🇳🇴 BEING BLACK IN NORWAY | American Couple Reacts to Norway Culture Shocks and Differences

[@Spurz1975]

I'm a Norwegian and in my 48 years on earth i have never ever entered somebody's house without saying hello. And if i go to a place with some friends to some people i don't know i will greet them with a hand shake and tell my name. That is pretty much the custom over here.

[@Randomdude21-e]

Can comfirm.

[@marcussrensen5805]

100% True! In the Troms and Finnmark Region. The first thing one does when entering a home, or meeting new people is the words. " Hei, (my name) , Hyggelig" wich basically means. " Hi, im Marcus, Nice to meet you :) "

[@Henoik]

I mean, some Norwegians do enter homes without saying hello. They're called burglars

[@happycloudgamer1088]

Yes I always say hallo

[@happycloudgamer1088]

Stors can be huge and small. Yes we do have Dollars store as well. So it's about if you are in big City or not

[@solveigbugtene8538]

I'm Norwegian, and it is perfectly normal to say hello to people you interact with, and if you accidentally bump into someone you will say, unnskyld, - sorry. She must have met some really rude people. This is absolutely not common 😮

[@jandmath]

This video is a bit inaccurate and lacks some insight. I.e. the cost of living: Yes, prices are high, but so are the salaries. In fact, prices are high because everyone earns a ‘living wage’. I read somewhere that Norwegians have to spend a smaller percentage of their disposable income on groceries than people in most other European countries. Sometimes it feels somewhat strange when people that haven’t been here long are so opiniated. Also, what you experience as rudeness depends a lot on culture. Some places it’s polite to burp after eating, other places its extremely rude. Classifying people in a country as ‘rude’ shows lack of cultural exposure.

[@evahelen3511]

We Norwegians say hello, but not so often to people we don't know, but always hello to store employees. When we come to visit or receive visitors, we shake hands and say hello. If we have gotten to know each other well, we also give a hug. Greetings from Norway

[@andreadee1567]

I once met a Norwegian couple in Germany and they were the nicest people. Polite and with a great sense of humour.

[@norXmal]

Having lived in Oslo my entire life, I've very rarely faced any rudeness, if it happens, it is usually during workhours, people rushing to work and so on. Not saying "Hello" when meeting someone is not socially accepted, especially not saying "hello" when visiting someone, that's extremely rude.

[@AndreasLarsson-vo3om]

I want to comment on the thing about bumping into someone in the store and specifically "How do you guys feel about someone bumping into 'your lady'". I'm swedish so i wont claim to speak for the norwegians, but i think they, just as sweden, has worked on gender equality for a long time. With equality come, atleast in my experiance, the de-pedistallization of women. My wife dosent really need protection, so its not up to me to take offence if someone bump in to her, its ultimately up to her. If i really feel that we should get offended i would seek eyecontact and raise my eyebrows, to convey "are we really gonna let that pass?" I do find it super offensive if people bump into you in the store to a degree where it hurts or you have to regain you balance and then not appologize. If you just touch that is fine as long as it dosent feel like people a rushing past. I would rarely say anything about it though, if people a shopping in such a hurry im sure they have a reason for it. if i where to say anything it would be something like "hoppsan hoppsan" with a smile wich whould translate to "whoppsie whoopsie" (sweeds like to doubble up word like that, it makes things less formal). bit of a useless rant, oh well, its engagement if nothing else.

[@kunilsen2519]

Pretty much the same in Norway except we say, "Oisan"(less formal) or "Beklager"(more formal).

[@elsemargrethetnder883]

@@kunilsen2519ups! Unnskyld..even if it’s not our fault

[@kunilsen2519]

@@elsemargrethetnder883 True

[@FrankShortt]

Yeah and don’t forget “oi” or “oisann” if you bump into someone 😂

[@marcussrensen5805]

OK!!! No! not in 42 years have one person just "bullied" their way in front of me in the supermarket! can it happen? yes, probably! but hardly a problem unique to norway. Ever been to walmart? for the most part, people in Norway will look and assess how many items you bring to the register, and if its less and faster to scan than their 50 square foot carry on, they will let you go first!.

