Living in Bodø
The Suburb of Mørkved
Just a walk down the hill from entrance A and B, you will find the Mørkved “centre”. There are two food shops (Rimi and Coop), a fast food restaurant (Mørkved Grill), and a pizza restaurant (Dolly Dimples), a café/bar (Puls). There are also two banks (Nordlandsbanken and Sparebank1), a combined newsagent and video rental store (Olakiosken) , and one hairdresser for men and women (Hettys) and a hairdresser school (Frisørskolen), where you can get a cheap haircut. As Mørkved is only a suburb there is obviously more choice of shopping and entertainment in Bodø city centre.
The city offers nearly everything, cafés, restaurants, bars, churches, post offices, malls, cultural houses, cinemas, theatres, etc. For those living in Mørkved, it’s easy to get into town, since there are a variety of buses going to and from Mørkved to the city centre.
If you are interested in food from you own country, there are two international food shops in town, and both are located in Storgata. These are more expensive than normal, though. You have to search for meat in Norway, because a lot of the meat is mixed. It is possible to get non mixed food, but you’ll have to search. Coop near school has a large variety of fresh food and fish, and there is also a fish dealer in the Hunstad Mall (about 15 min. walk from school.) In the city there is a Fish Store, with the best selection of fish in town.
You will find a wide range of clothing shops and furniture shops. Some of the more inexpensive clothing shops are; Cubus, H&M, Jack and Jones, Vero Moda, Lindex, KapAhl, and some more. The fashion is typical Western Europe, so for some it might be hard to find clothes that match the ones from their home country. Cheap shops for household things are; Ciro, Nille, Europris, among others. You can find them in www.gulesider.no (English version), remember to write Bodø area. Most shops are found either near City Nord or in the city centre. Somewhere in between the city centre and City Nord there is a second hand shop, run by the Salvation Army. There you can find some really cheap furniture.
Cafes, Bars and Nightclubs
There is plenty to do in Bodø in the evenings. There are many cafes, Kafe Kafka, Paviliongen, Min Plass and En Kopp being popular. There are also many bars and nightclubs in Bodø, Da Carlo, Metz, Barbeint, Top 13, The Rock Café and G. Most of the cafes are open until 24.00 on weekdays and a bit later in the weekend. Many of the nightclubs and bars stay open until 03.00. Normally you have to be over 18 or 20 to enter the cafés and clubs after 20:00, even though you are not going to drink.
There is a wide variety of restaurants in Bodø, and some of them are really worth going to. But keep in mind that since food is expensive, dining out is also quite expensive.
Bodø has different concert scenes, both located in the city and Mørkved. We are known as a city with a lot of cultural activities. The best concert scene in town is the students’ own, at Samfunnet (on campus), at Sinus in the centre of Bodø or The Rock Café. There is also a culture house (Kulturhus) which organises and hosts concerts and theatre productions and other cultural events.
Cinema
The cinema is located in Glasshuset. The films are subtitled. Most films that are screened are in English. The price is about NOK 80 pr person. There is no student discount. You can purchase the tickets on internet, but you would have to buy to register your email address first at. www.framkino.com If you buy a booklet of 5 tickets at a time it is a bit cheaper.
A useful link to find out what happens in Bodø is: www.bodoe.com (Destination Bodø), or check the BodøNu (a free newspaper which comes out every Wednesday).
We encourage you to get off campus and explore Bodø and the surroundings of Bodø. You can start by checking the website: www.bodoe.no. Both in the centre of Bodø and the Bodø area, there are places that you should check out. Some of the places we will recommend are; Saltstraumen, Kjerringøy, Landego, Svartisen, The Lofoten Islands, etc. We recommend you to read the guides given to you over these different places. There is also a book entitled, “Turer i Bodø” which contains maps and descriptions which you may find useful.
