I had heard the rumors that Norway is expensive. However, while rumors are rumors, there is usual some foundation or reason why they began. So I came prepared to not be sticker-shocked. The second I stepped off the plane in Norway, I was ready to accept the prices as they may be and brush it off saying, "Well... it's Norway..."
Haha... brush off the prices? How naive I was...
My first price scare was my taxi from the airport to the university. After a 25 minute ride, I was charged 160 USD. And that was at 1/2 the cost it would have been had I not booked the taxi ahead of time. I almost cried as I handed over 3 full days' salary.
Scared by the prices, I refused to buy anything. However, leaving for Denmark to visit my brother, I was dying of thirst and needed to buy something to drink. Browsing for the cheapest item, I came across two choices: a 12 oz bottle of water or a 12 oz bottle of Coke... both for the low price of 4.35 USD. ALMOST FIVE USD!!!!!! Was this place insane?!? 5 USD for a bottle of Coke?!?
For 8 USD, you can buy a can of beer. For 5.79 USD, you can have yourself a McDonald's Big Mac (the highest price in the world). And for only 6.27 USD, you can fill your car with a gallon of gas.
This is no cheap place to vacation. While to Norwegians the prices are completely normal, they are almost unbearable to the rest of the world. In Norway, however, pay is very high. The lowest salary workers (street cleaners and deliverers) make over 24,000 USD year. Norway doesn't even need to have a minimum wage because those who earn the least are still able to earn enough to live.
As I struggle to buy laundry detergient, bus tickets and bottled water on my Brazilian wages, it's incredible to think of how rich the country of Norway really is. So rich that even the poor have the money they need to purchase the things I can't even afford here.
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