I have had this interview for a while now, and it got lost in the shuffle…but I was happy to rediscover this great interview with Bennie. Bennie is a Norwegian living abroad in Australia.

I was really excited to do an interview with a Norwegian expat, being that I have been living in Norway! So, read on for another great interview with an expat!

1.Where are you from originally, where are you now and what brought you there?

I am from Hamar in Norway. Right now I’m back Brisbane, Australia where I study journalism. I have just been one semester in London, on exchange from the university here. To study journalism in Australia was an idea from a friend, and I thought why not? Life is all about collecting memories and for me its just a big collection of (positive) accidents.

2.Do you have any advice for people who want to get a job or visa in a foreign country? What was your experience with getting a visa/job? Was it difficult?

Being a student I try to focus on my studies during the semester and I work when I am home on vacation during Christmas- and summer holidays. That works well for me and the wages in Norway are way higher than here in Australia. That is another reason for why I chose to not work here in Australia.

3.Do you want to move back to where you originally came from? If not, what is it about the expat life that makes it all worth it to you?

Yes. I am Norwegian after all. And even though I love living in other countries, Norway is home. (and Norway is the best country in the world, and all that, hahah). Hopefully, I will be able to get a job after my studies and continue with my hobbies and catch up with old friends. But who knows, going back might not be what I want it to be and I will change my mind. I like to keep all options open.

4.Any practical tips for the new expats out there (like me)?

Be positive! Don’t be afraid to take contact with people. Norwegians are weird like that, we are not welcoming and I understand that people find us hard to approach. The easiest is to get to know people thru a shared activity or class, for instance at university, a dance class, a hobby etc. Then you get a few friends that introduce you to new people and it becomes easier to make some friends. It is hard to make friends without having anything in common. You have probably noticed that Norwegians usually do not talk to strangers on the street.

5. As a Norwegian, do you have any advice or tips for an American living in Norway ? :)

Look at the last question!
Making your website and emailing me these questions prove that you are interested and that is absolutely the best thing you can be. I don’t know how well you speak Norwegian but most Norwegians are more than happy to practice their English with foreign people even though we might be shy in the beginning. I believe it is harder for people coming from non-English speaking countries for language is a key to communication. Good luck :)

For more great expat interviews, check out these….

Featured Interviews With Expats Around The World:

• An Interview With Ms Adventures In Italy’s Sara Rosso (Italy)
  
• An Interview With My Own Moon’s Star Child (Sweden)
• An Interview With La delirante’s Wendy (Malta)
• An Interview With Eurotrippen’s B. (Germany)
• An Interview With Migration Diary’s Caroline (UK)
• An Interview With Chris (A Fellow American In Norway!) (Norway)

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Ready to do your good deed for the day? Well, today you have the opportunity to help someone win a $20,000 home makeover with Tayna Memme. Unfourtunately that winner will not be me…because I have no home to makeover! :) hahaha.

So, want to know what all this is about? You can go right over to the Tri Scents website at www.triscents.com/gallery.asp website and check out their semi-finalist gallery and check out the ten semi-finalists for yourself and see who you think deserves to win the twenty thousand dollar home makeover.

When you go over to the Tri Scents semi finalist gallery and choose the person that you want to win the Renuzit Tri Scents Home Makeover that will transform their home and vote for them! Just something for you to remember when voting for your favorite semi-finalist…you can only vote one time per day and you can only keep voting through June 7th.

So do your good deed for the day and go on over to www.triscents.com and check out the Renuzit Tri Scents semi-finalists and vote for your favorite to get an amazing $20,000 home makeover with Tanya Memme!

FYI: I am voting for the contestant whose home smells like cat pee…I do not think that I could take that! Good luck!

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“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, thats AMORE…”

Italians are famous for their pizza, pasta and wine. And lets just say that I had more than my share of all three of them while I was in Rome.

