Read time: approximately 13 minutes

This week

• I was back in the States!
• And I returned to Norway!

In my week back in Colorado for Norway’s Easter Break (Påskeferie), I’ve been asked a lot of questions about what Norway is like and how teaching is going there, and it’s reminded me that as a Fulbrighter I’m an ambassador both ways: from the US to Norway, and from Norway back to the US.

At our Fulbright orientation on August 20, 2025, the Executive Director of Fulbright Norway asked, “What does it mean to be an ‘ambassador’ when you’re a teacher or researcher and not a diplomat?”

I’ve admitted before, and I’ll admit it again, that before moving to Norway I knew very little about the country. I didn’t know which of the three countries it is on the peninsula it shares with Sweden and Finland (it’s the westernmost one). I didn’t know what the language sounded like (kind of like singing, very tonal). I didn’t know what the landscape was like (it’s famous for its fjords how did I not know this). I didn’t know what it was known for (Oslo Accords, okay I did know this one, but also it invented cross-country skiing, which Norwegians just call skiing. Did anyone watch the Winter Olympics?!).

Back in the States, a lot of people asked me similar questions to get to know the country and I realized that not only do I represent the US when I am in Norway, but I help communicate to other Americans back home what Norway is like too. Some of my top questions this week.

What’s the weather like? The weather is very much like the weather in New England. It was cold and dark from about October until March. There was snow and ice on the ground. Norwegians do a great job with snow removal on the roads, including working all season to move snow and ice to open fields away from roads, but the sidewalks leave much to be desired. Instead of removing snow on sidewalks, pedestrians are expected to wear footwear that helps them navigate the snowy and icy streets. So I wore spikes on my shoes almost all winter, or at least had them always in my bag. In the US, individuals are responsible for snow removal and if someone falls on the sidewalk you were supposed to clear, there are consequences. But in Norway it’s like, figure it out; don’t fall. 

The summer, autumn, and spring are gorgeous. Like we used to say when we lived in Michigan, the spring and summer trick you into believing you can make it through another winter. 

What’s the landscape like? Norway is like Colorado in terms of mountains and plains. It might be the most mountainous country in Europe, which means Norwegians like to camp and hike, just like in Colorado. There are a series of cabins you hike into (about 500!) throughout the country that members can access through their membership. If you’re a foreigner, you can sign up, but I believe it requires a Vipps (Norwegian Venmo), which requires a bank account (which I (still) don’t have). On the west coast, the landscape is very dramatic: fjords, cliffs, icebergs. Although I’ve seen these from afar, I’ll spend time exploring this spring.

What’s the food like? The author of one of my favorite books I’ve read this year notes that Norwegians eat like they are on war rations. Which means that many of them eat like there’s not enough food, which there totally is. For example, their matpakke (packed lunch) is usually a cracker or thin slice of dark bread (but not as dark as the Danes like) with a thin slice of cheese on it. If they’re feeling fancy, they’ll add a slice of cucumber or bell pepper. If they’re feeling fancy. Some variations: cracker with jam or a cracker with a tin of fish in tomato sauce. They’ll have like 2-3 of these crackers at lunch and then go on to teach for the rest of the day. I have asked many a Norwegian how this is enough food and they just shrug and tell me it is. I don’t understand how they’re not all ravenous by the end of the day.

Another Norwegian staple is fish, mostly laks (salmon) and torsk (cod), and it’s prepared in a variety of ways. Laks can be served cooked or (hot or cold) smoked. Torsk is sometimes salted and dried, usually in the north. Or it can be served cooked as well. Access to so much fish has been a dream.

Norwegians also love their dairy. I have seen grown men walking home from work opening up a child’s size container of milk and just chugging it. Norwegians invented Jarlsberg cheese. They slice their giant block cheeses with an ostehøvel.

The students tell me I should eat Kvik Lunsj (like your Kit Kat, but better, they say; I agree), Grandiosa Pizza (adults tell me this tastes like cardboard with pizza sauce on it; I haven’t dared try this), and Sol (better than Fanta; sure). 

Like most cultures, Norwegians have special foods during the holidays: they eat ribbe (pork belly) during Jule (the Christmas season) and they have different kinds of lamb for Jule (a dried and cured lamb) and Påskeferie (lamb leg). At typical Norwegian restaurants you can usually get a lamb stew and a fish soup (always a good choice if you like seafood). 

Outside of Norwegian food, they don’t really like to season their food with salt and/or spice. Ethnic restaurants do mostly a better job at this, but not necessarily when catering to a Norwegian palette. I was initially surprised by the number of immigrant populations in Norway (since the 1990s Norway has invited many immigrants and refugees into the country), and many immigrant communities have established enclaves, which include grocery stores and restaurants. 

What I find really interesting about the food questions is that in the US, I get general food questions, like, what do Norwegians eat and what’s the food like. In Norway, I get very specific questions about food in the US: do you eat hamburgers for every meal, what’s your favorite fast food, do you like In-N-Out, what’s Raising Cane’s chicken like, do you like Crumbl cookie? They see so much of our specific food in their socials, they are able to ask specific questions about it, whereas I don’t consume socials about food and American cultural imperialism is real!

What’s it like teaching in Norway? Teaching in Norway has been super fun, mostly because it’s fun when any classroom anywhere has a guest; it’s a change of routine for the students and teacher. And, I’m a “real American,” which they often describe me as, and that identity offers me a certain clout that I don’t get in my job in the States. 

