Our first update!

[Nywoek 153]

It is a bit wild going from free healthcare to paying almost 7000 kroner for a relatively simple visit to the doctor. Lol. XD

 

I am reporting from the trenches (my house, where I am not done packing or cleaning or sorting) 2 days before we leave for Oslo! Fortunately my parents have agreed to take on the job of cleaning the house.. mostly because they were supposed to help me but then a miracle happened and we actually had some nice summer weather. Nice for them and my kids, not so fun for me when I was cleaning out our upstairs with slanted walls from the roof and no aircondition. Lol. But.. who needs sleep when you have your paperwork and you are about to leave the country for who know how long! XD

I will update once we arrive in New Hampshire. I cannot wait to see my fiance and maybe take a week off to relax. The past several months have been madness!  

[Nywoek 153]

Aaaand we are here! On the same side of the world as a lot of you! Woooot! 

 

Our trip was pretty chill. We went to Oslo on monday the 28th, met up with my aunt for dinner, stayed at the airport hotel across the street and went to Iceland and then Boston the next day. I had custody papers ready for Iceland, but I got a Norwegian officer ("Oh, you are norwegian? Then we do not have to speak English!") who did not ask for that. I think he was a little confused by the kids' passports, since they traveled with their US ones. They had no other stamps and I think he might have thought they were born in the US. No problem though, just had to explain the situation. 

 

We were seated on row 12 on the plane to Boston, and it was not a full plane at ALL. So when we finished the plane ride we were one of the first ones off, and when we got to the passport control area no one was in the non-us passport line at all. Usually I have to stand in that line for 20-40 minutes (but to the fair other than my one brush with greatness when I flew business last trip I always pick the seats all the way in the back lol). I had considered asking someone which line to get in, since I was on a visa and the kids have american passports, but I just made the decision to go to the front of the line. I did not even have time to put my phone away before we were called over! We had a friendly officer, he asked for our passports and as he was looking at mine he said he could see I had a lot of paperwork with me. I said yes, sir, got a whole K1 packet for you and handed it to him. He had to ask the guy in the booth next to us if they do K1 visas there, and the guy was like yeah sure. He also had to help him find the right page in my papers. I cringed a little watching him tear open my "DO NOT OPEN" envelope, lmao. But he was the one who was suppose to open it! XD Anyway he did not actually ask me any questions, he was mostly just asking how to process the visa and the guy next to him helped. He could not find a pen, eventually he asked me for one, and as the stationary nerd I am I handed him one from my purse. After stamping my visa and passport and taking photos of us he sent us on our way and I was so excited to see my fiance! He had a friend come help us pick up our stuff since we were traveling with a whopping 5 suitcases, 2 carry-on suitcases and 3 backpacks and my big purse lol. We had to wait a long time before getting our stuff and I was annoyed at how people act around the carousel. I think I have been to too many countries where they mark an area right next to the carousel for no standing, so that everyone can just step into it when they see their suitcases come towards them. Here people were standing next to each other like a bunch of sheep and I had big and heavy suitcases and was probably coming down from an adrenaline rush lol! My kids were like "Chill mommy!" XD

 

But we eventually made it out, made it home (always get some Sonic 20 min from the airport as a snack!) and now we LIVE HERE!!!!

It has been an adjustment. The kids are a bit bored without friends, and there is a girl who lives next door who is my youngest same age, but it has been so hot most days she cant just like... hang out in front of the house, lol. They have talked a couple of times though. 

 

Now we are planning for stuff, trying to get the oldest into school. She needs a medical and lots of papers and it sucks, but we are hopeful we can get it all together before school starts for freshmen september second. I will be homeschooling the little(r) one, and I have been doing research and found some people from the area I can talk to. I have an appointment to get my SSN on the 25th, I did that online a while ago but that was the earliest appointment. We are waiting to get married until after that. I am happily typing this from my gamer girl setup right now, while the kids are playing on the couch behind me. Excited for our future here!

 

Only real hiccup so far has been that I have been super slow to send my customs papers to the movers, so they are a bit stressed lol. I also just noticed that the border control officer stamped the wrong date stamp in my passport (it says July 28th, we arrived July 29th) and I am hoping that does not cause any issues. 

[TBoneTX 47,827]

2 hours ago, Nywoek said:

[...] he was mostly just asking how to process the visa and the guy next to him helped. He could not find a pen [...]

This reminds me of when Mrs. T-B. used her AP for the first time at a Texas-Mexico land POE.  The CBP dude knew what an AP form was, but he had never processed one.  He and one... then, two... colleagues were scrambling around trying to find the correct stamp, then an ink-pad with ink, then figuring out what to enter into the computer, etc.  At times, it was borderline comical.  Mrs. T-B. and I were sitting comfortably during this process, trying not to laugh.  Eventually, however, they got it done.

 

Amidst the chaos, they didn't do the "customs" part of the entry ("what are you bringing across?"), nor did they even scan my passport; they merely said, "You're good," and waved me through with Mrs. T-B.

 

Little did we know that Mrs. T-B.'s green card was literally in the mail to her at that very time.

2 hours ago, Nywoek said:

Aaaand we are here!

Oh, yeah -- congratulations, and great story!

