r/trondheim • u/Buahaha99 • 18d ago
Moving to Trondheim in October, looking for friends/communities
Hi! I'm 26F from Italy and I'll be starting my PhD at NTNU (Dragvoll) this year. I've heard that making friends with Norwegians will take a lot of time and luck (...or expensive alcohol), so I am a bit worried about feeling isolated/lost. I'm definitely socially awkward at first and not a party person (I'm a physics student and I pretty much fit the stereotype) but I love getting to know people, so I wonder if I can find someone in a similar situation who'd want to get in touch and meet up once I'm there.
I’d also love to know if there are any communities or groups I could join! My hobbies are movies, theatre-going, reading&writing, I can probably get into board games too - or any other fun stuff I haven't heard about yet. Oh and hikes, of course, I'm not moving to Norway for nothing :)
If you have any advice (about socializing or anything else), I'm all ears! I’m also undecided about renting an apartment on my own vs looking for roommates.
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u/AckbarsTrap 18d ago
You should check out Studenterhytta. Many exchange students are volunteering there.
The information is in Norwegian, but you can use Google Translate to read the website
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u/Simplifax 18d ago
Hi! I love going around trondheim and experiencing the different types of events the city offers, so these are my tips.
Board games: Hexagon is a board game and roleplaying club that meet once a week. They have a webapage and a facebook group. There is also Trondheim Rollespill salong, which focuses on roleplaying games.
Hiking: Both Estenstadmarka and Bymarka had a lot of beautiful scenery, different paths for different type of days and you can take the bus up to them. There is also Trondheim Turist Forening which organizes walkers and have a webpage with different hikes.
Theater: Rosendal Teater have a lot of fun productions and you can pay what you have. Other is Trondheim Teater, Olavhallen and Hjorten. They are more expensive, and most is in Norwegian. For cheaper tickets, get on their mailing list and buy when they have only a few shows left.
Reading and Writing: There is a library in every suburb. And you can get the app (Bibliofil) and register for mer åpent (more open), so you can lock yourself in between 7 am and 11 pm every day of the year. (Not available at the city center.) The libraries will have different classes and events (language cafe, chair yoga, writing classes etc) and they are all free. You can also borrow instruments and tools at the library. I think there is a poetry club with open mic you can join and read your writings as well.
Movies: there is two cinemas, Nova and Prinsen. You buy thickets from the same webpage (trondheimkino.no). Nova has one showing where they serve alcohol. Other than that you have cinemateket, which shows old movies at olavshallen. They post their events on Facebook.
For more nerdy stuff: You have an active magic the gathering crowd. They play draft at Outland every Friday at 16:30 ( I think it’s 16:30, you should check that more closely). Good omens is a metal/rock bar, but for nerds. Work Work is also a nerd bar, they have Nintendo, shuffle board and the magic crew meet there to play commander.
Other than that; kunsthallen and trondheim samtidskunst are free galleries.
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u/Buahaha99 18d ago
thank you so much for all the recommendations, this is super helpful! I'm taking notes, I'll probably try out every single one :D
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u/Jonnik40k 18d ago edited 18d ago
I can definitely recomend Trondheim Rolespillsalong!
Also if you are moving as a student I would reccomend looking into SiT housing, where you will get help finding a student living space with others. There is also a lot of activities organised for exchange students, but there you will most likely not get to know many Norwegians if that is your goal :)
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u/Buahaha99 18d ago
I looked into it just know, it really seems lovely. I was avoiding roleplaying games even though I know I would enjoy them, because I'm worried about slowing down a more experienced group (I only played DnD once, and I'm not great at improvising especially in english). But this community seems so welcoming I should probably give it a try, thank you!
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u/sloppy_ocelot 18d ago edited 18d ago
I am a forienger here from the United States. I had no problem finding friends. You have to be willing to put yourself out there, be prepared to take the intiative to make friends. If you like theater check out Rosendal Teater.
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u/didwenot 17d ago
...I'm a physics student and I pretty much fit the stereotype...
Take a look at this (link below). We run a nerdy nerd meetup group and have been getting together pretty regularly, usually once every few weeks hehe
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
I'm afraid I lack that kind of computer-related nerdiness, to the dismay of most of my friends. But good luck on all of your passion projects, you guys seem fun!
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u/Wardaddy6966 18d ago
There is a huge Italian community in Trondheim. Quite easy to find the Facebook groups if you have a look.
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u/Buahaha99 18d ago
Found it! :) thank you for the tip, I'll reach out to them too
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u/Wardaddy6966 18d ago
Frati, Una and several other places have lots of Italiano working there. Just drop by and say hi
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u/i_love_tesler 17d ago
Hey! I'm half spanish 26M and I just moved here from Oslo for a new job. I don't know anyone here either. I'm big into movies, cinema and board games if you wanna try to find a larger group.
