Living in Norway vs living in Korea! 🤯 Cultural differences 🇰🇷🇳🇴 | TEACHER PAUL REACTS 🇰🇷🇳🇴

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:01]Yo, what's up guys?

[00:00:02]Tir and today we have a Korea and Norway fusion. This is a video from the channel called Flora's Diary and this video was requested by Whiplash. Whiplash says the following.

[00:00:19]This is cultural Norway and Korea.

[00:00:23]The difference living in Korea versus Norway. I stumbled upon this video from a Norwegian girl who is living in South Korea. Let's check it out.

[00:00:37]Flora's diary.

[00:00:40]We actually saw a video of her cooking, didn't we?

[00:00:43]We saw a video of her cooking last time which was requested by Nam.

[00:00:54]Hi hi, I'm Florai from the land of salmon. Hi hi, I'm Florai from Salmon Country. What kind of country is Salmon Country?

[00:01:16]For those of you wondering which country I am from, I am from Norway. Since I am a Norwegian, I would like to talk about the culture shock I experienced when I first came to Korea. The first culture shock I experienced in Korea was the way people greet. It seems like Norwegians and Koreans greet each other very differently. In Norway, the way of greeting usually differs between the first meeting and subsequent meetings. For example, how long has been living in Korea for her to speak this fluently.

[00:01:50]Dang, she is really fluent in Korean.

[00:01:53]Obviously, I don't know how her accent is, but she speaks very well. That's so cool.

[00:02:00]What kind of party did you go to?

[00:02:03]People I’ve never met before are the first to introduce me and say things like, "It’s nice to meet you," but usually, the people who made a good impression on me give me a hug.

[00:02:17]So, you can distinguish whether you have met once or if you have already exchanged greetings through that. But even so, if I get introduced to another friend of my close friend, it feels a bit awkward when my friend says, "Oh, Flora, this is my close friend." I think just sitting up straight is actually quite normal back then. I do n't think this changes much depending on me.

[00:03:06]For example, if it's a gathering where my mom's friends are meeting me, I think I would usually hug them. And there is that too.

[00:03:15]Hug everyone, whether they are a man or a woman.

[00:03:18]I met my boyfriend about two or three months after coming to Korea, and when I was introduced to his friends afterwards, I don't think I had gotten super used to Korea yet. I had so many thoughts about whether I should hug his friends or just greet them by bowing. For some reason, as a singer, I felt like if I couldn't hug someone, the conversation that followed would become really awkward. For example, I went to a party on Song-ro and met someone once or twice. If they act just like that there, I feel a bit of distance. So, if you do n't hug me, some people might think that person does n't like me.

[00:04:07]And the way you hug is also very important. Normian hugs you tightly like this for about two seconds and then pats you once, but in Korea, it seems like there is a tendency to hug on the shoulder like this, so that was also onward you know I don't know if people huged and I don't know the best would be one of these you know one of these over here like during COVID, so I think that was a bit of a shock at first. The second culture shock I experienced was the shock of praise. I think I have a knack for immediately praising people, even when meeting them for the first time or to those I don't know well. The song expresses that warmth and a bit of affection through people hugging, but it seems like Korean people express it through compliments instead. I think it feels really awkward to compliment the person in the song. I've really lived in Noru and have almost never played a compliment.

[00:05:26]Regarding listening to appearance.

[00:05:29]I don't think they do it much between men and women either. If Soha had a boyfriend, I feel like I would never be able to say that I'm handsome, and I'd kind of think, "Oh, my eyes have been diverted." I wore green water today.

[00:05:40]I think I'll feel at ease with this. When I was young, I really didn't hear any compliments about my appearance, and that's what I remember most. Is that true? All the Koreans watching. Is that true? cuuse I feel like nobody compliments me.

[00:05:56]I'm joking. I don't take compliments very well. I feel like on this side I am a little bit Norwegian. It feels awkward when somebody compliments you. You feel like okay, it's awkward and you feel like should I compliment you back or or something? But yeah, I feel like it is it is common.

[00:06:16]It is common if you want to be friendly and if you want to break the ice, if you don't know the person in my country, you would compliment someone.

