UEA International Student Ambassadors

The Norwegian Constitution Day (commonly referred to simply as the seventeenth of May ) is an official holiday every year. The celebration is to commemorate the signing of the Norwegian constitution in 1814, which declared Norway to be an independent nation. The most striking features of the celebration are all the parades, marching bands, people in national costumes, flags, hot dogs and ice cream. There are parades all over Norway on 17 th May, many of which are broadcasted on Norwegian TV. They mainly consist of children, and the largest parade, first introduced in 1870, is the one marching the streets of Oslo and past the Royal Palace. This year it will consist of children, teachers and marching bands from 109 elementary and secondary schools. Each school has it's own banner, the children carry flags, sing the national anthem and other songs associated with the celebration. The only military element of the day, is the performances by the Royal Guard's drill squad and m...

Seeing as I've spent most of my Easter break in the library and there are only two weeks left till the end of the semester (and one dissertation to go), you'd think that I'd be reading and writing full speed ahead as per usual. However, it is now ice cream season! The sun is out! Really, really out! The birds are twittering! Students are making out on the grass! I would like to travel. As you probably know, thousands of people have been unable to fly in or out of Heathrow in recent days. This is because of the Iceland volcanic ash cloud which has recently prompted three Royal Navy ships to fetch some 200,000 Britons home (see the Guardian: http://tinyurl.com/winaroyalnavyholiday ) and also seen the mushrooming of facebook pages such as "Hello my names iceland, AND I JUST CHUNDERED EVERYWHERE" and "Volcanic Ash - That's Why Mums Can't Go To Iceland". Me, well, my budget stretches only so far. I don't think I can get away anywhere particularly ...