From the warmth of Tanzania to the snowy landscapes of Ås, Master student Gloria John Nekemwene experiences a striking contrast in climate and agriculture as she explores new academic horizons during her exchange at NMBU.
Growing up in Tanzania, I never imagined I would one day watch snow fall past my window while preparing for a lecture on integrated pest management. Yet here I am. Gloria John Nekemwene, a Master’s student in Crop Protection at Sokoine University of Agriculture Tanzania, living that reality as an exchange student at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) in Ås, Norway.
The Norwegian winter is my first great test. Nothing in Morogoro prepared me for temperatures plunging to - 5°C, hours of darkness, and a landscape buried in white silence.
Learning to layer clothing became an art, and yet I found myself falling in love with the season, the crunch of snow underfoot, the frosted forests on campus, and even a clumsy first attempt at skiing that I will never forget.
A living classroom
Academically, NMBU has been transformative.
The university offers a world-class environment where professors engage students as intellectual partners, laboratories are equipped with cutting-edge technology, and coursework in plant pathology and sustainable agriculture has powerfully deepened my research foundation.
Studying how Norwegian farmers manage pests under extreme climatic conditions so different from tropical Tanzania has opened entirely new research questions in my mind.
The campus itself, nestled among pine forests, farmlands, and frozen lakes, became a living classroom.
Norway’s culture of environmental stewardship - visible in everyday recycling, clean public transport, and people cycling through snowstorms - has deeply inspired me and shaped how I think about sustainability in agriculture.
Friendships that span continents
And the people: quietly warm, deeply curious, and genuinely kind. Through shared meals, and long coffee conversations, I built friendships that span continents. My peers showed as much interest in Tanzanian agriculture as I had in theirs, reminding me that knowledge flows best when it moves freely across borders.
This exchange has given me resilience, humility, and a broadened vision for my career. I return to SUA richer in skills, perspective, and purpose. To any student considering an exchange programme: go. The discomfort is temporary; the growth is permanent.
Gloria John Nekemwene is taking an MSc in Crop Protection at Sokoine University of Agriculture in Tanzania and is an exchange student at NMBU via the NORPART-EAT project: Joint learning for food security: Extension, agroecology and rural transformation.