Rome, as I’ve mentioned before, is insanely expensive. The only cheap thing we seemed to be able to find in Rome was the wine. Its really funny to me how wine was basically always cheaper than water ANYWHERE in Rome. So you know, I didn’t complain…because when in Rome….YOU DRINK LOTS OF WINE! :)

I was excited to be in a city and country that had food that I loved….as opposed to being in India like I am now, where I don’t like Indian food - and it is pure torture. In Italy, these people cook for someone like me. Pizza with tons of cheese and pastas with amazing sauces. I was surprised to find though, that with their pizzas that if you order a cheese pizza, it doesn’t come with any sauce. It is usually on very thin bread and not cut into slices (which made eating it interesting). One of the waiters showed me that your supposed to fold it in half like a taco and eat it. By the time we left Rome, I didn’t think I could possibly eat another pizza (if I close my eyes, fold my arms, wiggle my nose and nod my head like genie….maybe I can transport myself back to Rome for another amazing cheesy pizza…and then back to India).

While we were at the airport in Norway we had picked up this guidebook called “Time Out Shortlist, Rome 2008″. This book was really helpful for us to find places to go when we had no clue or direction at all. So the following reviews are mostly places we found in the “Time Out” book with what I really thought about the places. But I also added a few of my own.

So, next time you are in Rome and are looking for somewhere to eat, check out one of these places (or not…just read my reviews) :)

**Restaurants, Cafe’s and Coffeehouse Reviews:***

Bar della Pace
Via della Pace 3-7
phone:06 6861216

After wandering from the Vatican to the Pantheon, we were hungry and were looking for anything in the book close to where we were and we found Bar della Pace. This was by far our favorite restaurant that we visited while in Rome. Although, I think it would be very hard to find (in general), it was well worth the trouble of getting there. They had seating outside, although it was too cold for us to take advantage of it I’m sure it would be beautiful when it is warmer. Sitting inside by a window, we just got coffee but really enjoyed the atmosphere so much we didn’t want to leave. If I ever imagined what sitting in a romantic and picturesque cafe in Rome would be like…this was it. We loved this place so much!

Smeraldo
Via Principle Amedeo, 16-18
Phone: 06 483893

Smeraldo was the first place we ate at while in Rome. Mainly only because it was located directly across the street from our hotel, it was pouring rain, and we were starving. We were treated well and I had my first REAL Italian pizza and wine and it was great. We had our first experience of being charged extra for things you don’t order. I have heard many stories about Americans going to Europe and they put bread on the table and if you eat it you get charged for it. SO, being so smart (I thought), we didn’t eat it. But somehow we were charged for it anyways. We didn’t notice till the second time we were there that it says on the menu something like “Compulsory charge for bread for each table”. It wasn’t much though, so it wasn’t a big deal. But We were confused about if we were supposed to leave a tip or if it was included. We ended up deciding to leave something extra, but we did not leave much. We did like the restaurant though, and liked it enough to go back again another day. I would recommend this place, because of its tasty food and house wine, but a little overpriced, even in Rome.

Hang Zhou
Via San Marttino ai Monti 33C
Phone: 06 4872732

We were looking for Chinese food and found it here. This is a packed, small and hole-in-the-wall type of place. We waited for about an hour to get in but we did not mind once we were served amazing Chinese food. They had great service and cheap prices (a big shock while in Rome!). They had some very intricate carrot garnish-sculptures on our plates that were really amazing. Marius eats everything though, and of course started eating the garnishes when the girl who worked there came over and said “No eat! No eat!”, shaking her finger at him. We were laughing so hard! The food was great, the wine was cheap (as always in Rome) and the service was wonderful. I would highly recommend this place to eat, as long as your willing to wait!

Dagnino
Galleria Esedra, via VE Orlando 75
Phone:
06 4818660
www.pasticceriadagnino

In the “Time Out” book, Dagnino’s was a rave for coffee and sweets. The book says that Dagnino’s is,”…a corner of Sicily in Rome. If its Sicilian and edible, its here: ice cream in buns, crisp cannoli siciliani filled with ricotta cheese, and shiny green iced cassata.” We decided to visit because the book says they have great coffee and the desserts sounded fun. It is located in a ‘mall’-ish type of setting but there is no door to the hallway so it is in a covered area but still kindof outside. We wanted to sit outside (it was packed) and sat for about 20 min as the waiter walked by us, greeted friends, chatted and totally ignored us. So we went inside and sat at a table. After another 30 minutes, I got up to ask for some service. Finally after getting up and asking about four times, we got served. In the whole time that we were there, there was a table across from us that people kept sitting at, and after a period of time with no service, they would leave. I think about five or six groups of people sat there, got no service and left. I would definatelly say to skip this very overpriced place. Its not all its cracked up to be…

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I was corrected on a mistake I made in a past post by a very helpful reader (thank you!). In my post “Rome, Italy: Our Accommodations And Our Arrival” I did not put the correct web address for the Hotel Giada (where we stayed while we were in Rome). I have corrected it now, and appreciate the help of Wintkat who corrected my mistake.

