An Exchange Student Point of View: Typical Norwegian Things That Everyone Needs to Know!
In this post, I am going to talk about what I think of the typical Norwegian things. As I have lived for more than six months in Norway now, I noticed that there are things that I see and I can easily say, “It is so typical Norwegian”. Not to mention, it is a massive different environment, society, and culture between Indonesia and Norway. It took some times to get used to everything in Norway since everything was new for me. None of them is worse or better than the other, it is just different. To be honest, I feel so lucky to get to see the difference with my own eyes.
(Bet you cannot decide which one is Norway and which one is Indonesia, can you?)
Each country has at least one of their traditional clothing. Bunad is the Norwegian traditional clothing. The idea of Bunad is the same in every area in Norway. At the same time, each area has their own type of Bunad. Usually the difference between each area’s Bunad is just the pattern, color and/or accessories. There are two types of Bunad, for the women and for the men. The main difference between the women and the men is just that the women’s Bunad is more like a dress and the men’s Bunad uses a trouser for the legs. About the color, I noticed that Bunad’s color is either red or blue with a touch of white in the shirt underneath it and/or the skirt for the women. Norwegians usually wear their Bunad only on special days, such as their Konfirmasjon (confirmation) and their National day, 17th May.
(Here's a picture of several different types of Bunad in Norway.)
It is so typical to wear your Bunad in your Konfirmasjon, especially for the fifteen years old girls who is going to have their Konfirmasjon. Some boys only wear their suit and tie for their Konfirmasjon, but it is also great if they wear their Bunad. Konfirmasjon is actually one of the thing that is typical Norwegian. It is a celebration of their 15 years old child. Usually they will throw a party for family and friends. Most of the guests will give some gifts and/or money for the child as if it is their birthday. Konfirmasjon is one of the tradition that has been there since long time ago and the Norwegians keep until now.
Not Santa Clause or the King, it is Julenisse. In Norwegians’ folklore, there is this creature called Nisse. There are different types of Nisse in Norway and Julenisse is just another name for the Santa Clause in Norway. Back in the old days, around the Christmas time, the Norwegian farmers will put a bowl of grøt (a dish of rice with milk, sugar and you can put something on top of it; raisins, cinnamon, butter, etc) in their farm and tell their children that the Nisse will eat it. If they do not put a bowl of grøt, the Nisse will be mad and there will not be any Christmas present for them this year. Around November and December, there will be so many accessories, dolls, and pictures that represent the Norwegian Julenisse.
At the Christmas night in the west part of Norway, it is a tradition to eat a dish called ‘Pinnekjøtt’. Almost every family in the west part have pinnekjøtt as their dinner. Pinnekjøtt translated to English is ‘lamb's ribs’. It is dry and salted lamb's ribs and they turn it into a very delicious dish. It seems as if it is illegal to eat pinnekjøtt outside the Christmas night, but it actually fine to eat it whenever you want. In other parts of Norway, they also have their own typical Christmas’ dish such as ‘ribbe’ and ‘lutefisk’.
(The picture above is a picture of Pinnekjøtt. It is incredibly delicious!)
The world might know Norwegians as the cold, shy and not talk active people. The world is wrong.
(The picture explains quite a lot. I must admit, it happens to be like in the picture for most of the times. I mean, we all need some space, right?
Back when I was still in Indonesia, I heard and read things about Norway and Norwegians. Then I had a little picture of Norway and Norwegians in my head. Surely, there were things that are right about Norway and Norwegians. As I live with a Norwegian family and surrounded by Norwegians, it turned out that not everything was true about Norwegians. If you ask me if they are cold people, the answer is no. Norwegians are very nice and friendly, they might seem less friendly if you compare them with how friendly Indonesians are, but still, they are nice people. I noticed that the only problem for a Norwegian is that it is hard for them to make the first move.
From what I know from my Norwegian friends is that they actually just do not know how to start a conversation. Norwegians got this little insecurity of starting the conversation and making the first move, and they do not want to appear as an annoying person. That is why it is better for them to wait for the other person to start it first. It is also quite normal if you are on a bus and no one is talking, that is just because Norwegians do not want to disturb the person next to them, even if they actually will not disturb the person next to them. All we need to do is just to start the conversation and break the ice. Pretty sure we do not want to be in the same situation as in the picture below.
After a few moments of breaking the ice, you will see and notice that they are not cold, shy and not talk active people. In other words, you will most likely to find them very interesting and amazing people. It is just another typical Norwegian thing of not making the first move.
Another typisk norsk that I think is interesting is that you will most likely to hear them saying ja (ya/yes) in a conversation. Not that it is not fine to say ja, it is just that they say it in a slightly different way than we usually do. They will usually say it like jha (yha) while taking the air into their body. If you are in the middle of a conversation with a Norwegian and they say ja while you are talking, do not be afraid. It might sound a little bit funny or sometimes scary, but it is perfectly normal. Nothing is wrong with you or with them. A ja in the middle of a conversation is one of their way of sayings;
“Yes, I am so interested in what you are talking about,” or,
“carry on talking, I want to hear it all,” or if they say it in a slightly higher tone, it can also mean;
“No way! Are you serious about it?” I must admit that it could be several different meanings if they say it in a different tone.
I am quite sure that there are many other interesting typisk norsk. So far, these things are the things that I find interesting the most. Don't ever get me wrong, I deeply love Norway and think that Norway is an awesome country. I am also looking forward to learn and see more about Norwegian culture and discover more about typisk norsk things. This post is just a glimpse of Norway from an exchange student's point of view. There might be things that I'm wrong about, but hey, just let me know!
You're welcome!
Bare hyggelig!
Sama-sama!
Pictures Sources:
What an interesting post! Thanks for posting such a beautiful piece of writing on typical Norwegian things. Hope it would be encouraging to those typical students, who really want to know more about typical Norwegian things. I would like to discuss it with https://typicalstudent.org. Because, students always love to know new things!
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