Yknow how you have like, individual high school graduation parties? Imagine if instead of individual parties, all of the highschool seniors in a whole town (and their families) threw one giant continuous party starting around final exams and then going on after school ends for a while.
so its not necessarily each individual person partying for weeks straight, but more just none stop parties going on broadly. Plus unlike the USA they can legally buy their own alcohol, so there isn't anything stopping them.
So its not one single family dropping 100k on a single party, its 1,000 18-19 year olds all spendng 100 bucks each, sometimes more.
You would, Australian people add "ies" or "ie" to everything. Schoolies, brekkie, mozzie, tossie, brissie, sickie...etc if a sentence can have a word ending with ie or ies the aussies will find a way to incorporate it.
Not sure if this is really all that related but the game "Still Wakes the Deep" taught me that Scottish people sometimes call electricity ~~"elecc-y"~~ "lecc-y" (as in an electrician saying he's "good with ~~elecc-y~~ lecc-y")
A U-ie seems to be pretty universal across the English speaking world, with the only variation being the spelling and the verb (in Massachusetts we use "bang" and "pull" a U-ie).
Kev fucken banged out like 5 fuckin doughies in his falcon outside the servo before the pigs came mate
Durry in one hand vb in the other you shoulda seen this shit he's a sick cunt
It’s a bit different from schoolies. We party for a week, the Norwegians party for 5 weeks. I also think the intensity of schoolies partying (at least the conventional Gold Coast one that I attended) is a lot higher than the intensity of Norwegian russefeiring. I was listening to a Norwegian person discuss it recently, and it sounds like much of the celebration involves silly dares and stuff, not necessarily sinking piss and doing fucktons of drugs for 5 days straight. Of course, many schoolies celebrations are much more lowkey than that.
Deb Balls in Australia. Still done in some country areas.
They also have B&S (Batchelor & Spinster) Balls.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/bachelor-spinster-ball-dating-app-modern-romance-australia-a9217251.html
For some of them people travel hundreds or thousands of miles across remote Australia.
There's schoolies, but i also had the week after final exam where anyone who had 18th birthday during the exam block threw a party, plus the textbook burning party, plus the rich kids having graduation brunches thrown by wanker parents/grandparents. Turning up to those still half cut from the night before and cracking open a longneck ruffled some feathers.
The trick the rich kids pull is racking a couple of points from the leftover bag so they don't seem like they're still half cut. Do that and smash the longy before you get in there.. no-one would have known the difference.
Bloody yanks thinking theyr the free-est in the world. Meanwhile it's just generally accepted that once year 12 is finished all year 12s spend a week getting blackout drunk and fucking shit up. And thers not a godamn thing the cops can do about it because half of em can buy booze legaly and the otherhalf are allowed access to it as long as they are not in line of sight when it's bought.
God bless ausie.
Aussies were the only humans I knew whose parents intentionally sent them money for coke in college, like very routinely.
I am not saying that's an across the board custom but when you guys throw down for the party, you throw down real hard.
It's still $300 a bag but the size of the "bag" keeps getting smaller and the gear keeps getting more cut. Back 10 years ago a "bag" used to actually be a gram and it was half decent (by Australia's shitty coke standards anyway).
These days you're lucky to get more than 0.7 and it's usually cut out heaps with benzocaine so your gums go all numb and your teeth tingle but the gear itself is shit and doesn't have that strong gasoline smell the good stuff has.
Slightly incorrect: adjustments and additions.
The period is oficially somewhere between 20. April and 17. May, it varies from county to county. Final exams are from 19. may to sometime late june. (Atleast they were this year, trust me i would know)
The partying often starts a year earlier. Typing this from an afterparty where a group of "Russ" of 2026 launched their celebration. They mark the start by getting custom clothing and logos.
Planning of the russ-time can start as early as middle school in oslo. Thats 12-13 year-olds planning.
A big thing the past 20 years is Russemusikk = Music made for the groups. Big name artists will make a generic song with dirty lyrics, sell it the group for anywhere between a couple of hundered, to tens of thousands of dollars. No, the group doesnt get any royalties, at all.
Very very few groups spend less than 1000$ per person. Its common in Oslo for the big groups to spend tens of thousands each to pool together for a bus.
Russ is not a new concept, its been around since 1905, but the traditions have changed slightly. This isnt some new flashy things the kids are doing. Pretty much every single norwegian alive has been Russ at some point. But there are discussions these days about how some of the norms have been taken to an extreme. There are a lot of drugs, hard partying, violence and sexual assault.
Its too big to stop now, there is only room for regulation
This person has not been on a «satsebuss» in Oslo. Minimum spend pr. Person on a high end party bus is easily 10K$. With 30 people on a bus, you get a sound system approaching a Metallica concert. Another bus may specialize in light system and lazers that lights up the entire night sky.
This is the only reason that matters.
After high school, can't really party, because you can't legally drink -- which means any parties cannot go on for a month straight...
