What is Life REALLY Like in Norway? | American Reacts
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- čas přidán 13. 05. 2024
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As an American I don't have any idea what life is like in Norway. Today I am very excited to learn about what like in Norway is really like strait from Norwegians. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!
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That Reddit post is actually written in Swedish, not Norway. Norwegian letters do not have diaeresis, the two marks above the vowels :)
Jo, men svensker ser nordmenn bedre utenfra enn nordmenn selv.
yes
03:43 It's worth mentioning that when you rent out your basement, you normally either remodel the house basement plan so it has its own access point from the outside, or from a shared stairway in the hallway with doors to each apartment, so the basement is separated from the rest of the house, or you already have the basement built that way from the beginning. This way the people you rent out to don't have to go through your home to get into the basement. You will also not be allowed entry into the basement unless given permission from whoever you rent to, or under emergency situations, as you can be sued for breach of rental agreement otherwise, as the basement is now someone else's home.
and keep in mind that the whole "renting out a basements" usually means they have converted the basements in to apartments.
American: Let's take a look at this Reddit discusion, wich is completly written in Norwegian...
me: "Reads in swedish" 👀
😂
Packed lunches with slices of bread are part of the Norwegian frugality culture. The food package should take us through the day, give us the necessary energy boost. In Norway we have an expression: "Hunger is the best cook". It is therefore not necessary to have hot meals several times a day if you make sure to get enough fruit and vegetables in between meals, which is common in Norway. You bring a banana, a carrot or an apple and eat it when you're hungry. One of the reasons why it works with so much bread is probably that Norwegians walk a lot in their spare time, so they burn off the extra carbohydrates. Our bread is rich in fiber and nutrients that come with whole grains.
Food is probably not as important to Norwegians as it is to others. Perhaps it is because we have nature to enjoy, and that we therefore do not have the same need to gather around the table. We gather outside in nature instead. A sausage grilled on the bonfire is a wonderful meal when you are tired from having climbed several hundred metres.
All the hiking is also why chocolate is considered a good hiking food (cf. your previous video). Norwegian chocolate is based on natural ingredients, and contains both carbohydrates, protein and fat, as well as the benefits from cocoa.
Basements are fitted and decorated, lots of people rent them out.
Written in Swedish* ;)
The basements are fully fit and have separate entrances. Renting them out helps a lot of people to pay down their mortgages quicker, have a 2. car or just as part of their income.
Renting out basements is not what you would think it is as an American, I think. Here it means an apartment in the basement, a whole floor with kitchen, bedroom(s), bathroom etc. Not a regular basement for storage. :)
By the way the career thing is so right. I love my job and take my career seriously, but me and my co workers (and everyone I know) take as much free time as we can. Today it is 23 degrees C outside, so I used some of my flex time to go home at 13:00 to be with my kids and enjoy the weather. :) And we all encourage each other to go home earlier when we can. Working full time in America sounds like a nightmare for any regular Norwegian. :p
I rent a basement apartment. 1 large bedroom, a very nice bathroom, kitchen/livingroom, storage, and the entrence is big. All, except the entrence-part got floor heatings. Huge windows, very, very nice view of the fjord... It got high-end appliences, and my landlords are just awsome! The rent... 10.000 NOK.
Love living here. ❤
Det lyder godt. Er en lille smule misundelig. 😊 🇩🇰♥️🇳🇴
@@user-lw8bv3ln9n Hei! Jeg er pensjonist, og halve pensjonen går til husleie og strøm. Og jeg var ekstremt heldig da jeg søkte etter leilighet, fikk svar 15 (!!!) minutter etter at la ut søknaden. Var i en annen by, og tok den usett, så jeg var litt redd for kvaliteten. Hvordan er utleie-markedet i Danmark?
As for the "consensus culture", personally I know several people whose politics are the complete antithesis to my own, but we get along well(was even invited to an event hosted by one recently). We also often make fun of our different ways of thinking, and try not to take ourselves to seriously. I think this is pretty common for most Norwegians.
But it can also be a lot of fun to sometimes have really heated arguments about politics or other subjects, and then after the argument is finished to simmer down, share a beer and talk about that record album both people like :)
As a people I think we have a very good culture and mentality when it comes to disagreements. Oh, and "banning" someone, or refusing to talk to someone just because they dont agree with you, would be seen as very petty and insecure here...
The basement has been converted into an apartment. They can be really nice, but are very expensive. Divorced fathers often rent these apartments. The landlord uses the rent to pay off the loan on his house, while the tenant could actually buy an apartment for the price, but they lack equity.
