- The best thing of this new experience is the newness; being in a new, completely different environment. Of course I sometimes miss my family and my home, but I’m really excited about being here.
Amani Hamza Osman came to Bergen in August 2007, to take a Masters degree in Oral Sciences at the Gade Institute at the University of Bergen. Amani comes from Khartoum, which is the capital of Sudan. There is a close collaboration between UiB and Amani’s university in Khartoum. Back home in Khartoum, Amani was working at the University of Technology and Science, as a teaching assistant at the Dental Faculty.
- The Dean of the faculty I belonged to used to study at the University of Bergen, she explains. - He told me that there were chances to do a research study in Bergen, so I applied. I was lucky and got accepted the first time I applied, and here I am!
Amani never thought about coming to Norway in the first place. She did not know much about Scandinavia, except from what she had heard from some of her friends who had been studying in Sweden. – But I’m a fan of IKEA, and Scandinavian furniture, she laughs.
Cancer research
At the Gade Institute Amani is specialising in oral cancer. At the lab she grows cancer cells to find out what helps them grow, and what kills them. Amani is very committed to her work:
- Cancer research is an important field, and that was why I wanted to study cancer in the first place. A lot of people at home are suffering from cancer, and it will be good to come back to Sudan with helpful information.
Now, Amani has applied for an upgrade to PhD, and is waiting for the result. She is currently working hard at the lab to establish a good base for her PhD study.
- If you are really serious about your study and want to make something good about it, you have to work hard for it. This is the same, both here in Bergen and in Khartoum, Amani says.
The teaching environment at the University of Bergen is good, according to Amani. Her tutors and professors are helping and supporting her a lot:
- My supervisor tells me that when ever I need anything I can just knock on her door, and she will make time for me.
Living in Bergen
It has been a really good experience for Amani coming to Bergen, She likes to learn new things about people and culture:
- Compared to Khartoum, Bergen is different! Really, really different!People are different, the way they look, the way they behave, the culture is different, the language, and the weather. I had been outside Sudan before I came here, I spent many years in the Middle East, but I had not been to Europe before.
Amani has had no trouble getting a social network in Bergen. She has made a lot of Norwegian friends, and many of them have become really good friends. Some of them are her classmates, some she met at the student hostel at Fantoft, and some of them are friends of friends.
- When I first came here I noticed that Norwegians are a bit shy, and could be difficult to start a conversation with. But interestingly enough my Norwegian friends are really outgoing.
When Amani is not working with her studies, she likes to spend time with her friends, go out for coffee down town, or to walk. Her Norwegian friends introduced her into the world of walking. They often take walks in the area around Fantoft. Just around Fantoft there is the lake, and the stave church, and Gamlehaugen. She has also been for hikes in the mountains around Bergen:
- I’ve been to Fløyen several times, and I love it! I’ve also been to Nattlandsfjellet, it was a really nice hike!
Amani has had the chance to see places around Bergen as well. She has been affiliated to the Centre for International Health, and they organise trips for the international students. In February they went for a ski trip to Geilo for a weekend:
- It was fantastic, it was my first time skiing! It was fun, I fell about 100 times, but it didn’t matter because everyone else was falling as well, except for the ski-instructors, she laughs.
Fantoft Student Hostel
Amani has her own unit at the student hostel at Fantoft, and she likes it there.
- I like to know a lot of people, and at the same time I like my privacy, and to organise things my own way, and I find I can get both things at Fantoft. Fantoft is full of people who like to have fun. At the same time, when I’m into my studies it is nice to be able to isolate myself. Having my own time is really important to me. It is also good to know my neighbours and visit my friends who live around.
Sometimes Amani goes to Klubb Fantoft, the Club at the Fantoft Student Hostel.
- I’m not so much into clubbing and partying, but Klubb Fantoft is a good place to meet people, she says.
Recently Amani has been to Klubb Fantoft a lot to see the football matches now during the European Championship. She is really in to football, and these days she goes there when ever there is a game.
Embrace the chance!
The experience of being a student in Bergen has mostly been a good one for Amani, but she states that the difficult things that you face and you manage to get over, are important parts of the experience of studying abroad. She would like to give the following advice to new international students:
- Embrace this chance, try to get the best out of it!
Interview and photo: Kristina Jones
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