Stories about People

Pal and Jo

Norwegian Students

Psykologi i Perth - A message from Pal and Jo to potential students in Norway (PDF format)

Pal Larsen and Joe Viken started studying psychology in 2002 at Curtin. Pal comes from Stavanger and Joe from Hallingdal in Norway.

Pal chose Curtin to study psychology because he had some friends living here and they had recommended it to him. Pal has had an interest in working with people for some time and had been working with intellectually disabled children for about five or six years prior to studying. He found in Norway that there were just not enough student places in psychology to go around.

Two things assisted Joe to make his decision to study at Curtin. He had heard that Perth had great weather and as he was very motivated to travel he wanted to travel as far from home as he could. Halingdal to Perth is certainly a long way. He also thought that by being a long way from home he would meet more locals and only a few Norwegians. Joe has always wanted to work in the "helping industry" and psychology seemed to be a good way to go,

Both Joe and Pal love the lay back atmosphere here, both on and off campus. They have also found the course great and feel it's a lot more applied than the foundations course in Norway. They also find that the ongoing assessment at Curtin assists them to learn more.

Coming from Norway, the wonderful weather is embraced by both guys and they find the people open minded and friendly. Pal particularly likes the way everyone smiles at each other.

Socially things are looking pretty good for these two. They have discovered Northbridge, an area that is packed full of people, cheap places to eat, bars and clubs. They also find the University Tav a great place to meet people and they have even managed to get one of the local pubs to sponsor a soccor team known as the Windsor Vikings.