Just over a year ago, I was standing in the middle of my very empty house wondering if I’d gone ever so slightly mad.
About five weeks previously Sam had been asked whether he’d be interested in relocating to Stavanger and while we thought it sounded like an interesting adventure it also sounded like a heck of a lot of work and not really the right time for us. We pretty much dismissed it out of hand.
Then, about two days afterwards I mentioned it in passing to my Mum who said, also fairly offhand, that we’d never do it if we didn’t do it while we were young, and that got us thinking a bit more seriously. At this point we’d visited Norway a grand total of twice (one weekend trip to Oslo and two weeks in the north) and had loved the country – so much so that Sam had been learning Norwegian ever since our first trip in 2017, but was that a basis for uprooting our entire lives and moving there? Well, we decided that yes, actually, it was.
Our first trip to Norway. We had no idea that two years later we’d be coming back for a much longer stay
So then came a hectic month where I had to first resign from a job that I loved, then we had to pack up everything we owned, arrange for storage for some of our possessions, shipping for the rest of them, find a letting agent to manage our property, and redecorate the house to get it ready for tenants. Oh, and find somewhere for ourselves to live, in a city we’d never visited and wouldn’t have time to visit before the big move. Hence me wondering about the madness…
The frantic chaos of last year seems like a very long time ago now, and the one year milestone has been a good time to reflect on our decision to move. So, did we make the right choice? It’s with an enormous sigh of relief that I can say that we did.
There were some things initially that made the transition easier, the main one being that my employer re-hired me on a short term contract. This made the change more of a gentle easing-in rather than an abrupt break. There were also things that weren’t so great, like the shipping company not delivering our things until late September – not ideal given we’d only flown across with a suitcase each, as well as our apartment having no internet connection, despite being advertised as being broadband equipped… However, in a bizarre coincidence, our next door neighbour turned out to be one of Sam’s colleagues, someone that we’ve known since our time at university, and he was happy to share his wi-fi with us (thanks Jack!) until we could get our own sorted.
Living next to Jack has also meant that despite the office being closed since March, Sam has been able to continue with the ‘cake Friday’ tradition. Each of us has been taking it in turns to bake every week and spend some time catching up over a slice or two. It might not do wonders for the waistline, but it’s certainly good for the soul!
One of the big draws for us was of course the landscape and although lockdown did scupper quite a few of our plans, we were able to explore more of Norway over a three week holiday in June. Wow! I think each place we visited was deserving of its own post – what an amazingly stunning country. How lucky we are to experience this.
A potential concern, for me at least, was feeling isolated as a result of having no job or any network in place in the city. I have been so, so lucky to find a great group of friends, ad they have played a massive part in how well I’ve settled in here. I’ve never really been someone who had a large circle of friends (I like to think I’m selective rather than just anti-social!) but I’ve somehow ended up with more friends here that I see regularly than I had in the UK. Over the past year I’ve shared hikes, meals out, dinner parties, games evenings, after-work drinks, birthday parties, and experienced a May 17th celebration with Norwegians happy to share their culture with us. They’ve made such a difference to my experience of living abroad and I’m quite enjoying life as a social butterfly.
Some of the great hikes I’ve taken recently with even better company
Of course, there are some continued challenges: we really miss our garden and don’t particularly love being tenants again, but that would have been the same had we moved within the UK. The language is proving more challenging for me than I’d hoped, but with lessons booked for August I’m hopeful that I’ll find it easier with some professional help. I’m also not sure that I’ll ever get used to the prices here, particularly fruit and veg (at today’s exchange rate, strawberries are £5 for a small punnet), and the lack of affordable, decent-quality dark chocolate can make me want to cry at times.
Despite this, I haven’t regretted moving once, and am so thankful that we took the plunge to come out here. I’ve learnt that there never will be a “right” time or one perfect moment when everything seems to align to make a big change – it’s up to me to seize the opportunity and make whichever moment that presents itself into the perfect one for me.
Tusen takk, Norge!
Year of Adventures 