Authentic Scandinavia

Placement organization

Name of organization: Authentic Scandinavia
Town/city: Oslo
Country: Noorwegen
Website: http://authentic-scandinavia.com/

Name of student: Anne Dassen

Specialist area: MTT
Placement period: 2014-2015

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Tour operator
Organization’s activities: Authentic Scandinavia is a dedicated online tour operator, creating and selling independent package tours and escorted coach tours throughout Scandinavia. Authentic Scandinavia is part of the Haman Group, one of the oldest and most influential Scandinavian tour operators.
Target group of the organization: Most clients from USA, Asia is upcoming. Travellers who want to experience the real Scandinavia.
Company culture: Informal, hardworking team, fun, responsibilities, clear explanations and tasks.

Every day we have a 30 min. lunch together with the whole Authentic Scandinavia team. Other departments from Haman Group on the floor will join sometimes. Every Friday afternoon there is ‘Fika’ organized by one of the employees or interns. This person is in charge to bring something like pie or ice. The meaning is to catch up with each other/team building. Every 2 weeks interns get a 10 minute massage by a professional masseuse.

Number of employees: 7 (including 3 interns during high season)
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working? Booking department
Brief description of your daily activities: – Responsible for bookings/confirmations (and cancellations);
– Research, preparing and updating information on the website;
– Searching and entering data in the booking system;
– Registering payments
– After sales
– Contact with clients and suppliers

Brief description of your company assignment: I have developed 2 new tours on Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Trude Sivertsen was my supervisor. She is the manager of Authentic Scandinavia and has founded Authentic Scandinavia by herself. She is a really nice and hard working woman. She explains everything very clear and gives you lots of responsibilities once she is confident about your work and progress.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, stress-proof, hard worker, sociable, flexible
Additional company requirements for this placement? Word, Excel and Tourplan. Tourplan is the bookingsystem but this will be explained to you at the beginning of your placement.
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French:
German:
Italian:
Other languages:

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: From AMS to OSL with airplane. To Oslo city center with NSB (train)

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Myself, via employees of Oslo office Haman Group
How did you go to work every day? Public Transport

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? No
Do you need a work permit? No, but you have to register yourself at the tax office. (This will be explained to you at your first day)
How did you arrange the necessary documents: I did not need any documents. Finding a room was a challenge though. Cheapest is to check: https://www.facebook.com/groups/155492094632589/?fref=ts or https://www.facebook.com/greger.eiendom?fref=ts . Otherwise you can also check: http://www.ankerstudentbolig.no/ or www.finn.no . Do not hesitate to contact me maybe I can help you finding a room if you are really stuck!
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? –
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance? –

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? If your English is Advanced you don’t need any. You will learn so quickly!

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € You have to be creative. www.flysas.com has youth tickets. www.norwegian.com has good price tickets as well as www.klm.com
Accommodation (monthly): € Around €600,-
Local transport (monthly): € You will get a public transport card from the comapny
General costs of living (monthly): € Around €500,-
Costs of visa: € –
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? 5500 NOK (is around €700,-)
Public Transport Card

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I did not prepare. But Norwegian people are really helpfull if you ask for help, otherwise they will just past you without looking. Once you get to know Norwegian people they are great but still not very open.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 143864@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Try to start with your assignment right at the beginning. From May it will be very busy with bookings.
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Oslo is a great city to live in. It is really quiet. When the sun is shining everyone is outside at the harbour or at one of the many parks. Go up to Holmenkollen/Voksenkollen with the subway for a great view over the city and the Oslo fjord. Oslo is not big so you can see almost every attraction within 1 day. Try to discover Norway as much as you can! I have been to Lofoten and I can really recommend it. It is so beautiful up there! Ask the company to help you with agent rates if you want to visit cities/areas. They are very helpful with this. Please contact me if you want more information! Norway is a fantastic country!

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link