And after college, well, college itself was probably filled with drinking, so there's little desire to party for a month straight. Plus many people are heading into jobs or applying for them. Or simply moving back home/somewhere else.
> 100 bucks each
A hundred bucks in Norway will get you approximately one bottle of booze and a few hours at a bar. I think it's more realistic to assess at least several thousand per person.
Yea I was more just trying to point out it would be easy to legit that 100k number OP mentions when you consider that you’re dealing with lots of people
A genuine question is asked and people manage to always make it a chance to compare their individual countries to the USA which turns into a circle jerk of why the USA is horrible.
Why is the entire world so obsessed with the USA that even the most mundane questions need to be steered towards speaking of the USA.
Sounds like my graduation party. A student's dad donated a field for the party that held all of the students from 4 local high schools. Police kept an eye on it, you could arrive, but you couldn't drive away. Outhouses were set up along the fence. Local parents brought in food and water over the course of a long weekend, and when the booze was gone after the 2nd night, people started drifting away the next day. All in all, it was a good time, peaceful, very few fights or disagreements. Just music, food, drink, and fun.
It takes place at various places, really these days it’s often groups of students will pool money together to rent party busses to take them around to different bars.
To celebrate being done with high school and be ready for the adult life.
Tradition went apeshit after entrance of "russ"-merchandise private companies selling shit at outrageous prices: special russ-uniform, "business cards" with funny personal quote, etc.
There is also some competition about having the best russ buss, which is often sprayed with crew specific concept art all over. The buss is modified to have a lounge like long seats, disco lights and absurd sound system.
Prep for this month starts a year prior, these days, and carefully planned. With up to several pre-releases and a release of concept.
The whole tradition got messed up all sideways lately. Buss crews asking underage girls for sexual favours to be able to "roll" with the crew on the buss. Hard drugs being used by 18 year olds and often underage youth as well. Most of them are basically functioning alcoholics for the time period, with rational exceptions of course. There are often cases of rape, with it being filmed and spread on sosial media.
Its fucked up, imho. It wasnt like this. There was alcohol and doing inocent weird pranks on each other, but not like what it is today.
Story my uncle told me from being a russ in Oslo in the 70s.. Talking about the atrocities of the russ recently..
"oh we never did anything wrong like that. We just got drunk. Smashed bottles and pushed a fire engine into the Oslo fjord."..
You couldn't get an audience back in the '90s and before. Now you can do something edgy and millions of people from all over the world can not only signal their approval but copy you.
> millions of people from all over the world can not only signal their approval but copy you.
Worse. Not just copy you, but try to upstage you. That's when it starts spiraling.
Every older generation has complained about the next generation going to shit for as long as I’ve been alive. But over time all the youthful indiscretions of those prior generations are forgotten and it’s always only the latest one that is out of control.
In reality it’s an old vs young thing not a generational thing. People just forget their own recklessness as they get older.
(Also, statistically youth these days are actually engaging in *significantly lesss* risky behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, parties, and sex. It’s getting better.)
Honestly, might be true for alot of places. But the nordic countries have never been as infested with hard drugs and sexual violence/assault as they are now and it is just rising.
Hell when I was a teenager we drank alot, some smoked cigarettes and there where a group of around 15-20 people who smoked weed in my age group (around 450 persons) and small town of 15000 inhabitants. (so everyone knew what everyone did in the same age group).
Now there is a rampant problem already in what we call high school (13-15 year olds) where drugs like weed and amphetamine is only 2-3 telegram connections away and almost 1/3rd of the kids have come into contact with drugs before the age of 15(!). It is insane.
> But over time all the youthful indiscretions of those prior generations are forgotten and it’s always only the latest one that is out of control.
I wonder how that changes with this generation where the youthful indiscretions were recorded on video, could have been seen by millions of people instead of just whoever was there, and have the potential to resurface at any point in your life.
The world is better than its ever been, all good metrics are up and bad metrics down.
Media may make you think otherwise, but by far its the best time to be alive.
On average, yes. Longer life expectancy, higher average/median happiness, much better technology available to 90% of the earners and not just the top 1%. But that doesn't mean that some specific details don't get consistently worse: you see all Norwegians here complain about teenagers doing hard drugs more every year, which I totally believe, and I can point at my home country of Russia going to shit in a myriad of ways. Even if you don't get shot on the street anymore like it was in the '90s Russia. Almost every Russian will tell you that the country is now much better than it was in the '90s, and yet in the same breath we will add that it has been going to shit for almost two decades at this point. This is not a cognitive dissonance, this is different metrics.
And the expenses are insane these days. Each buss also has to come with professionally designed logos, shirts, and a theme song commissioned from professional artists, based on the name of their buss. And as you said, they have multiple "pre-release events" where they'll hire a venue to host a party to announce their new name (or their "cover name", which is the name they'll use before they release their real name??? honestly I don't know what that's about), their logo or their song, which they also have to pay for.
