My New Norwegian Home

Before meeting the husband, if I could have moved anywhere in the world guilt-free, it would have been a close tie between Iceland and Canada, but I would have probably moved to Canada. Not in the sense of getting upset over a disappointing election and giving the popular threat, "Looks like we're moving to Canada!" either. If I could have moved anywhere in the US before, I would have probably chosen Washington - not Washington D.C. (I hear only crazy people live there) but the state of Washington. Living in a place with huge pine trees, a coast line and mountains, and is mostly cool and known for rainy days. That seems like a great place to live in my book. So here I am in Norway. The country with the second lowest population density in Europe, covered in pine trees, a mountain here, there and everywhere, crisp cool air, and surrounded by the Atlantic everywhere except that border to Sweden (and Finland and Russia.)  I've only started really paying attention to the...

Part of being married is sharing things. Sharing the TV remote, sharing an economy, sharing a bed, and even at times sharing sickness. Unfortunately due to recent sickness that I may or may not have passed onto my husband, he urged me to go with his parents and his older brother on a day trip to the coast. After being reluctant to leave him home and with mono, I finally went. Stavern, Norway was one of the small coastal cities we went to. Like every other coastal city it's nice to take a day trip and go on a walk or hike and just observe and take in some of the nice Norwegian scenery. What sets this city apart is it used to be a naval base. Now the town can be seen with mustard colored houses, a memorial for fallen sailors, and art displays throughout the week days. An old sea mine from WWII.  An old home from the 1600s.  A statue inside the naval memorial.  I even tried fish soup for the first time. I know it's a popular and traditional dish in Norway and...

When I meet someone new of Arild's friends one of the first things they tell me is, "You're very brave." I don't think that at all. I'm still extremely dependent on Arild and I try very hard for that to not let me down. He is very supportive, which makes a huge difference and I'm very appreciative for having an extremely laid-back and supportive husband, but I miss my independence. The day I get my independence back I am going to do one hell of a victory dance, but it will take baby steps to get there. I'm scared to go into public alone because I'm afraid people will talk to me and I have no idea what they say or say back to them. Any time I have ventured off on my own this has never happened, so it's really just an irrational fear. The times I have had to speak English to people they've almost always spoken English back. I''m learning how to drive a manual car. The first 3 months an American is in Norway they can drive with ...

A lot of sadness has been in the air lately and the rain and grey skies today sets the mood even more. My Facebook feed is filled with condolences and memorials, the news headlines I read from both America and Norway shouts of the events for the recent shooting in a Colorado cinema and today marks the year anniversary for the shootings in Oslo and Utøya. It's amazing how unchanged and peaceful the people of Norway remain after an event like what happened last year. One famous quote that's been set on repeat today - "If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we can show together." - Stine Renate Håheim   I think that can be applied to any senseless massacre and it's really a great mentality to live by in time of trouble.

Amidst all the paperwork we are pleased to have finally received our new and improved marriage license in the mail. The one with the required Apostille stamp on it as our regular one doesn't work when completing UDI information. UDI is an important part of being an expat and living in Norway. It's especially important everything is done right. I've decided to document everything with the UDI process because I think a lot of people in hopes of moving to Norway and some expats who have already moved find this all a bit confusing. Believe me, it is confusing! I just hope to share some of my own experiences with this as I know it's probably the same as a lot of expats and I think it's something we can all learn from. Right now it's actually funny to try to explain to people how all this works. We are legally married, but there's a catch to it.... I am legally married in the United States, BUT I'm married to an unknown person. I am not married in Norway...

I spend a lot of time trying to learn more about the country I'm living in. Norway has a long history, so there's so much to learn and do. An off-guard picture when I was reading about vikings.  One thing on my personal "Things to do in Norway" list is whale watching. I know I won't be able to do this any time soon, but it's on my list. These whale watching tours take place in northern Norway, where tourists will travel offshore by boat for about an hour, wait, freeze and watch sites of the beautiful arctic as well as all it has to offer - like meeting an Orca or a Sperm whale or two. Maybe even see the midnight sun if in summer or the northern lights in winter! Whale watching just seems like something I can't pass up living here in Norway! Orca Tysfjord Iceland and Norway Whale Watching  10 Best Places for Whale Watching

I'm still on my home decorating kick, which I'm not too great at, so when this phase I'm going through blows over I'll be happy. Before even moving into my new home I was looking at ideas on the site, Pinterest. I decided I wanted wall letters somewhere in the home, but to decorate them even more I wanted to put maps on them. This is still just an idea that hasn't been put into action yet. "A & E" are the letters I hoped to put maps on. A road map of Norway on the letter "A" for the letter "E" a road map of Kentucky and a road map of our honeymoon destination on the "&." That's the plan. Well, a few weeks ago we went looking for these letters and there were no E's to be found. The reason being so many people in Norway have a name beginning with E. Edvard, Edvan, Eli, Elin, Elias, Eirik, Erik, Emma, Emilie, Eira, Ella, Espen, Eva, Einar.... just to name a few. Even all the future kid names I have picked out be...

Arild and I spent 10 days in Italy for our honeymoon. While there, we visited France and Monaco as well. All beautiful places! I feel better posting my pictures here rather than Facebook because I feel as if people come here by choice rather than plastering them and torturing people with nice vacation pictures.  I enjoyed our honeymoon very very much, but I realize now just how similar Norway and America is compared to southern Europe. When Arild and I first met, he told me culturally he probably has much much more in common with someone in Kentucky than in some parts of Europe. I can see what he means by that now and I think I've come to the conclusion northern Europe has the most in common with North America. I've learned some things about my husband during our trip. I don't think I'll ever stop learning new things about him, but just to help with that we played a road trip questions game on our way to the Oslo airport. I printed off a list of questions to ask him...