How is it to live in Norway?

[AnonymBruker]

Good afternoon. 
Gotten a job-offer to work for Equinor 22.august in Stavanger. My wife and I are a little bit worried that Norwegian people are introverts and hard to get along with. We do not know anyone living in Norway, and Stavanger.. How is the society in Norway compared with the dutch society for example. We are from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 
Appreciate all kind of answers.  

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

[AnonymBruker]

Stavanger is a very internasjonal City, and Equinor have all sorts of employees, so there should'nt be a problem getting to know people. 

Good luck, Stavanger is a fantastic City, I miss it very much 💕

Anonymkode: 15972...e5f

[Pillarguri]

Norwegian society is very similar to Duth society.  We have the same way of living and mostly the same values.  Should be no problem for a Dutch couple to live and have a good life in Stavanger.  Good luck !

[AnonymBruker]

Cold, windy and rainful. And now everybody have a flu. It is cozy. 

Anonymkode: 5fd73...f5b

[AnonymBruker]

5 minutter siden, AnonymBruker said:

Stavanger is a very internasjonal City, and Equinor have all sorts of employees, so there should'nt be a problem getting to know people. 

Good luck, Stavanger is a fantastic City, I miss it very much 💕

Anonymkode: 15972...e5f

Thank you very for answering. We definitely consider it, and next week we need to give Equinor an answer whether we come or not..

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

[AnonymBruker]

You're right. Norwegian people are introverts, but we're not hard to get along with ☺️ It just takes time. 

Anonymkode: 657f8...075

[AnonymBruker]

3 minutter siden, Pillarguri said:

Norwegian society is very similar to Duth society.  We have the same way of living and mostly the same values.  Should be no problem for a Dutch couple to live and have a good life in Stavanger.  Good luck !

Thank you very much! We will most likely say yes to the joboffer.  Always dreamt of standing on Prekestolen.

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

[Pillarguri]

1 minutt siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Cold, windy and rainful. And now everybody have a flu. It is cozy. 

Anonymkode: 5fd73...f5b

If you are Dutch "cold, windy and rainful" is familiar. And that everybody have the flu is absolutely not true.  

[AnonymBruker]

Just now, AnonymBruker said:

You're right. Norwegian people are introverts, but we're not hard to get along with ☺️ It just takes time. 

Anonymkode: 657f8...075

Well thats ok. Hopefully Norwegians are more extroverts when they get to know anyone.  

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

[AnonymBruker]

2 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Well thats ok. Hopefully Norwegians are more extroverts when they get to know anyone.  

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

Exactly 😊

Anonymkode: 657f8...075

[AnonymBruker]

Norway for a person from the heart of Europe is a boring and dull place. Speaking from my own experience. Will be leaving soon after a long time living here (and being half Norwegian with native Norwegian language and the whole package). Yes you can make huge money here, but it's not a good way of life for a person without network and Norwegian friends from before. You'll struggle like nothing to make connections here as people are not only introverts, but xenophonic. They're curious to know where you're from just to associate you with something that's "worse than Norway". 

You'll see that while people from Europe have learned to think as Europeans, people from Norway have learned to think "First Norway, then everybody else", and that "Norwegian quality is best in the world" etc. 

I would stay in the Netherlands! Yes, Norway is beautiful and worth a visit, but don't come to live here if you don't have to. Good luck anyway! 

Anonymkode: 27a5e...c34

[AnonymBruker]

I guess Norwegians have an overall good impression of Dutch people, at least I have, so I believe you willl be well received, welcome!

Anonymkode: fbae6...bb4

[AnonymBruker]

4 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Norway for a person from the heart of Europe is a boring and dull place.

It really becomes what you make of it. 

12 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

You'll struggle like nothing to make connections here as people are not only introverts, but xenophonic.

That is not my experience at all. When I lived in Stavanger I had a lot of international friends. All of them seemed to have a great time.

6 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Yes you can make huge money here

You can earn a good salary in Norway, but rarely "hugh money".

For example, a professor at a good universities in America can earn 200.000 usd. Very few people earn that as an employee in Norway.