Students and teachers have also told me that “it’s very satisfying” to listen to me talk, which was kind of weird to be told at first, because my English is so fluent, and because I speak like the people in the tiktok videos they watch, which is really tiktokers imitating the accent I grew up with in Southern California. 

But it’s also been fun to figure out how to do my workshops in Norway in a Norwegian context. My most-requested workshops include a) how systems of oppression persist; b) what does it mean to be American? To be Norwegian; c) how art can speak back to systems of oppression. I understand relatively well how to do these workshops in the States, because I have lived in, understand, and study the US cultural context. But in Norway, I can’t just assume that the students here understand US topics that serve as foundations of my workshops, or even the Norwegian contexts. I have spent a lot of time observing and asking questions and learning about the Norwegian contexts to be able to share some kind of information with students. 

A major difference in my teaching in Norway versus in the US is the attention to difference. Norwegian students—and most people in Norwegian society, really—are taught to not be different, to not stand out. In the States, kids are encouraged to be themselves and highlight their own personalities. This isn’t true for Norwegian kids. And honestly, I often feel sad about this. First, because there are lots of kids who want to share their unique personalities with others. Not every kid. But enough such that I witness and interact with kids who are stifled all the time. Some are stifled because they just want to dress differently, and I have seen kids, just like in the States, who say, f it and dress how they want. But others are stifled because they are visibly different from their Norwegian peers, and usually this means that in the US they would be considered students of color. These students are told that there’s nothing different about them, but they tell me they’re actually treated differently by classmates, teachers, shopkeepers, while simultaneously being told that they’re not different. This is really troubling to me, and I’ve had the opportunity to work with teachers who recognize that recognizing difference can be good, and are trying to figure out how to do this in a Norwegian context, drawing from what I can share with them about American contexts.

Teaching is also fun in Norway because I get to teach a large range of learners, which isn’t necessarily true for other Rovers. The youngest students I’ve taught so far were 4th graders, and I have been with every grade from 4th to high school seniors. I’ve worked with secondary teachers, teachers-in-training, and teacher educators too. People in Norway and the US ask me which has been my favorite group to teach, and it’s not really about that for me. It’s about helping any learner come to the understanding I’d like them to get to by the end of our lesson. The challenge for me is how to get us there. 

How do you get to your teaching sites? I take public transportation! While performing my Fulbright responsibilities I’m not allowed to drive my own vehicle. So I mostly take the train and buses. Sometimes I fly to the destinations, but mostly it’s trains and buses. The routes are usually pretty straightforward and the most annoying thing about getting tickets is that every city has a different public transportation app. But once you figure that out, everything is easy. It’s also super easy with internet and I can just input into google maps my starting location and destination and it maps it out for me: which routes to take and what time they leave. 

I book trains and buses myself (hotels and airplanes go through the travel agent) and then I regularly submit receipts to our finance person. 

Have you liked living in Norway this year? I have enjoyed living in Norway this year, although it has been tough without the companionship of my partner and pets. I like the adventure of the job and I like having to regularly be brave. When I’m in the States, I can often get complacent about my day-to-day life, but in Norway there are so many things that are different all the time. Sure, I have the semblance of a routine, but my teaching takes me to a lot of places and there’s not always a “regular week” for me. This is exhausting, but also really fun! I don’t think I could handle the constant variety for more than a year, but it’s fun for now! And, I have really loved teaching the variety of learners I have had the opportunity to learn with and from this year. 

Would you move to Norway? I don’t think I would move to Norway permanently, although US domestic and foreign policy have really pushed my limits this year. I lived abroad when September 11, 2001 happened, and I thought that was a rough time to be an American abroad. While W (George W Bush) often did things that left me shaking my head and calling him an idiot, I don’t think I fully understood that term until this current administration. When I was in my 20s, I thought it was my role to defend my country for its actions, but I don’t do that any more. I think some of this is because the actions of the US are indefensible, and I have realized—and shared with learners—that there are many ways to be American that don’t include the MAGA movement. This has been a really fulfilling part of my job this year: that I get to present to everyone I meet a different picture of what it means to be American. I can tell them that the president doesn’t have the first or last say on who Americans are and what we stand for. Each American gets to make that choice, and that’s beautiful about America. It’s great when we work together for a common cause, and that still happens.

Being at war with Iran has made especially poignant this quotation from Senator Fulbright (AK-R), who founded the Fulbright program: “Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations.” My partner reminded me when I was in Colorado that the Fulbright program, alongside the Peace Corps, were established as programs after WW2 to help ensure a different kind of diplomacy and relationship between countries besides war. Being in Norway has helped me to better understand different ways of being and relating to others outside military might. 

When I’m back in the States, for all its flaws (extreme capitalism; continued racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia; feeding us poison in our food), it’s still the country where I am most allowed to be myself. I am most allowed to have come from immigrant parents and be whatever and whomever I want, unconstrained by my family background and financial status. This isn’t always true today, but I’m working to make that so. 

I enjoyed my time back in the States and am glad for my return back to Norway for the final stretch of my time here. In the US I was able to also do a test run of sorts into what I want to bring back when I return permanently. I continue to work out what I want to hold onto about this year while I finish strong.