Help me to know more about places south of Oslo in Norway please?I need to live there after short time....

Question

I'm going to take serious decision in my life which is going to live in Norway.If you know any information that may help me then please send it.

Answer 1

Unless u have a good job already in line in Norway, I'd suggest re-think. Norway is not a cheap place to live, also depending upon where are u moving from to live in Norway. Secondly can u speak the langauge? Even though everyone speaks English in Norway, yet Official language is Norsk (Norwagian).

Good luck.

Answer 2

The towns south of Oslo tend to be much smaller than Oslo.  The biggest are Frederikstad, Larvik, Skien, and Kristiansand.  Most of the cities on the coast are very popular with people from Oslo who want to get away for the weekend or for a holiday, often to go sailing.

The infrastructure isn't quite as well developed as it is in the larger cities, and while there are usually some city buses, you'll probably need a car to get around.  Also, expect a slightly more traditional (and a bit more reserved) society than you'd find in Oslo and some of the western cities.

As for Norway in general, you'll find that there's a strong emphasis on nature and outdoor activity, and family is hugely important.  I find the society to be less materialistic than a lot of other places (not surprising with high prices, high taxes, and short shopping hours).  The country is absolutely beautiful, and the people are generally very helpful, though they may be a bit reserved and seem unfriendly at first.  There's also a very strong sense of community and group unity, so you may find that (especially at work) people are more interested in the success of the whole rather than individual achievement at the expense of others.

I imagine that if you have it narrowed down to the south of the country, you probably already have a job lined up (which would also mean support in getting the appropriate visas).  If not, I think you might want to consider Oslo or one of the other cities.  Even Oslo isn't particularly big, and the western cities would be considered large towns in some other countries.  However, you would have better chances of finding a job in one of these places.

A few resources...

- If you don't have a job yet, you can find a few listings in English on the Labour Administration website: http://www.nav.no/page?id=805312736

- For visa and immigration issues, the Norwegian immigration department:  http://udi.no/defaultRedesign.aspx?id=21...

- To search for housing, the most common site is http://www.finn.no (Norwegian only, but Google Translate now has a Norwegian option).

- For more questions, I suggest you try finding an online ex-pat forum.  There is a Yahoo group called New_To_Oslo that's very active and may be helpful with general questions even if you're not headed to Oslo.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/New_To_Osl...

There's a book on Norwegian culture from the Culture Smart series:

http://www.amazon.com/Norway-Culture-Sma...

It's a quick read, and you might find it quite helpful, especially if you plan to live in a smaller town that might be less cosmopolitan than Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger, etc.