No Pints After Football? Lee's Norwegian Culture Shock!
Nils Heldal
William Lee-Wright is an Englishman living in Trondheim—or rather, he is now a Norwegian citizen, with a successful job, a wife, and children. Will has embraced Trondheim and has also played a significant role in helping other foreigners discover all of our hidden gems, but Norwegians can still be quite quirky.
Having played football in different countries, especially in Britain, it’s fascinating how the culture around it varies. Back home, football often feels like a prequel to the drinking that happens afterwards. But here in Norway, if you were to suggest grabbing a beer after training, people would look at you like you’re mad. They’d say, ‘But we’re here to play football. I don’t know you as a drinking friend; you’re a football friend.’
- William Lee-Wright
Rigid residents
Norwegians have these distinct categories for relationships that can feel quite rigid. "I’ve spent ten years playing on a football team with some of the guys, and I’ve never once gone out drinking with them. Where I’m from, that would be considered absolutely batshit crazy. It’s such a stark contrast to what I’m used to", Will explains.
William, or Will to his friends, serves as the Marketing and Communications Director at Mati Gruppen, a new company aiming to set new standards in the culinary scene. The company is led by Christopher Davidsen, a silver medallist from the prestigious Bocuse d'Or competition.
Nils Heldal
“And there’s a reason I’m sharing this—not just shameless self-promotion. We’re sitting here in Tollbua, the restaurant where I work, located in Trondheim’s old customs house, Tollboden. We opened the restaurant this year, in 2024. Funny enough, this building was actually the first place I came to when I moved to Trondheim. I had to come here to pick up my pallets of belongings from the UK.
Nils Heldal
The Sunny Side
I got a very warm welcome—no issues at all. Everything went smoothly, and I was amazed at how quickly they managed to get my stuff over here. My wife and I moved into a tiny attic apartment overlooking the city. Trondheim has two distinct sides: one called Solsiden—the sunny side—and the other, which is a bit shadier in the evenings. From our apartment, we had this gorgeous view of the city lighting up at night.
It was August 2010, and it was a particularly warm and lovely summer. My wife told me, ‘Take it easy for a few months, play some football, and enjoy the sunshine.’ So, that’s exactly what I did. It was such a lush, relaxing introduction to life in Norway.
- Will
Return of The List?
A few years ago, Will was the editor of The List, an ad-funded free magazine. The publication is a “Trøndelag” version of the 'what's on' magazines What's On and Time Out.
The idea was to help break down some of the barriers to feeling integrated into Norwegian culture and life.
The List
We noticed that many people moving to Trondheim weren’t fully embracing or enjoying the city’s potential. Worse, some would study here, receive an excellent education, get started on their careers, and then leave. They moved to places like Oslo for more cultural opportunities, a bigger city network, or a larger pool of people; back to their home countries to reconnect with their roots and shared experiences; or to other leading technology and education hubs across Europe offering more opportunities, Will says.
The problem, we felt, wasn’t that Trondheim lacked these things entirely but rather that people weren’t aware of them—we simply weren’t good at communicating what the city had to offer.
- Will
Own
The magazine, called The List, was designed to address this by highlighting all the opportunities and experiences available here. It was like a 1990s London Time Out, but for Trondheim.
“I’ve revisited the content recently and found that much of it is still as relevant today as it was back then. It’s not as though this was a long time ago, but the insights remain valuable", Will ends.
Nils Heldal
Nils moved to Trondheim many years ago. Since then, he has definetily made his mark on the city.
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