Kristiansand-the magnifecent coastal city….

My trip last week, to this beautiful Norwegian coastal city started on rather a bad note, I missed the train after waiting for it for three hours! Would you believe it! I know you can’t, I couldn’t believe it either! Well what happened was just a mix up for a first time traveller on these fast moving trains!
So having missed the train, but determined to visit this beautiful city, I had to think fast for plan B, which was to brave the long five hour journey on the bus. After a long trail that took me through beautiful high and low lands of Norway, I was finally in this coastal city at about 11pm local time. Like is the case in most areas of Norway, Kristiansand is a beautiful quiet city sitting at the banks of the sea. The night was chilly but with still some light, again like is the case in spring and summer time here in Norway; days are longer than nights, so day light can still be seen even at 11pm!
Well I was warmly welcomed by my two hostesses and fellow FK participants who are based in this city, Annet Najjemba from Uganda and Patience Nyange from Kenya. They ushered me into their two roomed flat, took a warm bath, a cup of tea, then headed to my room for the much needed rest.

The following morning, my first tour of the place started with Gimlekollen School of journalism and communication, which was one of my major objectives of the visit. At the school I was warmly welcomed by a lovely lady, Pamela Melhus, the Director of Administration, who took me through the genesis of the school and the wonderful work they were doing around the world. A tour around the school proved that this was a first world class school, the state of the art studios just for the students’ practice can not be found even in the major media houses in some developing countries!

Later in the day I was treated to a sumptuous lunch, had a brief talk with the staff, and a guided tour to different lecture rooms and witnessed first hand, students reading news live in one of the studios. From the school we headed to the beach! Which is virtually in the heart of the city. From the beach we wound up the day at an entertainment park, a huge facility sitting on about 10 acres of land! It is at this entertainment park that I came across, the present day Noah’s Ark! An ultra modern hotel built in the shape of a ship. If you read about the ark only in the bible, come to Kristiansand you will see it first hand!

The second day of the visit took me to NRK- Kristiansand regional office. NRK is the Norwegian broadcasting corporation, comprising of both the National Radio and Television stations. At this facility I had a guided tour of both the radio and television stations, as expected they have real state of the- art machines, expected of a developed country. From NRK I took a tour around the city, and like most cities and towns in Norway, it’s very clean.

Having seen enough of Kristiansand, it was time to pack my bags and head back to my mountainous town of Rjukan. This time round I was determined not miss the train come what may! The ride on the train was so fascinating, but that will be a story for another day.


Bernard Butare Buteera
FK participant 2011