Halvard wrote:
cerveloguy wrote:
BCtriguy1 wrote:
cerveloguy wrote:
len wrote:
Bergen and Oslo are no colder than Toronto in winter. Although the lack of a proper summer might be offputting for some. Personally I think Oslo was one of the most attractive cities to live in I have ever visited. Taking the subway to cross country skiing or fishing. Great culture great city parks great museums. The only thing that was relatively affordable compared to a big city in Canada was housing though. If you wanted to become a citizen though you would have to learn Norwegian which is difficult.
My daughter was dating a Norwegian guy who she met in Vancouver. He was working here on exchange as an engineer in the salmon fishing industry. He wanted my daughter to move to Norway despite the fact she couldn't speak a word of Norwegian while he spoke perfect English and could easily continue working in his same industry in Vancouver. He cited "family reasons" as why he wouldn't stay and my daughter wasn't willing to move so they broke up. I've read/heard that its very difficult for foreigners to make friends in the Scandinavian countries. In fact in a poll of 17 countries Sweden came 17th and Norway and Denmark were also towards the back. I actually found the people friendly when I visited there so was quite surprised by this poll but maybe immigrating and visiting as a tourist might be quite different..
My cousin married a Norwegian girl and moved over there. He has learned the language, has a job, friends, etc and seems to have integrated well. He did say the first couple of years were hard. He misses some things about Canada, but ultimately feels Norway is a better place to raise his family (and Vancouver is just a shit show these days).
One of my chiro patients has a daughter that married a Norwegian guy and lives there. She really wants to return to Canada but her kids were born there so she's stuck. She and her husband fly to Canada with empty suitcases twice a year and buy all their clothing here, removing the tags and washing everything to slip past Norwegian security at the airport when they return home. Apparently, what they save on the price of clothing pays for their airfares. Norway is damn expensive.
The question should be, is Norway expensive for Norwegians. If you have ever been to Norway it does not look like that Norwegians are poor or cannot buy anything. Of course the salaries are very high and the North Sea oil has been a godsend.. They would have to be high in order to afford to live there. But when Norwegians regularly cross the border to buy "cheap" beer in Sweden that says something.