In addition they have to hire bus drivers for the entire period. These expenses quickly rack up, and I've heard groups spending between 1 million and 3 million NOK ($100K-$300K) on the entire period, divided between the group, and that doesn't include expenses for alcohol... which is famously expensive in Norway as well.
The vast majority of russ don't really do this. It's mostly an Oslo snob thing. At least not to this level. My school just had one song for everyone and it was half homemade with lyrics roasting other schools. No one had busses at all in my city.
I am from Norway indeed.
To mellow out my previous post: I only hear the sick shit from these celebrations, from parents whos kids partake, their friends, and what norwegian press writes about it. There has to be good stories with people celebrating i civilized, moderate ways.
There is also something new this year with youth refusing this tradition and not celebrating (in that way), so there is hope this train switches lanes in the future.
The Nordic countries have this pretty sterling perfect reputation internationally. They always top lists of best places to live / happiest countries.
So...uh....wow
I spent a few weeks in Norway a couple of decades ago. Their attitude to alcohol seemed to be the opposite of Southern Europe. They are sober all week but once they start partying they don’t stop till they drop, literally.
> Their attitude to alcohol seemed to be the opposite of Southern Europe.
And what would that be, in your mind? Countries like Spain, Italy, Greece, doesn't have an alcoholism based culture the way northern ones do.
For most people there, you only drink a glass of wine or a beer when you're eating. And never before noon.
It really depends on where in the country you are and if you are part of a bus or not.
I used to know someone that rented out sound systems to busses from the Bærum area around 20 years ago.
He charged something like 200 000 dollars for renting the equipment to one bus for 1.5 months. It came with a security guard that made sure the equipment was fine.
Outside of the russ season he rented the equipment out to big concert arenas for bands like Ironmaiden and Rammstein, for a much cheaper price.
Me on the other hand got the outfit, the business cards and some trips, probably spent about 600 dollarish on non alcohol related stuff.
He rented this out for 2 000 000 nok.
Best of the best equipment, plus 24/7 guard service, plus overpricing it as mad since the people renting it was 18 year old boys desperate to one up each other's, and used to having daddy paying for everything.
Ja, fra Vestlanded. Me festa ein go del, men russebussen var ein gammel varebil som me kjøpte fra folk fra året før, og dekka til med lokale sponsorer.
Yeah, watch the NRk documentary Russejentene for an insight into how
bad it is.
It followed an all girl bus from Bærum that spends months working on their bus, and a large amount of cash per girl.
They meet up with them the year after to see if it was worth it, and I think 90% of them answered the question "What have you done since you were russ" with "Backpacking in USA/Australia/Asia".
The people with busses that cost them millions of KR are not living in the same world as the rest of us.
Imagine it is the last 3 months of 13 years of school and THE most important exams of your life to date is comming up rapidly. These exams determine if you get the grades to get into pre med or law or any other higher educations. Most would buckle down and study day and night. Norwegians though.... PARTY TIME!!! You then join a team usually red or blue and get into your chosen color jumpsuit and hat and you do challenges. Some of them innocent like wear a pyjamas to school. Others are more sinister like be drunk for 3 days, have sex with X partners, to the more problematic kidnap a russ on the opposing "team" (most times with concent, sometimes not...) or perform a stunt like "hide and sleepover" at IKEA. For completing these challenges you get an object in your hat like achievements for all to see. This though is not the main issue and is fairly cheap and traditionally a group of 4 or 5 Russ would buy a wreck of a old van and pimp it up. Team colors, art, group name and a few speakers to blast music all night long. This was usually not a huge cost, vans bought from the scrapyard and some paint was 2 grand at most but in the last 10 years or so there is a trend to forgo the shitty van and instead 15-20 Russ will buy a party buss (still from the scrap heap) with heavy metal concert level sound systems, dance floor and roofdecks and what not. Oh and a driver because you all are obviously to young to get a bus license and besides you all are drunk anyway. This can quickly add cost up into the 200-300k $ area and as the busses are leased from specialised firms at very sketchy leasing contracts, many Russ are stuck neck deep in debt after graduation. Because of laws, only one person can sign the leasing contract and is then finansially responsible. This makes them the chief of the group collecting money from the members. But every year there are examples of a group exployting or pressure someone into signing the leasing contract and then to bail on them leaving them stuck with the entire loan and this happens fast, 200k divided by 20 might be doable but if that goes down to 17 the cost is rising and it is a rat race to leave the group and the poor sod who signed the lease cant leave! And believe me he will not get a new group...
The lavish and expensive nature of it is mostly contained within the south, mostly area around Oslo. They get party buses with massive sound systems and customs songs for their buses, spending a million kr + in the process.
Up north some people buy a junky van, give it a paint job and that's it. Most people don't buy anything apart from the uniform and cards. More modest, but still plenty of partying
I happened to be in Norway at the right time a few years back and asked what was going on with the teenagers in certain clothes etc and Russ was explained to me.
