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First Entry to Oslo

Choose a proper flight ticket

Most Chinese students are housed at the two largest student towns Sogn and Kringsjå. The receptions open Monday-Friday 08:00-17:00 (June and July: 08:00-16:00). Therefore, we strongly suggest you arrive in Oslo before 14:00 during the weekdays in order to pick up your room key before the receptions close. However, if you send (e)mail or fax to some Chinese student here indicating that he/she can be on behalf you to take the room key you have already reserved, you can move in your dormitory the day you arrive.

There are no air plane flying directly between China and Norway. There are quite a lot of routes you can choose. For example:

Most Chinese students buy one-way ticket when they first come to Norway. They then buy turn-return tickets from Norway for the summer or winter vacations. There are many choices here. If one books the tickets early, one can get a ticket for a rather good price. In the summer the prices for Oslo-Beijing-Oslo ticket are around NOK 5000-7000, Oslo-Shanghai-Oslo NOK 6000-7000. Shanghai-Oslo-Shanghai NOK 8000; The prices in winter are lower.

Getting from the airport to the student residences

Oslo Airport-Gardermoen is located 50 kilometres north of downtown Oslo. There are several ways for you to get to the student town.

The Airport Express Train ("Flytoget")

By showing your student card or the letter of acceptance from the University of Oslo (UiO), you can pay it for half price, NOK 75. If you are older than 33, you have to pay the full price .

The "Flytoget" (210km/h) will bring you to Oslo's central train station in 19 minutes. It departs from the airport every 10 minutes.; or every 20 minutes (weekend). The first train from the airport is 05:36, the last one is 00:36.

From Oslo's central train station, you can take Subway(T-bane in Norwegian) No. 3 to:

Kringsjå station (about 16 minutes), then walk to the Kringsjå student town
Ullevål stadion (about 10 minutes), then walk (about 10 minutes) to the Sogn student town

An one-hour ticket of subway will cost you 20 krones if you buy from ticket machines or ticket offices at the subway station. However, you can aslo save a small charge if you buy a flexikort which cost you kr.150 for 8 usages.

The Airport Express Bus towards Bekkestua/Røa

The Airport Express Bus costs approx. NOK 80. Travel time is about 55 minutes. You can get off at:

Ullevål stadion station, then walk (about 10 minutes) to the Sogn student town
Tåsen Senter stadion, then change Subway No. 3 to the Kringsjå student town (about 3 minutes).

Taxi

The cost from the Airport to Krinsjå student town is about NOK 800-900. A taxi from the Oslo's central train station to Kringsjå Student housing is about NOK 200. The price is the same to one to four passagers. So if two/three other students would like to share the same Taxi with you, this is probably the most painless way to get to the student town without it costing each of you too much. Tipping is unnecessary.

Need people to meet you at the airport?

If you still feel difficult to get to the student town by yourself, you can contact the Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Oslo (CSSAO). We will try to arrange some chinese students meet you at the airport. However you need to provide his/her transportation fares.

Additional remarks

If you have international credit cards, like Visa, MasterCard etc. you can pay the Airport Express Train ticket and Taxi directly. Otherwise you need to change some Norwegian "kroner" at the airport.

In general, Norwegians do not speak Chinese, but are relatively fluent in English. So don't hesitate to ask the local people for help when you need it.

Wish you a nice trip!