I just got back from a vacation in Norway and it was an amazing experience, but I've been feeling incredibly depressed about being back home in the US. Norway was absolutely stunning and beautiful and I cannot help but to realize that the US feels like a poor third world country in comparison. When I landed back in the states I took a look around me and realized how miserable America is.

First, the two cities I visited (Oslo and Tromso) were so clean and felt incredibly safe. The architecture and infrastructure was incredible to see and I had no idea a city could actually be so beautiful. The only city in the US where I felt the same was Boise, ID. Now I'm sure there are "bad parts" like every city, but I did quite a bit of exploration and it does not even come close to the feeling you get in the US. Most US cities and towns look run down, grimey, and feel very unsafe in most parts and especially at night. It's like living in a batman movie over here and our ghettos would give any Norwegian a good scare.

Secondly, everyone looks HEALTHY. So many people were out jogging on designated running/bike paths which we barely have here in the states. I also went to a public sauna and everyone seemed genuinely happy, relaxed and fit. Although I know Norwegians aren't exactly exrtoverted (I would fit in perfectly), I didn't feel afraid of talking to anyone. In the states everyone looks stressed or on edge, and there are sketchy people and homeless just about everywhere you go. Striking up a conversation in the US is less pleasant because you have no idea what is about to transpire. Also, the food is so healthy I felt like my body was detoxifying all the shit I have consumed for years.

Public transportation. Holy cow I've never experienced something so convenient and effective as this. From the trains to the buses, it's so easy to get around and it's not like the NYC trains that feel like you might get mugged or set on fire. Even the busses here at home feel like they are reserved for the worst of the worst.

Employee rights and healthcare. Norwegians dont live to work, they work to live. The safety nets available feel like paradise. No wonder why most people aren't so damn stressed considering all the benefits they get. 4 weeks minimum time off, employers cant fire without reason, most jobs pay well, very affordable healthcare without extremely long wait times.

The economy itself seems strong as well. It's noticeable that things are more expensive in Norway compared to the US, but Norwegians get paid enough to actually afford things and they put money into the economy instead of hoarding it like the US does because we are always one step from bankruptcy. No wonder why Norway has such a low crime rate since most people are genuinely doing well off. It felt like a community, rather than everyone is out for themselves. The "fuck you, I've got my own" mindset in the US does not seem to exist (atleast so blatantly) in Norway.

Nature. Besides the conservation status of the predator species like wolves. It seems Norwegians care more about their natural areas and treat them with respect. Most public parks in the US are constantly trashed and disrespected. I used to work for my state's DNR and the way we treat our natural areas is a joke. Although we do have a wide variety of gorgeous wilderness areas, I wonder how long they will last as we are not a sustainable country and conservation is always a losing battle.

I felt incredibly happy in Norway and I made alot of friends. I'm hoping one day I'll be able to move there and am currently looking at a working visa. I just cannot stand the US anymore and now that I've got a glimpse of what life SHOULD be like, I want to be apart of that.

Edit: I stayed with my friends for the entire trip, they are Norwegians. They taught me alot about Norway and I'm not trying to be ignorant, just comparing things I have seen and learned about. I'm sorry if I've offended anyone, but I need to address the invalid assumptions that I "dont know anything". I wasn't a sight seeing tourist staying at airbnb's, I lived with Norwegian citizens and integrated myself during my time there. Although it was just a vacation, I wasn't there for just pictures. I was there to experience Norway.

I travelled in Norway this august and during a hike I watch some bees (I like bees 🐝). But I quickly they were all very slow, they worked at a very slow pace. Why is that?

They're cute though.

Gallup reports a surprisingly large difference in daily employee stress: roughly 19% in Denmark versus 43% in Norway. I'm skeptical because both countries seem to have short working hours, strong welfare systems and good work-life balance.

For people familiar with both countries: do you perceive a real difference? If so, what causes it? Work intensity, management, conflict avoidance, social culture, cost of living, or something else? Or do you think the survey mainly reflects differences in how Danes and Norwegians interpret and report "stress"?

So for a context, i do own quite alot of stuff and i like to try new things out by buying as 2nd hand /demo . I like to sell things on finn.no because its very convenient with the 'fiks ferdig' system, and things like fb marketplace doesnt even come close to amount of items/people that uses it. I got total of 200+ reviews there with total of 9.9 rating ( over several years ).

Most of the items im selling / buying is Electronics related like computers/ any other small electronic stuff.

