American Woman Who Moved To Norway Shares 25 Things That Culturally Shocked Her

Same, but different, which could be said about a lot of cultural differences between the US and other countries in the world.

Damjan

• Published in Interesting
• February 15, 2022

Traveling and getting to know other cultures is very important because no matter what happens, no one can take what you've seen and learned away from you. The joy and excitement of discovering how people live in different countries is a part of traveling and seeing new areas.

And the greater the cultural differences are, the more thrilling it is. Meet Jorie, a Chicago creative who has relocated to Norway with her husband, family, and dogs.

She has also used her TikTok channel to broadcast all of the wonderful things she has discovered as an American in Norway. She points out items like bread cutting machines in grocery shops, leaving baby carriages with babies outside, packing your own groceries, and the like in her ongoing series of videos, fittingly titled "Things In Norway That Are Foreign To Me."

This video, along with others on her channel, has drawn approximately 24,000 subscribers and nearly 800,000 likes. It is always interesting to see some distant country through the eyes of a regular person, and not some posh world traveler that focuses on high-end hotels with infinity pools and stuff.

This video will give you a better insight into life in Norway. Be careful - It might make you want to travel!

1. "Dogs Are Allowed On Public Transport"

2. "Stop Light Buttons That Actually Make Drivers Stop"

3. "Grass On Roofs"

4. "Double Beds With Single Duvets"

5. "Leaving Babies In Strollers Outside"

6. "Bread Slicers In Grocery Stores"

7. "Everything is closed on Sundays"

8. "Recycling Bottles And Cans"

9. "Colorful Houses"

Jorie originally intended to make these movies for an American-only audience in order to educate people about Norwegian culture. However, she immediately realized that Norwegians enjoy having their culture reflected back at them, and the audience swiftly grew.

"Of course, it’s a small country in population and representation is exciting. I also think they enjoy explaining (as much as I enjoy reading it) why these differences are the way they are," she explained.

"So as my audience arose, I now try to point things out to Norwegian viewers of things here in Norway that are not common in other countries, especially the Americas, that they might not realize (like how much they add canned corn to, its not something they notice until they realize many other places don't have it as a common pizza topping!)."

10. "Packing Your Own Groceries At Checkout"

11. Clean Tap Drinking Water

12. Date Format

13. Newborns get gender-specific names

14. Milk is not sold by the gallon.

15. Smaller refrigerators

16. "People would rather stand than sit next to a stranger on public transit"

17. "Paprika Flavored Snacks"

18. Folding shower doors

19. "Roundabouts!"

20. Blinds on the wrong side of the windows

21. Windows can open in several directions

22. Airport security is not so tight

23. Norwegians do love their canned corn

24. "Different outlets"

25. You don't have to buy a whole pack of beers and sodas

Jordie loves living in Norway and making these videos, but she points out that the subjects for them are slowly running out. Even though there are many differences, they are so small that they don’t deserve to be featured in videos, and she doesn’t want to sound like a “stupid American.”

Damjan