Yes because when you work all the time you letting life pass you by
Thank you swedes for nice words ❤ Greetings from Norway. Btw it was ritten in swedish 😂
Local patriots they say, not neccessarily national patriots. I agree on that. People who live in Oslo can be very Oslo patriots, or people who live in Gudbrandsdalen very patriot to that area.
I Live in Norway and as a Norwegian I can say a lot of this is true.
Them saying there is no hot lunch is a bit exaggerated. We usually have warm lunch at work if we want. And we also often go out to other places to eat during lunch.
Next time you want to check out something written in Norwegian like this you should have one of us check the translation to make sure it makes sense first. It'll make a better video. ❤
Lol.. The basements normally have then been completely refurbished to have their own entrances, separate bath and kitchen etc.. so it is like making an underground apartment beneath your home and renting that out.
But it isn't always basements. I rent the upper floor of a two floor house myself. I have my own entrance, bathroom, a small storage room, separate bedroom, living room, and kitchen. I even have my own veranda.
There are some assholes who just throw a separate door in, install a shower and a sink and try to rent that out... which is just showing that they have the lowest possible respect for other people's needs, and are wiling to take money for crap from those who are desperate.
0:24
Almost, it's written in Swedish, although I expect the replies to be in Norwegian.
10:54
The original post was made by a Swede in Swedish, so comparing the two makes sense.
End of the video:
Regarding the patriotism, he doesn't say that we're more patriotic towards our nation, rather he's talking about *local* patriotism.
Essentially Norwegians are often from a specific area more do then from Norway the country.
It's their region that matters to them much more then their country.
While Swedes are more focused on Sweden the *country* rather then their regions compared to Norwegians.
Of course both countries have both local and national patriotism.
But they have different emphasis on the two.
I checked this particular reddit post, which was started by a Swede, and the responses are approximately 50/50 Swedes, and Norwegians. If all of this was translated to English under the assumption that everything was written in Norwegian, it would explain quite a lot of the strange language/grammar. The responses are mostly opinions without explanations, so it is often difficult to discern exactly how they reached their conclusions. One of the few things that I can speak to is the working hours, and the claim that Norwegians doesn't work as hard as the Swedes. For a long time we have had Swedes that came to Norway explicitly to work due to higher wages, and they were likely more motivated to work extra hours in order to earn as much money as possible before moving back to Sweden. If these small Swedish communities compared themselves to the Norwegians they worked with, I can imagine that they would feel superior. After many years working with a lot of Swedes both in Sweden, and Norway, I have to say that we are pretty much the same. Not better, not worse.
One of the responses mentioned that Norwegians work less than the Swedes because Norwegians work 8-16, compared to the Swedish 8-16:40. I don't know if this response came from a Swede, or a Norwegian, but it's the first time I have ever heard that claim. What they don't mention is that it is common for Swedish workers to have 1 hour for lunch (I assume unpaid), whereas Norwegians have 30 unpaid minutes for lunch. According to Swedish regulations it seems that they also have a 40 hour work week, possibly with unpaid lunch. In other words it seems that Swedes actually have the same working hours as Norwegians, or possibly 30 minutes less. Keep in mind however that this is based on my experience with Swedish work life, and the regulations that I was able to google, so it is possible that it is common to work more hours regardless of the regulations that are in place. It is my experience that the actual working hours can vary greatly, so regardless of the country in question, you will likely see some clocking out on the dot every day, while others work extra hours every single day. As a Norwegian I have belonged to the latter group for decades now.
As a foreigner having lived in Norway for many years, I think the most important characteristics of Norwegian culture are: Long walks in nature, the mountain trails, and cabins (often shared). Simple food but healthy. Most people are averagely rich. Free education at all levels. When you get friends in Norway you have friends for life. The article you read is Swedish and misses some important points. Norway has a consensus culture, more so than the neighboring countries.
It's written in Swedish...
No, we don't bring lunch to school to save money... We bring lunch to have something to eat!
Most schools here *don't have a cafeteria!*
That shows up in like.. Videregående (we used to translate that with college, these days I see we translate it with high school.. the school systems are just too different to get it right. I'll go with ..) the first stage of school that is voluntary (on paper at least) and that one starts when you're at least 16.
When I'm in the UK with my in laws, it's clear they're not used to the bread as a meal between dinners. I'm happy just having a slice of bread with some cheese on in stead of a full on warm meal!
I am both a veteran and disabled after a long working life. I get just enough to survive. And live from Pay Check to Pay Check.