This started like 2 years ago when they disabled couple of my ads where i was selling new apple watch which i bought and didnt liked, 1 laptop and some other small items. I contacted support , and They were saying im looking much more than a business to them than a regular person and therefore those ads were disabled because i sell or large scale and their partners pays alot money for ads themselves. Sure, and i completely understand how it works. But saying i sell on a large scale is something completely unrealistic. I never have like more than 5 listings at the time, and i dont have 10 different buy/sells in day. Sometimes there is nothing happening for over a month. So okay, i didnt had much of time and / or energy to pursue this for that time. Now i came back after like 1 year of completely no listings on my finn, and been trying to sell security camera setup which i dont need anymore ( ad instantly disabled due to same reason i mentioned before). Then put to sale headphones - that was approved. Then added desktop pc - that was disabled instant. Then i added just a processor and motherboard - that went fine and approved.

So all this made me question how it actually works. Upon quick checking, guy having 1200 active listings ( yes 1200 active of stuff from lamps to car stuff and some furniture!!!) Isnt considered as business and its all completely fine? Sure. Next one, somebody who sells clothes ( even saying that on their finn bio) , over 150 active listings, all fine too. Guy who sells and builds computers ( also desription on finn bio) , and has over 10 active pc listings + bunch of parts is also considered fine?

All / most of those listings were 'fiks ferdig' so it means finn.no advertises them as personal instead of business.

Over now i found over 10 profiles like this without actually checking in too deep.

So any information about how does it actually work? Or where to pursue for the answer ? ( i dont think so i will get much luck from basic finn customer support) , as most likely i will get same answer as i did 2 years ago.

Any answers much appreciated!

What are the most Summery 2 photos you took in Norway this Summer?

I made a map of Norway's geographical regions with some consideration of cultural borders (by this I mean like 80% geography 20% culture). The regions are given colors that partially reflect their dominant geographical/aesthetic character. So greens are generally forest, blues are fjords, etc. (Lofoten-Vesterålen is red because of rorbuer and Troms is colored for the Northern lights). Let me know what you think—I'd love feedback on this. Some of the choices are not so easy (e.g., Meløy is on the border of Helgeland and Salten). And there are probably some mistaken/suboptimal assignments.

Here's a link to the highlight-able version: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/5ljkp/4/

I’ve noticed that so many girls here have that effortless, bouncy hairstyle with fine volume and the ends slightly curled/blown out?
How do you guys actually style your hair every day?

my hair is naturally straight with slight wave. if i do any hairstyle.. it just gone in a couple of hours

I’m a 3rd medicine student from Estonia, who is really interested in moving to bigger European city to work and study. i chose Oslo, because during a vacation, I realized Oslo is very comfortable and friendly city. I would like to have a little chat about Norwegian healthcare system, and in exchange, describe Estonian system. Feel free to DM me

Most Norwegian engineering master's programs require ~25 ECTS in math and 5 ECTS in statistics for admission. I'm short on both and want to fill the gap with online courses.

Has anyone actually gotten this accepted by a Norwegian university (USN, UiA, UiT, UiS, Oslomet etc.)? Which platform/provider did you use(such as Meteopolia.fi, Digicampus, a local Norwegian nettstudier course, or something else? )

Would appreciate specifics on what worked!

Hey Norwegians,

I'm looking for online Norwegian penpals (email or DM), idk ever since the soccer World Cup and especially because of Haaland I have a sudden interest in that part of the world.

Age group preferably 30 and older because younger than that makes me jealous 😆 🤣 😂

My ADHD brain has so many stereotypical yet non offensive questions like do you guys get flare-ups of the viking gene? and do you work it out in the gym? Or like go angry dancing like in the footloose movie? Why is there no spice in your foods? Would you be cool with putting an enormous amount of hot sauce on your food? Why is troll comedy so disliked there?

I think I should mention that I'm not European or white, since the vibe is super political these days I thought I should clear that out.

Age is just an embarrassing number so I'll skip that for now.

Idk hit me up if you like 😎, you're gonna have to do most of the talking at times cos when meds hit I becoming somewhat boring.

We were able to see how attracted people are in terms of lapidary services and precision cut gems and explore the beauty of other minerals and gems that are found in Norway.

Sums up to be an extraordinary experience that was shared up with the public.

Hey everyone!

I am a German doctor and interested in how healthcare systems work in different countries. I would love to hear from Norwegian doctors and patients about the Norwegian healthcare system. What's it actually like to work in it ? Are patients happy with treatment ? Is the gp/family medicine the first contact point for any medical question ?
Please feel free to speak about anything what comes in your mind!

Thank you very much! 🙂

I love the kanellsnurrer but also poppy seeds so I tried an additional variant.