[00:06:23]Oh, I like your jacket. Oh, that's nice. It's kind of like an ice breaker, but every time we meet now, only if I don't know the person. I feel like Korean. I know. Very expressive with the words at least. When I was in middle school, I was incredibly nervous and fascinated when a man looked at me and said, "Oh, your eyes are so youthful." So, Nor does n't give compliments, but he also never says anything bad about her appearance. I never say things like "I've lost weight" or "I've lost weight."

[00:06:55]If you go to a place where you have a partner you like and compliment them excessively, I think they often view it negatively. Everyone's face is so pretty. If you do this, the person might feel very uncomfortable and think you are lying. Everyone feels good and happy when they hear praise, but you need to be a little careful with outsiders. You should n't give praise just because you want to be devoted or become wise. I told you that people don't really give me compliments on my singing, and it feels really awkward to receive them.

[00:07:32]But if it is a situation where I have to give a compliment, I think the compliments given by Koreans and those given by singers are very different. For example, I do feel like when you try to speak the language then people will compliment you. They Oh, your Norway is so good. Oh, your Korean is so good.

[00:07:51]You know that is something that I've heard or I've read in the comments, which is a good compliment, but I also am skeptical because, you know, I don't speak uh neither Norwegian isant nor um North Korean.

[00:08:13]I know a few phrases that I don't know how to deal with whenever I get one, but you know, when my Korean friend comes to Noroo and says "Noroo-wear," as a Noroo resident, my reaction would be something like, "Oh, I don't know."

[00:08:39]And if you translate it, well, it's not bad. And strangely enough, that kind of compliment is a really good compliment to your person. It’s not bad, compared to doing a good job. I think this kind of expression is also used a lot. On the other hand, when I came to Korea and only said "Hello," you said I speak Korean very well. Wow, you're so good. When I came to Korea, it was really fascinating to hear people say that I was doing really well. It's difficult. No, but your Korean is good. You are very fluent in Korean. Yeah. Nam how is Korean? Let me know please.

[00:09:17]Also, I just remembered I read a comment this morning as soon as they woke up I looked at my comments and there was a comment I'm reacting to K dramas. I'm reacting to the trauma code solo leveling which is an anime adaptation of the mana. I'm also reacting to quite a few things on my other channel and I want to see that channel grow. I want to see people enjoying it. And I got a comment that was like this a complete failure but keep going. And apparently in Arab that your comment was in Arab apparently that is a compliment. It's like, you know, you not what you do, but I want you to succeed.

[00:10:04]I was like, that's such a backhanded compliment, you know, it's like you are a loser, but I want you to see I want to see you succeed.

[00:10:14]That's basically what he said in the comments. And I was like, did you like the video or not? I do n't know but different places compliments differently I guess.

[00:10:28]But it was funny that I woke up to that comment because I was excited to see if people are enjoying the content and he's like a complete failure but keep going. In fact you can go over to that video and you will see it over there. It's the death note the recent one. I think episode 24 when that's a crazy episode but let's keep going. Actually, the more I praised him like that, the more I wanted to beat him up. The third culture shock I experienced was about the reactions. When people in Korea think of foreigners, it seems like Americans think of them. When I first came to Korea, I thought other Koreans would have strong expectations of me, assuming they would react like Americans saying " That's amazing" or "What?", but the people I see really do n't react at all. So when I first came to Korea as a child, I was really fascinated by how overflowing the reactions of Koreans seemed. When I hear happy stories from my Korean friends, I think, "Wow, that's so great, that's so nice." Wow, you must be really happy. Or draw a lot and sometimes What about me? Do you think I fit more what am I? Am I more Korean?

[00:11:42]More Norway which one do you think I fit best?

[00:11:46]Which one do I fit?

[00:11:47]because I don't know.

[00:11:48]Sometimes I'm very dead panned but sometimes I'm also like wow you know I don't know you watching me right now what do you think I am more inclined to be more Korean expressions or more Norwegian expressions? Let me know.

