Through Norway to the USA: Russian woman compared life in Europe and America

Thanks to her studies, the resident of the Arkhangelsk Region, Alena, managed to live in several places outside of Russia at once. "Lenta.ru" published the story of Russians about life in Norway and the United States. ForumDaily publishes an abbreviated version of the material.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

I was born in the Arkhangelsk region, in the city of Koryazhma. In 17 years I entered the St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute (SPbGPU) at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, and I am still studying. It all started with the fact that my husband got a job as a secretary at BSTU “Voenmekh” within the framework of the international Russian-Norwegian program. He collaborated with the Norwegian University (then University of nordland), organized seminars, meetings and conducted evening lectures for students of this program. He planned to go to this university and write a doctorate there, and since the option “go alone” was not even considered, we began to think about how to move together. I entered the same evening program: for the best students there was an opportunity to go to get a master's degree in Norway. Through 2 of the year, in August of 2014, we left for the city of Buda (Bodø).

About the city and the weather

The city is inhabited by 50 thousand people. By Russian standards, it is, of course, too small, but by Norwegian - almost a big city. This year, Buda was recognized as the fastest growing city in Norway. The state is investing huge amounts of money in infrastructure development, the construction of roads and tunnels, houses and shopping centers, and in the development of tourism. I heard that the multi-million dollar tunnel project was accepted after complaints from citizens on 10-minute traffic jams.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

When we first arrived, I asked my teacher how he copes with the polar night, to which he replied: "Normally, I live in Spain from November to February." In the first semester, they talked a lot about how difficult it is in the winter, not enough light, and in December and January the sun is almost invisible. But I did not feel it. Perhaps there was fatigue, but there was no depression. But in the summer the sun does not set, therefore, blackout curtains and blinds are simply necessary in the house.

The weather here, of course, is not very: I used to think that the worst weather in St. Petersburg, but now I don’t think so. In winter, the wind almost blows your soul. Although the Norwegians believe that there is no bad weather, and sometimes bad clothes. Having lived here for almost four years, I can say that I agree with them. But in winter it does not happen very cold, and in summer it is very hot. And, of course, you can see amazing lights!

About student life

The educational system here is completely different, it was quite difficult to restructure. 70 percent of the time a student learns himself. Lectures are needed more in order to get acquainted with the teacher, and attendance is not very high. Here there can be hundreds of answers to one question, it all depends on the argument. Maybe that's why the students here are quite relaxed and know that no one will strike them for expressing their own opinions.

Education in Norway is free, and in my case also with a scholarship. True, if you stayed in Norway or the European Union, then after graduation, her scholarship must be returned. Extra money made life easier for us; the guys who did not receive the scholarship, had to immediately go to earn money. For example, my scholarship was about 7 thousand crowns per month, and this was enough to pay for housing, travel, food, and even covered a couple of trips to a bar or a movie with friends.

About people

Norwegians are very friendly people, they always smile, it's nice to talk to them. Everyone speaks English, so at first you don’t experience any language discomfort. But it is necessary to learn the language, without it the future is foggy. At first, without practice, it was difficult: everyone speaks English, and her husband and friends are Russian-speaking. In addition, there are so many dialects in Norway that even the Norwegians themselves can not understand each other. For example, I perfectly communicate with my roommate, who is from Trondheim, but I do not understand the supervisor at all, who is from Troms.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

Norwegians appreciate family and free time, but family comes first for them. By the way, people in the public sector work in the winter to 14-00, and in the summer to 15-00! There is a lot of time left for family, sports and anything else.

The Russians treat the Russians well, never felt a negative in their side. We do not have close Norwegian friends, but they are very open people, it is easy to find a common language with them. We sometimes go together to the cinema, bars, to the mountains. Many people are interested in Russian culture, people and, of course, politics.

About free time

Upon learning that I came to Buda from St. Petersburg, people are beginning to lament, which, probably, I am terribly bored in such a small polar city. I absolutely disagree with this. Here everyone can find something for their liking, there would be a desire. When the weather allows, we go fishing, go to the mountains, go in for sports, prepare tasty meals, meet friends, watch movies ... The list goes on and on. There are a lot of beautiful mountains near us, there are thousanders. We are friends with an avid walker, who leads us to such peaks, from which you do not want to descend. Norwegians are very fond of nature and try to spend a lot of time on the air, even in winter, and from childhood teach children to it.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

About prices

At first, of course, I translated everything into rubles and it was scary, but after the first salary you simply stop thinking about the Russian currency. We came here in 2014 and remembered other prices, but when I next came to Russia, I realized that the cost is not that different. Of course, there are several times more expensive products, for example, meat (the price of beef starts from 250 crowns - 1,8 thousands of rubles - per kilogram), but fruits, vegetables, cereals, dairy products and much more are not much more expensive than in Russia.

