What is it like to live at folk high school?

Most people who show up at the start of school are quite excited, and maybe a little nervous. Everything and everyone is new, and you know little about what awaits you. Which room will be yours, what will it be like to live so close to the others, and how good the atmosphere will be between you and your roomie?

One of the first evenings I walked past the living room at Skogly, where another student called me in to watch a film. Eventually we became a big group that gets together, and we ended up having movie nights there several times a week.

- Håkon, former student

Living at the boarding school

Staying at a boarding school is part of going to folk college. The boarding school is really just a fancy word for everything that is not related to teaching, such as your room, bathroom, living room, kitchen and laundry room. Most of the pupils who start may have had a little sneak peek at what the rooms look like, but you have no idea which room will be yours until you show up on the first day of school. At Lundheim Folkehøgskole there are both single and double rooms, with and without bathroom. Former student Håkon says that he didn't know much about which room he got before he came here.

At Lundheim, students either live in one of the boarding buildings or the main building.

I got a single room with a bathroom since it was available, and it was pretty good. But, I could also live in a double room with someone else.

- Håkon, former student

Roomies

Another student who started at the same time as Håkon was Samund, and he had deliberately chosen a double room, as he thought it could be a fun experience. Little did Samund know that his roomie came straight from the USA, had jet lag and didn't understand a word of Norwegian.

- I thought he didn't like me at all since he only answered yes and no and went straight to bed at two in the morning, the very first day, laughs Samund . After this somewhat amusing misunderstanding, the rest of the year went smoothly. Much of living in a double room is about agreeing on how you want it to be. Both agree on which shelves and cupboards belong to the other, and that one respects when the other wants to be left alone.

Samund thinks there are many positive things about living together, because you always have someone to hang out with, and it's easier to get along if something fun happens . Sometimes they talked for two hours, while at other times it was perfectly fine to be silent, he says. They quickly figured out how to make it work between them. If he had elected again, the election would still have been a double room.

Everyone who lives in a double room would like to make it work, so then there will quickly be good arrangements on how you want it. You quickly got a feeling for how to give the other person some privacy.

- Samund, former student

The social bubble

Going to community college should be social. At Lundheim there is no exception. Håkon started e-sports, and expected that there would not be much socializing in the evenings, but that the students would mostly sit in their own rooms.

Håkon says that as soon as dinner was finished, they used to gather in the gaming room to play or hang out, and there was a nice mix of students from all lines. He says that they also spent a lot of time in the living room playing billiards or ping pong, and that there were quite a few rounds of Monopoly. At Lundheim, students have access to several student kitchens, in addition to living rooms and the living room. It is packed with good sofas, games, TV, Playstation and much more, and is a perfect place to hang out in the evenings.

Kiosk and activities

Going to Lundheim Folkehøgskole should be social. Every evening, either the teachers or the fellows organize something fun in the evening. Whether you want to join or not is up to you, but the opportunity is there. Stippene has a kiosk twice a week, and they start movie nights, cannonballs, Tetris tournaments or quizzes.

The quizzes tend to be fun, as people form teams and compete in everything from Pokemon to US states. If you win, you get a great prize from the kiosk.

- Samund, former student