I'm going to be working in Tromso for 2 months (June-August) and I have some wide-ranging general questions.

What's the average cost of living is (housing + eating out + night on the towns).

How is the food in Norway?

I've heard that Norway is the "Paris of the North".. are there any good shopping opportunities up there?

Would I have any snowboarding opportunities during the summer?

The cheapest flights I've been able to find so far are about $1900 from LAX to Tromso R/T. Is that decent?

I'm veryveryvery excited for this summer!!! I can't wait!!!

Hey 1crystal!

Many think that eating out and a night on the town is expensive. A beer will cost you about 8-9 USD (50 NOK) on a bar. According to the Big Mac Index (http://www.economist.com/markets/ind...ory_id=8649005) a norwegian Big Mac cost twice as an american one. I guess its about the same with meals on a nice restaurant. And the drinks and wines are very expensive. You may have to pay 45-50 USD for a bottle of wine...

And you have no snowboarding opportunities during the summer if you are going to stay all the time i Tromsø. You have to go to Stryn or Galdhøpiggen in in the southern part of Norway to do that.

http://www.destinasjontromso.no/english/index.html

Paris of the North ? Yes, but that was looong ago, no better shopping there than anywhere else in the country. Charming city though I'd prefer Trondheim if asked. website WWW.wideroe.no has got awards for finding cheapest flights. You might consider plane to Oslo from CA and low-cost airline Oslo-Tromsø www.norwegian.no (I don't think the low-cost airlines are 'accepted' at site mentioned above. Food is not so much diff from american. Don't eat out if you can avoid. Tromsø is university city so habitation might be hard to find, possibly cheaper in summer months. If you are a student you may get som assistance from the university, try their pages uit.no (English menu to the right)

Paris of North it certainly ain't. I'm going over on the 19th March to visit my girlfriend.

The standard of living is quite high then again they earn better wages than we do in Britian. I hope you aren't a big drinker like us Scots or you will need a bank loan. if you buy cans of beer in the supermarket you will can expect to pay for not just the beer but also the can!! you get money back for recycling the cans.

keep this in mind though - if you go to the supermarket to buy some curry mind and by chicken or lamb, I bought what I thought was a lamb tikka, only to find out when I get back to the house that there was no lamb with it!!