Today was quite possibly one of the single most interesting days of my entire Admissions career. Situated on the south western coast of Norway is the country’s second largest city, Bergen. Slightly smaller than Oslo in the east, Bergen is the major shipping and oil center for all of Norway, much of Scandanavia and western Europe. Several thousand years ago it served as the country’s capital due to the extent of shipping and trading that happened here.
Three and one half hours to the north of Bergen is another United World College, "Nordic Red Cross", in a tiny village called Flekke (pronounced fleck-eh), population: 214. This was to be my destination today. I left my hotel by taxi, bound for stage 2 of my journey: "the fast boat", which would take me two hours up the coast. We arrived to Rysjedalsvika right on time, where I then boarded a coach bus destined for Flekke, fourty minutes to the north.
United World College – Nordic Red Cross is an amazing place! Beautifully situated between the mountains, waterfalls, and greener-than-green fields full of sheep, is a school of 200 incredibly bright, talented, and diverse students. Like my encounters in Duino, Italy, these 200 students have arrived here to the hills of Flekke from 85 different nations around the world! I spent the day meeting with students from far away places like Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Tajikistan, and Swaziland, just to name a few. By the end of the day, I knew this was a place to which I would most definitely return. Students here are enrolled in a two year intensive International Baccalaureate program, and in speaking with them are clearly very passionate about their academics, and the opportunities which they have before them.
By 5:30 this evening I needed to say goodbye to my friends at Nordic, and reboard the bus headed for another beautiful ride on the "fast boat" for my return to Bergen. I was back to the Thon tonight around 9:30, took in a quick dinner, and am now preparing for bed … I will be departing for world-class Amsterdam, Netherlands at 6:05AM tomorrow morning. And, oh yeah, still no word on the luggage; stay tuned.
Ser deg senere for now (see you later in Norwegian).
James T. Richardson
Associate Director of Admission
FACHEX Coordinator