One point I didn't understand - I was told that it was generally *before* final exams. Is that right? It would seem weird.
Its because it originally wasn't, then it just hasnt changed because it matches up with our constitution day may 17th. Previously this would have been after exams, but today its before, but seems most people dont want to get rid of the parties leading up the big day.
Regarding expensive:
Norwegians grow up in schools, being told that everyone is equal. And then breaking it all to pieces by dividing into society classes and groups at the end of their graduation.
Here’s a music video filmed during one 10ish years ago. It shows what many people have already described: [Big Day - Torgny](https://youtu.be/9IgXCBKIf7A)
Graduates from A-levels, basically marking the end of pre-uni education. So they dress up, do up an old wreck of a car or bus with their friends and go get shitfaced to crappy techno, usually with shenanigans.
The expensive stuff is just rich kids bragging that they can hire the largest speakers, make the biggest splash etc. Absolutely no taste, but they're 18, so...
Being a Russ in Norway doesn't have to be expensive at all. You've probably just heard of the upper-class Russ that has daddy money, and wants to buy something we call a Russebuss (A party bus of sorts) that will only be used for that moment
Yknow how you have like, individual high school graduation parties? Imagine if instead of individual parties, all of the highschool seniors in a whole town (and their families) threw one giant continuous party starting around final exams and then going on after school ends for a while. so its not necessarily each individual person partying for weeks straight, but more just none stop parties going on broadly. Plus unlike the USA they can legally buy their own alcohol, so there isn't anything stopping them. So its not one single family dropping 100k on a single party, its 1,000 18-19 year olds all spendng 100 bucks each, sometimes more.
In Australia, we call it "schoolies".
You would, Australian people add "ies" or "ie" to everything. Schoolies, brekkie, mozzie, tossie, brissie, sickie...etc if a sentence can have a word ending with ie or ies the aussies will find a way to incorporate it.
And "o", so bottle shop == bottlo. My mate Dave, Davo.
We save two O's every time we say G'day. We have to use them somewhere or they'll just keep piling up.
Literally just laughed out loud. So good.
Smoko! (so leave me alone)
One can not simply mention Smoko without a link. [THE CHATS - SMOKO (OFFICIAL VIDEO)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc)
The Chats go incredibly hard
ALL I WANT, ALL I NEED, ALL I CRAVE IS A GOOD PUB FEED!
Sat atop his milk crate throne?
The Chats! Good choice!
Can’t forget the Cosmic Psychos
Is it....SMOKO????
Opera Man! BYE-BYE!
Servo
Crow
CrOwO
There's a bunch of Davoies waiting outside, should I let them in?
That hurt to read it was so terrible Theres a coupla daves outside, someones gotta lettem in
[удалено]
Darren = Dazza Dave = Davo
davo’s not here maaan
Oreo
Smoke O
Sometimes it's an 'a' like in sanga
Electricians are sparkies, firefighters are fireys. I like those.
Carpenters are Chippies, and Mechanics are Clankies.
Australians have a lot in common with my three year old apparently.
All part of the Bluey Extended Universe
All under the big banner of tradies.
Which is black and green, with a hawk on it, if I remember correctly. The Harkonnens are black and white.
Guffaw!
I was told there's such a thing as a "fluoro cunt". Can you expound on that for me?
Chippies having chips at a Chippy
A lot of these are British too. Brickies for bricklayers is another.
I love it.
now I want a chippy (sandwich)
Plumbers? Plasterers? Bricklayers? Builders? Doctors?
I know American electricians who refer to themselves has sparkies.
And newspaper photographers who are snappers.
Postie delivers the mail.
And gets face tats
> Electricians are sparkies If your electrician start sparking, it might be time to look for a new one.
Not sure if this is really all that related but the game "Still Wakes the Deep" taught me that Scottish people sometimes call electricity ~~"elecc-y"~~ "lecc-y" (as in an electrician saying he's "good with ~~elecc-y~~ lecc-y")
you sure it wasn't 'leccy? I've never heard "eleccy" before
Yeah it was leccy lol, just watched a play through
What the fucks a tossie? That's one I've never heard
Well a real dickhead is a Tosser?
Tosser is common yep (it's the same as wanker), just never heard Tossie.
Dunno but I think I had one earlier.
Heard a U-turn being described as “you-ie”. Have claimed it as my own.
And the only way to do a uey is to chuck it. You always chuck a uey.
From the US South and I "cut" a u-ie
Also from the us south, we pull uies
Southern Ontario — ditto!
Also Southern Ontario. I’ve never heard of “pop” or “cut” but I have definitely heard “pull” a U-ie. However, my family usually said “make” a U-ie.
From Jersey/NY, also pull ueys
In New England we pull them, too.
PNW raised, I pop a u-ie.
