Enrique Garcia

Hello, I'm Enric from Barcelona. I travelled to Norway with the help of Travel Work and it was an unforgettable experience. I'll tell you about it. After all the paperwork and arrangements in Barcelona, they put me in touch with the people who were going to be my «hosts» in Norway. They explained the best and cheapest way to get there (which is very important).
I went to work in the north of Norway in a place called Skipnes Fiskevaeret, it's an island that can only be reached by boat, it's beautiful and also very peaceful. It took me a day and a half to get there, as after flying from Barcelona to Amsterdam to Oslo, I took a couple of trains until I reached the north of the country. The size of Norway is considerable due to its elongated shape.

After the bus and boat to get there.

When I arrived there, everyone was waiting for me, well there were only three people: Hilde (my boss, you could say), Julian (a Swiss guy from Travel Work Switzerland), and Ole (the cook).
The next day, the work began, and the truth is it wasn't very hard; the pace of work was rather slow. It's also true that it was still July. Cleaning rooms, preparing beds, and helping with whatever you were told, the truth is you didn't have a specific job, and that helped to make it more enjoyable.

The weekend did indeed mean more work, as people came to eat at the restaurant and also at the pub in the evenings. You can really tell that they can't go out much in winter, and they come out very determined to have a good time during the summer. Oh! I almost forgot, when I arrived I was able to witness something quite strange for us here: the midnight sun. During my first 3 weeks, I had 24 hours of sunshine. It was a lot of fun, and it didn't affect my sleep, but I suppose it might affect some people, I don't know. By the way, the hotel would be what we call rural tourism here, as they are old fishermen's cottages recycled to be lived in. They have the basics – a kitchen, bathroom, fireplace, and electricity. Some are better than others, but that's basically what they are. If you want, you can visit their website and see for yourselves.

The people there treated me wonderfully, it's something I'll remember for a long time, especially all the people who managed the hotel, they did me countless favours and made my stay there much easier, besides treating me like a guest and showing me many places in the country during my free days. By the way, there isn't much to do nearby during your free days, so bring good books or music if you get bored easily, although you have plenty of land to explore on an island practically to yourself, with barely 20 houses and perhaps 50 people living there in the middle of August.

During your days off, you can visit somewhere nearby, but staying overnight outside the hotel will cost you a fair bit of money, and will use up your entire weekly wage. Furthermore, with only a day and a half, you won't get very far in such a large country. Ultimately, during my stay there, I felt it was more of a cultural exchange, where I had to work a few hours, than someone having a summer job in another country; for me, it was one of the best experiences of my life, I would definitely recommend it and enjoy it!