Our arrival at Sogn og Fjordane University College
We were accompanied to the campus of Sogn og Fjordane University College located in Sogndal similar to our alma mater, in the afternoon by Professor Erling Holden, who we met yesterday when he joined us on our glacier hike. Like Colgate, the school has a relatively small size and focuses on Bachelor’s degrees. Its location in a small town surrounded by the Sognefjorden (fjord) and proximity to the Nigardsbreen Glacier reminded me of Colgate’s surrounding natural appeal as well.
We first attended a lecture with students in the Bachelor’s Degree in Renewable Energy Program. The class, Technical Themes in Renewable Energy, has similar renewable energy themes that we explored in Professor Parks’ class at Colgate yet went more in depth into the physics and mathematics behind energy. The lecture setting was much more informal than in the U.S., as students addressed their professor by his first name, Simon, and breaks were taken after each 45 minute time period.
Simon lectures the class about thermodynamics and work
The topic of today’s lecture was an introduction to thermodynamics. Simon began by refreshing the students’ memories with some physics by defining heat, work, and the ideal gas law. Simon explained the first law of thermodynamics by defining the internal energy of a system as the heat of the system minus the amount of work the system does. The class also covered quasi-static processes and analyzed work through the pressure-volume curve.
The class was in an interactive setting. Each student, including us Americans, was given “PowerVote” remote controls to answer multiple-choice questions. Once each student answered the question, the class was given time to discuss and debate. The first question asked what would happen to the internal energy of a gas enclosed within a cylinder if the piston is pushed to compress the gas. The majority of students answered that the internal temperature would increase. After small group discussions, Simon revealed that the true answer is that the internal temperature may increase, decrease, or stay the same, depending on the amount of heat that the gas gains or losses.
Once the two-hour lecture was complete, Professor Parks was given the opportunity to share some information about Colgate and our extended study course to our Norwegian friends. She began by providing some general information about Colgate, such as it’s location in New York state, including some jests comparing its population to the much smaller population of Norway. Our liberal arts curriculum was also explained, which is foreign to many European students as higher education is usually tailored to specific pre-professional paths outside the U.S.
We were all certainly surprised when Christian, one of the students, came out with his guitar and began playing “Home” and “Better Together” by Jack Johnson for some entertainment while Ilef, a second student, set up a video for us to watch. It turned out that these two students spent four months last summer kayaking the entire coastline of Norway from Sweden to Russia and wanted to share the story of their environmentally friendly journey with us. The two had prepared for 20 months and were sponsored by local companies and the University College for a sustainable, carbon neutral journey around the nation. The two shared their anxieties, worries, and uncertainties throughout the journey.
Hanging out with Norwegian students on the green
The Norwegian students invited us to a pizza party on their grounds where we were able to ask more questions about Christian and Ilef’s journey as well as life at the University College more generally. The shining sun met us on the lawn and the picnic was a success when conversations shifted from academic to more informal and friendly as we got to know our new Norwegian friends.