Some thoughts from our international students

Hi! We are nursing students from Portugal, more specifically from Madeira Island. We’re in Norway since 28th of March until 2nd of June. We came here because of a program that is called Erasmus to do an internship in the mental health area. At first, we were a little bit worried to come here because of the language and to stay far away from home for two months. We tried to learn the Norwegian language, but it has been a challenge for us because it’s very different comparing to the Portuguese language. Since we came here, it has been a good experience because we could get to know another culture and the customs of the country. We visited some cities out of Fredrikstad, tried some of the traditional foods and we made some friends from other countries. On the 17th of May, we went to Oslo to see the parade, the different types of bunad, the palace, the royal family, the Russ and their buses. We had the opportunity to eat the “famous” food of the day like hotdogs, ice cream, champagne and strawberries, caviar, smoked salmon and, at the end of the day, we ate a mix of barbecue meats, and it was awesome.

Regarding the internship, we could see big difference on the health care system comparing to Portugal and we could learn a lot not just on the interest area (mental health) but in other areas of the health system.

We had the opportunity to be at Fontenehuset for three weeks and it has been a great experience to learn more about the health system in Norway. In Portugal we don’t have this type of institutions, we just have health centers for appointments, and we have two institutions, one for men and the other for women for acute situations or situations that, for example, people who has mental issues that need care for a long time, can be there hospitalized until they recover.

On the other hand, in Fontenehuset they care about social recovery like to empower the people. They are divided into three departments: at the first floor we can find the Central, were they have the reception, work and study department, people can drink coffee and have a good time to socialize; at the second floor we found the kitchen and social programs, were anyone can help to make the lunch; at the third floor they have the communication and social media department.

Anyone can join the Fontenehuset if they want. The people in here can do some tasks they would like to do to help with the maintenance of the main house. Also, here in Fontenehuset, they help people to find jobs or things they would like to do. In other words, they do all of this to make people feel well with their own and find a purpose to deal with the adversities in their lifes.

Débora, Laura, Bea