Follow the jump links to learn more about Norway
Lifestyle and Family Living
Teen Life
Dress and Appearance
Diet and Meals
Educational System
Geography and Climate
Population
Language
Government
Religion
Spending Money
Safety and Support
Fun Facts Lifestyle and Family Living
Family and friends are very important to Norwegians. Tolerance, kindness and independence are highly valued. Norwegians cherish their history as a nation of fishermen and farmers with traditional customs; in reality, Norway’s lifestyle is very much like any other industrialized western nation. Norway is sometimes considered Europe’s biggest folk museum, but simultaneously it is a laboratory for the future.
Norwegians are rich in humanity and demand fairness and equality. Neighbors get along well and usually consider each other to be close friends, even in large cities.
Children are fairly independent, and some teenagers have part-time jobs. Parents still expect to know when their children are going out and where they are going.
Families get together on weekends; during the week, Norwegians are often quite busy. Husbands and wives typically consider each other equal in authority. Families tend to be small, and everyone shares in the housework. Some AFSers live in single-parent families.
Norwegian host families, like all AFS host families worldwide, are volunteers and are not paid. They open their homes to students in order to share their community and culture as well as to enrich their own family lives.Teen Life
Most Norwegians are physically active and love nature. In winter, many people ski. In summer, they hike and spend time in the forests and mountains.
Young people are involved in many activities outside of school such as sports, music, arts and crafts. They also take part in organized activities in the community such as scouting, political organizations and the Red Cross.
Like teenagers everywhere, they like to go to movies, get together and have parties and hang out in cafes. Boys and girls treat each other as equals.Dress and Appearance
Norwegian youth dress casually. Both boys and girls wear pants (jeans or corduroys) and a sweater and shirt or blouse to school.
You should bring sports clothes, a swimsuit, tennis or jogging shoes, good leather shoes, comfortable walking shoes, warm boots, slippers, mittens, warm sweaters, warm underwear, warm socks, a warm, waterproof coat or jacket and a warm winter coat.
On a few special occasions, more formal dress is expected: for girls a dress or blouse and skirt; for boys a jacket, slacks and tie.
Clothes labeled as “used clothing” on the box (to avoid being charged a fee) can be sent ahead.
School uniforms are not worn.Diet and Meals
Food in Norway is rich in meat, fish, potatoes, vegetables, milk and cheese; and there are sweets in wide varieties. A common meal is meatballs, potatoes, brown gravy and vegetables.
Open-faced sandwiches are also popular. Fish is part of the everyday diet.
Vegetarianism is extremely rare.
It is common to bring your own sandwich to school where lunch breaks are usually short so that students can go home sooner in the afternoon.
In this culture, most families eat the same food at meals together, and it is considered inappropriate for individuals to request special foods or to prepare separate dishes for themselves. Raiding the refrigerator is not done.
You can taste Norway in fårikål, the fattiest parts of mutton fresh from the autumn slaughter, simmered with cabbage and whole peppercorns—a national dish.
At Christmas, families usually serve salted lamb ribs—pinnekjøtt. A traditional Christmas dinner generally features roast pork ribs in Eastern Norway, and cod, halibut or lutefisk in coastal districts.
Milk is known as “a mother of all dishes,” and it is prominent in Norwegian cooking. Cheese, especially the Norwegian brown goat cheese geitost, one of the most distinctively Norwegian sandwich toppings, and sweet milk dishes such as gomme are all popular. Butter was once used as a currency in a barter economy.Educational System
In Norway, municipalities are responsible for compulsory elementary and secondary education (nine years), the counties for upper secondary school (10th to 12th years), and the state for all higher education. Some schools are privately owned, but they also rely on subsidies from the state.
In upper secondary school, students choose among many fields of study: general, commercial/clerical, arts/aesthetics, physical education, domestic science, social services and health, technical/industrial, fishing trade, maritime, and agricultural trade. In the field of general studies, second- and third-year students may choose an area of specialization: natural sciences, social studies, language or music. All courses of study require three types of subjects: compulsory core subjects (Norwegian, natural and social science, gym), subjects in the area of specialization, and electives. Academic standards are fairly high.
Most AFSers are placed in the general field of study or in the first or second year of business studies, music, drama and dance studies or sports and physical education studies. Students meet and discuss their courses with their academic advisor and principal before the start of school if possible. All AFS students are treated as Norwegian students.
School runs from late August to late June. Classes run Monday through Friday. Each class averages 25-30 students.
Most students walk or cycle to school, but special transport arrangements are made for those who live far from the nearest school.