[@MouseGuardian]

In multicultural cities like Oslo, Drammen and Bergen, many norwegians are brown, black or whatever, many born and raised... When it comes to cost of living, we have a very high income, compared to other countries.

[@Eivind.A]

Norway is expensive for tourists, but we who live here we know that it'll all come back to us in form of free healthcare, education, welfare aso. Norwegian language. You guys who speak English, are in just about every sentence saying Norwegian words. This goes all the way back to when the Vikings invaded England, Scotland. Before this the English language didn't exist. The Vikings spoke what's known as Old Norse. Most of the words have changed over 1000+years, but some are still pronounced and written just like the Vikings did it. For example: Egg still means...egg🥚. My name Eivind is a viking name originally written EivindR. Ei- meant great, Very, big aso. - vindR is a word used in both English and Norwegian today. What does it mean? VindR = Vinner wich in english= Winner. It was originally in old Norse written like this: ᛖᛁᚡᛁᚾᛞᚱ Eirik, Erik, Eric comes from EirikR. - Ei - RikR in modern Norwegian= Rik, and in English it's changed a bit = Rich. 🤘🇧🇻

[@AprilJMoon]

I am English and immediately latched onto her stating about Norwegian having English, French and German. VIKINGS was my thought, and that is was Old Norse that infiltrated our languages and not the other way around. Also, William the bastard (later 'the conqueror') who invaded England in 1066 was half Viking due to Normandy getting regularly invaded and the ladies getting violated lol

[@zemekiel]

This woman sounds a bit entitled. "I am moving to your country, but you will treat me like I expect to be treated in the country I come from". About bumping into people. Usually we don't say sorry unless you caused something by bumping into them. Like if they lose their footing, spill their drink, stuff like that, then we say sorry.

[@amanda9410]

Norwegian are very polite

[@Luredreier]

Most people are, but when people from two different countries have two different ways of being polite... People don't always recognize politeness in another culture.

[@Fedorevsky]

Norwegians are beyond polite, far beyond, not like people are usually polite elsewhere, far beyond any normal politeness, if someone don't notice they must be sociopathic

[@Gazer75]

@15:00 Yes you can buy from farmers. There are farm shops around, but they can be hard to find. Usually need local knowledge.

[@marcussrensen5805]

The best shops are the local ones. especially those in the countryside , so called "farm - shops" . fresh, cheap. and best customer service around. But As you say, one needs local Knowledge or a guide, becouse tese small things dont show on your amazon travel guide or some stuff like that!. all in all, i agree 100%

[@robertfarrow5853]

Some people throw off strong vibes. Hers are not good ones.

[@kjell-christianbjerkeli6713]

In Norway you don’t automaticly become a citizen if your born here from non-norwegian parents. You get your parents nationality.

[@kjetilhvalstrand1009]

Nationality and ethnicity are two different things, you don’t necessarily follow the local culture and customs just because someone move to place. There is nothing wrong about being different, of course your citizen if lived there all your life, and should be accepted as such, but should not be expected to identify as an ethnicity Norwegian, your skin does turn white, and you don’t get blue eyes. But why should you want to race swap anyway? Just be yourself, and try to be respectful of others, and you be liked.

[@emdivine]

@@kjetilhvalstrand1009 Kjetil hva mumler du om?

[@kjetilhvalstrand1009]

@@emdivine Samene, sier ikke at de er norske, de sier at Samer, de har samisk kultur og sier de ett folkeslag, samt de stolte av det, det samme gjelder Tyrkere og andre, folk er stole av hvor de kommer fra, når folk kaller folk bare afrikanere, så blir du kalt uviten samt folk blir fornærmet, sted, kultur samt folk er en og samme ting. Nordmenn som bor i USA ofte, følger norsk kultur og blir kalt norsk amerikanere. Ingen vill tro at norsk amerikaner som bor i USA faktisk er en kubaner.

[@ismailamceesay7256]

Norway is expensive that's why they have good salaries as well.