[00:12:09]I really liked seeing Park Su-ji and those kinds of reactions. In Norway, when I hear certain stories, I get a bit confused—hey, if I hear a sad story, hey, if I hear a happy story, hey—but if a Korean person sings, hey, hey, hey, it, hey, hey, hey— I would wish for Norway to learn a bit more from Korea withiments and not be shy, yeah, it's always nice to spread positivity. When I hear stories, I get a bit confused, but if a Korean person sings, people don't react much, so they might think the story isn't very interesting or that they aren't interested, but that is absolutely not the case. It just seems like people's reactions are a bit subdued and they don't express their emotions much. They ask a lot of questions about emotions and talk a lot about them, but they don't express it much on their faces. Fourth, what I found really fascinating were just the buildings. First of all, there are absolutely no advertisements in residential buildings.

[00:13:27]Ah, it’s a bit hard to say absolutely, and I do n’t think there are many. Still, some Korean buildings have huge plazas, and if there are restaurants, they are shiny and colorful like this. There are also many academies, so residential buildings as well, no right, not residential buildings, only commercial buildings seen ads, but it's only commercial building right.

[00:13:55]I came to Korea because there are many academies, hospitals, and things like that.

[00:13:58]Residential buildings.

[00:14:07]What?

[00:14:11]So, there were a lot of computer classes at academies, hospitals, and things like that, so when I came to Korea, I found that really fascinating. Especially when it rained at night, seeing those colors sparkle so inwardly, as an Old Man, I felt like I was in a sci-fi movie.

[00:14:29]So when I first came to Korea, I always used to take pictures of just regular snot at night and send them to my family and friends. It's so fascinating, really different from Noru's Wi-Fi, and wow, the city feels so alive. The fifth was the difference in the great path of thinking about sunlight. The people of Noru are happiest when the sun comes out. It's really fascinating. Whenever Gomi comes, the weather outside is still extremely cold and might even be negative, but as soon as the sun comes out, everyone says, " It's you don't have a lot of sun in Norway, right?"

[00:15:07]Whenever it comes, you're like, "Yes, yes, the sun has come." Says public buildings really run ads, but they do have public service announcements though. I'm just standing here outside, trying it out. Because when I came to Korea and saw people wearing hats and some even using umbrellas when it was sunny, I was really fascinated. I saw someone walking around on the street with an umbrella, and it seemed like that, and there was a lot of sunlight, so it was really fascinating. Because, because as a Norwegian, if there is sunshine, I want to go outside and enjoy it. Well, maybe in the song, there isn't enough sunlight in the winter and people are deficient in Vitamin D, so since people like to tan, if you just go to the park today in the summer, everyone there will be naked and tanning. It might be a really fascinating sight to us. Today, I will talk about what a Norwegian felt after coming to Korea: Europeans in general, a lot of places in Europe, people do n't mind being naked in public, which is a little bit strange to foreigners, but it is what it is. What about in Korea?

[00:16:37]Would you ever see someone topless in a park getting some sun or no? It might be a fascinating sight. Today, I talked about five culture shocks that a Norwegian experienced after coming to Korea. Please subscribe and like. Now that I am working as a YouTuber, all your subscriptions and likes are a huge source of strength for me. If you like this kind of content, I have so many thoughts that really came to mind regarding cultural differences, fascinating songs, and amazing things about the Three Kingdoms that I felt. If you write them down in the comments, I will make another 8 next time. okay.

[00:17:19]Do it.

[00:17:21]That would be cool.

[00:17:23]That is such a great great content, great channel. You know, especially here on the channel, we react to Norway, we react to Korea, we react to different countries. So, it's nice to have this fusion here and I hope you guys enjoy that. Let me know if you live in Korea, if you have ever been to Korea as a Norway, what is the biggest difference you saw?

[00:17:46]And if you've ever been to Norway as a Korean, what is the biggest difference you've seen? Let me know in the comments down below. These cultural differences, they bring us together, you know, and they make us understand each other a little bit more. Sometimes we, you know, clash and and hit heads because we don't really understand that it's a cultural thing.

[00:18:09]But it's really cool to see and I hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you want to request a video just like did go over to buy and thank you so much and I will see you guys on the next video.

[00:18:25]Take care. Bye bye.