Experience all the seasons and weathers in one summer (or even in one week) – welcome to Geirangerfjord in Norway. I am doing my HR & Management practical training 20 kilometers drive up to the mountains close to the town of Geiranger. Geirangerfjord is an UNESCO heritage fjord which means it is super popular tourist attraction with it’s beautiful fjord and magnificent waterfalls. As 1-3 cruise ships per day, 3-5 days per week with up to 6000 passengers sail to the small port of Geiranger, my workday starts. Daily activities include managing and leading operations from bike guiding to coffee reservations and everything in between. Regular days – as we call the days without cruise ships – revolve around café and souvenir shop work and leading our team in there.
Life outside of work is filled with nature and beautiful people. Geiranger has only around 200 permanent habitats all year round but 300-400 seasonal workers arrive every summer, everyone bringing their own talent and interests here. My weeks are full of exploring the nature, hiking and swimming as well as joining the tango lessons, volleyball games and free dances that people offer for the community. Even if you are not a nature person the slightest you will find your people and always something to do, even in this tiny village. But if you do love nature – you are very much in the right place. Every day offers a new possibility to explore another mountain or another forest trail.
Working life and culture in general in Norway is very close to Finnish one. Only big differences for me are the amount of people that travel with the cruises, I have never experienced such flooding of people in such small places or at workplace. For this town’s and my workplace’s infrastructure the amount of people is not sustainable and it creates a lot of lines and rushing when everyone is trying to grab the famous Norwegian troll magnet or other souvenirs. As the work revolves around the cruises so does the rush. There is no balancing or choosing in between, the buss loaded with people arrive from the cruise and then leave for the next view point. I think that is something I will never experience in Finland, unless working winter season in the north but even there would no vessel bring 6000 people at the same moment to the small town.
After the people leave we are back to the peace and harmony.
Comments