All instruction, with the exception of foreign languages, is done in Norwegian In the beginning, you may find it hard to follow, but as you learn more of the language, school will become less challenging, so be patient, work hard, and keep at it!
While it may be possible to obtain academic credit for the coursework you successfully complete abroad, AFS cannot guarantee this. Please discuss your plans with your school before you go abroad.
Geography and Climate
Norway is approximately the size of Great Britain or Japan.
Much of Norway is covered by mountains and forests.
The country is generally divided into four regions. Southeastern Norway features large, flat areas of forests, rich farmland and gentle valleys. Southwestern Norway is more dramatic, with glaciers and deep fjords cutting far inland. Central Norway also has fjords and a similar coastline, but the mountains are less jagged and there are large areas of fertile flatland. Northern Norway is filled with valleys, fjords, mountains and islands.
The climate varies considerably from one region to another, but four seasons are distinct throughout the country. In the northernmost county of Finnmark, temperatures can drop significantly in winter and top 30°C/86°F in summer. The coastal areas have a maritime climate, with mild winters and cool summers, while interior regions have cold winters and warm summers.
Although Norway lies in the same latitudes as Alaska and Siberia, it owes its milder climate to the Gulf Stream, which warms the North Atlantic and keeps the coast and harbors ice-free year-round.
Population
Norway’s population is 4.6 million, with a population density of 11.7 per km². The capital city of Oslo has 532,000 inhabitants. The natives of Norway are the Sami (formerly known as Lapps), who today are an ethnic minority and a separate people, but Norwegian citizens too. About 60,000 Sami live in Norway.
Language
Norwegian is the language of Norway. It is a Germanic language related to Danish, Swedish and Icelandic and has two official forms of writing—bokmål (Standard Norwegian) and nynorsk (New Norwegian).
There are small Sami- and Finnish-speaking minorities, and Sami is official in six municipalities
Government
Norway is a constitutional monarchy whose constitution calls for the country to be ruled by a monarch rather than a president. The king and his family have no real political power but are an important symbol, and they mean a great deal to the Norwegian people.
The government is headed by a Prime Minister who runs the country with the assistance of 18 cabinet members. Norway’s legislative body is called the Storting and is made up of 165 representatives who are elected every four years from 19 counties. Storting passes laws and decides how to spend national revenues.
Religion
The Church of Norway (Evangelical Lutheran) is the state church.
Church of Norway 85.7%, Pentecostal 1%, Roman Catholic 1%, other Christian 2.4%, Muslim 1.8%, other 8.1%
Spending Money
The Norwegian krone is the official currency.
Your program and country information packet (provided in the months prior to your departure) will give you an idea of how much spending money is appropriate and whether you should arrive with any amount of the local currency in hand.
Host families pay only for ordinary family events in which you are expected to participate. When you do such things as shopping for yourself or going out with friends, the expenses are your responsibility. Depending on the cost of living in your host country, we recommend you budget about US$100-US$300 per month.
Remember: never travel with large amounts of cash. Instead, bring travelers checks or follow the advice in the country and program information packet. Another option for obtaining money while overseas is to use a debit card linked to a checking account back home (but try not to use a debit card for daily purchases since there are ATM and currency exchange fees). Or, you can transfer money using wiring services such as Western Union.
You and your parents should determine a budget and preferred money transfer plan before you depart so that you are not caught without spending money while abroad.
Be conscientious of your spending since conspicuous consumption may not be viewed favorably and spending more than your peers and family may create a distance between you and them.
Safety and Support
AFS has the utmost concern for the welfare, safety, and security of our participants. We’ve been exchanging participants throughout the world for 60 years—that’s six decades of history and experience in international education with an exemplary record of safety, security, and service.
AFS maintains a network of experienced staff and trained volunteers who provide support in each country. In the event of an emergency, 24-hour assistance is available to students, their parents, and the host families. Furthermore, your AFS tuition includes comprehensive medical insurance coverage to ensure that medical care is available to our participants anywhere in the world and at all times.
While we have the above support structures in place, we also encourage you to take responsibility for your own safety and we give you the guidance to do so. Many of the AFS orientation activities, both at home and abroad, are intended to give you the tools to stay safe. We also provide country-specific safety tips to each participant prior to departure.
Learn more about the AFS safety and support network.
Fun Facts
- You can see the northern lights in Norway.
- Actress Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) was born in Norway: birth name: Norma Jean Mortenson
- The paper clip (1899) and cheese-slicer (1927) were invented in Norway.
