So far, our group has traveled the first leg of our trip, driving five hours from Decorah to Chicago. Soon, we will be flying to Copenhagen for a quick layover and arriving in snowy Norway, having lost seven hours of time, and many hours of daylight!
Our excursion will begin in the East of Norway, with a few days in Oslo. Here, we will be doing site visits, spend time finding our favorite part of the city, and look at the role environmentalism has played in the urbanization of Oslo, the 2019 European Green Capital. Next, we will venture to Lillehammer, Norway, the home of the 1994 Winter Olympics, the Nansen Dialogue Network, and the Maihaugen open-air museum. We will finish our trip off in the rainy and beautiful west coast city of Bergen. Our class will be blogging about our experiences studying ethics across the country of Norway, sharing pictures and travel fun along the way. Stay tuned for updates on our trip!
Before leaving Decorah, religion professor Jim Martin-Schramm gave us an introduction to ethics. We started looking at tough questions facing the world in the 21st century, giving us a simple glimpse at the expansive topics we will cover. Our class will be focusing specifically on the ethical questions surrounding environmentalism, urbanization and immigration in 21st century Norway. We will visit organizations across Norway that try to tackle these issues, and we will engage in our own ethical decision-making as we move through the course.
We are waiting in our terminal to board our flight, playing card games and making sure that we have everything we could need before touching down in Scandinavia. We are looking forward to experiencing the Norwegian phenomenon of koselig (coziness) and connecting with the natural world through skiing, snowshoeing and hot chocolate drinking. Say lykke til! (good luck!) as we get ready to leave for Norway!