A number of Americans have commented on working conditions and working hours in Norway, and I have to make a correction there. Normal working hours in Norway are 8 hours, with a half-hour lunch break, or you work 7.5 hours with a paid lunch break, which means that everyone has a 7.5-hour working day. Most people who work in an office start at 08.00 and finish at 16.00. Those who work in manual jobs such as carpenters or plumbers often start at 07.00 and finish at 15.00. But then there are many workplaces that have such cold flextime. This means that they may start at the office at 07.30 every day, but by the time they get to Friday, they have accumulated 2.5 hours which they can then leave earlier. Many who work on construction often work 9.5 hours on Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, but have Friday off.
HOLIDAYS: In Norway we have 4 weeks holiday a year, if you are not a millionaire and run your own company?
How you want to spend the weeks is a choice you make before the working year begins, and some weeks are governed by the workplace, and some weeks you are given holiday as you wish.
It is usual to have three weeks in the summer, also a cold "community holiday". But then you have another week where you often choose, such as the Christmas holiday, or the Winter holiday (a holiday where the children often have a whole week off school), and Easter. When it comes to Christmas, you probably look at the calendar to see how many public holidays Christmas has, if there are few, then you might take a holiday, if there are many, then you don't. And then you might rather take a winter holiday. At Easter, most people only work three days during Easter week, and if you take those days off, you are often left with two days off, and these can be taken when your employer allows you. After turning 60, you get an extra week's holiday a year. SO no, we can't take four or five weeks in the south in the summer, and no, we can't just go to the cabin when we want to take Friday off. And it is absolutely true that all holidays are paid, which means that while you are on holiday you get paid, BUT, this is money you as an employee have saved up throughout the year, and which is deducted from your salary. And in addition, there is half tax in December, and holiday pay is tax-free. And for most, it is paid out in June. This is because the holiday year is usually calculated from May to May.
5:34 Flying is the fastest, most reliable option, and often pretty cheapish to tiny airports inside of Norway. Busses go every wear, you can't get to the highest point in Norway, without using a long-distance bus now a days. The buss and train system is some times late, especially in winter time further south. The furthest North trains go is up to a place called "Narvik" It is about 4/6th of the northiest we live here. That train goes through Sweden to Stockholm. The train station furthest north with a line through Norways is Bodø(about 5/8ths up north). But big stations in different bigger cities like Bergen and Trondheim always has reliable trains throughout the day. Worst case, a long-distance buss is replacing the train because of maintenance. And it takes about 28 hours to drive from Oslo to Alta including a ferry ride if you choose to only drive in Norway. There is a road with no ferries if the Swedish road is chosen. So plain is the best way to travel a lot of times.
Renting out part of your house/home is normal. Some rent out just a bedroom in their home.
A short history lesson, after ww2 Large parts of Norway was quite damaged and there was a desperat need of housing, so if you build a Home with two livingunits you where alegible for a hevaly subsidiced loan.
And as long as you the rental part of your house are less than 50% of the house, the rent are not considerd as a taxable inncom.
Since there are little flat ground to build on many houses are suterain villas, which means that the foundation(basement) in large part are abow or at groundlevel and would in most other countrys be considerd groundfloor!!
By jelly they mean jello, and it's a very common dessert for kid's birthday parties in particular. The relative lack of wealth disparity can be partially attributed to Norway having strong unions negotiating fair wages on a national basis. And yes, we eat A LOT of bread in Norway, usually topped with some butter and some sort of spread or cold cuts. Convenience stores are still open on Sundays, so you're not completely screwed if you forgot to buy something, but any store above a certain size are required by law to be closed.
I've also tried the weird Swedish banana pizza thing. It had banana, chicken, peanuts and curry on it. It sounds really weird, but it's not as awful as you'd expect.
It's correct in British English. Jelly=gelé.
@@Henrik46 Yeah, but in America, jelly often means jam. You know, like peanut butter and jelly. Just want to avoid that kind of confusion.
15:44 mabye its a lot of compering to sweden cause its in swedish
There is some culture differences between the Scandinavian Countries - although seen from the outside we look much the same and in the bigger picture it is true. Of course, as with any neighbours, there is agruments - but if someone from outside scandinavia complain - we defend each other.
Bud still learning about my country for years now😭😭
I’m from Norway
Hi! A Norwegian here. Please don't belive everything you read on the internet.. It's just as easy to move around here in Norway as in any other country.. And the basements are usually divided into a separate apartment or a flat with their own entrance.🤓
We have hot lunch at work, where this acucation comes from I don’t know
So, when are you coming to Norway?
Love your content, Tyler:) Love from Norway
It's swedish
Sweden is different
I think a lot of the automatic translations are a bit weird haha
0:21 0:50 It is written in Swedish on the first post, not Norwegian.
