Expat with Kids in Paris: Our Norwegian plant is blooming

May 25, 2013

Our Norwegian plant is blooming

Keeping my promise to Expat girl that we will visit her best friend in Norway was my priority. Little did I realize that our long weekend spent in a town called Stavanger would turn out to be the best weekend since we've moved to Paris.

After having located Stavanger on a map and googled some important facts - other than that our friends come from Norway's third largest town and counts its official founding year as 1125 - we set off North ready to fight the elements.

Turns out it was sunny at 24°C. Paris eat your heart out!

We strolled through the old town admiring the beautifully kept 18th and 19th century wooden white wooden houses. We ventured into the old canning factory where Expats girl's little friend's great-Grandmother used to work. Starting in the 1880s, industry grew in Stavanger, primarily based on treatment and exports of fish and fish-products.

Today the oil industry is a key industry in the Stavanger region and if you look around it shows. Well-kept houses, clean streets and harbour, big cars and lots of boats. We therefore decided to check out the Norwegian Petroleum Museum at the harbour. We discovered the origins of petrol and admired the development and complexity of oil drilling rigs. Even the teenaged Expat boy had to admit this museum was pretty cool.

We spent the next two days out in the Fjords sailing, kajaking, hiking, and -yes - even swimming. Expat kids adored the Nordic summer cabin life out in the rugged nature. Even I, who prefers a hot Mediterranean beach had a fantastic time, thanks to our Norwegian friends who made us feel very much at home and introduced us to many facets of Norwegian everyday life.

I was moved to see how well our friends had settled back in their homeland and it became clear: this is were they belonged. Seeing them surounded by family, friends and neighbours I realized they had nurtured their plant of friendship while they were away, just like we had over the past months after they had left Paris.

As my friend put it so nicely: "Plants do not grow so easily in Norway but when they have started growing they turn into robust and long-lasting plants!