Your experience of living in Norway/Sweden?

phonejacker

for an irish person

Hobite

phonejacker wrote: »

for an irish person

Sorry, I am not irish. But I was exchange student in Sweden, in Linkoping for 6 month five years ago. After my stay in Sweden, I always wanted to return back there. But, I moved to Ireland instead. Well, I still want to ove to Sweden, to get a Phd there.

I think it is very nice coutry to love. Safe. Calm.

One big minus - they have cold winters with a lot of snow.

phonejacker

are swedish people very different to irish people and were you working there when u were a student?

biko

Besides experiences posted here: here are some people blogging about life in Sweden
www.thelocal.se/blog/category/swedish-life
www.bigstevefromengland.com
lagomlife.blogspot.com

On a more humorous note
"You know you've been in Sweden too long, when..."
www.australiansabroad.com/sweden/youknow.html

JohnnyTodd

phonejacker wrote: »

for an irish person

I live in Stockholm. Work in Sweden, Denmark , Finland and Norway. Great city, great country. People are very rude that's my only issue.

Social life a little different too. Not too many go for a few pints on a Sunday afternoon!

We get good summers too and it's no where near as depressing as ireland

JohnnyTodd

Hobite wrote: »

Sorry, I am not irish. But I was exchange student in Sweden, in Linkoping for 6 month five years ago. After my stay in Sweden, I always wanted to return back there. But, I moved to Ireland instead. Well, I still want to ove to Sweden, to get a Phd there.

I think it is very nice coutry to love. Safe. Calm.

One big minus - they have cold winters with a lot of snow.

The last few years were bad alright. Its near December and no snow yet this year

Tabnabs

You could try a PM to Overflow, he lives in Grimstad in Norway.

kildare.17hmr

phonejacker wrote: »

are swedish people very different to irish people and were you working there when u were a student?

lived in sweeden for afew years with my family when i was a teenager, i loved it, hot summers and great white winters. We lived outside nybro on the east in a small village in the middle of the forest. The people are defiantly not like irish people imo, my mother didnt like all the bitchieness and my da said the same alto they did have some great friends over there.
Its a completely different life there and id love to go back for a holiday at least.

From a teenagers perspective school was exactly like you see bull**** american high schools on tv, i **** you not! Wasnt a problem for me but alot of bullying and other crap with all the social groups ie popular kids, the kids into sports and the not so popular kids ect. I was happy to get back to school in ireland tbh, less drama and bull****!

haven27

phonejacker wrote: »

for an irish person

In terms of Norway I would say it depends where you go, living near Oslo you get a lot of English speakers and could get by living without Norwegian no problem but go further away from big cities and it is worth having. The pay is good but everything is mad expensive. Social life is very different here, people take time to be friends with new people and is a lot more going to people's houses than going out for a few drinks. The pub culture is probably one of the biggest things we miss from Ireland. When a pint will cost you at least €7 or €8 a night out becomes more like going for one or two drinks. Also winter below zero temperatures starts now here and is way worse up north, there will be snow, ice until at least late March/early April unless you like winter sports it can be hard to enjoy.

phonejacker

haven27 wrote: »

In terms of Norway I would say it depends where you go, living near Oslo you get a lot of English speakers and could get by living without Norwegian no problem but go further away from big cities and it is worth having. The pay is good but everything is mad expensive. Social life is very different here, people take time to be friends with new people and is a lot more going to people's houses than going out for a few drinks. The pub culture is probably one of the biggest things we miss from Ireland. When a pint will cost you at least €7 or €8 a night out becomes more like going for one or two drinks. Also winter below zero temperatures starts now here and is way worse up north, there will be snow, ice until at least late March/early April unless you like winter sports it can be hard to enjoy.

i don't drink anyways so it wouldn't make much difference for me. and i prefer the snow to the sun. have you come across many Irish living there? i know there wouldn't be a much Irish there as Australia and Canada.

haven27

phonejacker wrote: »

i don't drink anyways so it wouldn't make much difference for me. and i prefer the snow to the sun. have you come across many Irish living there? i know there wouldn't be a much Irish there as Australia and Canada.

Even with not drinking which will help going out for meals, social activities are all expensive. There are some Irish here that we know, irishsociety.no also has some info about the different stuff going on which isn't that much. Is so difficult to get work here for foreigners it limits the numbers quite a lot.

Norwayviking

haven27 wrote: »

In terms of Norway I would say it depends where you go, living near Oslo you get a lot of English speakers and could get by living without Norwegian no problem but go further away from big cities and it is worth having. The pay is good but everything is mad expensive. Social life is very different here, people take time to be friends with new people and is a lot more going to people's houses than going out for a few drinks. The pub culture is probably one of the biggest things we miss from Ireland. When a pint will cost you at least €7 or €8 a night out becomes more like going for one or two drinks. Also winter below zero temperatures starts now here and is way worse up north, there will be snow, ice until at least late March/early April unless you like winter sports it can be hard to enjoy.

In general Norwegians will know english very well,since its our second language in school.
And i know quite a few Irish living and working in Norway,they seem to get along just fine there.
Norway is bloody expensive though,and so is the taxes,but the payment usually equals it out.
There is no pubculture in Norway,Its only going out in the weekends,friday and saturday,sometimes thursdays,but thats mainly students.
And work should be easy enough to get these days,and its usually 0700-1500,or 0900-1600 workhours depending on the job.:D
And the winters are usually cold,but get some skies and hit the mountain,its no better feeling then going skiing in the mountains on a bright day(god i miss that).And get some aquevit in you after,it will keep you warm

wonton

I'm thinking about the idea of maybe in 3 years or so trying to move to sweden and become a teacher over there, I've always had an affinity for sweden , but should probably visit the place before even thinking things like that:P

joeKel73

I lived in Oslo for 5 months in 2007. Stayed there April - August so didn't experience life in the winter, but the weather in the Summer was great.

Really enjoyed my time there, worked flexible hours and enjoyed a lot of evenings after work with a BBQ up at a mountain lake just outside the city. :cool: I was there with another Irish guy and we made weekend trips around the country too (Bergen, Stavanger, Tromso, Lofoten...).

Thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and have been back a few times for visits. Got back last summer for 2 weeks hiking and camping up through the Lofoten Islands. If you do go to Norway, make sure you spend some time up there!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mmwv94WKmnI