No, I am not Norwegian…but some of my closest friends here in Valencia are in fact from Norway. I’m going to be honest, when I first met my friends I wasn’t even sure where Norway was located. My friends have now enlightened me to so many wonderful and interesting facts about their hometown. I almost feel a bit Norwegian. I probably shouldn’t mention this but I genuinely think of Norway as a really great progressing country in comparison to the United States. Let me give you 30 reasons as to why I think so:
- Every year since 1947 Norway sends an enormous Norwegian Spruce Christmas Tree to London as a token of gratitude; Britain helped liberate Norway during World War II.
- Whoever owns a television set in Norway must pay a mandatory public fee of NOK 2,970.24 (€297) for a television license.
- Norwegians get so excited when the weather is nice enough to sit outside and have a beer, they made a word for it. Utepils.
- Norway’s plastic recycling scheme is the best in the world. It recycles 97% of its bottles! All supermarkets carry some sort of “reverse vending machine.” You insert the plastic bottle & are rewarded with 10-20 cents for recycling it! Check out this article.
- You have to be 18 years old to purchase wine or beer & must be 20 years old to purchase hard liquor (anything over 22% of alcohol).
- Norway has won more medals in the Winter Olympics than any other country. 332 medals & counting since 1924!
- Norway is ranked one of the most peaceful countries in the world. Ranking 11th out of 162 countries.
- Norway is the country with the largest concentration of fjords in the entire world!
- Norwegian police officers do not carry firearms. Instead, they keep their weapons locked inside of their vehicles.
- Every year the Noble Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo, Norway since 1901.
- Bokmål and Nynorsk are Norway’s two official languages.
- Since 2002, police in Norway have only been involved in 4 fatal shootings!
- You can only buy alcoholic beverages from stores named Vinmonopolet. There are only 2 in each city and none in the countryside.
- Norway is the world’s largest exporter of salmon. It actually introduced salmon to Japan.
- Ostehøvel is a main staple in every Norwegian’s home. It’s a cheese slicer that was created by the Norwegian inventor Thor Bjørklund.
- Edvard Munch who is famous for his painting “The Scream” (1893) is in fact Norwegian.
- The word for boyfriend/girlfriend is kjæreste and its gender neutral.
- IKEA names beds, wardrobes, and hall furniture after places in the country.
- Grocery stores are not permitted to sell any product containing over 4,7% of alcohol. They can only sell alcohol before 20:00 on weekdays and before 18:00 on Saturday’s.
- Smalahove is literally translated to sheep head. It’s the traditional dish of Western Norway. The sheep head is boiled or steamed for about 3 hours and served with boiled potatoes.
- Although it is one of the biggest exporters of oil in the world, it has the highest gas prices in the world ($9,79 per gallon).
- 130m up a glacier mountain in the country is where the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is located. It can be used to repopulate the Earth’s crops in case of an apocalyptic event.
- Norway works actively to ensure the best possible decisions on environmental issues within the EU.
- Surprisingly, Norge does not fall under the top 10 coldest countries in the world. Yay!
- Norway’s official country name is The Kingdom of Norway.
- There’s a gay penguin couple in the aquarium in Bergen that adopted an egg/baby.
- When Norwegians graduate high school they have a traditional celebration; russefeiring. Where graduates party for about an entire month, ending on Norway’s National Day–17th of May!
- Sakte TV (Slow TV) is a channel where Norwegian’s watch 24 hrs or more of live footage; train rides, cruises, or dog sledding. It started with a train ride from Bergen to Oslo being entirely filmed. Watch here.
- For approx. 2 months each year (May-July) Tromsø, Norway experiences The Midnight Sun. It’s a phenomenon where the sun does not set for a period of time. During winter, Tromsø is a popular location to witness the beautiful Northern Lights.
- Norway is in the top 10 most expensive countries to live in.
