University of Bergen

Lena Wenger, WS2025/26

I went to Bergen in my first Master’s semester and did the winter semester at the University of Bergen. While I had some difficulties settling into the new reality at first, I found like-minded people quite quickly and, by doing extracurriculars like joining a student choir, I built a new routine and a solid group of friends. I did quite a few trips around Norway and really fell in love with the country as a whole, and especially with Bergen. If you’re going to Bergen, here is a list of different things I wish I had known before going.

Courses:
I had a bit of difficulty choosing courses since I was in my Master’s, but after a few emails with the responsible person in Bergen, I was able to attend UiB’s Master’s courses without any issues. Something you should maybe be aware of is that most Master’s courses don’t have mandatory attendance, don’t take place every week, and mostly consist of 10 ECTS or more, with a large part expected to be done through self-study. While this is quite nice if you plan to travel a lot and want to stay flexible, for me it also meant that I didn’t really have a proper routine and had quite some difficulty motivating myself. It’s also a lot harder to meet people through courses, since you don’t see them often and don’t really interact much during lectures. Side note, if you want to learn some Norwegian, sign up for the NOR-Intro courses that the university offers. They’re a great place to meet new people and learn the language properly.

Housing:
If you’re staying for one semester and during the winter semester, it’s guaranteed that you’ll be placed in a shared room at a student “village” called Fantoft. It’s a quite nice place: a lot of students live there, there’s a gym, a bakery, and a grocery store on site, and there’s even a tram stop called Fantoft right next to the buildings.
My personal advice: when you register for housing through the online platform, you’re given the option to select which type of room you prefer. I highly recommend choosing the option where you share a kitchen and common room with seven other rooms. While that might sound like a lot, the alternative is having a small kitchen in your already small double room, without any common room or private space outside of your bedroom. Even though a 16-person flat sounds intense, it’s really not as crazy as it sounds, and the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives.

Student life:
Bergen has a lot to offer for students. If you’re an outdoorsy person, there’s an endless amount of hiking trails and nature to explore. But there’s also a huge range of other things to do. The website studentbergen.no is very helpful in that regard. The university and other colleges in Bergen offer an incredible number of student organisations, pretty much anything you can think of. If you want to meet and interact with more locals or students outside your usual bubble, I highly recommend joining an organisation that matches your interests.
Other than that, I found the general infrastructure of the city to be great. Public transport is amazing: there’s a tram that goes directly from the airport to the city centre every few minutes until 1 a.m., and on weekends until 4 a.m. The nightlife is also decent, with lots of different bars and clubs to choose from, many of which stay open quite late even during the week.

General tips:
A lot of places offer student discounts, so always make sure to mention that you’re a student.

If you can, try to visit other Norwegian cities as well. If you’re planning to fly, the airline Widerøe can be quite cheap.

In Norway, many people own small cabins somewhere in nature and rent them out; going on a trip to one of these cabins with a few friends is a really fun way to experience a bit of Norwegian culture.
-If you want to stay up to date on the Northern Lights and see whether you might have a chance of spotting them, make sure to download the Aurora app, it has all the relevant info and even the option of alerting you if you’re able to see them.

In general, be prepared to download a lot of apps- Norway is very digitally advanced. Also, almost no one in Norway uses WhatsApp. While you’ll be fine using WhatsApp with other international students, you’ll probably need Snapchat or Messenger to communicate with locals.

Life in Norway is very expensive, especially alcohol or junk food. If you want to save some money on groceries, try shopping at the supermarkets Rema or Kiwi, and try to avoid the one called Meny if you can.

If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out. I had an amazing time on my Erasmus, and I’m sure you will too!

University of Bergen

Lisa Steinlechner, SS2025

Time abroad

When I arrived in Norway at around 3pm in January, it was already getting dark. Not used to the dark, and also because of this year’s unexpected snow, I had a rough start. A new country, no one I knew, darkness, and an empty room. I thought about leaving and going back home. However, a few days passed, they had a good welcoming program for exchange students, introductions to different clubs and social events and I found friends, decorated my room and with the passage of time, it was less and less dark. Now, after my exchange, I am immensely grateful for the experience, for a different university life and especially my friends, who made my exchange the great experience that I had.

Accommodation

Bergen’s student accommodation system was well organised. I got an email to apply and could choose between different houses and rooms, with different price ranges. I took an older student house, which was one of the cheapest. You could tell it was already old, especially with the kitchens and the bathrooms; however, my room was nice and my neighbours were, too. If you don’t want to be in student housing, there are also other options of subrenting a room from other students, but you have to organize this on your own.

