[ZeZar]

Well, simple question, are there anyone?
Please tell us about your experiences and what you think is good / bad about Norway

[Curufinwe]

(

Well, Norway is a country that I would love to visit, along with Sweden and Finland (basically, Scandinavia ) ...
Hopefully one day

[Klaas]

My parents are going to Norway in July. About 300km north of Oslo, forgot the name though.

[ZeZar]

@Klaas, let me guess, Lillehammer or maybe Trondheim?

@Curu; Sweden sucks. No offence Swedens, but at least a long the Norwegian boarder there are garbage a long the road, in the streets, like everywhere. And Swedens (at least there) cant really behave. Been there one time, NEVER EVER am i going to Sweden again =(

Finland seems cool, never been there but it seems like a nice place =)

[dan]

As someone from Sweden, who has lived in Norway for the last 4-5 years I'd like to say: ZeZar you don't know what you're talking about. You go to a place one time and you decide it sucks..

[Black Op]

I really have no plans to go to NE Europe anytime in my future. I'd imagine it's usually quite cold with hardly any hot days like today in California....

@Oivi: Perhpas you should have visited a different part of Sweeden?

[ZeZar]

Yeah i guess
It's just, dont want that argument here in this thread, but in Norway we all get tought to HATE swedens, their country and whatever they do. We also have a lot of "sweden jokes" about how stupid they are ....
And of course, i understand that Swedens are like most Norwegians, and the countries look the same, but my impression of what i saw where i was, was really awful =(

Though ill take a trip to Stockholm og G*teborg (Gøteborg) sometime, so that dan can be happy

[Vaevictis_Music]

Quote

It's just, dont want that argument here in this thread, but in Norway we all get tought to HATE swedens, their country and whatever they do. We also have a lot of "sweden jokes" about how stupid they are ....

You know, we have those too here in Denmark. But in the end, most of us don't have a clue about the major differences between Swedes and Norwegians (I even have difficulties telling the languages apart most of the time). I fully expect that Norwegians have the same impression of Swedes vs. Danes and likewise for Swedes' impression of Norwegians vs. Danes. I can't see why any Norwegian / Swede / Dane shouldn't be able to feel at home in any of the two other countries (well, apart from the darn cold!). We aren't so different, all in all.

[Klaas]

ZeZar, on Jun 14 2005, 10:55 AM, said:

@Klaas, let me guess, Lillehammer or maybe Trondheim?

Nope, it's not in a town, but in a quite remote region. I'll ask them when I'm home

Zezar said:

Yeah i guess
It's just, dont want that argument here in this thread, but in Norway we all get tought to HATE swedens, their country and whatever they do. We also have a lot of "sweden jokes" about how stupid they are ....
And of course, i understand that Swedens are like most Norwegians, and the countries look the same, but my impression of what i saw where i was, was really awful =(

Maybe that's because you guys were part of Sweden once, just like the Flemish in Belgium? Well, it's the same thing with the Flemings and Walloons here and with the Flemish and the Dutch.
We like to make jokes about the Dutch and vice versa. There are two very common stereotypes: the Dutch are very very greedy and they always pee against the cathedral in Antwerp . Living in Antwerp I can assure you the last one is true, those drunk Dutch always have to pee against it, even though there are toilets close to it.
But in the end the Flemings and the Dutch are good friends, especially since we're the only Dutch-speaking countries in Europe.
With the Walloons it's quite different sadly, there isn't too much friendship there for some people. A friend of mine who also joked about me that I'm a regionalist studied in Brussels last year, his first real contact with the Walloons and francophones in Belgium. He isn't joking anymore after he read the francophone newspapers there and what they were saying about the Flemings. It's not joking anymore but plain hate speech. Sadly many Flemings are doing the same thing, telling that Walloons are all lazy, don't want to work, parasites, etc.

So my advice is: don't get carried away with these stupid nationalist tensions. Just don't take part into it and when someone of the other nation tries to make a fool of you just ignore it. By visiting Brussels and Wallonia a lot I've experienced it enough that I heard people whispering flamin (foul Fleming) behind me, I just learned to ignore it.
And certainly don't make the mistake that because one person of the other nation insults you they are all like that. It's just a rediculous stereotype, nothing more, nothing less.

Btw
if I go to Wallonia it also looks aweful compared to Flanders, especially in the Borinage region (where the cole mines were). But that doesn't mean every part of Wallonia is ugly. I've seen regions and towns that are much more beautiful than anything you'll find in Flanders.
So it's just a matter of visiting it often and trying to go to more places than just one or two.

[ZeZar]

hehe, i guess

Though its still kind of funny, the way the thing have developed between Norway and Sweden, and the Danes. I think most Norwegians really like the Danes, they seem wise, and a cool flat country and when reading Dane, its almost like Norwegian.
Though trying to understand what they are saying, is impossible, Swedish is easier that way.

And i know i did not see Sweden from its best side, but the people there was really behaving bad. I was like "Thanks" when i got my food, and the server just "Oh yeah, shut up kid", in Swedish of course =(
That was something ill remember all my life, because at that point i thought "it is really true what they say about Swedens".
Though i was young, and thanks to, actually some Swedens from WFG (the Tonto_dude among others) have really shown me a different side of the Swedish They can be NICE

[Argalius]

Quote

We like to make jokes about the Dutch and vice versa. There are two very common stereotypes: the Dutch are very very greedy and they always pee against the cathedral in Antwerp . Living in Antwerp I can assure you the last one is true, those drunk Dutch always have to pee against it, even though there are toilets close to it.
But in the end the Flemings and the Dutch are good friends, especially since we're the only Dutch-speaking countries in Europe.

So true, we always talk about that Flemish (or just Belgian people) are dumb and eat too much fries.
I never heard about the peeing against the cathedral, though.
The Dutch have the same with Germans. We say they drink too much beer, have a beerbelly (literaly translated...) and eat to many beerbombs (some kind of saucages). Oh man I love Europe.

But anyway to get back to the subject of this topic, I'd like to visit Norway one day. An aunt of my has been to North Cape, it must be beautifull, although I don't really plan to visit that... (kinda boring with all those old people ) Oslo seems like a great place to visit. My father has been quite some times in Norway for his job, hasn't seen much, though, but he bought a cool book about it.