You should make a video about our national day which is today; May 17. This year it is the 210th anniversary of our constitution.
As a norwegian i can safely say its not writen in norwegian. our alphabet does not contain some of those letters, i would say its writen in sweedish would be my asumption.
16:55 No idea where this person has been in Norway but it can't be Oslo.
If you can't find exactly what you want here or have your adventurous foodie satisfied here, you wouldn't be able to find the exit of a barn either.
The middle class in USA is not the median... it is here. Or rather, upper middle class.
In USA it's more common to be poor or almost near the poverty level, than any of the other groupings...
Edit: Lol I paused to write this and you talk about it the *MOMENT* I resume. Oh well
Hunting and fishing. And drinking
dingdondong2 said it well, she/he got most of the big things in there.
Tyler, where do you live ?
Its written in swedish actually
Most of this is just personal preferences and opinions.
both my parents became too ill to work when I was around 8-9 years old. if education had not been virtually free, would have been very poor today. instead, I am a qualified geriatric nurse.
xD it's in swedish Tyler ..
We don't rent out the basement, we rent out the basement apartment.
There's a huge difference.
We don't work from 0800-1600, but 0700-1500 is the normal working hour, BUT women that work in offices work from 0800-1600.
Not sure why, they're just lazy and don't want to wake up early to go to work like everyone else.
Fly drive and train
Take a look at my old Regiment. I served as a NCO in the 70s. These Soldiers' are just Serving one year. Here are they at the Military Tatto czcams.com/video/d-b13NKml80/video.html
True, to be a successful country you need a strong so called middle class. They pay most taxes and other things, to keep a peaceful and respectful country going.
It depends... if you're a Norwegian in need, it kinda sucks but if you are foreign, you get everything of everything.
Written in Swedish not Norwegian😮
Who in their right mind lists being patriotic as a negative?
Lol
This one is gonna be really bad for SilvanaDil, I'm afraid...
ITS NOT NORWEGIAN ITS SWEDISH
The post is written in Swedish.. But I guess you have had about 50 messages about that already.. Given you have 82 comments at the time I am posting :) Keep up the good work, I really like to see a foreigners view on Norway and Norwegians :) - Best wishes from a Norwegian
In Norway a "Maga republican" could have "Vote blue no matter who" friends.
Many Norwegians are very grateful to live in Norway, we have little crime, we have good schools, and everyone has the opportunity to have a good life. But as everyone knows, things don't always go as you wish. Therefore, we have a population with large differences in standards. Some struggle a little with money, and others manage well, but so does the rest of the world. And like everywhere else, we also have some bad apples. There are those who do not want or do not want to follow laws and regulations. And there are starting to be a bit too many of them. Ola Normann is probably quite selfish in many ways, but then we also have those who fight for others every single day, both in Norway and outside the country. Ola Normann does not want to discuss money, politics or religion. What our views on these areas are too private. The vast majority think they know how to raise children, but many fail because work and children make parents struggle in their everyday lives, and the only thing they can change is the time they spend with the children. Therefore, you find that many children are put in front of the TV, or the PC, so that they do not disturb the tired parents. But of course there are many parents who are good at getting their children active, after they have come home and had dinner, with a walk in the woods or a trip to go swimming++++. The weather in Norway has big differences since the country is so long. So when there is swimming around the Oslofjord, it could be that they are skiing in Tromsø. And while it is sunny for large parts of the day (21/5 - 21/7) in Tromsø, it is night and dark in Oslo. But in any case, people are so adaptable that regardless of where we live in Norway, we mostly have Good.
Poor description. If you don't have good finances in Norway, you are stupid. Extremely stupid!
Obviously i get even paid for not participating in working a job and play videogames all year 😂 its heaven they are rich mofos
Yup its in Swedish 😂
“Their basement? Like in their house?”
No, the basement in their car….
You're REALLY starting clutching at straws now, aren't you?
You fucked upp this from widfors is Swedish text he is Swedish. Come on man.
You’re as discerning about your video choices as your shirt selection.
Again, you're REALLY clutching at straws now, aren't you?
Hvorfor ser du på denne kanalen, du kommer bare med negativitet og er et skikkelig troll 😡
3 days in a row?
Hell is real.
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@user-kq5ke5yb6k
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- 8 days a week would be preferable...
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Yet here you are, Karen
You must love this guy, you are always the very first person to watch and comment on his videos.
And still here you are, putting yourself through "hell". You must really not like yourself to do that.
It's written in Swedish...