There are many religious communities in Bodø, but there is no mosque, a temple either for Hinduisms or Buddhists, nor is there a synagogue. There are a lot of different church communities, from Jehovahs witnesses, Philadelphia church, Methodist church, Mormons, the Advent church, etc. There are also many churches owned by the Norwegian government, for the state religion, Protestantism. There is also a humanistically ethical association situated in Norway, with an office in Bodø. The Salvation Army is very active in Norway, both to the Norwegian Community and in the helping of other countries.
For people interested in sports, Bodø is opening a brand new indoor sports arena in November this year. Apart from sports clubs there is also other cultural activities, such as choirs, bowling, outdoor activities, etc. We advise you to take part of this so that you will learn about the community, and get to know people. The best way to socialize is to find others who are interested in the same thing(s) as you are. There is an International Centre (Internasjonalt senter) in the city of Bodø, where you can meet others who are adapting to Norwegian culture. Many Norwegians are involved in different organisations, like the Red Cross, Amnesty International, Save the Children Fund, along with many others. These organizations work across Nations, and you can help a lot by sharing information about your country, and vice versa. There is also a cultural centre, where people from all over the world come together and share experiences and thoughts with each other.
There are phone boxes located at several places around the campus. Most of them take pre –paid phone- and credit cards, and some take coins. Pre-paid phone cards can be bought from Pensum. The international dialling code for calling to Norway is +47 before the number. If you want to call from Norway, you have to dial 00, before the code and number for your country. If you want to have a mobile phone, the cheapest way is to bring your cellular phone with you, and buy a subscription in Norway. There are also a lot of good offers on cellular phones here, but you can’t always depend on these. Buying a cash card for use for international calls is very expensive, and not recommended, but for use in Norway this is probably cheapest. There are also special international pre-paid phone cards offered, that you can buy in some shops in the centre of Bodø. Most Norwegians have cellular phones, and text messaging/SMS is very popular, and comparatively inexpensive.
If you need to do an emergency call to your family or friends, contact the International office, and you can make a call from the office.
Always notify the post office, the university, the National Register’s Office, and the Student Welfare Organization. If you don’t want to receive junk mail you have to notify the post office, and they will send you a sticker you have to put on your mail box.
An example of how to write the address here in Norway:
Name
Address
Postcode City
Norway
If you don’t already have an e-mail account, we recommend you to get one. This is the cheapest way of staying in touch with your friends and family. You can also use the schools computers 24 hours 7 days a week. You cannot use chat rooms (like msn messenger) on the school computers. As a student of Bodø University College you’ll get a student e-mail account, but we recommend you to get a Hotmail (www.hotmail.com) or a yahoo (www.yahoo.com) account, or any other free e-mail accounts, which you can open on any computer. However, do make sure to check the school’s email account, as a lot of important information is sent to this account and it is your responsibility to stay updated.
The school has some fax machines to be used by the students, located on the fourth floor of the student union building. You can send faxes by using a copy card. You purchase this in the library copy room. You can receive faxes through the international office.
The fax number is: +47 75 51 75 51.
Bus
There are numerous buses that go to and from campus and the town centre. As a student you can get a ‘Klippekort’, which is a card that contains credits for 50 local bus journeys. Although the card might seem expensive at first, it is a reduction of over 50 % of full fare if you pay every every time. The card can be bought on the bus or at the bus station in Bodø. Remember to ask for student discount.
You will have to show your student card with a valid registration sticker. The card is refundable so if you leave Bodø and you have not used all of the journeys, you can get your money back for the unused journeys. On Saturday and Sunday the bus service is reduced, so do check the returns before you go somewhere. Also during the weekend some routes change, so check the timetable (you get one on the bus). Useful link: www.nbuss.no. There are three different buses leaving from the school to the city centre. There is also a bus going to the student residences at Flatvold.
Note: the bus ticket is valid two hours one way, so you can make a stopover from where you got on the bus to the final destination. The ticket is not valid for returns.
