ABSTRACT
This chapter is rich and powerful testimony to the impact of the Learning School on those who made it and lived it. It is not just a collection of personal stories, moving as many of them are, but it raises far-reaching questions about the very nature of learning and the place of schooling in the lives of students. As many of these student researchers testify, the most significant benefit of all is to make you reflect on your own learning and prepare you for further or higher education, or for life long and life-wide learning.
When I today look back on the past year I can both laugh and cry but mostly I just smile. It seems now like a faraway dream and not something I have done. It was a year of adventure in many ways and nothing one can imagine.
It was difficult to come home again and try to be ‘normal’ but maybe I will never be ‘normal’ ever again and the big question is now if I want to. It is like standing on the edge of something unknown just like it was one year ago when I was sitting on the pier in Bergen looking out at the sea and waiting for the ferry that would take me to the Shetland Islands. I am now at the same point as I was one year ago but now I do not have a big sea in front of me but my future and that feels more scary.
One thing that the Learning School did for me and probably for everyone else who has done a similar thing is that it has opened the doors in my mind, and I now believe that I can do anything. The question we all have to ask ourselves is, are we brave enough to jump out there into the unknown not knowing what we might find or would we rather stay on safe ground? One last word is, jump! It is only you who are holding yourself back. If you do not take the step out you might regret it for the rest of your life but if you do, you can always come back to safety again.
(Karolina)