As a fun farewell activity, 12 of us chose to participate in the Oslo Fjord sauna experience! Located at the water by the Munch Museum, we all made our way there in the cold.

We stepped into the hot sauna, and immediately knew it was going to be an interesting experience. After spending enough time in the sauna and breaking into a sweat, the cold air and even colder fjord actually sounded pleasant. We learned to not stand outside for too long before jumping in it!!

After the first time of jumping in, our adrenaline was rushing, and it was easier to jump in the next couple times. We all jumped in even though we weren’t expecting to!

On the morning of Saturday, January 21st, we all headed to the Munch Museum in Oslo. This beautiful museum opened October 22nd, 2021, and is one of the largest single-artist museums in the world! World-famous painter, Edvard Munch, willed all of his art to the city of Oslo four years prior to his death in 1944. This museum is now the number one place to explore the life and art of Munch. His expansive work is what led the museum to contain 13 floors, each holding 1-2 exhibitions displaying fields of Munch’s work, offering a look into the artist’s life and even showcasing art inspired by and/or related to Munch. Not only did Munch experiment with painting, but he also dabbled in graphic art, sculpting, drawing, and even photo/film. The museum is complete with breath-taking views of Oslo and the fjord on the top floor!

One of the most notable exhibitions is titled Infinite. It showed numerous displays of very real human themes through Munch’s eye. These themes reflected commonalities like loneliness, love, death, and even anxiety.

We found the themes of loneliness and death to be the most impactful. In summary, Munch’s theme of loneliness displays the involuntary solitude that we all inevitably feel as some point that is unavoidable. He shows how we can feel alone by ourselves, but also around others. Mia’s favorite painting rom this collection is pictured below. She noted right away that the background is reminiscent of Munch’s most famous painting, Scream, and that drew her to it right away.

Another notable painting that Isaiah loved shows people in grief, wearing dark clothes in the background while a person who has presumably passed away lies on the bed. In the foreground, one can see a little girl, dressed in bright red making eye contact with the viewer. Her hands cover her cheeks with her mouth wide open (similar to The Scream). Paintings like this (by Munch) revolve around the people who are left behind, with this one, in particular, being experienced through the view of a child. Death definitely came suddenly during Munch’s time, however, this still resonates today as it is still hard to face death and it could be argued that this exact reality is depicted through the painting. We never know how to exactly face death, and neither did Munch. 

In the Midwest, we are might be a bit more familiar with the concept of friluftsliv. Whether you have heard the term before or not, you have actually indulged in this. This could take the form of skiing, ice skating, walking, snowshoeing, hiking etc. The term friluftsliv loosely translates to “free air life”. It’s a Norwegian term that refers to the concept of enjoying the outdoors. The Norwegians and perhaps the Scandinavian and Nordic regions have a special relationship with nature all year round. With long and cold winters, one really has to adapt to the darkness. 

Led by Irene Hirsti-Kvam (nature guide), Cecilie Dawes(Food Studio’s founder) and writer Marte Garman(photographer-writer), we took a ride up to Bøler early in the morning. As our altitude changed, I couldn’t help but notice the change in temperature as it got slightly colder. We were met by Marte and Irene who led us on our merry way to the short trek up to the Skog in Bøler. We made our way through the icy paths and fields in the cloudy residential area before making our way up through the forest. Several times, Irene offered us “stegjerner” to get a better grip on the ice and with our Midwestern get-on attitude, most of us made it without a single slip. As we made our way up higher and higher in the hills just outside Oslo (Yes, they are just hills trust me), one couldn’t help but start to notice the change in the atmosphere. Of course, there was snow, but you are removed from the noise of the trams, the cars and the lights of Oslo. You are transported to a world filled with serenity, long towering trees, snow-covered grounds and green grass! Yes! Green grass! Because Norway is a coastal country, they have access to the Ocean which means that the air that blows across this area is warmer hence the grass remains green when the snow slightly melts. 