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You know that mothers day is right around the corner, and have to get your mom the perfect mothers day gift, right? Well, at least you can get her something….and what a better gift to give to your mom on mothers day than flowers! I know my mom loves flowers, and if I was not all the way over here in India I would be getting her just that! (Sorry mom, but I love you - and happy mothers day!)

If you are short on time, you can always get some mothers day flowers for your mom from 1800flowers.com. I am sure she will love it! Plus you can check out their webiste, and find all kinds of other gifts for you mom for mothers day.

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To talk to aliens, just gaze at the stars… outside in your underwear. This will save them the trouble of having to remove your clothes should they decide to abduct you. :)

I know that this has nothing to do with expat life, Norway, Lithuania or India (the kind of things I usually write about…BUT it does have something to do with travel. Traveling through space!

I just have to share with you the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time. It is a very detailed article on ehow.com on how to talk to aliens.

So the articles author says that the first thing is to know that you have to communicate telepathically with aliens, you cant just yell out of your window, “Hey aliens! Wanna talk!”. Since you communicate telepathically with them, you should have good thoughts because the author says that if you have bad thoughts you will attract evil aliens.

Then (I find this the most important step), to attract the aliens to talk to you the author suggests that you gaze at the stars or (and I quote…hehehe) to gaze at the stars “outside in your underwear. This will save them the trouble of having to remove your clothes should they decide to abduct you.” (Insert Kristies roaring laughter…)

There are a few other steps that I have left out (of course you can google the original article if you’d like) but there was just one more key point on communicating with aliens. The author says that after you contact them and meet them that you can even “Ride in their ship if you like.” BUT… “You may not have a choice.” (Okay, thats the funniest thing I have heard in a long time….it does relate to my subject of travel! Forced or voluntary alien abduction is technically space travel, right? :)

Then the article closes with some very helpful warnings. Only one which I found extremely important. That is to not tell anyone about your talks with the aliens. And especially not to post on the internet about it because “You may find yourself being followed by Men in Black or being buzzed by black helicopters.”.

Well, I hope you had as good of a laugh about that one as I did!!! I needed that!

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Oh you should have seen the big smile on my face last night! Why, you ask? Well because yesterday I discovered that they served us Spanish rice for dinner! AND it actually tasted like it! Usually we have white rice, some other colored rice, some white stuff (curd), some green mushy stuff and yellow mushy stuff. That means I eat…ramen noodles! But yesterday, the other colored rice was Spanish rice, I was in heaven.

**Side note: Want a cat tree? Check out mycatsheaven.com**

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So now that I have informed you of the monkey trouble we have here in India, I have to give an update. The monkeys are getting VERY BRAVE. This translates to mean that they are ganging up on you in groups to take whatever you have in your hands. They are so nuts! Sometimes I can not even walk down the hallway because they are just sitting there staring at me waiting for me to walk by and jump on me. So Marius spent a good amount of time chasing them with a big stick. Its was pretty funny…

**Side Note: Need NC health insurance? Check out getnchealthinsurance.com**

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I have a strange request, but I just accidentally deleted my most recent comment. The person commented on my first post about my trip to Rome and corrected my wrong web address for the Hotel Giada. But of course, silly me, I deleted it and cannot get it back! Sorry…but please comment again, so I know who you are. Thanks :)

**Side Note: Need help with your memory? Check out 4allmemory.com!**

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I have been searching Google up and down for a new blog template and can not find one that fits ‘my style’. Does anyone know where a good place to look for themes for my blog?? I am getting frustrated! Please let me know if you have any ideas at all!

**Side note: Get great memory foam mattresses at bedinabox.com! Go check em out.**

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