Postcards from Isla
The Postcards
A daily postcard journal from a student living the Nordic Gap Year adventure.
Follow along by email.
Daily journal entries chronicling her day to day experience.
A note from Isla
I thought I wanted to go to college right after high school. I actually thought I had to.
I applied to to a bunch, and I got in to a bunch too. But something didn’t feel right. I wasn't excited. I didn't even know what I wanted to major in.
I had heard about the Nordic Gap Year. It was on my back burner for awhile. All of a sudden, when I was on the decision line, the idea hit me in a new way. It sounded refreshing and inviting. It even churned up feelings of excitement which at this point had been non-existent for college.
I'm in Norway now. BEST decision ever.
In these postcards I document my day to day adventures.
Feel free to follow along to get a glimpse of what its like.
Day 39
It's so cool to be in a place that is so different from home
Isla dodges the monkeys at Kuala Lumpur's Batu Caves, melts in the humid heat, and walks across the city to the Petronas Twin Towers.
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Day 38
The trips are finally here!
Isla squeezes in a sunny tour of Oslo the day after flying back from Florida, then spends 14 hours in the air to start a month in Southeast Asia, landing in a smog-covered Kuala Lumpur.
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Day 37
I have never had this much consistent fun in my life
Six weeks in, Isla flies home to Florida for fall break and looks back on the most fun she has ever had, with Asia waiting when she returns.
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Day 36
This place has really started to feel like home.
On her last day before six weeks away, Isla soaks up a 70-degree end of September and meets Norwegian shrimp, heads and all.
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Day 35
I shocked myself that I was actually able to keep up
On the last day of her hiking elective, Isla climbs 1073 meters up Saksa behind a very seasoned principal, scared on the slick rock and determined to finish strong.
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Day 34
That’s when I realized I had to audition, I had to try.
Isla faces the first audition of her life, singing for a part in her folk high school's Matilda musical, and to her surprise she gets a role.
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Day 33
Europe is a way better place at being walkable than America
Isla walks an hour and a half to the mall with friends, thinks about why nobody walks back home in Florida, stocks up on candy and tries the Troika everyone warned her about.
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Day 32
I love the freedom that we have in the culinary line.
Isla's culinary line cooks lamb stew and plum cake and invents appetizers from a bucket of mystery ingredients, before a Vietnam e-visa battle and an 80s-themed Friday night.
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Day 30
Thanks for the beautiful day GG!
Isla's great grandma wishes her a sunny day from home, and Ålesund delivers a cloudless one, spent making jam in the kitchen and hiking up to a view of the whole bay.
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Day 29
I figured I would go through a typical week here
With nothing to photograph on a quiet Wednesday, Isla walks through a typical week at folk high school, from meal times and chores to electives, culinary line days and Sunday movie night.
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Day 28
I felt pretty proud of myself after I reached the top
Isla finally makes it onto Topptur on the first day of fall, summits without a single stumble, then slips her way back down to fish and chips and a Norwegian soda taste test.
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Day 27
There was no going down, I had to jump.
Isla follows a teacher up a trailless slope to a cliff, jumps before she can think better of it, and spends the afternoon walking it off on the phone with home.
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Day 26
I am determined to do it every Sunday no matter the weather
A rainy Sunday of Norway's national dish, warm apple cake, and the weekly ocean swim she dreads every step of the walk over.
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Day 25
Ok so today was definitely a food day
Peanut butter at breakfast, brunost soft serve in town, a seven-dollar mocha, semolina porridge and enchiladas: Isla eats her way through a rainy free weekend in Ålesund.
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Day 24
I don't regret my decision of choosing the pilgrimage at all!
Isla's three-day pilgrimage ends inside Nidaros Cathedral with a song they weren't supposed to sing, and then a sushi buffet she pays for afterwards.
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Day 23
Last day of the pilgrimage!
Isla walks the final stretch of the pilgrimage with one blister, ten minutes of sun and two moose, and discovers that a two-hour bus ride and a hot shower can feel like luxury.
