The blistering cold and a face full of snow have been nothing to keep the people of Norway away from daily tasks such as grocery shopping, working, and traveling even with some public transit being closed down. With all train traffic stopped, all buses in Oslo and the neighboring municipality Bærum were canceled for a period of time, and the same applied to all air traffic at Oslo Airport. Despite this, there was heavy foot traffic and busy shopping markets throughout the day leading into the PM. From my short experience of a Norwegian snow day, Oslo doesn’t necessarily stop but shifts its rhythm. Most trams continued on their scheduled routes, and if transportation did periodically halt people still found their way around.
With many parts of the US experiencing snow days, Minnesota being one of them I am not a stranger to trekking through the snow in high windspeeds. Oslo on a snow day is similar to the States but also so different. The city is transformed, with statues and landmarks wearing capes of white, benches beneath the morning frost, and an unacknowledged appreciation of the snow. This can be seen in the children dragging their sleds, or a tourist like me taking a picture of the Christmas esk landscape. There is more to a snow day in Oslo than just a visual transformation but a softer movement for those still bustling, the snow demands patience. The snow is more than a backdrop, it’s a conversation topic for people to inquire, complain, or rave about.
The snow involuntarily brings people together. There is the shared experience of people shuffling down icy walkways, there’s greater attention to others’ movements as one watches where another steps and if it’s a hazard or an oasis. In the evening snow continues to fall, and people continue to move. The day still continues being reframed instead in layers of white.
I never thought I would be grateful for having to continuously brave the cold throughout my childhood and adult years. I have been preparing for this Oslo winter while finding a greater appreciation that here, life still moves on without excuse. Ultimately there have been undeniable similarities in my own experiences of snow days and what I have observed minimally in Oslo. Children find the excitement in the newly decorated hills and adults are inconvenienced but still in awe of something that will never fail to excite. Life on a snow day is lived similarly to the one I know, people work and then go home to spend time with families or alone. Regardless of the minor inconsistencies I have appreciated the shared experience of snøkaos.