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This confirms my brother's stories. He has a penchant for dating Scandinavian women--thusfar he's dated women from Denmark and Norway and has visited them and t
by tianaco 17y ago
This confirms my brother's stories. He has a penchant for dating Scandinavian women--thusfar he's dated women from Denmark and Norway and has visited them and their families.
Denmark was, of course, expensive by US standards. But upon returning from Norway, he remarked on the absurdly high cost of living. He made lasagna for his Norwegian girlfriend's family and it ended up costing around $60 US--just for the ingredients and a soft drink. Eating out at a burger-type joint ran nearly $100. It's not affordable unless you're absurdly wealthy.
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- michael_dorfman 17y agoI'm an American living in Norway, and I can confirm half of what you write: the costs you describe are pretty accurate. However, you drop the ball when you write "It's not affordable unless you're absurdly wealthy." The fact is, the salary range in Norway is high, and quite compressed. Everyone can afford to make lasagna.
- zackattack 17y agoAre you KIDDING me? How is this possible? Can you please tell me exactly how much ingredients cost, and what a typical starting salary is for a college graduate in Norway? Not to say "I don't believe you", but I'm incredulous. This is shocking. P.S. Why are you an American living in Norway? How is it?
- michael_dorfman 17y agoMy wife is Norwegian. I've been here 12 years, and love it. In terms of salary: I've never heard of a college graduate making less than 250.000NOK = $43,000 USD, even in the most trivial, entry-level job. Note that that's for 32.5 hours/week, with 5 weeks paid vacation and full health care included. I don't have the lasagna ingredient prices available at home (most items don't have price tags, but shelf-tags at the store), but I can tell you that gasoline is over $7/gallon, if that's something to go by.
- Ras_ 17y agoHere's one price comparison from Aftenposten at 9th October 2009. Fårikål for 10, aka Mutton in cabbage for 10 people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A5rik%C3%A5l http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A5rik%C3%A5l Lamb meat (fresh), 4kg - 200 NOK / 34,7$ Cabbage, 4kg - 10 NOK / 1,7$ Pepper (whole), 40 grams - 7 NOK / 1,2$ Potatoes 2,5kg - 20 NOK / 3,5$ Total 41$ (for 10) http://www.rema.no/multimedia/archive/00010/Aftenposten_091009_10913a.pdf http://www.rema.no/multimedia/archive/00010/Aftenposten_0910... McDonalds: 1 Filet O' Fish 1 Cheeseburger 1 Big Mac 2 Fries 1 Smoothie 1 Diet Coke -------------------------- US $31.50 There's no universal minimum hourly wage in Norway, but generally the lowest amount paid seems to be around 100 NOK / 17$.