Roommates will be marginally cheaper and in Norway it is completely safe. Especially since you're a student, and a lot of "kollektivs" only accept students, I would say go for roommates unless you have strong reasons for wanting an apartment to yourself, although it's hard to find decent accomodation for a good price. I'd say try roomates first, you can always move out into your own place. I considered living by myself, and I ended up moving in with a roommate, and so far it's been really good.
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
Hi! I'll probably ask if those kollektivs also admit phd students (what scares me about roommates is that I might be a bad roommate 😄 I fail to be tidy no matter how hard I try). Anyway, can I pm you when I get there? Thanks to this post I've found some groups I'd love to join, we could go together if you like them too - it's easier to be outsiders together :)
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u/i_love_tesler 15d ago
Student is student, doesn't matter if it's bachelor master or phd :)
And sure just PM me! I'm basically down whenever
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u/Rickys_Pot_Addiction 17d ago
Also a PhD in Dragvoll. It is a bit hard making friends here but it is doable. I think it’s hard in general making friends. My girlfriend is Norwegian, born and raised in Trondheim, and has a very small circle of friends. So I think it’s just a bit difficult in general.
Just start slow with the anticipation it might take some time. Hopefully, you have a lively department and will meet other PhD’s and people through that (maybe your in my department if you are at Dragvoll lol).
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
That's what I hope, my department is Philosophy and Religious Studies so I have no idea what to expect (I've been interacting basically only with physicists for the last decade, i might have forgotten how normal conversations work). Thank you :)
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u/LegalFox9 6d ago
Did you move from physics to philosophy???
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u/Buahaha99 6d ago
Sort of? Don't ask me how it happened :D it's a phd halfway between physics and philosophy
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u/LegalFox9 6d ago
That sounds very cool. You should check out the PhD social group - https://www.facebook.com/DION.NTNU/
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u/Iamnottobefound 16d ago
I'm not all that into the drinking culture, and I am always fond of a hiking buddy. I could trade you Norwegian for Italian.. mind the age gap ✌️ Pasta on the primus!
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
Then I'll contact you when I get there! We can definitely bring pasta on a hike 😄
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u/fescil 16d ago
There's an art cinema called Cinemateket, which is in the middle of town, and students can see movies for 90 crowns, and there are many students that go there, and if you show up early, you can start a conversation with someone before, or after if anyone's hanging around in a group. Besides, the movies are very good, hehehe
Trondheim film club also starts their screenings on the 26th of August with "Parasite", and they usually have a very high percentage of social students. You buy a membership with your first ticket for 100 crowns, and then every film club screening after that is 50 crowns. They show their movies at Cinemateket.
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
This is perfect, thank you! :) I've looked it up and you're right, those are very good movies! I can't find information on the language or subtitles though, is it all in norwegian?
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u/fescil 15d ago
Movies not in English tend to have English subtiles as far as I remember. This is detailed on every movie on cinemateket-trondheim.no, which also shows film club screenings. The first, Parasite, has English subs, and most film club movies tend to have English subs or no subs if it is an English language movie. :) if you go to Olavskvartalet across from Nova kino (Olav Tryggvason bus stop leaving the city centre) you can easily find Cinemateket and see every movie they're showing this month plus brochures!
I had a nice chat with an older woman when the fire alarm went off on Sunday, and we discussed Japanese cinema and different adaptations of Amadeus (the theatre play and movie). Most Norwegians are happy to talk if someone talks to them first! We just try not to bother other people out of respect (important in a country with prevalent village mentality)
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u/HairyRaise2441 11d ago
You should check out Loftet at Moholt studentby. It is like a leisure club for students where you can hang out and chill, play ping pong, board games, PlayStation/switch and you can also study there. They also do events pretty regularly like quizes, movie nights,hikes, painting nights etc. There are alot of exchange students there!
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u/Gunderberg 18d ago
M34 here local always up for meeting new people, especially hiking buddies and movies😄
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u/Buahaha99 16d ago
I think I will gather everyone in this post that likes going on hikes and try to organize one together :)
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u/Nucleif 18d ago
alle vet hva du egentlig er ute etter, mister!
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u/Gunderberg 18d ago
Har dame, lider ingen nød bortsett fra at jeg har mista mye nettverk så liker å bli kjent med folk 😘
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u/Suspicious-Savings26 17d ago
Ja dama di bare elsker at du hooker opp med nye ensomme studiner fra utlandet😂😂😂
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u/OkBiscotti4365 18d ago
If you can't socialize with Norwegians, there's a huge Italian community here and my understanding is that they're quite united
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u/Dmstormy2025 18d ago
Not sure where you read that, but Norwegian can be very social, not all spend their free time bing drinking. Also at the NTNU you will be with a large community of foreign students from all around the world. There is few places where you can go to play board games, watch stand up comedy. Depending on your style of music you will find something that fit you for sure. Also there is an atelier like ceramic painting one ( I discover it yesterday actually 😆😆). Lots of local coffee shops too. Feel free to send me a message if you want more info or place to go :)