24 Signs You Grew Up In Norway In The '90s

We all skipped a grade in school, and whoever collected the most Nokia 5110 covers won.

1. This was your weekly allowance.

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The coin was so clunky you could trace its outline through the brightly colored fabric of your Rusken wallet. But its purchasing power was verifiable: It could buy you 40 Bugg!

2. You remember the arrival of TV2.

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You and I, and all the primary colors were invited when TV2 began its broadcast on Sept. 5, 1992. The king and queen (with a shawl on fleek) did the unveiling, and they COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED. I dare you to rewatch this glorious moment in Norwegian cultural history.

3. Gro Harlem Brundtland was the "Landsmoder."

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You never quite understood how she gave birth to a whole country, but you accepted it because SHE was the omniscient Gro, and YOU were just a tiny, Cherrox-wearing Muggle.

4. This episode of Brødrene Dal ruined your life.

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You didn't sleep for three weeks (and neither did your parents). Damn you, Gaus, Roms and Brummund Dal! May their spectral stones be cut off with a dull pun.

5. Saturday = Kykelikokos.

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Only the quickest dialers got through to "Bowler's Music Quiz". But even if your parents wouldn't let you use the landline ("Too many tellerskritt!"), you could still sing along to the phone number. Everybody now: 815-493-00!

6. You collected napkins.

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At family gatherings, you’d excuse yourself early to scour the table for unused napkins before your also-napkin-collecting cousin had finished eating. And it’s a good thing you did, because today that napkin collection is worth its weight in snot.

7. You collected erasers.

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No, you didn't collect them. You SAVED them. Because everyone knows if you use an animal eraser, it dies. Luckily, now there's a special farm you can send your animal eraser rescues to. It's called Brobekk.

8. You collected Pogs.

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...or you stole them from your friends. Either way, it was a colossal waste of time and (someone's) money. But oh, how you loved flicking your slammer!

9. You collected Baywatch stickers.

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...or Beverly Hills, 90210 stickers. The gum they came with was awful and lost all taste after 30 seconds, but it was worth it because David Charvet and Luke Perry <3 <3 <3. Does anyone have sticker No. 48? I'll trade you my rock collection!

10. Long story short: You collected EVERYTHING!

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Every drawer was filled to the brim with bottle caps, soccer cards, die-cut scraps (glansbilder), soaps, letterheads, stamps, soda labels, Kinder figurines, and really useful stuff like rocks. If you had more than one, it was a collection.

11. You owned one of these babies.

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Nokia was king, and the 5110 was Finnish engineering at its finest. I mean, you could REPLACE THE COVER with one in a DIFFERENT COLOR. How could technology possibly go any further?! Also, you thought it perfectly appropriate to ask people about the size of their snake.

12. You'll never forget when Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1995.

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"Nocturne" has only 24 words in it, but clearly they were the all the right ones (unilke "mil etter mil"). Nobody thought it stood a chance, but your mom let you stay up and watch the show anyway — IF you brushed your teeth first and put on your pajamas. And then Norway won the ESC with a LULLABY! Coincidence?!?!?! Yes...yes, it was.

13. The Lillehammer '94 Olympics made Norway cool.

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1994 was the year you added Kristin & Håkon merch, mugs, and pins to your collection of collections. Winter break lasted two weeks instead of one, so we could all immerse ourselves in Olympic splendor. And that was all fun and games (though mostly games) until you discovered they took that extra week from SUMMER BREAK. Not cool!

14. Reform 97 made you instantly older.

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...on paper. In 1997, the official school age changed from 7 to 6, and ”I’m so smart I skipped a grade” became the least original joke of the year.

15. You joined a club.

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Boing-klubben, TL-klubben, Penny-klubben, Peppe-klubben: There was a club for each of us. Or you formed your own club — a secret club — where you and your friends sent messages to each other written with that invisible-ink pen you got with your Happy Meal when your other friend (who's not allowed in the club anymore because she doesn't have a soap collection) celebrated her birthday at McDonald's.

16. Fucking Åmål was the greatest movie ever.

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The f-word and lesbians?! This teen movie kicked some serious ass. You just wish you hadn't gone to see it with your parents...

17. And getting "Kjeft" was the best thing ever.

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This puntastic juice tasted nothing like real fruit, but who cares?! It came with a collectible sticker!

18. You accessorized with pacifiers.

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The coolest girls had a whole cluster of pacifiers around their necks, because of course they made a collection out of them. It may have been just a fad, but what a fad it was! I got mine at Adelsten.

19. This trolley brought happiness.

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You knew it was going to be a good day when the teacher rolled this baby into the classroom. But where's the remote? And who messed up the cables in the back? And why aren't you seated in a perfect semicircle like I asked?

20. Only your coolest friends got to write in your diary.

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Forget Facebook. This was how you kept tabs on people. And the quizzes! Oh boy indeed! Who are you in Beverly Hills, 90210? I got Donna. As if!

21. This book taught you how to adult.

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Not only did the government give you this book for free — Ingrid Espelid Hovig herself co-created the recipes. And they were recipes not just for food, but for life. And microwavable cod.

22. And this book taught you the word "penis."

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You read it cover to cover — under the covers. There was SO. MUCH. INFORMATION. Who knew genitals were so versatile?

23. The Julekalender ruled Christmas.

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Forget Baby Jesus. This catchphrase factory of a show reinvented Christmas. And potato chips.

24. Music was numbered.

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Life was easier back then. You didn't have to search out new bands — every three to four months a socially approved music selection would be expertly curated by the makers of Absolute Music (and McMusic). And best of all, you could collect them.