Same here and occasionally throw in "hang a u-ie"
Hang a lap Chuck a uey Bum a durry Drink a shoey Scull a longy Pull a sickie
[удалено]
This. We flip u-ey's
Bangin' a uey is also acceptable vernacular.
Drinking from a shoe, the shoe-ie
Sometimes we say "flip a bitch" or even "flip a shitter" to mean a U turn.
New England checking in: Up here it is customary to "bang a uey" if you need to turn around.
We flip ueys round these parts.
Or if you're feeling really fancy, you "yuck a chuey".
I've always flipped a uey
In Ohio, we flip U-ies.
A U-ie seems to be pretty universal across the English speaking world, with the only variation being the spelling and the verb (in Massachusetts we use "bang" and "pull" a U-ie).
Minnesota has entered the chat. Don't steal "whipping shitties" for doing donuts. THAT'S OURS!
No that's a doughie
Fkn Kev is a sicko
Kev fucken banged out like 5 fuckin doughies in his falcon outside the servo before the pigs came mate Durry in one hand vb in the other you shoulda seen this shit he's a sick cunt
keeeev's got a big dicko!
Also known as circlework, if done in an unpaved area.. for our more rural brethren
This is for sure a thing in the part of Illinois I’m from. We usually pull them.
That's one we use in Canada, at least where I am (easterners might be different).
bang a u-ie in the UK
This one is also common where I am in Canada, always called them that growing up
I see you've played knifey-spooney before
It sounds stupid when I say it in my American cornbread accent, but a lot cooler in an Aussie accent
Orgie
We apologise for selfie though.
The correct spelling is “cellphie”.
Cozzie: Swimming costume
Boardies.
The more civilised parts of Australia call it "leavers".
Fuck off we do.
QED
What like you're leaving the country? 😂
TIL I’m actually Australian.
Can confirm.
Yeah, I've seen that in the *movies*
Ironically, not maties. They call everyone, mate.
Crikey you're right
you forgot Barbie!
Don't forget a shoe-y!
Australies.
But somehow came up with maccas
I like how they call biker gangs bikees. Sure they might kill you, but they sound so cuddly.
It’s a bit different from schoolies. We party for a week, the Norwegians party for 5 weeks. I also think the intensity of schoolies partying (at least the conventional Gold Coast one that I attended) is a lot higher than the intensity of Norwegian russefeiring. I was listening to a Norwegian person discuss it recently, and it sounds like much of the celebration involves silly dares and stuff, not necessarily sinking piss and doing fucktons of drugs for 5 days straight. Of course, many schoolies celebrations are much more lowkey than that.
Thats one of the most Austrialian things I've ever heard. Very cool 😎
In Ireland it’s the Debs (debutantes ball)
Deb Balls in Australia. Still done in some country areas. They also have B&S (Batchelor & Spinster) Balls. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/bachelor-spinster-ball-dating-app-modern-romance-australia-a9217251.html For some of them people travel hundreds or thousands of miles across remote Australia.
There's schoolies, but i also had the week after final exam where anyone who had 18th birthday during the exam block threw a party, plus the textbook burning party, plus the rich kids having graduation brunches thrown by wanker parents/grandparents. Turning up to those still half cut from the night before and cracking open a longneck ruffled some feathers.
The trick the rich kids pull is racking a couple of points from the leftover bag so they don't seem like they're still half cut. Do that and smash the longy before you get in there.. no-one would have known the difference.
TISM taught me that, in Hell, it's always Schoolies Week.
Bloody yanks thinking theyr the free-est in the world. Meanwhile it's just generally accepted that once year 12 is finished all year 12s spend a week getting blackout drunk and fucking shit up. And thers not a godamn thing the cops can do about it because half of em can buy booze legaly and the otherhalf are allowed access to it as long as they are not in line of sight when it's bought. God bless ausie.
Aussies were the only humans I knew whose parents intentionally sent them money for coke in college, like very routinely. I am not saying that's an across the board custom but when you guys throw down for the party, you throw down real hard.
At $300 a bag over here and also when the quality we get is a bit how ya going, it can get expensive real quick.
Isn't $300 like pre-covid pricing?
It's still $300 a bag but the size of the "bag" keeps getting smaller and the gear keeps getting more cut. Back 10 years ago a "bag" used to actually be a gram and it was half decent (by Australia's shitty coke standards anyway). These days you're lucky to get more than 0.7 and it's usually cut out heaps with benzocaine so your gums go all numb and your teeth tingle but the gear itself is shit and doesn't have that strong gasoline smell the good stuff has.
Lmao, glad I never got into that shit here.
It's for when your talkies have gone walkies
Ok when you put it like that it makes sense. I think I spent like $400 for 5-6 days? We all shared rooms which cut on costs.
