International Nesties
amystan
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Anybody in Oslo, Norway?
Hi everyone,
This is my first post on tn and I'm so thrilled to find an international nesties section! Just wondering if any of you are in Oslo... I have been here for three years now and am STILL struggling to make friends. Hope the rest of you are having better luck!!
Amy
Re: Anybody in Oslo, Norway?
My Blog
Oh sister, I hear you. I lived in Norway for 3 years (not Oslo, an hour out down the Ostfold side). I left almost exactly a year ago to do grad school in Scotland. Your quoted text is the very reason I was soooo ready to GTFO.
My recommendation: Find other expats. Americans, Aussies, Kiwkis, Canucks. They're all in the same boat as you so you've got a built-in friend base right there! They don't even have to be from English speaking countries, I made friends from other places (since they all speak English anyway). Norwegian friends, though? No. Never. My former boss has lived there for 20 years and barely has any Norwegian friends.
Another recommendation: Come hang out with us online here! Seriously, when I found the Nest it was a major relief from the isolation I felt in Norway. Also, GilliC is in Oslo. She seems to have integrated with the locals way more than I ever did.
Hva gj?r du i Oslo? Jeg har en norsk samboer, m?tes vi n?r jeg studiert i Norge i 2004 for en semester. Vi bodde i USA 3 ?r, Norge 3 ?r og Skottland 1 ?r. Neste? Vi vet ikke men vi skal fly til Norge 1. septembre fordi vi m? flytte ut av v?r leilighet i Skottland.
Not sure how advanced your Norwegian is. Even at my peak I was rubbish.
Velkommen til oss!
None taken. I lived there all my life and I know that it can be cliquey. What are you interests? Maybe I can direct you somewhere I know someone that will be nice.
Don't worry about me! I'm just whining.
We've actually been really fortunate in arriving the same time as a lot of other internationals. So we have a great network of friends. Plus now that I'm working a bit, I've started meeting a couple South Africans who've been very very nice.
My former flat-mate is from Oslo, but I have only been there once. I have noticed that the French are pretty cliquey too, much more so than the British were when I studied in the UK.
You might have mentioned it, but what brought you to Norway? work? family?
Oh yes, I've felt that way. You are not alone. In Norway, especially, you are not alone!
I had Norwegian friends from college, and they were and always will be the only Norwegian friends I will ever have. These are Norwegians who went to college in America, so they were forced to go against their nature and make friends with outsiders, I really believe.
What do you do in Oslo? There are a few expat/American groups in Oslo (you can look them up on Facebook). That would be a good place to start finding people like yourself - stranded in Norway with no social outlet!
I'm sorry about your family. I can't imagine the pressure of having a family harp on you for being so far away. My family has been great, so I can't help you navigate that situation. A firm "STFU" may be the way to go? Or maybe not!
Hi there!!! Sorry, I've been really sick the past few days. (You know you're sick when you're too sick to Nest!) But I'm feeling better and am glad I logged on!
It's great to see another Oslo Nestie! It's been lonely around here since EnidFalcor and wise_rita moved away!
As wise_rita has said, it can be extremely difficult to break into Norwegian social circles. I attribute my limited success to the fact that I work for a very international company. All of my Norwegian friends are from work, and even then, you can tell which ones grew up around Oslo and which moved from other parts of the country. When it comes to friends, Norwegians mate for life, so I'm much closer to those who've had to leave their original friends back home.
Luckily, all ex-pats in Norway seem to deal with this, so Oslo has a very active and welcoming ex-pat community! You just have to find ways to get involved. Do you like to read? I made some of my best ex-pat friends in our book club (we miss you, EnidFalcor!) and while most of the original members have since moved, we just relaunched the group earlier this year with a bunch of new people, and it's been a lot of fun.
Oh, and by way of introduction: I'm originally from Indiana, but I moved to Austin, TX after college. I got married to an Indian guy at work, and we moved to Beijing, China for a year and a half before transferring to Oslo four and a half years ago. At the beginning of this year, we decided to split up, so now I'm learning all about Norwegian divorce law and dating in Norway. If you thought making friends was tough... Single Norwegians don't even seem to talk to each other until they're falling down drunk! Haha!
Oh, and I sent you a private message (there's a link on the sidebar)!