Pricy Price Tags

Pricy Price Tags

After the worst summer in record, will I face the worst shopping record in my life in Trondheim? Asked Jiann Chyuan.

Don’t be misled by the title, the expensive term is not referring to the tags.

Okay, let’s rewind to the previous topic a little bit. I’ve been told by my professor that this summer is the worst summer in 15 years for Trondheim. No one has experienced 2 (degree) C for the past 15 years in August. What more can I say?

But of course, as what have been told, bad weather isn’t the only common topic for Norwegian, or Trondheim-ian (?) or at least for international-ian. After a month, it is still hard for me to not convert the price to RM automatically every time I do my shopping. Why? Expensive! Extremely!

Accoding to UN, Norway has the highest living standard in the world. It only needs three alphabets to explain all; O-I-L.

Okay, I know, examples are pretty much appreciated in this post. Let’s not waste time.

First of all, transportation, 22NOK (about RM14) for unlimited rides, within just an hour. It means taking a round trip between Steinan and Gloshaugen (campus). But of course, you won’t travel in this way because you simply will spend more than an hour in campus. So it means 44NOK for the whole journey. It is better to buy a day pass then (55NOK).

But of course, this only happened during my orientation week. Now I’ve my semesterkort I don’t have to worry about bus anymore. Did I mention it costs 1550NOK for 4 months?

Food. Okay, it is not really that expensive to have food produced locally. Thanks god I love salmon. It is just so cheap in this country. Thanks god again for making me love dairy products, for instance, milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. Because they are relatively cheap in this country too.

But don’t eat chicken in this country! The price of one whole chicken here is sufficient for you to buy three whole chicken in Malaysia. And the price for 750g of chicken breast meat is 100NOK (approximately RM60). Apparently, chicken is rare in this country. =.=”’

I suppose sausage is cheap. But you know la, sausage is usually made of bad quality meat. I don’t eat beef, so it is none of my business. Pork? Great! Norwegian loves this. But I’ve yet to notice pork here, the reason is simple, I don’t understand any word on the label. Oh ya, did I tell you nearly all meat items are frozen? And veggie is luxurious here. Perhaps Norwegian just don’t eat veggie, and thus they are specially imported. Fair enough!

Okay, so you may want to ask where I usually do my shopping. Well, there are supermarkets in this country. Wait, they aren’t big enough to be categorised as supermarket. But the according-to-me grocery shops are the according-to-Norwegian supermarket. Some popular stores (you can really see them at every corner of any street , literally) in Trondheim are Bunnpris, Rema1000, and ICA Maxi. They have price war, but you know la, it is Norway. Look for selected low price items is the only advice I can give.

Oh ya, there is something that is really cheap in Norway. Products from Ikea. You probably wouldn’t believe that I actually prefer to shop at Ikea than ordinary shops when it comes to furniture. The price of the same item in Ikea is about one-third the price in town centre.

And surprisingly, products of Ikea are cheaper in Norway than in Malaysia. Thanks god that Sweden is besides Norway. It is no wonder Norwegian prefer to shop at Ikea despite that Norwegian never be friends with Swedish. Do you know that Norway gained independence from Sweden? That might explain why Norwegian always make fun of Swedish.

Okay, in my conclusion, I’ve to admit that I don’t really feel the pressure of shopping in Norway. Not because I like to spend money like water (this is the best phrase to convey the meaning of cheap, because water means literally nothing in Norway). It is because I’ve a stable scholarship more than enough for me to live comfortably in the whole Europe, when I stop converting prices in NOK to RM.

Sometimes, I just can’t help myself to suffer heart attack every time I go shopping. And I don’t have weak heart!

By the way, leaves are turning yellow. It is autumn now!