STUDENT REPORT
Name of the University: UC Berkeley
Name of the students: Hans Jørgen Eek, Trond Kristensen, Ole-Morten Dyve, Sindre
Dyngen, Eivind Hilling, Jan Trzos-Oftedal, Christin Opheim, Ingrid Halleraker, Ole
Andreas Nygaard, Bendik Knutsen-Øy, Vibeke Møller Isachsen, Lars Grønlund Jensen
Exchange semester: Fall 2009
1. ACADEMIC INFORMATION
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UC Berkeley is one of the most prestigious and well-known universities in the US.
The university ranks first nationally in the number of graduate programs in the top 10
in their fields. The university lay in east bay area close to San Francisco in a town
called Berkeley.
There are 7 Nobel Laureates, 28 MacArthur Fellows, and 4 Pulitzer Prize winners
among its active faculty.
35,409 students as of Fall 2008 including 25,151 undergraduates and 10,258 pursuing
graduate degrees.
The Teaching situation
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All the courses I attended were taught in English. It took a couple of weeks to
adjust to the level of English taught in class and in readings, but it gets easier as
you get used to it.
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The level of study is harder at Berkeley, compared to BI, because of the language
barriers, especially in the beginning. The level of the curriculum I would also
claim to be harder compared to the curriculum used on BI.
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In the classes I attended the teaching was only theoretical.
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Our professors used lecturers as the main way of teaching, except in Innovation
and Entrepreneurship, where we occasionally had group work during the lecture.
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The workload is much more spread out during the whole semester, compared to
BI, where we have one final exam at the end of the semester. In all our classes we
had at least five small assignments during the semester, two mid-terms and a final
exam. These papers and mid-terms is a great part of our final grade, and the final
exam only count for 20-30% of our final grade.
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Through our professor the students had a good relationship with the faculty. The
professor answered questions from the students quickly by mail, and are available
during business hours or after class.
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The relationship between the students in the classroom was good, but in the
courses that I attended, many of the students were Norwegian exchange students.
Required Literature
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All the literature was in English, witch of course also is the first language in the
United States.
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I estimate the level of the literature and the curriculum to be at a higher level
compared to the literature we use at BI. Some of it is of course due to the fact that
most our literature on BI are in Norwegian. But most of the literature used in UC
Berkeley is collected from articles, research and books within the specific field,
making the terminology much harder compared to BI.
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The literature is mainly used to get the detailed knowledge, which you need in your
assignments, mid-terms and exams; at the same time the lectures give you the broad
overview to understand the whole picture.
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The exams are both based on the literature as well as the lectures, and articles
discussed in the lectures.
Exams
 Ours semester consisted of three different courses and independent study.
 The exams where two midterms and one final in each course with questions from the
literature and lectures.
 There was different parameters of how we got our grades, reaction papers was a
essential part of every one of our courses. A reaction paper is a assignment that you
write about that weeks article. Where you criticize and show that you have read the
pre-lecture notes.
 To pass the reaction papers and exams you needed to understand the arguments in the
articles and know the important main points of the literature and lectures.
 Also a large part of the grade was due to mandatory attendance in class
Other
 The library had all the information needed for the courses and was especially helpful
when writing our independent study.
 Students had easy access to the library and all it’s resources.
 Accesses to computers are limited, but since most students bring their laptops,
there are generally available computers in the library.
 Our professor effectively used IT in the teaching to distribute resources like
assignments, lecture notes, relevant literature and other information through b-space, a
service similar to blackboard at BI.
Description of Courses
Course name:
Exam
SOC 119 Society and technology
written
SOC 122A Comparative Perspectives written
SOC 121 Innovation, entrepreneurship written
SOC Independent Study (3 credit)
written
Approved as
Elective
Elective
Obligatory
Bachelors task
2. PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON THE SCHOOL AND THE EXCHANGE
EXPERIENCE
Information before you left
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We received the information package from the university a couple of months before
the semester started. BI and the international office were great in providing us with
information we needed prior to our departure to the United States. Additionally, the
American embassy was very helpful regarding visa issues.
Visa Procedure and travel experiences
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All visa information is described in the US embassy online. There you can fill out the
necessary paper work and schedule an appointment to apply for a visa at the embassy
in Oslo (http://norway.usembassy.gov/.) The visa gets mailed to you a week later.
Remember that in this period they will keep your passport. The visa costs NOK 700. If
you choose to call, they are also very helpful. You need to apply for a visa several
weeks in advance. It’s important to bring all necessary documents witch you print out
from the U.S Embassy home page, and sign them correctly. It is also important to
notice do not bring any bags or hand luggage to the embassy, as this is not allowed
and there is no storage place to store your belongings.
It is important to have NAV`s health insurance and additionally have student
insurance ready before departure. The U.S Government requires this. I bought mine at
www.ansa.no. This costs me about 1700NOK, and covers everything.
Prior to flight, all passengers flying into the U.S are required to log in online and fill
out the customs declaration form minimum 2 days before departure. This procedure
does not take place on the airplanes anymore.
I bought my ticket through www.finn.no a couple of mounts before the semester
started. The price was around NOK 5700 for a roundtrip Oslo-San Francisco.
Academic Calendar
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The information that we got before we went was from the International office at BI.
They provided us with information about what we should expect when we arrived and
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how we could expect the semester would be like with regard to the academic, climate
and other useful information.
The lectures started up in late August. The 2-3 fist weeks are all about “shopping”
courses, as you attend many different courses before you select the courses you liked
the most. We at BI had a limited choice, since the school has “selected” for us some
courses that we half to choose from. The lectures ended early in December, and we
had a couple of days to read on before the final exams. The independent study was
also to be returned in December, so it is a smart thing to start working with that as
early as possible.