[@Armoure10]

The food in norway is expensive yeah, but thats because only 4% of norway is agreable mark. The rest is frozen mountains 😛 So most vegetables and stuff is imported, and to import cost more up here in the north. And yeah we sadly have racism here, not that much overtly racism, but we have a nasty trend where its almost impossible to get a good job if your dark skinned or have a foreign name. Like apply for a job with a norwegian name, and do the same with a foreign name. And you will almost always get a job interview with the norwegian name, and almost never with a foreign name :/

[@Karina-cd6vv]

Dont know what town this Lady lives in to have met all these rude people. Everyone i know say hello when they come to my house, or were i work. And i do the same. We dont say hello to random people on the street, but thats something else. And if you bump into someone you say sorry.. As a norwegian, i dont claim this behavior she has experienced. im sorry she had to meet these people xD

[@Randomdude21-e]

Not rude but very different socialy. Its hard to understand for people from other countrys.

[@mralx4458]

Grocery stores normally closes at 23PM on weekdays and 21 on saturdays, sundays is closed. Alcohol is a bit different, you are not allowed to buy alcohol after 20 PM on weekdays and 18 PM on saturdays, sundays closed. You can of course buy alcohol on clubs, bars pubs, restaurants and so on until 0230 AM.

[@Drack-eu7xm]

11pm not 23pm 18 is 6pm

[@Cilienor]

It depends on the store and the location. Like the malls closes at 20:00 mon-friday 18:00 on Saturdays.The food stores 22-23:00. We do have some stores that are open at Sundays 😊

[@norXmal]

Even some stores that are open for 24 hours in the weekends as well.

[@marcussrensen5805]

Northern Norway here, Stores (groceries and such) open at anything from 0700 and close around 2300. most other stores(electronics/speciality shops) usally open anywhere from 09 to 1100 and close anything from 1600 to 2100. Greetings from Northern Norway :)

[@ditchcomfort]

Norwegians are not rude at all. It’s a cultural thing and a big big difference from other countries. We also value our personal space very much.

[@kmhob]

About the rudness thing. I personally would not pass anyone in the store without saying excuse me, and I would not entering anyones house without saying hello. Si, it seems like she has been meeting some strange people. About the prices, much of the products she mentions are things that are imported from the other side of the earth, so the cost of transport must be taken into account. And, Norway is not part of the european union, so we dont have all the benefits that countries in the union get. When it comes to the topic of racism. I would say that language us probably a thing that would have a large impact on how people meet and treat you. If you know the language people would probably feel much easier around you.

[@adeclutteredlife6555]

When having a baby we can chose between 80% salary for 59 weeks leave or 100% for 49weeks. However people who haven't been working can instead get a one time payout of 8350 USD. You'd need to be a member of the National Insurance Scheme, but the only requirement for that is that you're here legally and intend to stay for at least 12 months. As for rudeness, I think that's more a Oslo problem. I'm from the second largest city, now living in the third and Oslo just seems so much less friendly. Very fast paced and competitive compared to most other places, Oslo feels less safe, but I'd still probably walk alone at night. I think it's generally what happens when so many people live in one place, especially when the change happens so fast, now only wealthy people can afford to buy property in the city, the commute is getting upwards of 2 hours for many people. Poor immigrants are often put together in a smaller area, with lower incomes in the middle of the rich it's a recipe for disaster.

[@happydeamon]

How you react to someone bumping into you on the street depends on the situation and how aggressive the bump was. if someone clearly did it on purpose then you of course use your words to express how much of a trash person they are by saying "uffda" or maybe something extreme like "hey!" but thats only if you are hoping they get hit by a car or something. But most of the time its an accident and not worth interacting with another human for.

[@arnebjarne8943]

My experience is that black people always feels it's about racism while others don't, at least from the majority from what I've seen. Honestly I find it a bit offensive...

[@oceanmythjormundgandr3891]

We have "Dollar Store" but its in NOK currency. However... almost nothing there is for a dollar. Some things there are cheap(er) than other stores. But yeah, I sometimes wonder where the cheap stuff went in the "cheap" stores, lol.

