Things you should know about Norway

These are just preliminaries. There will be more...

1. This is number one for a reason. Norway is the most beautiful country I have ever been to. You just can't get away from it. Even in Oslo (the capital city mind you..) there are beautiful places almost everywhere. Sognsvann lake is one of my favorites.  What's great is that I have only been to see a very small portion of the country and if the capital city is this beautiful, the rest of the country has to be amazing.
2. Pay attention to the sunset in the winter. It is the most beautiful I have ever seen and you are able to catch it almost everyday because it happens so early.
3. Norwegians love nature. Skis are perfectly acceptable to take on the metro, or anywhere else for that matter. If you're not outside enjoying a nice day, there is something wrong with you. Also, children should learn to ski ASAP (that way their parents don't have to drag them around in a sled all the time). In kindergartens children sleep outside in the spring/summer and take tons of field trips.
4. Babies in Norway go everywhere and are extremely well protected. The strollers have heavy duty wheels-built for endurance and stability. And the babies...well, there's so much padding in there that if they did tip over, they would be a-okay. 
5. It's more confusing when it's light so late than it was when it was dark so early.
6. Brown cheese is great. Give it time. And whoever came up with the cheese slicer was a genius (yet another form of Norwegian moderation).
7. Norway offers parents nearly a year off to split when their child is young. Fathers get 12 weeks all to themselves (use it or lose it). The normal vacation period workers get is four weeks and that's from the start-no working your way up.
8. All the Norwegians I've met are extremely friendly, but don't expect anyone to voluntarily sit by you on the metro.
9. Norwegians eat kaviar and mayonaise out of a tube. They also eat a lot of fish. A Norwegian breakfast consists of buttered bread and various fish spreads, among other things.
10. Norwegians like their free time, so basically everything is closed on Sundays (including most grocery stores). It's frustrating for International students, especially for holidays we didn't know existed. There was one time where grocery stores either were not open or were reduced hours fri-mon (Friday was National Day, Saturday was reduced hours and both Sunday and Monday were holidays so everything was closed). 
11. Norwegians seem to be very trusting. For example when you buy a student ticket to something they do not always ask to see your ID and when you ride the metro you only have to validate your ticket the first time you use it (if you have a monthly pass for example). You don't need it to get through a barricade or anything, so it's very easy to play the system. Also, Norwegian children seem to be trusted to be by themselves quite a bit. I've seen kids that are pretty young riding the metro by themselves. I trust people more in Norway.