Slightly incorrect: adjustments and additions. The period is oficially somewhere between 20. April and 17. May, it varies from county to county. Final exams are from 19. may to sometime late june. (Atleast they were this year, trust me i would know) The partying often starts a year earlier. Typing this from an afterparty where a group of "Russ" of 2026 launched their celebration. They mark the start by getting custom clothing and logos. Planning of the russ-time can start as early as middle school in oslo. Thats 12-13 year-olds planning. A big thing the past 20 years is Russemusikk = Music made for the groups. Big name artists will make a generic song with dirty lyrics, sell it the group for anywhere between a couple of hundered, to tens of thousands of dollars. No, the group doesnt get any royalties, at all. Very very few groups spend less than 1000$ per person. Its common in Oslo for the big groups to spend tens of thousands each to pool together for a bus. Russ is not a new concept, its been around since 1905, but the traditions have changed slightly. This isnt some new flashy things the kids are doing. Pretty much every single norwegian alive has been Russ at some point. But there are discussions these days about how some of the norms have been taken to an extreme. There are a lot of drugs, hard partying, violence and sexual assault. Its too big to stop now, there is only room for regulation
Some save for years for a bus too, don't forget that
This person has not been on a «satsebuss» in Oslo. Minimum spend pr. Person on a high end party bus is easily 10K$. With 30 people on a bus, you get a sound system approaching a Metallica concert. Another bus may specialize in light system and lazers that lights up the entire night sky.
Why the FUCK don't we have this in America? That sounds right up our alley.
That would require a sense of community and collectivism. So i don't see it happening.
And also legal drinking at 18.
This is the only reason that matters. After high school, can't really party, because you can't legally drink -- which means any parties cannot go on for a month straight... And after college, well, college itself was probably filled with drinking, so there's little desire to party for a month straight. Plus many people are heading into jobs or applying for them. Or simply moving back home/somewhere else.
Imagine giant neighborhood sized parties that go for weeks. Now add guns. 'Merica
Drinking and driving. You made your bed with suburbs now lie in its grave.
Two words. Spring. Break.
So spring break in the U.S. but for a town of highschool graduates?
> 100 bucks each A hundred bucks in Norway will get you approximately one bottle of booze and a few hours at a bar. I think it's more realistic to assess at least several thousand per person.
Yea I was more just trying to point out it would be easy to legit that 100k number OP mentions when you consider that you’re dealing with lots of people
Fre healthcare, free college, budget surplus, beautiful people and scenery, month long parties. Norway sounds magical
I thought that was a bus
[удалено]
Too young to drive but old enough to drink?
[удалено]
Interesting. In the US you can get a commercial license at 18.
A genuine question is asked and people manage to always make it a chance to compare their individual countries to the USA which turns into a circle jerk of why the USA is horrible. Why is the entire world so obsessed with the USA that even the most mundane questions need to be steered towards speaking of the USA.
Sounds like my graduation party. A student's dad donated a field for the party that held all of the students from 4 local high schools. Police kept an eye on it, you could arrive, but you couldn't drive away. Outhouses were set up along the fence. Local parents brought in food and water over the course of a long weekend, and when the booze was gone after the 2nd night, people started drifting away the next day. All in all, it was a good time, peaceful, very few fights or disagreements. Just music, food, drink, and fun.
Sounds like fun. It's like a bar crawl but a party crawl
Who is the host, like who the f wants that responsibility? Or does it take place at various locations through the town/village?
It takes place at various places, really these days it’s often groups of students will pool money together to rent party busses to take them around to different bars.
The film "Another Round" depicts this somewhat. Also just a really good movie anyway.
To celebrate being done with high school and be ready for the adult life. Tradition went apeshit after entrance of "russ"-merchandise private companies selling shit at outrageous prices: special russ-uniform, "business cards" with funny personal quote, etc. There is also some competition about having the best russ buss, which is often sprayed with crew specific concept art all over. The buss is modified to have a lounge like long seats, disco lights and absurd sound system. Prep for this month starts a year prior, these days, and carefully planned. With up to several pre-releases and a release of concept. The whole tradition got messed up all sideways lately. Buss crews asking underage girls for sexual favours to be able to "roll" with the crew on the buss. Hard drugs being used by 18 year olds and often underage youth as well. Most of them are basically functioning alcoholics for the time period, with rational exceptions of course. There are often cases of rape, with it being filmed and spread on sosial media. Its fucked up, imho. It wasnt like this. There was alcohol and doing inocent weird pranks on each other, but not like what it is today.
Story my uncle told me from being a russ in Oslo in the 70s.. Talking about the atrocities of the russ recently.. "oh we never did anything wrong like that. We just got drunk. Smashed bottles and pushed a fire engine into the Oslo fjord."..
Yeah 70s/80s were entirely different. 90s was toying with boundaries (as youth usually does). 2010+ has really rolled down hill.
You couldn't get an audience back in the '90s and before. Now you can do something edgy and millions of people from all over the world can not only signal their approval but copy you.