So, we get to our campsite, and I can’t quite describe the exact shade of the greens and the white snow. It can only be similar to scenes in the Hobbiton world where Merry and Pippin live in the Shire. It was green, and white, with rocks, and a river, it was teaming with life in spite of the low temperatures. Cecile already had the stew going and I personally was really excited about it! (reader if you can’t yet tell, I love food!) We had brief introductions as we made our way around the sheepskins. We then had the opportunity to eat Cecile’s soup made of ancient Norwegian barley and rye and beans. In spite of my rare appetite, I have high standards for new food items that make their way into my mouth. That stew was “bomb” or as Professor Dana might say “It’s an environment”.  We then had time to explore the surrounding area where some students were able to explore the valley nearby and get a view of the nearby river. We had the choice to take part in wilderness activities such as how to start a bonfire, making Norwegian apple pancakes and hammocking! It’s pretty safe to say that every one of us enjoyed those bonfire pancakes, I strongly recommend trying them once. After having our pancakes and cups of tea, all we had left was to help with taking down the equipment and set back down the hill. I have never been more grateful for those “stegjerner”!! They made a difference as we once again made our way down the icy hills. Overall it was a lovely experience and highly recommend that everyone takes the time to take part in friluftsliv. 

Find the article to the food studio for more information.

Our group had a planned dinner at Anni’s Mathallen on January 10th, 2023. This was designated to celebrate a few birthdays- Sophia and Tanya- which happened during the week!  This was a perfect end to a busy day which started earlier with touring the Deichman Bjørvika Library near the Oslo opera house.  This event took place at the restaurant Arepas Angelita which had Columbian dishes that give a spin on traditional Scandinavian food options present in Oslo.  Among the food choices were Arepas and Tamales along with a variety of side dishes. Following the dinner, some students casually toured the food hall and even ended the night with gelato!

Kilden = The source      Kjønn = gender       Forskning = research

This summary is based on a LinkedIn post from Kilden:

Kilden genderresearch.no welcomed students from St. Olaf College in Minnesota during their visit to Norway. The students are participating in the course “Gender Equality in Norway”, and were accompanied by Professor of Psychology Dana Gross and Associate Professor of Norwegian, Tanya Thresher. Thank you for visiting us!

We presented Kilden and a wide variety of our activities as a national knowledge center for gender perspectives and gender balance in research.

Kilden is an independent unit under the Norwegian Research Council, Norges forskningsråd, and we communicate, disseminate and summarize research on gender and equality.

Together, we discussed the relevance of gender perspectives in a wide range of research and topics, using the new policy brief Gender equality and the green transition of the labour market as a relevant example.

Photo credit: Kilden genderresearch.no

Hai hai!

On January 19th, our class trekked out into the cold and ice to go visit one of the offices of the central statistics bureau in Norway, called Statistisk sentralbyrå or Statistics Norway. For most, this was one of many interesting site visits during our time in Oslo… but for this statistics nerd, it was my dream!

We were able to hear three fascinating presentations from a variety of staff members, on gender statistics, LGBTQ+ quality of life, immigration trends, and Sámi statistics (or lack thereof). Gendering statistics is not something commonly discussed in an Introduction to Statistics course, but our presenters explain the compelling reasons why Norway considers gender in every analysis and is able to use statistics to understand the state of gender in Norway better. While Norway is a country notorious for its commitment to gender equality, statistical analysis can show us that there is still a significant gender divide in the labor market.

We also learned that Norway is a country full of immigrants, who largely contribute to their population growth. With the war in Ukraine continuing, Norway will continue a decades-long trend of providing refugees a place to stay. We ended by learning about the difficulty of gaining statistical information related to the Sámi population in Norway. Due to the wide breadth of the Sámi community in Norway and a history of oppression from the Norwegian government, Sámi statistics give us more of a vague idea of Sámi in Norway rather than a truly representative analysis of the Sámi.

While statistics may not be everyone’s cup of tea, we cannot ignore that knowledge is power. Statistics allow people to truly understand what their country is and its state of affairs, irrespective of cultural and political notions. If you are interested in Statistics Norway’s work, please see their most recent comprehensive report This is Norway, 2021.

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Stacie ’23

Women & Gender Studies, Data Science & Statistics, and Public Health Studies