Friendly folk, a great place to visit, but...

Two Norwegian students, Nina Larsen and Pauline Stakkeland, who are on a six-month study trip to Northern Ireland, decided to spend a day sight-seeing in Londonderry on the recommendation of acquaintances in Belfast.

Although they have spent most of their time in the east of the Province, the two ladies are keen to see as much of the country as they can before they return to Norway in June.

The ladies hail from Kristinsand in South Norway, and are studying health and leisure. They will graduate as teachers in June from university in Straume.

“This is our last semester. We have been studying for four years. Jobs are hard to find in our city because of the university, se we will have to look outside the city,” said Nina.

“A lot of people told us we had to come here,” said Pauline, continuing: “People in Belfast were telling us that his is a place of interest.

“We did not know it was the City of Culture last year, but one of the places we chose to visit was St Columb’s Cathedral. The city is really nice,” she said.

Fellow Erasmus student Nina, chimed in: “It is really beautiful.”

Asked what they thought were the big culture differences between the Norwegian and Northern Ireland ways of life, Pauline picked a couple of ‘chestnuts’...

“I like it. The weather could have been better for us, but I really like it here. The people are so nice.”

Nina added: “Yes, the people are open and friendly.”

However, they also noticed some big cultural differences too...

“People drink more here,” she said cautiously.

Pauline also noted another difference - again, to do with consumption...

“I think we eat more healthy back home than people do here,” she said, adding: “People here seem to eat a lot of fast foods. We don’t eat as much fast food at home. We are also used to cycling and walking everywhere at home. Here there is no culture for cycling.