You apply for a major. When the year is over, there may still be programs across the majors that remain the strongest.
A folk high school year is packed with shared experiences, teaching, and trips. Here you will experience more than you thought possible when you started the school year.
Forget packed lunches, here you will find homemade bread and a hot lunch almost every day. In addition, you can help yourself to fruit and a large salad bar.
A boarding school has a lot of food, in fact four times a day, seven days a week. Then it's good to know that some of your best hours of the day are spent in the dining hall. Not just because the food is good, but because that's when you have the best time – time to relax with good friends.
Often these conversations are about everyday things, but sometimes there is also room for some extra deep talk. That is why the dining room is open from early morning until late at night.
In fact, the communal meal with a cup of coffee in hand is one of the things you will miss most after a year of folk high school. And if you sit around long enough, delicious leftover party food will surprisingly often appear after grand events in our function rooms. It's a nice bonus to take with you.
Your good helpers in everyday life are four chefs who will all do their best to ensure that you get nutritious and tasty dinners. There is vegetarian food every day and the cooking team will of course prepare gluten- and lactose-free dishes if you need them.
If you have other dietary needs, just get in touch. There is normally no extra cost associated with this.
Safari.Sunnmøre – 14 days of short-distance joy.
At your new home base, you will spend many days on trips with the whole school. Together with tourists from all over the world, you will see the World Heritage sites in Geiranger with deep fjords and jagged western peaks.
In Ålesund, Norway's most beautiful city, you can have an espresso and on the Runde bird mountain you can see puffins side by side with dedicated nature photographers with photographic equipment worth the price of a Tesla.
At Bjorli, a week of skiing awaits you in what is perhaps the most snow-sure place in the country. At Strandafjellet Ski Center, you can greet ski professionals and experience world-class free-snow skiing in the middle of the Sunnmøre Alps.
The year ends at Hakallegarden. Then the school takes over a large adventure farm and organizes a “fun-in-the-country” festival packed with strange animals, good food, concerts, various workshops, a barbecue and a cowboy party.
Best of all: Next year it's your turn.
A gap year is not the same as a year off.
Instead, you have the opportunity to explore your interests in new ways. You will receive various seminars and workshops with enthusiastic teachers and competent speakers who maintain a high professional level. And perhaps most importantly: The goal here is not to set grades, but to build character.
In the general subjects, you will encounter various topics such as cooperation/conflict resolution, personality tests, mental health, beliefs/values, society, military power, sustainability, creativity, outdoor activities, nutrition/exercise and career guidance.
In folk high schools, we call these common subjects "educational subjects." In simple terms, by education, we mean the knowledge you are left with after you have forgotten what you have learned.
Chew on it a little!
A year at folk high school is different from what you have done in school earlier.
There are fewer subjects and greater freedom. This makes the year different from week to week. Some weeks you are on long courses and study trips. Other periods you are involved in musical projects, ski weeks or meet other folk high schools in football and volleyball tournaments. At the end of the year you are involved in creating a three-day festival at an adventure farm.
Despite the inequalities: Below you will find an example of the closest we get to an average week. There you will also find an overview of what happens over the course of a year.
What will be your highlight of the year remains to be seen...
Every year, students and teachers at the school create a musical. For two weeks, we put all other teaching aside and work solely on this project.
During busy and hectic days, you can express yourself, whether you want to work with drama, dance, band, vocals, costumes, sets or sound and lighting.
If you don't want to be directly involved in the musical work itself, you can either spread joy in the environmental group or take part in a practical carpentry group that has other tasks on those days. What is common to all is that there will be creative days across classes.
Every year, about 2,500 spectators see the production at the Sjøborg Cultural Center. The production ends with a performance for parents during the family weekend.
Last year, the students performed “Rockeulven.” Previous years have included High School Musical, Annie, Madagascar, Happy Feet, Oliver Twist, Ronja the Robber's Daughter, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book.
The school has a partnership with the Ilula YWCA in the village of Ilula in Tanzania.
This partnership is part of the YWCA-YFUM Global's Stop Poverty campaign.
Every year, students at the school raise between 500,000 and 700,000 kroner. It is organized through a student committee called "IlulaLove". This committee ensures that the entire school contributes with sponsored races, flea markets, regular café evenings, live broadcasts on SoMe and various internal challenges.
In addition, the Global.Safari line travels to Ilula every year, bringing them closer to both the project and local youth. They can see the benefits of the collaboration with their own eyes, and communicate this to the rest of the school.
A project being carried out in Ilula has just been voted the very best of all the approximately 8,000 aid projects in the country. This gives us confidence that our partners are using the funds raised in a good way.
A folk high school year includes a number of events. Some of them are tied to your school routine.
These can include student reunions, flea markets and family weekends. In addition, there are events that can vary from year to year, such as concerts, performances, tournaments and open seminars for the village. Below you can read more about the regular events that take place every school year.
Would you like to knit the school's own designed sweater?
One of our teachers, Beate, has created the knitting pattern.
The main pattern for school sweaters in Lettlopi yarn.
Number of stitches and measurements for a M sweater if you would rather knit it in Per Gynt/Smartgarn
School sweaters – pattern on grid paper