[Halcy 7]

14 hours ago, Nywoek said:

Here people were standing next to each other like a bunch of sheep

Tbh every European airport I've been to is the same, so I'm already used to it but yes, ugh.

 

14 hours ago, Nywoek said:

I have been super slow to send my customs papers to the movers, so they are a bit stressed

Ah, customs papers need to be sent to the movers? Have you perhaps considered sharing this part of the experience please pelease... (or maybe you have already shared, and in that case could you point me in the right direction please please...)

 

14 hours ago, Nywoek said:

now we LIVE HERE!!!!

 

Congratulations again!!!! I can't help imagining how happy I would be the day I am able to say this. I mean my fiancé and I live together in Sweden now but, it's Merrica! A dreamland so tempting for me as a student...I'm so excited for you!!! Wishing your lovely family all the best again!!!

[Nywoek 153]

On 8/16/2025 at 5:07 AM, Halcy said:

Ah, customs papers need to be sent to the movers? Have you perhaps considered sharing this part of the experience please pelease... (or maybe you have already shared, and in that case could you point me in the right direction please please...)

 

Honestly, I feel like a walking disaster when it comes to this part, but if I actually end up with all my stuff and no giant hidden scary fees I can write more about this part. But in short we just googled and found a company from the Netherlands who was willing and able to come pick up my stuff in the north of Norway and move it to New Hampshire, it is super expensive and honestly kind of dumb, but it was important for my kids and I got to bring a lot of my own stuff. However, it can take 8-10 weeks and we still do not have our things, so I only packed things I did not need for a while, and we brought 2 extra suitcases of clothes to get us through it. To be fair most of the clothes we sent off were for winter, we certainly do not need those right now! Most of the things are honestly personal items and toys... which is silly considering that we could probably buy everything in the shipment for less than what we paid for it, but whatever what done is done. XD I have emailed the company a lot and they are quite helpful, and my experience with the movers was positive (two dutch guys came with a GIANT truck and they would have packed everything for me, but I had already done that because how else would I know how much 5 cubic meters is??? Although they were happy because that made their job a lot easier.. anyway they came, wrapped up some of my boxes - apparently you cannot use clear plastic boxes- and took the stuff away). I sent them a LOT of money, a scan of my passport and my visa, and there are some customs papers but it doesnt seem like I have to fill them out much, really, I am just horrible with forms and my anxiety wont let me complete things. XD But I did most of them this weekend, and will finish tonight with the help of my fiance. I hope. I hate waking up and having some email asking me to PLEASE SEND THE DOCUMENTS (they are always so nice about it, I am just horrible at this). Lol. 

[Halcy 7]

On 8/19/2025 at 5:18 PM, Nywoek said:

Honestly, I feel like a walking disaster when it comes to this part, but if I actually end up with all my stuff and no giant hidden scary fees I can write more about this part. But in short we just googled and found a company from the Netherlands who was willing and able to come pick up my stuff in the north of Norway and move it to New Hampshire, it is super expensive and honestly kind of dumb, but it was important for my kids and I got to bring a lot of my own stuff. However, it can take 8-10 weeks and we still do not have our things, so I only packed things I did not need for a while, and we brought 2 extra suitcases of clothes to get us through it. To be fair most of the clothes we sent off were for winter, we certainly do not need those right now! Most of the things are honestly personal items and toys... which is silly considering that we could probably buy everything in the shipment for less than what we paid for it, but whatever what done is done. XD I have emailed the company a lot and they are quite helpful, and my experience with the movers was positive (two dutch guys came with a GIANT truck and they would have packed everything for me, but I had already done that because how else would I know how much 5 cubic meters is??? Although they were happy because that made their job a lot easier.. anyway they came, wrapped up some of my boxes - apparently you cannot use clear plastic boxes- and took the stuff away). I sent them a LOT of money, a scan of my passport and my visa, and there are some customs papers but it doesnt seem like I have to fill them out much, really, I am just horrible with forms and my anxiety wont let me complete things. XD But I did most of them this weekend, and will finish tonight with the help of my fiance. I hope. I hate waking up and having some email asking me to PLEASE SEND THE DOCUMENTS (they are always so nice about it, I am just horrible at this). Lol. 

Thank you for sharing! Gosh, it sounds like a fuss. Yeah I remember reading from your other post saying that it's mostly doing this for your kids who'd miss their old toys otherwise, I think you're doing the right thing, I still feel the heartache when my mom decided to give away my toys...I'll learn from your experience and try to get rid of things that we can buy cheaper after moving. Thank you again!

[Nywoek 153]

Had my ssn appointment on the 25th and got it in the mail early this week. We went and got a marriage license on thursday, so now we are good to go once we find an officiant! Not really doing a proper wedding or anything, will save that for later so our friends and families have time to attend. 

 

I suppose this will be my last update, since I should be moving on to the AOS part of the forum, but to whoever is reading this, thank you for following our journey and if anyone reads this in the future feel free to message me and ask if there might be something you think I might know based on this thread and my embassy/country! I have my email notifications turned on and will keep it that way.

[TBoneTX 47,827]

This thread has been informative to many, and we all thank you for your diligence in updating it.

Congratulations on your successes, especially in getting the dreaded SSN uneventfully.

We look forward to your AOS posts.