Lisa Nordemo: University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Why did you want to do an exchange? 

I wanted to travel to a country that spoke a language I spoke but had a different culture. I wanted to live in a culture that was designed for extroverts and where nobody had heard of Jantelagen. I wanted to have an adventure of a lifetime.

Which courses did you take?

As a Business student, I had some leverage to choose other courses that were not business. Since I've worked as a drama pedagogue I chose to study:

Entrepreneurship in Culture and art. A great teacher who was genuinely interested in his students. The course was practical and we learned the methods of entrepreneurship.

Drama for teaching and learning. Another practical class where we got to design drama for the others in the class but also 16 five-year-olds.

Communication and behavior. My favorite class. We learned about everyday
communication, equity and how to enhance our communication in a very concrete way.

Educational psychology. We learned about how people learn, motivation,
evaluation etc.

UW-Madison in general was a great university. There were alot of courses to
choose from and easy to switch and quit courses. However it was a bit tricky to sign up for them. They had many libraries and even a building with trees inside all year around.

What was the student life like outside of your courses?

The two unions on campus had ice creams and lots of activities. There were 900 clubs to choose from and an Organization fair at the start of each semester. I got emailed many times a week of activities that were drop in and free food. It was quite easy to travel around America, like Chicago which is only 3 hours away by bus from Madison.

What was your best experience during your exchange?

The best day was a Saturday that started with a visit to the Farmers market with my classmate and her friends. I clicked with her friends and they invited me to brunch. After hours of Brunch in the warm sun, I went for a swim in the lake, and then met up with my friends at a Karaoke club. I convinced my friend to buy tickets to the Marching band concert and we sang along to all the songs we knew. We even cried when old graduated students got to say goodbye and have closure that Covid19 didn't give them. The perfect day ended with a house party. It was the perfect day and I realized I was perfectly happy.

What was the biggest challenge during your exchange?

The biggest challenge was to not feel rejected by other people. In my dorm nobody said hello or even looked you in the eye, even though we saw each other everyday. I went to parties where nobody wanted to start a conversation, just play beer pong with their friends. It was easy to feel alone. But to understand that it “was their loss”, was sometimes a struggle.

Advice for future exchange students

I signed up for a lot of clubs and then asked myself "I only have four months, what will make me happy today?" Sometimes that answer was to go to a sorority meeting, sometimes it was to eat an ice cream and sometimes to just watch Netflix all night. I advise other students to really make the most out of your journey and say yes to things.

Join American clubs, like a fraternity or sorority, the knitting club or a choir. It's easy to just hang out with internationals otherwise.

Book in to travel the country. I joined the club “Alternative Breaks” where you could travel America and do charity work, for a small fee. That was a great way to make friends, see the non tourist part of America and actually be a part of the charity culture.