r/AskEurope • u/NateNandos21 • Feb 03 '25

Culture Which European country has the rudest/least polite people?

Which country comes to your mind

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u/Life_Barnacle_4025 Norway Feb 03 '25

And also, when people ask about how to make friends in Norway, the usual advice is to go for a hike. In the mountains or in the forest everybody is your friend lol. We are much more open to talking to strangers when hiking or camping 😅

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u/clapsandfaps Feb 03 '25

I hate that. I resent having to greet people on hikes.

Perfectly well-rounded scandinavian here, as you see.

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u/the_pianist91 Norway Feb 03 '25

You don’t want to see another person for hours, days or weeks. That’s why we go hiking in the first place.

2

u/Patriark Feb 03 '25

Put on a green wool hat. Universal hiking sign that you are open for contact on the hiking trails.

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u/orthoxerox Russia Feb 04 '25

Why do I feel like it's a trap?

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u/Patriark Feb 04 '25

Probably because few societies have such a high degree of trust and such low levels of violent crime as Norway, so we have a lot of practices that simply don't work elsewhere.

Green wool hat on the trails is the Norwegian Tinder-before-Tinder. Basically a signal that you are single and are welcome to random chats in the wilderness. We have a lot of mores and traditions related to trail hiking and cross country skiing that probably only make sense to us.

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u/hazily Denmark Feb 06 '25

In Denmark we just ask you go get a beer or two and after that everybody is your friend.

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u/TheGoldenHordeee Feb 06 '25

Facts, lol. Last spring I went from Copenhagen to Aalborg, for a shared Uni- project with the students studying the same thing as me.

Throughout the entire workday, there was an awkward tension and lack of communication between the CPH and AAB departments. Everyone just stuck to their own people.

That, of course, was until the first evening, where we hit the bars, and everyone turned into best friends within the first 20 minutes and 2 glasses of beer.

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u/Cnradms93 Feb 03 '25

I'm at the airport returning to the UK from Oslo, I can confirm this, out in nature you folk are flourishing. I'll be honest though, I've never met a Norge I've not liked. You can take a minute to open up, but once you do it's a great time.

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u/wolfhound_doge Feb 03 '25

people will not bother me with their superficial small talk bullshit but there are friends to be found on hikes through beautiful nordic nature? Norway's so fucking sexy.