[@Fedorevsky]

10 kroners marked

[@ditchcomfort]

Yea usually around 4-5, but som supermarkets are open to 10-11, but most stores close around 6 or 8 on Saturday and closed on Sunday (except restaurants and pubs etc.) And you can’t buy alcohol either on Sunday.

[@lipgloss202]

Just a spoiled gen z girl complaining that Norway isn't like France.

[@ikeettgaming]

In france : a " bonjour " is not optional people cant take it wery bad if you are not polite indoor but outdor you say hello only people you know or you interact .

[@mathiasmartinussen4601]

She needs to learn about our culture before she makes a f*ing video of how it is in Norway.

[@arcticblue248]

We go viking on their asses... nah... don't know how she experienced all that, but I know people say hello, I say hello to everyone I meet and sometimes people I walk with ask me.. "do you know him/her ?" I say ... no but I think its nice to say hi to someone. So yeah people do say hi, and even people not nessesary lock their homes here where I live, when people come by they do knock on door .. they might open door before you open it and they will say hello even if you are not greeting them at the door, its sort of a "Hello are you home ?" People also say sorry if they bump into someone, but some are rude ... ofcourse as there would be in every country, also racism do exist ... most type of racism I suppose is the more subtile ones not nessesary yelling out the N-word or "look at that guy!!!" or something like that, yes it can happen but its rare.

[@nissenusset4134]

I live in the Southern Norway.... In my city we have one of the largest shopping malls in Northern Europe...... We also have a cheap store called Dollar Store...... Many of the things she said in the video is NOT accurate. Norwegians are saying hello when meeting new people..... Many of us Norwegians even hug when meeting new people..... I don't relate to this video at all. Norway is a long country..... That means that there are often huge differences when it comes to the weather. There can be a huge difference between the weather in the South VS the weather in the North of Norway. Here in the South we don't have the midnight sun. And normally we have much milder winters in the Southern Norway, especially in my city, Kristiansand (S.) Here we usually have mild winters, and little or no snow. The winters tend to be much harsher in the North. We usually have "long summer nights" in the Southern Norway, where the sun is up long. But only the Northern Norway have the midnight sun. Actually.....in the summer it gets dark much earlier in Turkey that it does in Norway. The sun is up several hours longer in summer nights in Southern Norway than in for example Turkey. Here in the South of Norway people NEVER go straight into people's houses. That would be considered really, really, really rude..... That never happens here.

[@arcticblue248]

Where I live we have 2 grocery stores and both open at 8.30 I think it is and closes at 9 pm (21), that is recently from this year, up to then they closed at 8 pm (20). One of the stores have the local postoffice too, because many postoffices in smaller towns are located in grocery stores, in a way its better as we now can go at get our packages as late as 9 pm, unless its a package from Vinmonopolet, that is... "the liquorstore", they can only be delivered within the vinmonopolets normal openinghour so like 9 am to 6 pm I think it is.

[@outandabout78]

The store hours stay the same year-round. Most places are not open very late. Think of it this way, why does a waiter or cashier need to work all night or on Sundays because you didn't want to shop on Saturday or before they close. I'm not sure about her understanding about child support. I moved here from the USA, when my son was 10. When he received his "green card" at 11, I received child support money to use for his clothes and things for school. Super helpful. My friend from Bulgaria has a Norwegian child. When the child was born she took a full year off and was paid for 100%. The second year was 80 % I think. I have never been bumped out of the way without a sorry. I have always received a hello. Please is not used so often but thank you is. She speaks of Avocado. Look how far it is to ship. Norway does not have a lot of farmland, compared to France or the USA which means there is less local choice. Additionally, Norway puts a high import tax on things from outside countries. It affects the price.

