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CONTENTS

Background

This page describes about the excursions for the students in the Waterpower laboratory. We usually have two important excursions: Autumn semester for the students, and it is usually within Norway, and supported by HydroCen or RevewHydro. Another excursion is organized in Spring semester before Easter holidays. During spring time excursion, the students usually travel to Nepal and attend international conference, and they make their presentation in the conference.

Autumn excursion

The Autumn excursion is usually held before the Winter and is organized by the lab with support from Hydrocen/ReHydro. The excursion features a visit to hydropower projects undergoing maintenance or overhauling, giving opportunity to students to understand the internal components of hydropower project.

Spring excursion: Nepal

The Spring excursion is a relatively more elaborate excursion, with the possibility to present student's work as paper or presentation at an international conference. Historically, the students from the lab has been presenting their papers at CRHT (Current Research in Hydropower Technology) conference, organized by the partner University of NTNU: Kathmandu University. The students willing to participate in this excursion has to submit their work as paper or presentation at the conference. The conference lasts for one day, sometimes two; based on the number of papers received at the conference. After the conference, the participants visit the Turbine Testing Lab, Hydro Lab and several other hydropower projects in Nepal. The student group has the opportunity to decide and organize the trip themselves, including the powerplant they would want to visit, however it is also possible to get help from vitass and other employees at the lab. The excursion has been funded by several hydropower companies in Norway, Hydrocen and other relevant sources. Following are some of the recommended steps regarding the spring excursion to Nepal.

1. Talk to each other regarding the excursion and find out how many of you will go.
2. Find the lists of sponsors that have sponsored in the previous years and try not to be limited to the companies in the list.
3. The list is long, so dividing the companies amongst yourself is a good strategy to be able to contact all of them on time.
4.  Its easier if only one of you deals with each parties, for example agent in Nepal, Berg Hansen, etc. so decide who will do what quite early on during your planning phase.
5. Start thinking about what you will present in the conference and start working towards that goal well ahead of time. Talking to your supervisor is a good way to find a topic to write about.
6. The conference coincides with the Easter holidays so you can plan accordingly to get a tentative travel plan from agents in Nepal and within Norway.
7. Visit the vaccination center 3 to 4 months before the conference and find out if you need to take any additional vaccinations to visit Nepal. There are some vaccines that might need booster doses within 3 months time. 
8. Talk to the PhDs and Postdocs to find out if they will join the post conference trip with you, its easier if everyone is included in the same travel plan. They will find their own funding sources so you don't need to worry about including them in your budget.
9. A substantial part of your budget will go into flight tickets, so try to book the flight tickets as early as possible to reduce the flight costs.
10. You will receive confirmation from some sponsors very close to the conference date or even after the conference date, and its uncertain about the amount they will sponsor so be prepared to contribute some portion of the expenses yourself.
11. Ask one of the PhDs or vitass to prepare the feltkort and submit it to the department. Examples of feltkort and travel plan from previous year can be found in  \\kunde.it.ntnu.no\ept-eksperimentell\Vannkraft\Administrativt(Administrative)\Vitenskapelig Assistent\Ekskursjon Utland Masterstudenter.
12. Be sure to pay the conference fee on time to get the early bird discount. If by any chance if you forget to pay the fee on time or come across other problems regarding paper submission deadlines contact Sailesh(sailesh@ku.edu.np).
13. Don't forget to carry a passport size photo and some cash(USD) to get the visa at Tribhuvan airport in Nepal. You can find the details regarding the visa fee and other requirements here.

The planning for the excursion should be done as early as possible. One of the most important task is to find the sponsors, there is a list of sponsors who have contributed in the previous years and how much they sponsored. You should also explore more than what's already available in the list. You should start talking to travel agents and ask for an itinerary and quotation after a tentative date for the conference. You can talk to Ole or contact Sailesh from TTL to ask about the tentative date. Talk to PhDs and PostDocs when you make a plan because they usually participate in the conference and might also join the other part of the trip with you if they haven't done so in the previous years. You should also take an appointment with the vaccination center 3 to 4 months before the trip itself to find out if you need any additional vaccinations to visit Nepal. You should also try to get your ticket booked as early as you can as your overall budget will be substantially affected by the price of the flight ticket. Flight tickets should be booked through the official travel partner of NTNU: Berg Hansen. You need to find a leader who will be responsible for preparation of travel plan and submit the feltkort to the department. You will find the examples of travel plan and felt kort along with other important information from previous years in \\kunde.it.ntnu.no\ept-eksperimentell\Vannkraft\Administrativt(Administrative)\Vitenskapelig Assistent\Ekskursjon Utland Masterstudenter.