September 2007 Issue
first person
Rotary Trip Boosts Knowledge And Builds Memories
BY COLE
NYCHKA, E.I.T.
Member Contributor
 |
In the Land of the Fjords |
his past May, I was able to travel to Norway as a member of a five-person group on an expenses-paid trip of a lifetime — all because of my engineering profession. I spent four weeks visiting leading Norwegian engineering firms, going on personal guided tours, and staying in my Norwegian tour guides’ homes.
This vocational and cultural experience is proving to be simply unforgettable.
Although the Group Study Exchange Program is sponsored by Rotary, I did not have to be a Rotarian to qualify. The annual vocational and cultural exchange is for professionals aged 25-40 who have been in their vocation for at least two years.
Annually, a Rotarian team leader and four-to-six non-Rotarian team members from each of the two Alberta Rotary districts go on a trip to experience how their occupational counterparts work overseas.
In 2008, the north Rotary district visits Pakistan in January and the south district visits Sao Paulo, Brazil, in May. The exchange to Brazil will focus on forestry and agriculture. Participants are billeted with families and are only responsible for personal spending money. Travel, lodging and meals are all provided through Rotary.
The goal of the exchange is to give business people and professionals in the early stages of their careers a unique growth opportunity, while fostering goodwill between nations and encouraging economic opportunities through the sharing of ideas.
I was a part of a team made up of a bakery manager, a community development facilitator and two other engineers — a structural engineer from Grande Prairie and a water treatment engineer from Edmonton.
The vocational experiences were targeted for each individual. I’m an E.I.T. with a mechanical engineering background and I work for ATCO Gas, so I spent most of my time getting an overview of the energy sector in Norway.
Places I visited included a wood-waste-burning, district heating plant; the
Slagen Refinery, a facility where the boilers burn propane to meet Norway’s strict
environmental regulations; and Dr. techn. Olav Olsen, the consulting firm that
designed the first concrete offshore drilling platforms for the North Sea.
The technical highlight of the trip was a presentation by the vice-president
of marketing at Norway’s second-largest oil company, Norsk Hydro. The presentation
focused on the Ormen Lange natural gas field and the associated 1,200-kilometre
undersea Langeled pipeline. The world’s largest, this pipeline goes from
Norway to the U.K.
The two megaprojects required a combined investment of seven billion euros. I started to understand why it cost so much, after seeing how the seafloor was prepared for the concrete-encased pipeline. Crews selectively added fill from ships and used underwater robots to remove fill.
These trip aren’t all business. The Group Study Exchange offers ample time to experience the host culture and country.
My team was hosted by six Rotary Clubs and I was billeted with a different family at each club. Through this broad experience I made many friends, had many home-cooked meals, and developed a good impression of what it means to be Norwegian.
Our hosts were extremely proud of their country and we, their visitors, felt we had much in common with them. They also expressed their love of the outdoors on several occasions when the team was taken on hiking and boat excursions — including a trip through the breathtaking Norwegian fjords.
MORE INFORMATION
Application forms and further information on the Rotary Group
Study Exchange program can be found at
www.rotary.org/foundation/educational/gse/
or from your local club
Rotary Group Study Exchange — Northern Alberta
www.rotarydistrict5670.org
Rotary Group Study Exchange — Southern Alberta
(including Red Deer)
www.rotary5360.org
Applications for the north are no longer being accepted for 2008,
but applications for the south are due Sept. 29. Send them to
Neil Swensrude
36 Rowell Close
Red Deer, AB T4P 3P4