When traveling to new cities I always try to find time go to museums, parks, and suggested tourist spots by tourism websites, guides and bloggers. I do this for a couple of reasons:
(1) understand why certain artifacts are identified to be important for that culture
(2) for fun, of course (!)
(3) learn more about the city and its inhabitants
(4) search companies with stellar customer service, and
(5) seek out great food (at the end of the day-satiating gastronomically will win over
most anything when traveling, at least for me)
Then see how I can integrate this experience to enhance my work and personal life. Isn’t that what you do when you travel?
So in Oslo, this is what I did. My Frommer‘s guide said to check Vigeland Park and I did. And while I was enjoying the view, I thought I’d share this with you through the above video. What struck me immediately with this was the enormity of human activities that have been depicted in bronze and iron. Lifestyle, gender, relationships, and human emotions were intertwined. Does this represent the culture of the Norwegians? I thought. Maybe. Will knowing this perspective enhance my experience while I visiting? Definitely! I sought to investigate further by correlating these depictions with those in their museums coupled with what I’ve read about their culture (from the Vikings onto the 21st century) and how that shaped their ability to relate to foreigners like me in both academic, professional and hospitality settings. I also got to know more about their tradition of “russ” (participant to traditional Norwegian videregående skole) where teenagers wear these red jumpsuits that can be signed by anyone and they were giving these cards (they looked like trading cards) about themselves to whomever wants them (example outfit photo on left). I thought of security of these teens since personal information was being shared but apparently that wasn’t an issue in this country. Then I looked at how this tradition came to being. Then the next thing is what I shared with my team as a creative leap …
How about creating an eLearning module wherein a similar russ tradition (sign here or comment there) ala graffiti becomes part of a learning engagement activity? Looking at online graffiti programs, I came across the Graffiti Creator that was easy to use and can be easily incorporated into existing online material. Voila! A trip to Oslo resulting into the development of a fun exercise for the learners.
Now its your turn to tell me your creative leaps ~