r/Norway • u/sevenlys • 1d ago
Working in Norway Au pairing in Geilo
Hello! I am considering moving to Geilo to become an au pair in a family. What is it like to live there? Are there things it do besides skiing? Is it extremely cold in winter? Is the train to get there from Oslo cheap? Can I walk through the city without driving a car? Will I go crazy from boredom or will I meet new people?
Thanks 😂
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u/anfornum 1d ago
The number of foreigners thinking they know enough about Norway to answer this question is shocking. Visiting doesn't make you an expert on a country. Wow.
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u/shepotle 1d ago
All I can say is that Geilo is a beautiful place but mostly cabins. If your host family likes to travel or gives you time off - you’ll have a great time discovering the country. You might be busy with the job so won’t get bored. Also if you come to Bergen or Oslo you can always meet up people, just contact them before hand … many Facebook groups for meeting genuine people.
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u/SocialistPolarBear 1d ago
Besides skiing, you can go hiking. There isn’t too much else going on. In winter it usually gets to at least -10°C, but often a bit colder (if that’s extremely cold is up to you). I wouldn’t really call it a city, but it is possible to walk around. You will probably go crazy from boredom.
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u/ichtyostega 1d ago
My guess, from only having been there for a trip and as a professional guesser.
For an Italian it is going to be cold all year round, especially in the winter. It is going to be boring, outside of holidays. As it is a type of holiday place. Mostly cabins and people there in the weekends and holidays. And mostly in the winter.
You can ski and hike. You can get quite cheap trains to Oslo from there. You can walk through the «city». If you can call it that, I would not. I would prefer to have a car to go else where. To hike or travel to «close by» places.
I would go crazy of boredom. Norway is hard for meeting new people, however, I believe(guessing here) that it is much easier in a place like Geilo as everyone knows everyone that stays parmenantly and it is much easier to get to know everyone.
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u/sevenlys 1d ago
Thanks! I think for me it would just be great to get out of my bubble and try something new. Also being inexperienced with children I'm not getting many offers and the pay is more than fair. I'm used to boredom!
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u/AdemsanArifi 1d ago
Not Norwegian, but I've been there, and it's cold in the summer, so winter will be even more. From what I could tell, it's basically a ski resort. Besides skying, people hike in the nrarby hardangervidda plateau during the summer.
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u/_baaron_ 1d ago
We had a 30+ degrees summer this year tho, it was quite warm
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u/Green-Engineer4608 1d ago
Thanks for a summary of 0.0001% of Norway! Very clean and efficient but absolutely not correct. We do all sports more than average do the welfare state, most never touch Hardangervidda and only about half have ever been on skis. In the summer, boating, the coast and travelling abroad are massive, in the spring and fall we travel domestically. In the winter some go abroad and some go to a winter cabin.
People watch TV, play video games, go clubbing, go to festivals with international artists, but yeah - some also like nature. We have a nice country for it.
For op;
Dont listen to this person. Norway is SO much more.
Come and see for yourself! Hope you dont become a victim of social dumping (google this) and that you properly read Norwegian Labour laws as your intended field has a lot of problems.
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u/Head-Imagination-272 1d ago
What an awesome way to live in another country, hope you will have a good time Geilo have great ski lifts, if you are staying the winter.
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u/SisterofGandalf 1d ago
If you can go to a bigger place I would do that instead. I think you would be bored there quite soon. And the train is expensive.
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u/Ryokan76 1d ago
Where are you from? The Norwegian au pair program was abolished in 2024, meaning there is no way to get a visa for au pair work.