Planning a trip

Before departure, we worked a lot on trip planning. We had to decide on an itinerary, order public transport and find accommodation that was both within the budget, centrally located and had options for cooking. When the basics were in place, it was time to plan the most exciting; to create a program for the trip. The criteria were that it should be based on both backpacking (history and culture) and extreme sports (physical activities with a touch of adrenaline). In addition, it had to be within the budget, accessible to the whole class and feasible in terms of both time and distance. All the students were given responsibility for their own activity, which gave them more insight into what trip planning entails and made them more aware of responsibility.

It was stressful, but educational and having responsibility for an activity. You had to think about booking, opening hours, distance to other places, the contents of the place, guide or not, etc

The plan for the trip

Day 1 – Travel day

Traveling by public transport to Copenhagen takes some time, but at the same time goes surprisingly quickly once you have got on the first bus. In true backpacker style, we went to the bus station in Elverum to take the Vy bus to Oslo. From Oslo we took the Flixbus that travels directly to Copenhagen. So we could hardly have found more climate-friendly, efficient and cheap travel on that stretch.

Once in Copenhagen, we checked in at Steel Hostel Copenhagen. A surprisingly high standard of hostel accommodation and at a reasonable price. Here we could find a swimming pool, small cinema, well-equipped kitchen, gaming machines, lounges, in addition to being centrally located in the city.

Day 2 – Botanical garden, Glyptoteket, Christmas market and Amazing Race

We started the day in the Botanical Garden, where we got to see and learn about many exciting plants and useful crops around the world.

Then we went to the Glyptoteket where we learned about Greek and Roman sculpture, Danish and French art, ancient Egypt and mummification, the history of the countries around the Mediterranean, Danish and French sculpture and the art of preserving a work of art.

Before dinner there was time for a little look at HC Andersen's Christmas market. Fun to see how other Scandinavian countries organize Christmas markets compared to Norway.

In the evening, both the Art and Norwegian classes arrived at the hostel we were staying at. All the students were divided into groups across the classes and thrown into an Amazing Race competition. They had to run around the center of Copenhagen to try and collect as many points as possible by doing as many tasks as possible. The tasks consisted of visiting well-known places, doing fun things there and finding out some information about the place.

Day 3 – The sanctuary of Christiania, Bow combat and the Cisterns in Søndermarken

We started the day with an early trip to Fristaden Christiania. This is a well-known tourist attraction because the district has a large degree of self-government, an interesting history and a lot of stylish art, in addition to being a so-called "hippie town".

As an extreme sports activity, the students chose to go for Bow combat, which is a kind of paint ball only with a bow and arrow. A team-building and fun activity where we also learned to shoot with a bow and arrow. We had some time to spare, which gave us the opportunity to try both the rodeo and the obstacle course with sumo wrestler suits.

Before dinner we visited the Cisterns in Søndermarken where the famous Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota had the exhibition Multiple Realities.

A nice and rich day ended with a joint dinner at the hostel that we prepared ourselves.

Day 4 – Self-study day, Humans of Copenhagen and Tivoli

On this day, the students were given a few hours to make their own arrangements. The goal was for them, in true backpacker spirit, to find a cheap or free activity at short notice by asking people or searching online. In addition, they had the task of finding a geocash (hidden "treasures" around the city) and conducting a small in-depth interview with a Dane (read more under Humans of Copenhagen).

At dinnertime we gathered all the classes at the Ankara restaurant for a delicious buffet, before it was off to a wonderful end to a great trip, namely Tivoli; the carousel paradise located in the middle of the city.

It was a tired group that entered the bus at half past eleven in the evening. We were lucky to get a shared bus, so that we could drive all the way to the doorstep of the school on Friday morning.

Humans of Copenhagen

The students' task on the independent study day was to get in touch with a Dane who they were to get to tell something about their life story, a la Humans of New York.

Humans of Copenhagen was a lot of fun, and might be something I could do later