Trondheim.

ESN Trondheim, active since 1993, runs weekly activities for international students alongside a buddy programme pairing you with a Norwegian student before you even arrive. Buy the ESNcard at their weekly office hours for discounts on travel, culture and accommodation in Trondheim and across Europe, no Erasmus status required. NTNUI, the student sports organisation, lets you join clubs, rent free equipment through Bumerang and book cheap mountain cabins for weekend trips. Between the two, the first weeks give you more ways to meet people than a single semester can really use.

• Register for ESN Trondheim's buddy programme before you arrive to meet people fast.
• Get the ESNcard for discounts, open to all international students, not just Erasmus.
• Join NTNUI for cheap sports clubs, free gear rental and mountain cabin trips.

Norway is genuinely expensive, and Trondheim is no exception: Numbeo prices an inexpensive restaurant meal at around 200 kroner and a cappuccino at about 53 kroner. A 30 day AtB bus pass costs 649 kroner at full price, but students up to 34 pay about 265 kroner for a single zone pass, plus free city bikes and two hours of car rental a month. Groceries are pricier than most of Europe too, with a litre of milk around 24 kroner and a dozen eggs about 46 kroner.

• Budget around 200 kroner for a cheap restaurant meal, Trondheim runs pricey.
• Get the AtB student discount for a 265 kroner monthly single zone pass.
• Use the student pass for free city bikes and monthly car rental hours.

Sit, the student welfare organisation, runs Moholt Student Village and other housing, but only guarantees a place to non EU/EEA/Swiss exchange students; if you hold an EU/EEA/Swiss passport you can still apply, without any guarantee, so plan a backup. Apply by answering yes to the housing question on NTNU's additional exchange form, then wait for Sit to contact you directly, roughly in July for autumn arrivals and around late November for spring. The cheapest single rooms in a shared apartment start at about 4,300 kroner a month plus utilities, with rooms and flatmates assigned rather than chosen.

• Answer yes to Sit housing on NTNU's exchange form as soon as you can.
• Expect an easier spring semester for housing; autumn arrivals face tighter supply.
• Budget from about 4,300 kroner a month for the cheapest single room.

Trondheim Airport Værnes sits about 35 minutes from the centre by train, the cheapest way in, though services run less often than the Værnes-ekspressen airport bus, which drops you at Moholt studentby among other stops and only takes card payment on board. A taxi from the airport to a student village costs from around 800 kroner upward, worth it only if you can split it. Once you are settled, an AtB student ticket covers city buses, trams and local trains, and cycling is a popular, practical way to get around the compact centre.

• Take the train from the airport in about 35 minutes, the cheapest option.
• Or catch the Værnes-ekspressen bus straight to Moholt studentby, card payment only.
• Get an AtB student pass for city buses, trams and local trains.

Nearly every exchange student in Trondheim studies at NTNU, spread mainly across the Gløshaugen and Dragvoll campuses and organised into nine faculties from architecture to medicine. Exchange places run through an agreement between your home university and NTNU, which needs nomination by your home coordinator before you apply through Søknadsweb with a transcript, course list and CV. Teaching for exchange students runs almost entirely in English, and NTNU expects a B2 to C1 level, though nominated exchange students from partner universities do not need to submit test scores. NTNU Go, the student portal, handles registration once you arrive.

• Get nominated by your home university before applying through NTNU's Søknadsweb portal.
• Expect teaching almost entirely in English, at a B2 to C1 level.
• Use NTNU Go, the student portal, to register once you arrive on campus.

EU-, EWR- und Schweizer Bürger:innen brauchen kein Visum, sie melden sich nur online und bei einem Aufenthalt über drei Monate persönlich bei der Polizei an. Nicht-EWR-Studierende brauchen eine Aufenthaltserlaubnis für Studierende von der norwegischen Einwanderungsbehörde UDI, beantragt vor oder kurz nach der Ankunft, mit Nachweis über Zulassung, Unterkunft und genug Geld auf einem norwegischen Konto.

Die finanzielle Anforderung ist happig, etwa 137.000 Kronen pro Jahr, ein Spiegel der Lebenshaltungskosten, also plane dein Budget früh. Was genau du brauchst, hängt von deiner Nationalität ab, also check die UDI-Richtlinien und die Hinweise deiner Gastuni, sobald du zugelassen bist. Die Bearbeitung kann Wochen dauern, also nicht zu spät starten.

• EU/EWR/Schweiz, kein Visum; Polizeianmeldung bei 90+ Tagen Aufenthalt
• Nicht-EWR, Aufenthaltserlaubnis für Studierende über UDI
• Nachweis von rund NOK 137.000/Jahr an Mitteln nötig
• Früh beantragen; Bearbeitung dauert mehrere Wochen

Trondheim calls itself Norway's food capital, home to two Michelin starred restaurants and more than 200 food producers across the wider Trøndelag region, known for lamb, game, shellfish and berries. Try rakfisk, salted and fermented trout served with flatbread, sour cream and onion, or fårikål, a slow cooked lamb and cabbage stew voted Norway's national dish in a 1970s radio poll and reconfirmed in 2014. Brunost, a sweet caramelised brown cheese, turns up on breakfast tables everywhere. The Torvet farmer's market in the main square and the August Trøndersk matfestival food festival are good ways to taste the region in one place.

• Try rakfisk or fårikål, Norway's classic fermented fish and lamb dishes.
• Spread brunost, Norway's sweet brown cheese, on bread for a proper breakfast.
• Visit the Torvet market or the August Trøndersk matfestival for local produce.

Møllenberg, just east of the river, is Trondheim's classic student quarter: two storey wooden apartment buildings from the 1880s and 1890s, once family homes, now largely converted into student housing within walking distance of central campus. Solsiden, the former Trondhjems Mekaniske Værksted shipyard turned waterfront district in the 1990s, borders Møllenberg and packs in most of the city's shops, restaurants and bars. Bakklandet, across the river, keeps cobblestone streets and colourful eighteenth and nineteenth century wooden houses, restored by residents into one of the city's most picturesque, cafe filled corners.

• Live in Møllenberg for classic wooden student housing near central campus.
• Head to Solsiden, the old shipyard, for the busiest bars and restaurants.
• Wander Bakklandet's cobblestone streets for cafes in restored wooden houses.

Åre, the Swedish ski resort just across the border, is reachable by train via Storlien in about two hours total, an easy day trip or weekend for skiing or hiking. Røros, a former copper mining town on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1980 with wooden houses from the 1600s and 1700s, sits about two and a half hours south by train. For something bigger, Oslo is roughly six and a half to seven hours away on the Dovre Railway, crossing the Dovrefjell mountains and the Gudbrandsdalen valley, a proper overnight or long weekend trip.

• Take the train to Åre, Sweden, in about two hours for skiing.
• Visit Røros, a UNESCO mining town, about two and a half hours south.
• Ride the Dovre Railway to Oslo in six and a half to seven hours.

Sort your Sit housing application the moment NTNU's exchange form asks for it, and if you are an EU/EEA/Swiss citizen keep a backup plan since your room is not guaranteed. Buy your AtB student ticket in your first week using a valid student ID, since single tickets add up fast in a city this expensive. Join ESN Trondheim's buddy programme and NTNUI early, both are built to get you talking to people before lectures start. The rookie mistake is underestimating the cold and the dark: pack proper winter layers, and remember that near constant summer daylight swings hard into short, dark winter days.

• Apply for Sit housing the moment NTNU's exchange form allows it.
• Get your AtB student ticket in week one before single fares add up.
• Pack proper winter layers; summer's endless daylight flips to short winter days.