The International Summer School has finished, technically speaking...

It has always been something that has kept me from this blog, but I can vouch that I have really had a marvellous time at the International Summer School - to say the least - and I look forward to now being able to write about it much more extensively than I have for weeks. Indeed, I feel that the six weeks I spent at the UiO constituted an entire lifetime in and of themselves. I have had so many meaningful experiences, created so many meaningful friendships, and, just as importantly, learned a lot.
And what do I mean by learned a lot?
It means that while I took my studies seriously and learned a lot from the courses themselves, the real learning has also been taking place outside the classroom, certainly. When I first thought of the idea that I was really learning as much from each other and from Norway as from formal/traditional instruction itself, it finally began to dawn on me that perhaps this was the intention of those who created the ISS all along --- could it be possible that offering these courses, etc., had an ulterior motive of making us come together - from all parts of the world with all walks of life and different life philosophies - just to learn from each other? I'm suspicious.
After all, there's a reason why I enjoy the discussion-based class, and especially why I loved the literature class: the more diversity there is in the classroom, the more interesting interpretations, perspectives, and certainly literary backgrounds to draw upon. I remember the director of the ISS Einar Vannebo saying right from the beginning of the summer school that when he taught Norwegian Literature at the ISS, he especially enjoyed it just for the reason that he got a completely different take on classic Norwegian literature when he heard it from a global perspective than when he instructed a class of all Norwegian students...
So, then, couldn't we also say that this was the real reason for the International Summer School? If this is what could just happen in one classroom, imagine what happens, then, the rest of the time we are not in class or strictly nose-to-the-books studying...it means we are together, discussing. And-finally!-a real dialogue may occur! People from historically "opposing" groups will begin to come together. People may learn much about a country that beforehand they would hardly have been able to find on a map (me included...). Amazing support networks are created. I can't tell you how much I have relied on and confided in some of the people at this school, people who (it seems so strange to think now..) were complete and utter strangers to me not even two months ago. Isn't that wierd to think that? Besides the fact that the days were so long at the ISS (both in terms of sunlight and in terms of the complete and utter lack of sleep...), That's why I truly believe the ISS was a life unto itself. How strange it will be when it finally occurs to me that it's over, that where I am now in Western Norway (more on that later!) is not simply a nice break from the school, but is truly the tail end of this summer in Norway. It hasn't quite hit me yet...

But anyway:
That, I think, is the take-home lesson of the International Summer School: There is something to learn from everyone and everything, and there is life to be lived everywhere, so make the most of it...it might just be the next best thing you've ever done.