The most important routes going between the city centre/Flatvold to Mørkved are the following routes:
Route 11: Busstorget (Bus Station) - Høgåsen (30 min.) You have to get off the bus stop at Shell and walk 10 min to school. This bus only takes about 10 – 15 min from the Bus Station.
Route 12: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Bjørndalslia (Mørkved) via Bodøsjøen and Østbyen. (35 min.)
Route 13: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Skavdalslia - Bjørndalslia (Mørkved) (20 min.).
Route 22: Busstorget (Bus Station) – Høgskolen (Bodø University College) – Bjørndalslia (25 min.)
Route 24: Bjørndalslia – Høglia – Rønvik (Flatvoll student home).
There are two bus stops near Bodø University College and different buses go to Bodø from each of them, look them up in your bus time table, and keep in mind which side you are on as the bus stop going to the centre is on the opposite side of the road as the one you get off when going to school.
You can bring your own car, and not need to get it registered through Norwegian authorities for the 1st year. You should contact the custom service when you arrive to Bodø, and they can see if you need to register it through the Norwegian authorities. If you change your address to Norway, you can’t drive a metre before contacting the custom service. If you would like to buy or rent a car, check the yellow pages or visit the site www.gulesider.no. You can use your country’s drivers’ license for up to 1 year. The European Drivers’ license can be used like the Norwegian, and you don’t have to change it. The drivers’ licence must have been approved by the Geneva Convention or the Vienna Convention for issued drivers’ licence. Some country’s drivers’ license, like the Ecuadorian, is not valid for driving in Norway. You should contact the police station or the Directorate of Road about your country’s drivers’ licence.
The taxi service is expensive. You have to pay around NOK 160 during the day to go from Bodø centre to Bodø University College. In the night, during weekends and public holidays it is more expensive. You can’t normally bargain with the taxi, because they have a taximeter in the car, and they have to report over the computer where they are at all time. We strongly advise against the use of a pirate taxi, as they are illegal, and because you can never know who is in the car.
Medical Assistance/Doctor
All citizens who are registered with the National Register Office are entitled to get a regular General Practitioner (GP). A GP is a doctor you go to for any kind of medical problems. If you are in use of a specialist, your GP will find one for you. You are free to choose your GP among any of the ones participating in the GP Scheme. The GP Scheme is voluntary. But if you choose not to join, it will be your responsibility to find a GP who is able to give you an appointment, which in Bodø is close to impossible. You will also have to pay a higher fee to see this GP. You are entitled to change GPs up to twice a year, provided the new GP that you want has room for you on his list. If you wish to change GPs, please contact your local social security office. For information about the national insurance office, visit their website: http://www.trygdeetaten.no/.
Hospital
If you need to go to the hospital during your stay in Bodø, it is situated in the centre of Bodø. The hospital is of course always open. If you are in need of emergency service: you will find the Rønvik Legesenter close to Flatvoll student home. This is also where you have to go even if you live at Mørkved. For immediate care and emergency, call 113. This is the number to the ambulance service, and to be used only in emergencies.
Student Health Fund
As a part of the SOB you are entitled to get some help to cover your medical treatment. You have to contact the SSiB to get an application form and an agreement. You have to pay a minimum of over NOK 1500 to get financial help from the SOB. If your medical treatment rises over NOK 1500, you’ll get 50% of the medical treatment covered by the SOB. You have to pay the whole bill to the doctor, then go to the SOB with the receipt and fill out a form. After a couple of weeks, you’ll get back 50% of the money which you paid the doctor. But remember to keep the receipt, because if not you won’t get your money back. This also covers dental treatment and optical treatment.
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| Published by Tine Viveka Westerberg 07.09.2004 |
| Bodø University College, International Office, NO-8049 Bodø, Norway
Phone: +47 755 17803 (direct), +47 755 17200 (switchboard) , fax +47 755 17551, email: international@hibo.no |