For the first time ever atheists slightly outnumber believers, demonstrating modern society’s move toward secularization.

According to Norway’s Ipsos MMI 2016 social-cultural survey, 39 percent of Norwegians who were asked about their faith considered themselves atheist, 37 percent confirmed to believe in a higher power, while 23 percent were uncertain. Oslo, the capital of Norway,…

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​Former Nazi bunker now serves as learning tool

June 13th, 2016

By Nicole Gardner

In the years since the end of WWII, little has ever been recognized in history books about one of the most important places in Nazi-occupied Europe: Norway. The Norwegians themselves don’t often acknowledge it, since it is collectively seen as a glaring blemish on Norwegian history, and justifiably so.

What is now The Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities, used to be the home of a man with a name now synonymous with being a traitor. In…

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