Obviously slightly clickbait title.
But I see so many complaints about Norway from people who moved there.
There’s a lot of how people fail to fit in, so who do you guys consider the most entitled expats in Norway, and why?
Are certain nationalities or professional groups perceived as expecting special treatment, demanding English during social events, resisting local norms, or complaining excessively about Norwegian systems and culture?
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Posted by Emergency-Sea5201
13 Comments
Entitled immigrants who believe they should be somehow be praised and carried on golden litters are almost exclusively US-american.
Most other people know that they’re immigrants, and although they also bitch and moan and complain, they do it with the understanding that they at least aren’t entitled to be kings.
Life is hard everywhere, if you cannot integrate yourself properly into new reality or don’t know the language. People might think everything will fall to their feet, when they move abroad, but the gap between the expectations and reality slightly kills the joy imho
Don’t know.. Haven’t met enough expats to see a pattern, the few American expats I’ve met have been pleasant enough people.
I have never met anyone working in Norway (including expats) referring to themselves as expats other than Americans (including ones who are not expats, but in fact immigrants)
They can’t stop talking, while most nordmenn just want to chill out in nature without constantly blabbing about some menial bs.
That could cause a lot of friction of course.
From my experience never noticed any entitlement or major issues with expats coming from European countries, mostly because we share common values and culture and they adapt quite well. Outside of that, often you find disagreements, misunderstanding between both parts and considerable cultural differences. I will not specify which countries because Reddit is very sensitive.
Because they do not even attempt to comprehend things like 24-hour clocks. Much less anything described in non “Freedom Units”.
I think it’s a loud minority that really fit the stereotype and give “all” a bad reputation.
From personal experience, I cannot say I have ever met many of those really entitled US-Americans. Most, if not all, are fully aware that they are in a different country with differences in both culture and customs and try to adapt accordingly.
People who move to a different country and refuse to integrate with local customs will have difficulties everywhere, not just Scandinavia.
Not many of them really, and with our immigration laws becoming so strict I don’t really see there are many more coming either
They’re coming from a country where everyone is conditioned to feel special and that they can all be celebrities if they want to, to a country where we have a strong social rule that says no-one is special and that you shouldnt feel like you are.
Expats are generally very nice in my experience, but don’t necessarily know the culture/customs/systems that Norway has, which can cause friction.
I met an American family in Lillehammer once, that needed to take the bus and get to Gardermoen. Their American Express card wasn’t accepted by the bus, so I paid for their tickets. They didn’t have any Norwegian kroner on their person, so they gave me 20 dollars. They were very kind and social, but quite naïve that dollars and the American Express card wasn’t accepted. To a lot of tourists it may just be that shock of finding out you’re stranded on your own, and all your previous valuables are essentially useless here. Not necessarily entitlement, but it does create frustration.
For Americans I’ve met that have stayed here for a few years, they so seem a little more entitled, yes. As an anecdote: My friend’s American (now ex) girlfriend joined us at a really good Italian restaurant. We were roughly 6 or 7 people, and it was “my turn” to pay for everyone. (Once every year we had one of us invite everyone, and that person would pay for everything) The American girlfriend looked at the menu and seemed upset that they didn’t serve hot dogs, burgers or something similar. This was an Italian restaurant.
Everyone was ready to order, but she didn’t want anything on the menu. So I asked her if I should ask the chef to make her something like a burger, and she said yes. Obviously I still paid, but was a little surprised she didn’t want food from the best Italian restaurant within a 100 km radius. Anyway, the food comes, she gets her burger and… she hates it. She picks at the food, basically takes off all the salad and vegetables, and takes a bite of the meat. Says “It’s weird and doesn’t taste like in the States.”
To maintain the otherwise good vibe of the group, I keep quiet. But within me I feel a boiling frustration of entitlement, where my friends then-gf had no wish to try something new, even when it was for free, and when she gets what she wants, she basically tears it apart and complains it’s not like in the States. She leaves the food 80% uneaten after we leave the restaurant, but its completely shredded and looks like a child imitation of Jackson Pollock during dinner. She obviously had no interest in trying anything unfamiliar when LIVING in a foreign country, and on the drive home she says: “I’m hungry. Can we go McDonald’s?” And I almost completely lost it.
To be honest, most Americans I’ve met that have moved to Norway tend to be fairly chill humanoids after a while. In the beginning they can be very intense in pretty much everything, but I like to think that after the first few months they start to mellow out more, realizing that everything doesn’t have to be 100% to the absolute max absolutely 100% of the time.
It takes some time for anyone to adjust to a new situation, especially when the situation is so radically different from what they’ve always known.
I do not mind proper expats, they are mainly oil industry workers placed here om an temporary assignment. Eventually they will leave so their complaints are harmless.
However, there is a bunch of immigrants from the UK/US that refuse to refer themselves as such and still dare to call themselves expats, even if some of them, came by choice and are jumping between odd jobs and barely making it. Surprisingly some of those complain a bit about inane things.