This blogpost is inspired by an article published in The Huffington Post stating 25 reasons why Norway is the greatest place on Earth. Here are my own reasons Norway is that place.
Before I tell you why I think Norway really is the best place on Earth, let’s get this straight: Norway is not the best country on Earth for everyone. Norway is the worst place on Earth for you:
– If you want to wear flip flops all year around, sit on a beach and get a tan every single day (and tans from UV boxes in Brun og Blid do not count), drink from a coconut while lying on a white sand beach full of palm trees (drinking coconut water from a box on a white sand beach in Ramberg does not count either), then Norway is closer to being a nightmare than a dream place for you. Then move to Australia.
In Norway there is something called winter, and another one called seasons. And another one called Norwegian-weather-is-totally-unpredictable. Which means that it can get cold in the summer, and there can be 4 seasons in one day. But fore seasons will change, as well as colours on the trees and daylight will fluctuate depending on the month. There are still long and dark winters here compared to most inhabited places on the planet, with a risk of winter depression. Remember, the Arctic circle goes through Norway. This is country is in the Northern part of the Northern hemisphere.
– Also, if you hate outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming in fjords or freezing lakes with happy Norwegians jumping in like it’s 20 degrees in there, skiing in the winter and in the summer (a local activity called bikini skiing); then you will have trouble fitting in this country where everything is made for people who love being outdoors.
– If you think paradise is a place where there are no taxes. That poor people should stay poor (isn’t it a bit their fault if they are poor?) and there is no way those who earn more should pay higher taxes based on the solidarity principle.
– Neither is it if you believe the only intervention a country’s economy should be Adam Smith’s invisible hand, and that a welfare state where the state regulates virtually every aspect of society and economy is blasphemy, then Norway is definitely to be avoided. You will get here and think this country is a bunch of socialists with oil money, a dangerous mix.
– If you think the place of a woman is in a kitchen taking care of children, while men go to work and earn the bread and butter of the family. Where machism is king and women should do as they are told,..
Otherwise for all the other right reasons listed below, Norway is still the best place on Earth to be!