Welcome To My Norway

Hi, my name is Jon O'Connell and I am an Englishman born and bred. I had the privilege of living in Norway for a year and a half so decided to put my web design skills to work and create a website to share with you all my experiences of that superb time to hopefully provide you with some useful information, should you be thinking of emigrating to Norway or just going there for a visit.

Throughout the site I will be talking about a wide range of topics using my own frank personal view of Norway, so if I offend anyone with what I say or perhaps I get something wrong, then please let me know and I will try and do something about it, otherwise please read my disclaimer.

I am not biased towards Norway in any way (although I may sound like it at times) and do not work for any promotional company or anything related, so this is just my humble opinion of what I experienced during my time there.

Misconceptions

When talking with friends or family about Norway, before I experienced it in the flesh, people would say:

"its a frozen arctic wasteland all year round isn't it?";
"don't they have polar bears and penguins roaming the streets?";
"I thought they live in Igloos?";
"erm, they have fjords... whatever they are!";
"...isn't it good, norwegian wood...";
"don't they talk like the Swedish Chef from the Muppets?".

There are many preconceptions and stereotypes of Norway and the Norwegian people and to be honest I also thought that Norway was covered in ice and snow all year round, as all we are taught in school and in the media is of its "harsh winter".

This gives the wrong impression of the country, so my aim is to dispel these misconceptions by explaining what I experienced there.

My Norway

I have listed various topics under the About Norway button above which I hope will answer your questions about these items. I will be adding new content along the way, but if there is a topic you would like to learn about that I haven't listed, please get in touch with me and I will add it to this site.

It is always a daunting but exciting feeling when you have the opportunity to move abroad, but in order to survive you must be prepared for what you will experience out there, so my aim is to provide you with that first hand knowledge.

Communication is key, so feel free to use the Chat Page so that we can talk about our experiences, ask questions or talk in general about all things Norway.

I am available to talk with you one-on-one if you prefer, so please use the contact form on the Contact Page in order to reach me.

The aim of the Gallery Page and Video Page is to provide you with visual information on the country. I am no expert in both fields but I have tried my best!. More content will be added to these pages as and when I can get back to visit the country.

The new FREE Norway links web directory will hopefully grow over time, as more sources of websites relating to Norway are added for your information.

I hope you find this website useful, helpful and informative about the Kingdom of Norway.