University

The university’s buildings are all over the city and depending on your faculty, you will be in different buildings. I was in the humanities buildings and was very happy about it. There were several cafeterias and even a student café, which was the place where I spent most of my time, to study and with friends. I attended two university courses for 30 ECTS. The structure of those lectures was pretty similar to my courses here in Austria, with work during the semester and a final exam.

Leisure activities

Bergen is a small city in between the sea and seven mountains (don’t tell Norwegian people that they are small, but as someone from Austria, let me tell you, they are!). You can go hiking, skiing, do boat trips, go to islands or visit other cities like Stavanger or Oslo. This year, we were also able to see the northern lights, something I hadn’t seen before! What I really liked was go on cabin trips with my friends. Most of them were cheap, reachable with public transport and had an amazing view. I went bouldering, trained in the gym and drank a lot of coffee and explored the area around Bergen.

Picture: Bergen from Floyen

 

Bergen

Carina Prantl

My Erasmus semester abroad at the University of Bergen is something I am extremely grateful for. The organization and time spent at the university was great, and I made a lot of fruitful experiences throughout my stay. Before setting off to Norway I talked to other students who had previously spent their semester abroad in Bergen. They provided me with useful tips about accommodation, courses, free time activities, the Norwegian culture, public transport or how to save money in a knowingly more expensive country. I didn’t have high expectations before leaving but was entirely rewarded with great experiences, which I am sure you will have too if you decide to go to Bergen.

Accommodation campus

The university provides exchange students with an accommodation if they decide to register with the housing company Sammen. This is something I can highly recommend doing as the rooms and services provided offer everything you need. Most students end up in the student housing Fantoft where you will most likely have a shared room (winter term) or private room (summer term) with a shared kitchen. The accommodation and rooms are modern and you will find yourself living amongst other international students. There are other housing types as well such as private rooms but those are more difficult to get. Although the campus is located further outside the city centre, I really liked the location as it was close to the mountains and nice lakes and fjords. Grocery stores are close by,  although the one just outside the accommodation is the most expensive one in Norway (Meny). The good thing, however, is that Bybanen (the tram that goes from the airport to the city centre) is located just in front of the accommodation which made it very easy to travel both from the airport and city centre throughout the day at regular intervals (5-10 minutes). Connections were also good at night time and the price for transportation for students is comparable to what you pay in Innsbruck and the region of the Tyrol.

University life

As an English student you will be a student of the department of Humanities, which is located up on a small hill close to the city centre and close to all the other university buildings. The building itself reminded me a bit of our Geiwi building but compared to Innsbruck the department in Bergen is slightly smaller. Studying in Norway means having fewer classes but focusing more intensely on one subject. I enrolled in two classes, one Literature and one Linguistic class, both of which I enjoyed and which provided me with theory as well as practical exercises on the subjects. In our “Modern Linguistic” class we, for example, had to analyse film scenes and use linguistic devices to decode utterances and connect them to characters‘ personalities such as age, gender or region. The staff at the university was very helpful and it was also easy to get to know local students during group projects or at organized events such as the exam pub quiz, which is usually held before the exam season to prepare students with possible exam questions. I highly recommend checking the course schedule for the upcoming terms before your departure as the amount of classes offered for international students is usually rather limited. The classes are mostly seminars, which had a pleasant learning atmosphere and were very productive.

Leisure activities

If you are an outdoor enthusiast, Bergen is certainly the perfect destination. It offers great possibilities for hiking and all kinds of sports. You can for example get a gym membership with Sammen, which is affordable and allows you to use all the student gyms throughout the city and includes access to gym classes and  the indoor swimming pool and sauna. The app UT provides you with information on hiking paths in the whole of Norway and because Norway is a cold country skiing is of course also possible in  higher altitudes which can be reached by train from Bergen (~1,5 hours). You certainly won’t have trouble finding friends as the amount of international students and social activities offered are high. If you want to meet the locals I can recommend to join a student organization. Whether you enjoy singing in a choir, joining a debate club or becoming a member of a sport’s club - there is something for everyone. My afternoons were always filled with spending time at the university library or joining student organization events in the afternoon. Although Bergen isn’t a big city, the student bars in the centre are usually busy and the student accommodation offers events in the evenings during the week. Of  course I also wanted to explore the rest of Norway, which was easy as the bus and train connections from Bergen are very good. Bergen itself is a charming city and rightfully called the „Gateway to the fjords“. Other trips that will stay in my mind forever are camping up at the famous „Troll‘s tongue“, Trolltunga, visiting Lysefjord or spending a weekend up in Tromsø trying to spot the Northern lights.

All in all, I can only recommend spending a semester abroad in Bergen. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed and will also fall in love with the city and the Norwegian way of life as I did. I don’t mind providing you with more information if you are curious about anything else regarding student life in Bergen/Norway.