Help!!!!

[Gravox]

My girlfriend is wanting to move back to Norway, and wants me to move with her. I am currently flying in Australia, but only Cessna singles around the bush. I have around 700 hours, and Australian ATPL subjects and a multi engine instrument rating, but with minimal multi time.
How hard would it be to find work over there, with my experience. Also what is required for me to convert my licenses over.

Any replies would be most appreciated.

Cheers mate :-)

[TheDrop]

Conversion ? Today with JAA there is really no way of conversion. Look at doing it all over again. Only "easy" way out is if you have many multi pilot hours and ATPL, but that is not easy either.

Ah, wait, Norway enter JAA june 1st THIS YEAR. Maybe if you are real quick you could get a conversion before that. But don't wait until tomorrow then.

I advise you to get in contact with the Norwegian CAA.

TD

[TripleTAY]

I think TD is correct. My opinion is that it will be very difficult for you. Best of luck anyhow.

[Vmu]

Finding a job(as a pilot) could also prove to be difficult, as the market is rather limited. Better chances with 1000-1500hrs.

Good luck!

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"Recovery was marginal..."

[dick badcock]

Gravox,

The date in Norway for JAA is the 1st of JULY, not the 1st of June.

With only 700 hours SE, could be difficult to get job anywhere in Norway, market is pretty saturated (I left)



[This message has been edited by dick badcock (edited 17 April 2001).]

[flapsforty]

Gravox,
Another aspect you might want to consider is the quality of life in Norway. Financially it is very very high, but there are other considerations.

Now I generalise and what I have experienced is valid for the region around Oslo only, but there is a lot of truth in the following:
Norwegians mistrust and dislike foreigners, so making new friends is virtually impossible. Even your GF's friends will find you "foreign" after the novelty value has worn off. If you did not go to school with them, forget it. Norwegians do not communicate in the public arena. Do not expect to strike up a conversation waiting for the train or the bus. Shopkeepers will not recognize you or talk to you even if you've frequented their shop for years and years. They are enough to themselves and do not "chat" to strangers. While they say "thank you for the food" and "thanks for the ride" they will walk into you without a word of apology on the street, smash the door in your face without second thoughts, bump into your shins with their shopping carts and not utter even the smallest of apologies. They consider themselves polite, but it's not politeness as the rest of the world knows it. Spontaneously dropping into a Norwegian's house is frowned upon. Appointments are made well in advance, and don't expect to be able to gather a group of people on the spur of the moment for a p!ss-up. While it's perfectly all-right to get falling-down drunk at a formal dinner party during the X-mas season, having a glass of cognac on a monday evening is considered incipient alcoholism. Drinking during daytime/weekdays is not looked upon with favour. Drinking in connection with any sports-event is a big NO-NO! Drinking where there are kids present is also a major breach of Norwegian etiquette. Anything having to with sex is considered smut. Porn is banned from tv, and the whole country is repressed. That is, until they cross the bridge into Sweden where they buy themselves silly. :) The price of meat is beyond belief, vegetables are not much better. Another reason for them to flock to shops in Sweden and Denmark. Not to mention the price of anything containing alcohol..... http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif


So Gravox, of course there are lots of very good things about this country as well, but knowing how Norwegians abroad can wax lyrical about the Old Country, I'm sure your GF will have told you all about them! :)

If you like fresh air, a high material standard of living and peace & quiet, Norway is the place.
If you enjoy other people's company and an informal social life, look elsewhere.

Hope this helps.

[PiperChauffeur]

Having lived in Norway as an expat for more than a year now, i will have to disagree with you Flapsforty. Norwegians in general are friendly and openminded to foreigners (as anywhere else, you'll find some are not). Their attitude towards foreigners is the same as in any other northern european country.
Their attitude towards alcohol is an entirely other matter. Flaps40, you got the picture: every saturday they drink until they can't pronounce their own name, and they find it normal. If you take a beer after work during the week, they'll ask you "are you going to get drunk now?!?"
I'm not impressed by the food/housing/service prices either, but you'll live in an orderly society.
If you can get a flying job, I say go for it.
Good luck PC

[Hung start]

Ouuuuuchhhh, Flapsforty :) Can´t say that I disagree with ya´. In any of it!
Sad to tell Gravox that, that is pretty much what he´d find, should he decide to have a look at Denmark instead......except that the alcohol and food is much cheaper here, something that in itself usually is enough to lure over an Aussie :) :) Anyway Gravox, welcome to Europe should you decide to come. There´s a few of us with "latino hearts" still left :) here

Flapsforty, best personal regards from Hung!!

[TowerDog]

FlapsForty:

Wow, ya have had some bad experiences and must hang out with the wrong crowd.

As far as drinking every day: No problem, whenever we go to Norway on vacation we tend to party week days and week ends, same with our friends.
When I lived in Norway, most of my buds were not afraid of casual drinking after work, either.

As for being polite or not:
Must be your local area. Elsewere I find people both friendly and polite.

My US wife is really popular with friends and family in Norway. Don't know anybody that distrust her or are not happy when she is around. Heck, we have more dinner invitaions and hospitality than we can handle.

Sex: I always thought us Scandinavians are far more open minded than other countries.
Especially the US with their ridiculous puritanical attitudes.

Example of how free we Norwegians really are:
Girl at a Norwegian party said: "What a boring party, if I could just find my pants, I would go home". :)

Uh, move to Trondheim instead, that is where the good people hang out and that is where the fun is.

