New in Stavanger

Hello,

I suppose if you ask most foreigners what they know about Norway they will say: cold and expensive. No polar bears (or ice bears as you might hear the locals referring to them as) near Stavanger. If you have a Norwegian salary then it's not too expensive. I think for tourists it's  expensive, particularly with the strong Krone at the moment.

If you live here and want to do one of the following, it will cost you: drink alcohol, smoke, eat out, drive a car or travel in any way (bus, taxi, plane etc.) Other than that, it's fine.

Supermarkets can be quite expensive I suppose. I can't tell you what bread or milk costs though. Having lived almost my whole life in the UK, I couldn't tell you the price of any of these things there either. However, when I've had visitors come over, they've been a bit shocked at the prices.

As for learning Norwegian, it can be a bit of a challenge. You'll find when you arrive in the west of Norway (Vestlandet), that the dialect the people are speaking bears only a passing resemblance to the Norwegian you will learn from a book. The type of Norwegian you will be learning is more spoken in the east and far north from what I understand. In the west, they speak something which sounds more like New Norwegian (Nynorsk) in many ways, although they write Bokmål. Still, people will appreciate that you've made the effort.

Do you mind me asking why you're going to be here for 6 months?

David

Hey,

Thanks a lot for your input!
I am afraid I will have english salary, but it's more complicated than it looks.

I'm just thinking that going for a norwegian course might be not bad start of getting to know somebody in Stavanger, so I won't spend all the time at work or by myself.

The six months thing is based on the programme I participate. I started working as a graduate and the company I am working for has their own 'graduate training programme'. It takes two years and includes 3-4 projects (so every single one 6-8 months) in different aspects of my profession and at least one of these projects has to be overseas (my base office is in the UK). I got Norway :-)
My friends got a little bit warmer places..
Long story short, I have spent half a year in England, now comes the time to change the environment!

Anyway thanks again!

Rinonka

A loaf of bread costs around 17kr (~£1.80), and you'll usually have to cut it yourself (there's a machine in the supermarket you use).  A pint of milk will cost around 9kr, depending on the kind you want.

If you have the patience to translate some Norwegian, rema1000.no has price comparisons.

Hi,

I have moved to Stavanger about 3 months ago, hope some of my experience may be of some assistance to you:

1. As you would be staying for ~ 6 months so firstly you should try to bring all that clothings you may need e.g. April-September you would experience spring, summer, lot of rains and windy weather. I would especially recommend you to get some water proof shoes,a trench coat, good a umbrella. You would find these items amazingly costly here.

2. Hope you have managed to arrange for an apartment. If not, then you can check out roommates.no. Need further help ?Keep posting about your status on apartment.

3. Good that you are planning to learn norwegian. Since you have a short stay here so I would recommend you to visit byki.com and download norwegian software. It is very helpful!

4. A small tip- taxi is next to unaffordable here. So when you arrive, try to take SAS flybus from airport to stavanger city. It costs 85 NOK, while a taxi may cost upto 380-430 NOK. And as soon as you reach Stavanger, try to visit the main bus station from there you can get a monthly bus pass with which you can travel anytime anywhere within stavanger @ 600NOK per month.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can be of further assistance to you.

Good luck!