French blogger Lorelou Desjardins from A Frog in the Fjord joins David for the very first episode of the Life in Norway Show.
The Life in Norway Show is GO! I dread to think how many months it's been since I first had the idea to add a podcast to the blog, but once I decided to actually do it, it all came together pretty quickly.
My thanks to Chris from Amateur Traveler and Jason from Zero to Travel for their support and encouragement.
Introducing the first guest
But most of all, thanks to Lorelou Desjardins for agreeing to appear on the very first show!
Lorelou is one of my favourite expat bloggers in all of Norway, mainly because of her hilarious and occasionally controversial thoughts of Norwegian society and culture.
Some of her posts have caught the attention of the Norwegian media, and she's now a regular columnist in a major newspaper and appears on national TV and radio.
Her popularity has also led to a book deal! Despite writing the book in English, it has been published in Norwegian by a publisher and she has yet to agree a deal for an English language version.
Hopefully this appearance will help prove the demand, because I think an English version of her book – En frosk i fjorden, kunsten å bli norsk – will be a huge success.
Here's the first episode:
What we cover:
In this interview, we dig into Lorelou's reasons for starting the blog, and look at some of the more popular posts. These include:
What Norwegian women really think: How this tongue-in-cheek post had one Norwegian journalist accusing Lorelou of an attack on feminism in Norway.
How to pretend to be fluent in Norwegian: Lorelou's favourite blog post. How she learned Norwegian: “30 words well pronounced will make you appear more fluent than 300 words pronounced badly”.
Is Norwegian a language of love: How locals say they love something or someone, which is very difficult for newcomers to wrap their head around.
We also touch on the reaction here in Norway to some of Lorelou's more controversial articles. Norwegians seem happy for her to write about language or habits, but politics seems to cross a line.
Useful links from the show:
- Lorelou's blog: A Frog in the Fjord
- Lorelou's book: En frosk i fjorden, kunsten å bli norsk
- The Norwegian art of seduction
- Weird things Norwegians do
- Is Norwegian a language of love?
- Follow Lorelou on Twitter
The journey starts here
As this is the very first podcast, the sound quality isn't perfect, I stumble through some of my questions, and my editing is far from perfect.
But you know what? I don't care! These things will all get better over time as I become a more experienced host.
Right now, the important thing is that the podcast is launched, and you can look forward to interviews like these every two weeks.
I'd love to hear what you thought of this interview, and who you'd like to hear from over the coming weeks. It's super easy to contact me and let me know.
How to listen in
You can listen to the Life in Norway Show here on the website by using the player at the top of the page.
Alternatively, subscribe to the feed in iTunes, or your favourite podcast player app. If you prefer email, simply subscribe to the Norway Weekly newsletter to be notified of new episodes, along with a whole bunch of other great content too.
Happy listening, everyone!
Enjoyed this interview! My grandmother on my father’s side was Norwegian and I have always identified with her the most when growing up. I am just now really diving into my family’s history and am even heading back to the farmland in Wisconsin in another week to visit the Norwegian cemetery and attend a family reunion. What a joy to find this website!
Thank you for this fantastic opportunity finally to hear “a frog in the fjord”! I’m following Lorelou’s blog and currently reading her book, so I enjoyed a lot listening to this podcast!