106 | Out of Your Bubble
I started dreaming about living abroad when I was around 12 years old, figuring that I would achieve that by attending a university that had a junior-year abroad program. This dream was realized as I became an exchange student at the University of Bergen in Norway, where I had the opportunity to learn another language through an immersive summer program that involved living on a small farm at the heart of the country, near the cabin of one of our teachers. But it wasn’t just a new language that I learned from that experience—it taught me something fundamental about Norwegian culture and social ethos that made me more self-aware, self-observant, and tuned into the country I’d live in for the next year and a half.
In this episode, I discuss Janteloven and what I learned about the social culture of Norway. I describe how I dreamed about living overseas as a kid and what attracted me to Norway. I differentiate Norwegian and American culture and discuss the social codes prevalent in Scandinavian cultures. I also highlight the importance of getting yourself out of your own bubble and underscore what I love most about traveling.
“We all live in bubbles of one sort or another, usually without being aware of them. You have to get out of them to get to know and understand new people, places, and cultures.”
- Kathy Sullivan
This week on Kathy Sullivan Explores:
● Reading Snow Treasure and other things that inspired me to live in Norway
● My experience joining the University of Bergen’s immersive summer program in Oslo
● A stark difference between the American and Norwegian cultures
● The frontier mentality and America’s individualist culture
● The Janteloven and how Norwegians preserve social harmony and stability
● The Lagom and the value of ensuring everyone’s basic needs are met
Resources Mentioned:
● Book: Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
Our Favorite Quotes:
● “What I love most about traveling is exactly that—trying to merge as much as I can into the new place, to feel what it’s like and understand where people are coming from. It’s like putting on a costume and inhabiting a new character.”
- Kathy Sullivan
“The Janteloven is decidedly not about knocking down the tall poppy, but boils down to the simple point that if we are to live together in harmony, we need to consider each other’s feelings.”
- Kathy Sullivan
Spaceship Not Required
I’m Kathy Sullivan, the only person to have walked in space and gone to the deepest point in the ocean.
I’m an explorer, and that doesn’t always have to involve going to some remote or exotic place. It simply requires a commitment to put curiosity into action.
In this podcast, you can explore, reflecting on lessons learned from life so far and from my brilliant and ever-inquisitive guests. We explore together in this very moment from right where you are--spaceship not required.
Welcome to Kathy Sullivan Explores.