In Norway, a very expensive service, mainly due to high salaries, so going to a restaurant will cost from 500 crowns (about 3,6 thousands of rubles) for two, and for a haircut in the salon you will have to pay 600 crowns (about 4,3 thousands of rubles).

My husband and I have been trying to buy housing for over a year now. I do not know how in other cities, but in our demand strikingly exceeds supply. From here very high prices. The sale of housing takes place at auction, which also sometimes negatively affects the cost. Now the average price per square meter of new housing in a good area starts from 36 thousand crowns. But if you compare the ratio of income levels and prices, you realize that this is not a constant headache and not a global problem. Yes, and here you have to pay the mortgage 25 years, but the interest rates start at two percent, and the monthly payment is about 40 percent of salary.

About work

I started working in the second semester, and not because there was not enough money, but rather because of boredom. Without knowing the Norwegian language, I managed to work in hotels for 1,5 years as a cook and waiter. At my last job I had a rate of almost 170 CZK per hour, which gave me a tangible feeling of satisfaction. I liked it, we had an interesting international team, round-the-clock access to food. The work itself was not very difficult, and the pay was very good.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

Over the years, I realized that it’s almost impossible to find a good job in Norway without knowing the language. International graduates, such as I, had a road either home or to PhD (Philosophy Doctor). Even now, looking at my acquaintances who remained in Norway, I see very few people found a good place outside the walls of the university, and sometimes it took years.

I applied for a PhD student position and got a contract for 4 of the year. Now I am writing a doctorate at the department International business. At the same time, this is a full-fledged working position with salaries, tax payments (35 percent of salaries) and duties in the department. In my free time, I teach undergraduate and graduate students. I travel a lot to conferences and courses where I need to present my work. And last year I received funding for an internship abroad, which led me to Atlanta for five months.

USA

I always wanted to know which stereotypes about America are true and which are not. My scholarship covered my family expenses, so we went with my husband. At that time he was finishing his doctoral thesis and got a great chance to finish it in a relaxed atmosphere. I was accepted into J. Mack Robinson College of Businesswhere my second supervisor works.

The main first impression - in August in Atlanta is simply unbearably hot. When we arrived, it was + 40, in the morning I went to work on foot (in the morning 8 was only + 30), but in the evening I had to use a taxi.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

After living in Buda, we immediately felt a lack of nature. Atlanta is a huge city with traffic jams, skyscrapers and homeless. It seemed to me not very comfortable and absolutely not safe. The city is not adapted for walking, and public transport is practically absent.

Enlanta. Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

The Americans were very friendly. But what really pissed me off in the States was the airports. It seemed to me that they wanted to be so different from everyone that they invented their own system, which only they understand. For example, on the scoreboard at the airport, the flights are not written by the time of departure, but alphabetically, and until you find New York, on which 20 fly different flights, you can go crazy. People get on the plane for more than an hour, because everyone is divided into groups, and if you arrive later, you will simply have nowhere to put your carry-on luggage.

And these checks of theirs ... I wanted to return all the deposits that I left for an apartment, for furniture, for the Internet, in the form of paper checks. It’s good that they even managed to come to an agreement with the apartment, and then only when their management changed. The previous employee claimed that it was simply impossible. My argument that the Norwegians in the life of the checks have not seen and will never cash it to me, they did not care. The ISP was unable to return the money to me on the card from which it was withdrawn. They do not send checks abroad, so I had to donate about 100 dollars.

America is a country where you have to pay for everything. After it, we realized that Norway is generally an inexpensive country.

The average price of a roadside motel starts from 100 dollars, and a cheap sandwich with chips will cost 25 dollars. And do not forget about the minimum percentage of tip 20, less - disrespect.

Photo: Instagram alenarivelote

We had a lot to travel. Of all the cities, San Francisco and Boston liked the most, but they are completely different. In the first there were many parks and calm was felt. In Boston, we hit during a hurricane, but still managed to stroll through the center. The city is simply steeped in history, and the architecture reminded small English villages.

# ***

I like working at the academy: every day I learn something new and travel a lot. For example, a couple of years ago my husband had a conference in Australia and New Zealand, and we were able to go together not at our own expense. Otherwise it would be very expensive.

Will we return to Russia? I hope that this situation does not arise. This is the most recent option; we are rather planning to launch further into Europe. After the Norwegian standard of living it will be very difficult for me to work in Russian realities, and the academic system there is completely different.

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