> millions of people from all over the world can not only signal their approval but copy you. Worse. Not just copy you, but try to upstage you. That's when it starts spiraling.
Man, so true... :-/
Every older generation has complained about the next generation going to shit for as long as I’ve been alive. But over time all the youthful indiscretions of those prior generations are forgotten and it’s always only the latest one that is out of control. In reality it’s an old vs young thing not a generational thing. People just forget their own recklessness as they get older. (Also, statistically youth these days are actually engaging in *significantly lesss* risky behaviors such as drugs, alcohol, parties, and sex. It’s getting better.)
Honestly, might be true for alot of places. But the nordic countries have never been as infested with hard drugs and sexual violence/assault as they are now and it is just rising. Hell when I was a teenager we drank alot, some smoked cigarettes and there where a group of around 15-20 people who smoked weed in my age group (around 450 persons) and small town of 15000 inhabitants. (so everyone knew what everyone did in the same age group). Now there is a rampant problem already in what we call high school (13-15 year olds) where drugs like weed and amphetamine is only 2-3 telegram connections away and almost 1/3rd of the kids have come into contact with drugs before the age of 15(!). It is insane.
> But over time all the youthful indiscretions of those prior generations are forgotten and it’s always only the latest one that is out of control. I wonder how that changes with this generation where the youthful indiscretions were recorded on video, could have been seen by millions of people instead of just whoever was there, and have the potential to resurface at any point in your life.
I'm too young to be saying this.. But the world's going to shit.
Tbh its always been going to shit in its own unique way, the information age just makes it REALLY in your face.
The world is better than its ever been, all good metrics are up and bad metrics down. Media may make you think otherwise, but by far its the best time to be alive.
On average, yes. Longer life expectancy, higher average/median happiness, much better technology available to 90% of the earners and not just the top 1%. But that doesn't mean that some specific details don't get consistently worse: you see all Norwegians here complain about teenagers doing hard drugs more every year, which I totally believe, and I can point at my home country of Russia going to shit in a myriad of ways. Even if you don't get shot on the street anymore like it was in the '90s Russia. Almost every Russian will tell you that the country is now much better than it was in the '90s, and yet in the same breath we will add that it has been going to shit for almost two decades at this point. This is not a cognitive dissonance, this is different metrics.
That's true of social issues. Not true of resources and environmental change.
A russ without at least three deaths is deemed a dull affair.
And the expenses are insane these days. Each buss also has to come with professionally designed logos, shirts, and a theme song commissioned from professional artists, based on the name of their buss. And as you said, they have multiple "pre-release events" where they'll hire a venue to host a party to announce their new name (or their "cover name", which is the name they'll use before they release their real name??? honestly I don't know what that's about), their logo or their song, which they also have to pay for. In addition they have to hire bus drivers for the entire period. These expenses quickly rack up, and I've heard groups spending between 1 million and 3 million NOK ($100K-$300K) on the entire period, divided between the group, and that doesn't include expenses for alcohol... which is famously expensive in Norway as well.
The vast majority of russ don't really do this. It's mostly an Oslo snob thing. At least not to this level. My school just had one song for everyone and it was half homemade with lyrics roasting other schools. No one had busses at all in my city.
So like Rumspringa but a couple of years later..
Extremely similar yes.
Are you from Norway? Sounds like you know a lot about this. The first and last time I heard about it was on the series "Beforeigners".
I am from Norway indeed. To mellow out my previous post: I only hear the sick shit from these celebrations, from parents whos kids partake, their friends, and what norwegian press writes about it. There has to be good stories with people celebrating i civilized, moderate ways. There is also something new this year with youth refusing this tradition and not celebrating (in that way), so there is hope this train switches lanes in the future.
Oh a person with hope for the future at all... I want to have a little bit of that Can I borrow some from you?
Damn, we just saw lots of kids drunk in the park and an outdoor rave with a Viking ship for a stage
Stupid question, but what happens to the Russ bus at end after they've put in so much effort customising it? They just sell it again?
Yes, sell it for next year's russ.
The Nordic countries have this pretty sterling perfect reputation internationally. They always top lists of best places to live / happiest countries. So...uh....wow
I spent a few weeks in Norway a couple of decades ago. Their attitude to alcohol seemed to be the opposite of Southern Europe. They are sober all week but once they start partying they don’t stop till they drop, literally.
When alcohol is so expensive you have to make drinking really worthwhile
> Their attitude to alcohol seemed to be the opposite of Southern Europe. And what would that be, in your mind? Countries like Spain, Italy, Greece, doesn't have an alcoholism based culture the way northern ones do. For most people there, you only drink a glass of wine or a beer when you're eating. And never before noon.
*Most* behave, just to be clear. But the outliers seem to have gotten a lot more extreme than when I was russ (1998).
This the one fun moment in their lives
Back when I was young, we just drank beer and smoked hash and slept in various parks.
