While Norway is consistently ranked as one of the world’s happiest countries, new arrivals often find it difficult to quickly integrate into the society.
While the Scandinavian lifestyle crazes of hygge and lagom have taken the world by storm, the key to happiness in Norway is actually much more straightforward. Simply get outside.
Friluftsliv is an amalgamation of the Norwegian words for free, air and life, and is best translated as an outdoors lifestyle. Not embracing this concept is one of the key reasons why some newcomers fail to fit in to a new life in Norway.
During her recent TEDx Trondheim talk, she explained that although the term friluftsliv was first coined by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen in 1859, it’s been part of Norwegian culture for hundreds of years. “It’s quite amazing that reconnecting with nature and having an outdoor lifestyle is still part of the Norwegian soul despite this very modern lifestyle that Norwegians have today.”
The accessibility of nature in Oslo is striking. The T-Bane metro system takes passengers into forests barely a 20 minute ride from downtown, while a public system of ferries shuttles people off to a handful of idyllic islands just minutes from the bustling Aker Brygge wharf.
Rojak says that to fully appreciate the core of friluftsliv, you have to live it. “When you visit as a tourist you can see there is amazing nature. But it’s when you’re living here and you see how it affects day to day life that it really hits home. You can see how it affects urban planning and education.”
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