Reception
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The University has their own reception just for us exchange students, this is a
reception that lies outside of the campus area and a place where students can go if they
have any questions or just need to print something out for free. The address for the
reception is : UC Berkeley Extension, 1995 University Ave.Suite 110, Berkeley, CA
94704-7000. This is in the middle of Centrum in Berkeley town, so it is a easy address
to find. And I recommend that you go there right away when you arrive at Berkeley,
they can help you with information about housing and other useful information.
Housing and costs
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None of the BI students had made any housing deal in advance. It is not
recommended because standards can vary quite a bit. Most apartments come
without furniture, but Ikea is not far away and most of us got some basic, cheap
furniture there.
Prices are about equal, or higher than in Oslo. However some have chosen to share
bedrooms to lower the cost. All of the BI students live within walking distance
from campus. We have all used the same company, Berkeley Apartments. The
apartments are clean and nice, however, it seems everyone have gotten different
prices, so be ready to negotiate. It works. Craigslist.com is also a great tool in the
process of finding a place to stay.
Food is cheaper than in Norway, and a lot of us go out to eat every day. Books are
about the same price as in Norway.
It is recommended to come at least a week before school start, it may take a few
days finding a home.
Sigvor Hamre Thornton is an 88 year old Norwegian living in Berkeley Hills, who
might let you spend a night or two when looking for housing, she can be contacted
through sjømannskirken in San Francisco.
Social Activities
The relationship between the exchange students has been great. This semester we were
about 100 Norwegian students, many of us living in the same areas and buildings. We
ended up with many and good friends; we were all very interested in meeting new
people, even though we usually stick together with Norwegian.
In class, being in a big group from Norway might seem a bit intimidating for other
students. Everyone knew about the “Norwegian students” and it seemed like other
student thought it was fascinating that we were such a big group. Every American
knows about Norway, have a sibling from Norway or had been there or wanted to go
there. American loves talking and the best way to make friends in class are simply
starting up a conversation. You will right away feel that they are very open, interested
and the conversations is easy to keep going.
We believe that all the students went well together and we’ve had the time of our life.
We have kept together true a lot of fun activities, trips and study groups. Most of us BI
students also lived together, 6 us of even in the same building. This made us
bound closer to together and it has been great to have each other to rely on.
Besides the entire social going out with friends, the campus has a lot to offer. US
Berkeley has a student gym called the Cal Rec Club located on campus, were they
could offer: tennis courts, soccer fields, baseball fields, dancing classes, swimming
pools, volleyball nets, etc. And the cost of it was about & 100, for the whole semester.
Sports in Berkeley are a lot of fun. The spirit of Cal bears is like taken out of a college
movie, and it has been a great experience with all the game days. Usually there is a
pre-party at the one of many frat houses before the game starts. There is also a bar on
Campus called “Bairs lair” where you also can watch the game, but this usually when
there is away games.
There are also other places to go out in Berkeley. The most popular places are Blakes,
Kips and Beckets. The latter place has live music and also quizzes each Tuesday that
many Norwegian went to.
There are many student organizations. You can find the organizations on
www.berkeley.edu. Moreover if you play a sport, you can go on try out to become a
part of the school teams, of any sport. Also some of the Norwegian guys started their
own team and played American football.
Gatherings for us Norwegians has been great. We started of with a information
meeting where we got to know each other, we have been having party’s, been going to
arrangements in “ Sjømannskirken” and had so much fun together.
We have also been traveling a lot. And Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego is
highly recommended.
Cultural and Social Effects from the Exchange Experience
Studying abroad gives a unique opportunity to get to know other cultures and socialize with
people you probably never would have met in your home environment.
The US culture is in many ways totally different from the Norwegian culture. People from all
over the world have settled down here, and they all contribute to an exclusive and interesting
mix of a culture. At first you might be overwhelmed, cause the citizens of the US are so much
more outgoing, open minded, positive, free speaking, and in many ways polite than
Norwegians.
One of the first things Professor Trond Petersen told us at the information meeting was that
you always have a second chance in the US, which is reflected in the people living here as
well.
Though, you have to have patient here, almost everything is a process and there is not the kind
of stress and effectiveness as we have in Norway to get things done. Also, if things sound to
good to be true it most certainly is, the positivism might be exaggerated. Be a bit more
skeptical than you would have been in Norway, and you will be fine.
The exchange experience has changed me in many ways, and I can honestly say that it is just
in a positive way.
During the stay I have made a lot of new friends, and in the future I believe that the
experience will give me a lot in the future as well. As for a future carrier I’m pretty sure
employers will notice that I was a student at such a prestigious university as UC Berkeley.
If you have the opportunity to go to UC Berkeley, do not hesitate, you will never regret it,
cause you gain so much academically and as a person.
Name and e-mail: Hans Joergen Eek, hansjorgeneek@hotmail.com, Trond
Kristensen, kristensentrond@hotmail.com , Eivind Hilling, eivind.hilling@gmail.com,
Jan Trzos-Oftedal, jan_oftedal@hotmail.com, Ole- Morten Dyve,
olem.dyve@gmail.com, Sindre Dyngen, sd_2007@hotmail.com, Ingrid Halleraker,
ingrid.e.halleraker@student.bi.no, Christin Opheim, christin.opheim@hotmail.com,
Ole Andreas Nygaard, ole.andreas.nygaard@gmail.com, Bendik Knutsen-Øy,
Bendik1986@gmail.com, Vibeke Møller Isachsen, skibeke@gmail.com, Lars
Grønlund Jensen, Lars_gronlund_jensen@hotmail.com