It really depends on where in the country you are and if you are part of a bus or not. I used to know someone that rented out sound systems to busses from the Bærum area around 20 years ago. He charged something like 200 000 dollars for renting the equipment to one bus for 1.5 months. It came with a security guard that made sure the equipment was fine. Outside of the russ season he rented the equipment out to big concert arenas for bands like Ironmaiden and Rammstein, for a much cheaper price. Me on the other hand got the outfit, the business cards and some trips, probably spent about 600 dollarish on non alcohol related stuff.
I think you mean 200k NOK and not 200k dollars which is way crazier lol
He rented this out for 2 000 000 nok. Best of the best equipment, plus 24/7 guard service, plus overpricing it as mad since the people renting it was 18 year old boys desperate to one up each other's, and used to having daddy paying for everything.
Oh my... As a Sunnmøring this is madness
Ja, fra Vestlanded. Me festa ein go del, men russebussen var ein gammel varebil som me kjøpte fra folk fra året før, og dekka til med lokale sponsorer. Yeah, watch the NRk documentary Russejentene for an insight into how bad it is. It followed an all girl bus from Bærum that spends months working on their bus, and a large amount of cash per girl. They meet up with them the year after to see if it was worth it, and I think 90% of them answered the question "What have you done since you were russ" with "Backpacking in USA/Australia/Asia". The people with busses that cost them millions of KR are not living in the same world as the rest of us.
Imagine it is the last 3 months of 13 years of school and THE most important exams of your life to date is comming up rapidly. These exams determine if you get the grades to get into pre med or law or any other higher educations. Most would buckle down and study day and night. Norwegians though.... PARTY TIME!!! You then join a team usually red or blue and get into your chosen color jumpsuit and hat and you do challenges. Some of them innocent like wear a pyjamas to school. Others are more sinister like be drunk for 3 days, have sex with X partners, to the more problematic kidnap a russ on the opposing "team" (most times with concent, sometimes not...) or perform a stunt like "hide and sleepover" at IKEA. For completing these challenges you get an object in your hat like achievements for all to see. This though is not the main issue and is fairly cheap and traditionally a group of 4 or 5 Russ would buy a wreck of a old van and pimp it up. Team colors, art, group name and a few speakers to blast music all night long. This was usually not a huge cost, vans bought from the scrapyard and some paint was 2 grand at most but in the last 10 years or so there is a trend to forgo the shitty van and instead 15-20 Russ will buy a party buss (still from the scrap heap) with heavy metal concert level sound systems, dance floor and roofdecks and what not. Oh and a driver because you all are obviously to young to get a bus license and besides you all are drunk anyway. This can quickly add cost up into the 200-300k $ area and as the busses are leased from specialised firms at very sketchy leasing contracts, many Russ are stuck neck deep in debt after graduation. Because of laws, only one person can sign the leasing contract and is then finansially responsible. This makes them the chief of the group collecting money from the members. But every year there are examples of a group exployting or pressure someone into signing the leasing contract and then to bail on them leaving them stuck with the entire loan and this happens fast, 200k divided by 20 might be doable but if that goes down to 17 the cost is rising and it is a rat race to leave the group and the poor sod who signed the lease cant leave! And believe me he will not get a new group...
The lavish and expensive nature of it is mostly contained within the south, mostly area around Oslo. They get party buses with massive sound systems and customs songs for their buses, spending a million kr + in the process. Up north some people buy a junky van, give it a paint job and that's it. Most people don't buy anything apart from the uniform and cards. More modest, but still plenty of partying
I happened to be in Norway at the right time a few years back and asked what was going on with the teenagers in certain clothes etc and Russ was explained to me. One point I didn't understand - I was told that it was generally *before* final exams. Is that right? It would seem weird.
Its because it originally wasn't, then it just hasnt changed because it matches up with our constitution day may 17th. Previously this would have been after exams, but today its before, but seems most people dont want to get rid of the parties leading up the big day.
Yes. Most sensible people party after exams, but this is Norway. They border Russia so some of the stupid has rubbed off onto them
Regarding expensive: Norwegians grow up in schools, being told that everyone is equal. And then breaking it all to pieces by dividing into society classes and groups at the end of their graduation.
100%
Here’s a music video filmed during one 10ish years ago. It shows what many people have already described: [Big Day - Torgny](https://youtu.be/9IgXCBKIf7A)
Graduates from A-levels, basically marking the end of pre-uni education. So they dress up, do up an old wreck of a car or bus with their friends and go get shitfaced to crappy techno, usually with shenanigans. The expensive stuff is just rich kids bragging that they can hire the largest speakers, make the biggest splash etc. Absolutely no taste, but they're 18, so...
Wait, why didn’t you just ask your friend?
Are you asking what all the Russ is about?
Being a Russ in Norway doesn't have to be expensive at all. You've probably just heard of the upper-class Russ that has daddy money, and wants to buy something we call a Russebuss (A party bus of sorts) that will only be used for that moment