Bigfork senior inspired to travel the world

Everywhere Bigfork High School senior North Nollan visited was a new adventure, fostering a love of travel in him.

“I really like the change in things. Let’s go see what this different place looks like and how they act,” Nollan said.

The son of Ryan and Michelle Nollan, he has attended Bigfork School since first grade. The family traveled to Washington to visit his grandparents and to New York during his childhood. Taking his journey beyond the United States, during his second semester of freshman year, Nollan decided to undertake study abroad, becoming the first Bigfork student in recent memory to do so.

Norway was his initial target, as his family is of Nordic origin. Nollan had taught himself German and taken French classes at Bigfork, developing his love for the language. He thought Norwegian was a Germanic language and would be easier to learn than others as an English speaker, so he began practicing. But at the last second, plans changed.

“At first I was practicing Norwegian, but I got transferred to Sweden at the last second, so I didn’t know much Swedish when I went there,” Nollan said. “At first the language was difficult because the classes were taught in Swedish, but it was something I got used to very quickly. »

Nollan always loved talking to people and getting to know them, and language was a way to develop that.

“The reason I love talking to people is because my life motto is, ‘Love God, love people,’” Nollan noted. “I feel like I am called in this life to show God’s love.”

In Sweden, Nollan was placed with a host family who shared their culture with him. He had two host brothers to show him around.

“It was awkward for about a week and then like a second family,” Nollan said.

He was able to celebrate Midsummer and explore Sweden’s history and castles. In his classes, he quickly found a group of friends who called him “Mr. American.” He and his host family went skiing, just like at home. At the same time, he learned Swedish and practiced his independence, taking the train to school every day.

One of his favorite memories from his time there was when he left the city. His friends gave him a farewell gift of surströmming, a Swedish delicacy, and told him not to open the box until he returned to his host parents. He did as he was told, and upon opening the box he discovered that surströmming was one of the worst things he had ever smelled. Pickled herring is said to be one of the most putrid food odors in the world, which Nollan described as a “fart bomb.”

“It was a good prank, it has to be one of my favorite moments there,” he said with a smile.

But marinated fish isn’t the only thing Nollan received from his time in Sweden. After returning, his host brother, Theodor Ohlsson, decided he wanted to take a tour to see what Montana was like. The Nollans took him in and Theodor was part of Nollan’s senior year. The duo are the same age and take some of the same classes, Theodor has been at Bigfork for this entire school year and will be returning to Sweden to graduate. They ran cross country together and competed in track, although Nollan ran and Theodor threw.

Despite everything he learned in Sweden, Bigfork is still where Nollan has spent most of his life. He recalled his sophomore year, winning the state champion cross country team with his coach and father Ryan and teammate and brother Ryder by his side.

“It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Nollan said.

He also remembers playing Fugitive with his classmates, a sort of cops and robbers game in which racers tried to outrun people driving cars to get to the downtown Bigfork Bridge.

“It’s just these people that I spent most of my life with here in Bigfork, that has to be my favorite memory,” he said.

Skiing is the final piece of Nollan’s puzzle. It’s his main sport outside of school, and he and his friends have taken trips to Whitefish Mountain Resort every weekend this winter. He even handcrafted a pair of skis for his senior project, which are fully functional.

Linguistics, culture, community, skiing.

“I decided to pursue a career where that’s exactly what I do. I’m going to talk to people and go skiing, that’s what I wanted to do,” Nollan said.

After high school, Nollan will continue studying to become an international ski instructor in Switzerland. After that, maybe Austria or Japan, wherever the travel bug takes him. After graduation, Nollan could earn a degree in linguistics, although he’s not yet sure whether that will be in the United States or abroad.

“Bigfork was the perfect town to grow up in, I love it there,” Nollan said.

“I want to thank everyone, my friends, my family, who really pushed me to step out of my comfort zone, to experience new things.”

Bigfork High School’s Class of 2024 will graduate Saturday, June 1 at 11 a.m. in the high school gymnasium.