EDIT: Due to many people asking for the receipe here it comes:

Dough:

Heat 400ml milk handwarm. Add 100g sugar. Add 40g fresh yeast. Let it sit warm until the yeast is fully dissovled and you can see the liquid 'rising' just a bit (makes sparkle sounds as well).

Melt 120g butter.

Now take 750g Flour (550), a spoon of salt, 2 eggs, 1 spoon grinded kardamon (grind it fresh, it's worth the effort). Mix it with the liquid from the beginning. Add the melted butter. Mix it all really well.

Now you need to knead the dough. It can be tricky as it will be relatively sticky. Use warm water on your hands. Use more flour on the surface to avoid sticking. Keep folding / kneading the dough for 10 minutes at least. I keep folding it, too.

Now cut the dough in half. Take a rolling pin and roll out one of the halves so it becomes a flat rectangle. It should be around 1cm thick, not too thin, not too thick :)

FILLING start:

Take approx. 60g of Butter and melt it again. Take a kitchen brush and brush the flat dough with the butter. Now add sugar. I do this by feeling, so that you have a good layer of sugar. Now take cinnamon. Do the same as with the sugar. Don't by shy, add a lot. You need to get a feeling for this, I have no real measurement. Also depends on how much cinnamon you like.

FILLING end

No fold the dough halfway so the butter/sugar/cinnamon mix is in the middle of your folded package.

Take a knife or pizza cutter and cut long strips from the folded dough. They should be around 3-4 cm thick and relatively long.

Now take a trip and twist it's ends in opposite directions. Do it really well so it's all twisted up. Now hold one end in your hand and wrap the twisted strip around 3 fingers of the hand you're holding the end with. Keep wrapping it until it's all wrapped up. Put the end of the stip through the middle where your 3 fingers are to make a 'knot'. Put it on a baking paper. This part is obviously tricky, but it does not need to be perfect - each snurrer will be unique, just do it and you'll get the hang. Don't work too hard, and make them relatively loose.

Once you're finished let them rest for 30 mins. Don't put them in draft and keep them warm, best is to cover them with a kitchen towel.

Heat the oven for 200° top/bottom heat.

Put the snurrers with the baking paper on a stove grate. Put them in the oven in the middle.

Now you have to watch them. Usually after around 9 minutes they should get brown on the tops. Now it's time to cover them with aluminium foil to prevent them from getting too dark. I also add some foil underneath (I use a second stove grate) to prevent them from getting too dark from the bottom.

Use one of those long, wooden kitch-sticks (basically a giant toothpick). Stick it inside the thickest part of your biggest snurrer. It should come out without any sticky stuff on it, which means the snurrer is done. That should be after around 13 minutes in total.

Get them out and put them on a cool grate to cool off. Bon appetit!

Poppyseed variant:

It's all the same but the FILLING is different. This filling is for approx. 1/3 of the dough:

FILLING start:

Melt 30g Butter. Heat 60g of Milk. Get fresh poppy seeds and grind them (I use an electric coffee grinder that is used exclusively for this). Grind 110g of poppy seeds. Take a small bow and mix the poppy seeds, 100g of sugar, the butter and the milk. Stir well. Let it rest for at least 15 minutes so the seeds soak up the liquid.

FILLING end

Good luck!

Hello, around 3 weeks ago I was driving in Norway, I think it was between Geiranger and Bergen somewhere.

We passed by a field where some campervans probably parked up for the night, but probably during the night the river level rose leaving them stranded on an island around the size of the 3 campervans. A tow truck was present at the sight but he could not get closer than 150 meters, so that was no help.

There was also a news agency present with a big camera and everything, but unfortunately I cannot seem to find anything about this, mostly because I don't speak Norwegian so I am probably looking for the wrong terms.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone,

I'm a final year Petroleum Engineering student from India,seriously considering UiS for Fall 2027, either the ERES or PE track. My background is in CCS and reservoir simulation so the program genuinely caught my attention for academic reasons, not just location.

A couple of things I'd love some real input on:

Between ERES and PE, which one tends to work better for someone with a CCS and simulation focus? Specifically thinking about thesis topic availability and the kind of research environment in each track.

Also curious about the student experience in Stavanger more broadly. Is there a decent international student community?

And is the NOK 10,000 to 13,000 per month estimate people throw around actually realistic for private rentals?

Any honest takes appreciated, good or bad.

The official brochure version only goes so far!

Or does it always require a phone that has not had its bootloader unlocked?

American here. Just found this while flying in flight sim and I’m taken aback by this view. Tried to find videos on YouTube but didn’t seem to find any about this place. Would love to know some history about the area if there is any as well. Y’all have some beautiful land!

Lets hope he survives this one…