[@ollyoxenfree-sj1fh]

Obviously I'm not going to speak for her lived experience, however, as a Norwegian, I'm going to ASSUME she's misunderstanding xenophobia as racism. It's very unlikely that anyone here judged her by the colour of her skin, but like one of you pointed out, more so knowing she isn't Norwegian (nationality, not race). If you struggle to speak Norwegian or outwardly display cultural anomalies that give away the fact you are not from here, you CAN run into situations where people may SEEM judgmental (but they're probably just surprised/awkward/uncomfortable). If you LIVE in Norway, then you may also experience less favourability when it comes to opportunity. Someone hiring for a job at a grocery store for example, is going to want to hire a Norwegian (again, nationality, they don't care about race) over a non-Norwegian because that person will understand the culture, speak the language fluently, etc. I don't think it is a massive problem here (again, I'm not a foreigner living here so take that with a grain of salt), but people's reserved nature combined with a preservation of our national culture can certainly make it SEEM like you're unwelcome if you're trying to LIVE here and aren't used to our reserved/introverted culture.

[@teddsellerno7625]

idk what people she bumped into in norway that didnt excuse or say hello. countryside might be better though. not a city boy. sounds weird to me. greetings from Norway.

[@Disablxd]

Racism definitely exist everywhere and here is no different, but the hello thing and the bumping into you.. It happens but it's frowned upon and considered bath etiquettes. Depending on what town/city you're in you'll see different social etiquettes and some have never left their little town and the "village culture" can be disgusting and spotted miles away

[@kjetilhvalstrand1009]

I think its worse in small places, where they are not used to people from other places.

[@aerobirdseven979]

You keep your salary (62000 euro for one year) while taking care of your newborn, 14 weeks of this has to be taken by the father. You must have been working 6 months before applying for a paid maternity leave. Of course you say "hello" to people you visit, even if you don't know them, but why should we say hello to people we don't know in the street? You have to look at the salary(price ratio in shops. A well to do middle class and high employment rates are crucial tl financing the welfarestate. The last year have seen incredible pricehikes, but apart from that over the last ten years, norwegians use a smaller portion of their income on food. What have rissen, is cost of housing in big cities.

[@The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare]

I always says sorry if I bump into someone, but I think Norwegians don't really pay much attention to the people around us, because were in our own little bubble just focusing on what we need to get done. If someone is taking over the whole sidewalk I view that as inconsiderate so then I push my way past them since where else was I gonna walk, I know that's petty, but some people walk as slow as snails. Today though I said "Excuse me!" kind of harshly but I just get so annoyed when people walk in a line blocking the sidewalk so people can't pass.

[@fippmeister]

I'd like to see how you handle norwegian. Maybe we could get a video of you guys spending half an hour on duolingo or some other language teaching app? (=

[@victoriaknutsen2611]

ull receive 8424,90 usd per child u birth/adopt. its just a one time thing per child tho to get all the necessary stuff for the baby bc that shit is expensive

[@The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare]

If they were visiting her and not someone else in the house then it's weird that they didn't say hello, but maybe they had made the date earlier and then they had already spoken that day

[@The_Tortoise_and_the_Hare]

So I don't think my aunt or parents got any money from having us kids because they weren't single parents and they were working so they weren't living on benefits. I think you probably get that extra cash as help to buy the stuff a baby would need for the first year of it's life, if you are on benefits or if you are a single parent.

[@kristena9285]

We Norwegians bump into each other without saying sorry or excuse me but that's just the way we are.. It's got nothing to do with race/colour.. (I DO say sorry if i bump into people, it's the way I was raised, but I agree, Norwegians can appear "rude" to a French or British person - again it's not about race).

[@daginn896]

Wtf, the French have taken words from us, not they other way around. And for the rest? WTF.

[@Cr1Cu]

You should be careful with baby making in Europe, you might end up losing your child, especially if the child gets to has that nationality.

[@TheDemouchetsREACT]

What in the…??? Huh?

[@ditchcomfort]

To be honest, I’m a Norwegian, and I have to say I don’t like the attitude or this woman. She’s probably cool but…

[@arco37q]

Many cheep things in the store.

[@nicoswann]

we do have Dollarstores , but we pay in Nok

[@mikaelwerner8146]

It`s expensiv in Norway but their paychecks comes you undersstand they earn much