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Men, this is no drill...

[TheDrop]

People bumping into you don't say excuse me in Norway, and many other countries ... the opposite is in the US:

If you approach someone in a hallway, they will say 'excuse me' just because you are on 'collision course', or if you are blocking the hallway (or some other confined are) talking to someone, when a stranger pass between the two of you, he has to say 'excuse me'.

About saying hallo etc. You call up a hotel, travel agency or airline in the US: 'Hello and welcome to American Airlines, hope you are having a nice day, this is Amanda Anaconda, how may I serve you today, sir' ? All this 'fake' politeness tends to be hit by inflation !

Also, 'How do you do ?' is seldom answered other by the same quesion, or answer with routine.

Scandinavians in general are not as open in public places, but on the other hand, Americans are not generally easy to make close friends with if you haven't known them for a long time.

And all this is generalizations !

[Flathatter]

Flaps, I´m with you. I´d include the rest of Scanland while you´re at it. Seen it, experienced it, didn´t like it. On top of that they are very, very self righteous.
Scandi expats on the other hand are an entirely different story. Guess they got fed up with things at home and left.

Gravox, I hope she´s the love of your life.

[This message has been edited by Flathatter (edited 23 April 2001).]

[f40]

Flathatter and Hung agreeing on something? http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif Must a first in pprune history? :)

PipreChauffeur, agree with you that life as an expat in Norway is pretty cool; loved it as well when I still was one. It's when I started talking the lingo, put the kids in local schools and tried to "integrate" that the other stuff came to light.

Towerdog, I suspect you have a point about the north of the country; people from Trondheim and "oppover" arefriendlier and more talkative, and take themselves far less serious than these Østlendinger do. :)

And like I said in the first post people, I am well aware of the fact that I generalise, but think my observations are valid none the less. 10 years in-country counts for something.
And in the end it's still a question of smak og behag.....

Hung: http://www.stopstart.fsnet.co.uk/smilie/kiss.gif

[dick badcock]

Props, takk for sist! Godt aa se at noen av 'gutta' er med paa the prune

Well, the thing about northerners is certainly true, however you don't have to go further north than about Lillestrom before you find friendlier people. 'Oslovians' are quite full of themselves, and to have any chance of chatting up a girl you must have at least a 150 square meter apartment in Aker Brygge, Majorstua or better yet, Grunerloekka! Except maybe at the bar Smuget, where a half warm, half eaten kebab will do.

By the way, saw a funny T-shirt in a pub in Oslo (Lille Tromsoe, now burned down http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/frown.gif)
'Blir det naa' varmar no flytte ae soerover, Tromsoe Sommeren -98)

Gotta love the people from north of the 'moral circle' :)


[This message has been edited by dick badcock (edited 24 April 2001).]

[TowerDog]

flapsforty:

Just out of curiousity: Which country do you hail from?

(Embrace foreigners, drop in un-expected, strike up conversations, cheap meat, very polite, sex and alcohol okay, etc....? Sounds like Nirvana, I wanna go there.. :) )

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Men, this is no drill...

[This message has been edited by TowerDog (edited 25 April 2001).]

[f40]

T Doggie Dog
Nobody in their right mind would describe my countrymen as very polite! But then, even a little politeness beats the Norwegian norm hands donw. :)

Embrace foreigners? Yup!
Drop in un-expected? Yup!
Strike up conversations? Yup!
Cheap food in an astounding variety? Yup!
Alcohol & soft-drugs permittable vices? Yup!
Euthanasia legal when you're terminally ill? Yup!
Beer cheap and available on every corner? Yup!
Sex regarded as a wholesome activity? Yup!

Towerdog, paradise it ain't, but I'll be happy to show you around Amsterdam if you should pass through! :)
Rgrds
flapsforty

[TowerDog]

f40:

Aha, Dutch ya are.

Yeah, I'll give ya credit for being open-minded in that country.

Some years ago I flew into AMS with 2 different companies. Remember the cold winters and bad hang-overs Heineken beer would giva ya.


Never lived there, but I am sure ya are right. :)

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Men, this is no drill...

[dick badcock]

Towerdog,

Bad hang over from a Heineken!!? You have been too long in the US! :)

Long time since you had some 'himert' at 'plattdans'? ;)

PS! Have you ever tried Olympia? Their slogan is : 'It's the water'
Boy, have you heard a worse one before...?

[Vmu]

He he. Åsså litt sprit! :)

[TowerDog]

Dick:

Aye, yes I have been too long in the US, but not a fan of the local brews over here.

As for hang-overs from Heineken, it is real:
They mix more stuff in their beer so if ya over-do it, ya pay the price the next day.


Not so with Carlsberg and a few other beers:
With only 4 ingridients, it gives ya less of a hangover.

My favorite beer is still Dahl's. Good stuff.
Wish I could fly over a few kegs now and then.

(Any of you studs fly the B-767s from Oslo to Ft. Lauderdale? Britannia or Premier or some such charter company. If so, take contact and bring me some Norwegian beers. Ya will be highly rewarded. My e-mail is:
[email protected])

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Men, this is no drill...

[This message has been edited by TowerDog (edited 02 May 2001).]

[Diesel8]

Well, in that case, could you guys bring me some Tuborg beer to FLL, just drop it off at the Poolparty. I will supply the FA's.