Anonymkode: 0a26f...36a

[AnonymBruker]

Stavanger seems to be a good place for expats - especially if you like the citylife of cafees, bars and culture. The first time I went out after moving there I got into a conversation with a bunch of scottish people working at sea outside of Stavanger, and meeting new people from abroad seemed to be the case all throughout the years.

There's both native and englishspeaking events in town, norwegians speak good english in general, and there is at least one international school if you've got kids. 

Some norwegians can be shy and harder to get to know, but if you meet them through a social event, work or a hobby you'll probably get some new friends after a while. 

Anonymkode: d8ea7...ef0

[AnonymBruker]

12 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

I guess Norwegians have an overall good impression of Dutch people, at least I have, so I believe you willl be well received, welcome!

Anonymkode: fbae6...bb4

I agree with this. Must of us like Dutch people and will welcome you.

There are also a lot of foreigners to connect with in Stavanger.

We might appear a bit quiet (while sober at least), in the beginning, but give us a little time and most of us will be friendly and sociable!

Anonymkode: a5a8d...871

[AnonymBruker]

18 timer siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Good afternoon. 
Gotten a job-offer to work for Equinor 22.august in Stavanger. My wife and I are a little bit worried that Norwegian people are introverts and hard to get along with. We do not know anyone living in Norway, and Stavanger.. How is the society in Norway compared with the dutch society for example. We are from Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 
Appreciate all kind of answers.  

Anonymkode: 9fe51...f39

Hello, there  I am norwegian.

How long are you going to work in Stavanger? Dont think to much about connecting with norwegian people, there are other international ppl to connect with. Norwegian ppl can be really hard to connect with, we dont have social culture as many other country have. Thats why i like to travel to many places around the world.

And we also have a big problem with drugs, norway is the capital of heroin in europe.

So go for it, dont need to connect with many norwegian ppl  

Anonymkode: 31c3c...840

[AnonymBruker]

17 timer siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

You're right. Norwegian people are introverts, but we're not hard to get along with ☺️ It just takes time. 

Anonymkode: 657f8...075

Må jo le litt av dette her... på KG Av alle plasser... ' norwegians 'not hard to get along with'' 😂

Anonymkode: 87ec5...c57

[AnonymBruker]

6 timer siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

Norway for a person from the heart of Europe is a boring and dull place. Speaking from my own experience. Will be leaving soon after a long time living here (and being half Norwegian with native Norwegian language and the whole package). Yes you can make huge money here, but it's not a good way of life for a person without network and Norwegian friends from before. You'll struggle like nothing to make connections here as people are not only introverts, but xenophonic. They're curious to know where you're from just to associate you with something that's "worse than Norway". 

You'll see that while people from Europe have learned to think as Europeans, people from Norway have learned to think "First Norway, then everybody else", and that "Norwegian quality is best in the world" etc. 

I would stay in the Netherlands! Yes, Norway is beautiful and worth a visit, but don't come to live here if you don't have to. Good luck anyway! 

Anonymkode: 27a5e...c34

Sounds like the way Americans view things.

 

Generally though, Continental Europeans have been more connected for a long time than Scandinavians have.. But many Scandinavians do love to travel, also our populations are quite small compared to the Netherlands, so be prepared for more ''conformist mindsets''

I do think the society is way too perfectionist and everyone freaks out if they don't have things like higher education and what not.. Chill out, it's not the end of the world..

Anonymkode: 87ec5...c57

[AnonymBruker]

There’s hardly any Norwegians in Stavanger, so no problem. 
You find the occasional Norwegian man married to a  Filipino or a Thai woman, and most of the people living there have a lot of money - or want to look like they have a lot of money. 

 

Anonymkode: a9eb0...321

[AnonymBruker]

2 minutter siden, AnonymBruker skrev:

There’s hardly any Norwegians in Stavanger, so no problem. 
You find the occasional Norwegian man married to a  Filipino or a Thai woman, and most of the people living there have a lot of money - or want to look like they have a lot of money. 

 

Anonymkode: a9eb0...321

Seriøst? Hvor er alle nordmenne? De har jo ikke liten befolkning...

Anonymkode: 87ec5...c57