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Day 22
It wasn't the destination, but the journey
Rain soaks Isla's sleeping bag overnight, the tents are too wet to pack, and the group walks its route toward Dovrefjell anyway before another wet night rolls in.
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Day 21
Today is day one of the pilgrimage
Isla sets out on a three-day walk across Dovrefjell — a bus ride past Trollveggen, off-key hymns in a freezing church, and a first night in a tent with no sleeping mat.
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Day 20
I noticed the leaves changing color for the first time
Isla stocks up on bread toppings for next week's pilgrimage, then spots the first yellow leaves and realizes she'll be away for peak fall.
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Day 19
COOKING HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!
Isla's culinary line finally begins with a knife-skills lesson from the head chef, two small cuts, her first ever caramel, and a quidditch tournament she's too drained to enjoy.
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Day 18
Never thought you would catch me going mushroom foraging
A first forage off the trail and under the moss, a few ticks, four dishes cooked in the sun, and a mind changed about mushrooms entirely.
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Day 17
I can tell how much everyone loved him.
A mall run for her first bag of smågodt gives way to the whole school gathering in the auditorium to watch King Harald's funeral.
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Day 16
Different but still an adventure
A police station appointment costs Isla the day's spectacular hike, so she goes looking for her own: a first solo bus ride, three cafes that refuse to be open, and a dam at the end of the trail.
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Day 15
One even «baa'ed» at me today
Electives start, a walk in mist that barely counts as rain, and the basement turns into Hogwarts overnight.
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Day 14
How is the water actually sparkling???
The Sunday swim she makes herself do, a meditation class after brunch, and a movie night that got cancelled.
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Day 13
I do notice that I am missing my family
A day of nachos and an opera theme nobody wanted — and, underneath it, the first homesickness.
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Day 12
I don't think I have ever tasted a real raspberry before today
A farmer with too many berries lets them pick as much as they want. She would have done it all day.
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Day 11
All schools have their similarities, they also have their differences
A day at a cheese farm, a night at somebody else's folk high school, and the first real comparison between the two.
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Day 10
Maybe we're more similar than we think
Lobster fishing, diving for food, a bake off — and the year's plan laid out by a teacher who lets them choose.
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Day 9
I almost died at the deliciousness
It is an apple. She is aware it is an apple. Her friends are making fun of her about the apple.
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Day 8
The view took it all away
Straight up the side of a fjord, and the first time she has drunk water out of a mountain.
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Day 7
People told me my lips were blue…?
She has committed to every single Sunday swim this year. Today was the warmest it will ever be.
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Day 6
Hvor kommer boblene fra?
418 stairs, a chai with actual chilli in it, and the first Norwegian sentence she built herself.
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Day 5
At least I still have my hair
The king dies, the flags go to half mast, and by evening someone has shaved their head for Fun Friday.
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Day 4
Don't go chasing waterfalls
A cabin in the Norwegian wilderness with the culinary class, and a hike that ended absolutely drenched.
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Day 3
We all looked at each other and said yeah, we need to go outside
They were dressed for the gym, stretching, water bottles filled. Then they looked out of the window.
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Day 2
Room tour
Four photographs of a dorm room in Ålesund, which she calls her happy place.
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Day 2
I kind of like the not knowing what they are saying
Day two, and everything is in Norwegian. It turns out that is the part she likes.
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Day 1
Maybe this is something I can actually do
Day one. She walked in with her stomach churning and a happy face on. It took about ten seconds.
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Day 0
Will I hate it? Will anyone talk to me?
The night before the first day. She lists every way it could go wrong, then decides to keep an open mind anyway.
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If you want to know more
Isla’s experience is one year, at one school. There are 75 schools, so that means 75 versions of a Nordic Gap Year.Explore more with either option below.
Free
Introduction to the Nordic Gap Year
What a Norwegian folk high school year actually is, what it really costs, and how to tell whether it fits your kid. Written by Isla's mom.
$197
The Nordic Gap Year Kit
Once you know you want this, the question becomes, which school? Here you'll get the details on all 75 schools in one place — plus an interactive school database, a school matchmaker quiz, a timeline and a community.