FALLING LIKE ALICE 2: Picture perfect country

My three years are up. Time to move on into adulthood. This thought is now going through many graduates at the moment. What's going to happen after graduation? It is scary though. It's time to go. But where?
A choice that many international students like me face after finishing their degree, is where to live. What is home? Where is home? This something I tried to explain with the Third Culture Post a few weeks back. Basically my conclusion was; home is where you are, where you are apart of a family and/or other social group (like friends).

And I'm starting to realise, I need start trying to remove things from the equation. UK or Norway, that is the choice. My mother said to me that Norway is more home because that's where I lived for 19 years, but I've come to disagree with that. Those 19 years were, to me, my childhood. Even though I was working from the age of 14 next school, making my own money, I was never fully independent. I acted independently, which something I always have done, but I was still living at home. My "grown-up" life, to me, started when I crossed the border in September 2010.

However when I think of the choice I have to make, I feel sad, borderline heartbroken  There is one thing that is truly making this choice for me really difficult; family. More specifically, the youngsters of my family. I have several sisters and cousins I greatly care about. Of course my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties etc. mean something to me too, but they are grown-ups. They can understand and handle me living in another country for a while. When I leave Norway after holidays, it's not the grown-ups I miss, it's the youngsters.
THAT is the single biggest reason, why my choice is so hard for me. If I didn't have six sisters and five cousins, I wouldn't even think twice about the choice. I would have stayed here or traveled all over.

And some might think this is silly, letting stuff like that influence you. But in the end you have to remember this; they are family. And family never leaves you. One simply needs to stop over-thinking it and just live in the moment. (Oh if only I could listen to my own advice...)

Source: knittingiris.typepad.com

Of course I have friends I care about in Norway, but them I see either through visits (in Norway or UK) or through social media/messaging. But besides those two factors, and maybe snow, I feel no need to reside in Norway at the moment. I don't see a big future for me within Norway. For example the media industry is small and Norway is borderline a god damn picture-perfect Hallmark card. I like fixing stuff, to mend something. Norway isn't broken. I know it sounds weird, but I don't see Norway as a challenge.

Norway is a beautiful country, the fjords, the forests, the mountains and all that is beautiful. It is absolutely stunning! I've come to love my home country after I moved, to appreciate what I have. The peacefulness and nature (except in Oslo...) is great and really fills ones soul with joy. But the one thing I've come to dislike more and more, is Norwegians. Yes you heard me right. I've come to see how spoiled some Norwegians are and how lucky we are to come from Norway. Contrary to what others might say, Norway was never really hit by the financial crises. Norwegians spending has increased exponentially since the world went to hell in 2008. No other nation in the entire world has that many card transactions per citizen. However, each year you find Norwegians complaining about "low" pay and too "many" hours work per week. And even though Norway has Europe's cheapest petrol, we still complain over the prices.

So why do I want to travel and live all over except Norway?
I want to see the world. To see different cultures. I want to be free.

Me as a baby, always driving around to new places. Think I was about 1-2 here. Look at those curly golden locks 'ey?

Growing up, I traveled round a bit. Every single Easter from the year I was born until I turned 18, my family and I went to Sweden. I went to Greece for the first time when I was seven years old, after my dear mama had been saving for months to take us on holiday. In a few days I had managed to pick up a few BASIC Greek phrases. Why/how? Well basically because when I said something in Greek I'd get some cocktail accessories like an umbrella, fancy straw etc.. I still remember that holiday and treasure the memory dearly. I remember running into the veranda door, because the glass was shiny and polished. I remember looking at the weird looking drachmas (Former Greek currency). Since then I've returned to Greece four more times (and my mother well over 20 times). I went to Legoland in Denmark with my grandparents and to London with the family when I was 12 years. This list goes on, France, Italy, Monacco, Germany.....
Every time I went I felt a thrill, a happy and adrenaline filled sensation going through my body. It was something new. Something different.

Monaco 2008: Visiting my great auntie and great uncle who's got a lovely holiday home in southern France.

I grew up with Spanish, Italian and Greek food. I watched BBC as a child in addition to Norwegian channels. I read the Times, The Guardian and BBC News as a teenager. I prefer English fiction (books) over Norwegian any day. 90% of the songs I listen to and the films I watch are in English, 5% is other languages and 5% is Norwegian.
Point with all this rambling is that I feel addicted. Addicted to try something new. Something different than what I know.

So I've decided to look into jobs here in the UK. Because I need to try. To try to make a life for myself, here. If I simply go back to Norway, it would please my family and friends, but not myself. I don't see a future for me in Norway right now and I'm not ready to come back just yet. Because in my head I'm terrified of two words "What if?". What if I had stayed for two years in the UK? What if I had found the perfect job? What if I had tried a little harder? I will drive myself insane with the "what if"s.

So today I've registered with several job sites and will be spending the Sundays for the next two months applying for jobs. I'll probably look in Norway, but my main focus will be UK.

Besides, I simply love crumpets and Welshcakes. You can't get that in Norway, haha!

Haven't seen it, just was the first thing that popped up on Google. Besides, it sums up the message.

Always have a back-up plan, so you have something to fall back to. Though my mama taught me to be spontaneous and adventures, she also taught me to think ahead. For example when I broke my leg; 10-15 min after I'd broken it, whilst I was still lying on the snow, I had managed to call my housemate with instructions of what to pack and cancelled a meeting I had. Now I'm not saying that you should plan every single thing in your life, god knows I haven't...FAR from it. Most of the happiest moments in my life have been pure coincidence. Like UK, pure coincidence, but I'll leave that for another time.
What I mean is that you should have an option you can explore if your first choice doesn't succeed straight away. Like if you're looking at getting a job with BBC; either you don't get it or you get fired/made redundant after 2 months. Isn't it then nice to know you have a VAGUE idea of what you could do?

It's not like I'm worried that I won't have anything to do and end up on the street come August/September. I've applied for year study in athletics, English, pedagogy and arts & crafts at several universities in Norway (Stavanger, Oslo and Volda). That's my back up. If I don't get any job by August in the UK, I know I can go back to Norway and study athletics for a year. It might not be my first option, going back to Norway, but it sure beats living on benefits in UK.

In the next post I'll compare complete expenses of living in Norway and UK, incomes and life. They say people in my home country earn well, but do they really? Stay tuned Norwegians, you might be shocked.

Now this song has been stuck in my head for days! I listen to it way to many times a day. Enjoy!
Today's song:  ♡ How to be a heart breaker? - Marina and the Diamonds