Another day in Osloville

Yesterday was my hallmate Tim's twenty-first birthday! We celebrated it by... sitting in the police station for four hours waiting in a queue for my visa information, only for me to discover that my application had apparently been misplaced by the Houston consulate, thus requiring me to re-file it and wait in a queue for another half hour. ): Not a very good start to the day, but we passed some of the time in a nearby coffee shop that has, I believe, even better mocha lattes than Huntsville's late Stearns. (Yes, Jen, Archie, Haley, and all other Stearns alumni--this tiny place was better.)

Anyway, afterwards Tim and I, along with two American friends named Mike and Ray, went to IKEA to buy some necessities we've all been lacking: a drying rack (which was helpful for me after I did my laundry today), a shower curtain (which I have not had before now, and which my roommate apparently was content to do without for two years), some curtains, and a doormat. I spent about 200kr there, which was in total the equivalent of about $33 or £25. Quite reasonable.

We ended the evening at this very nice, cozy bar called the Evergreen, where I bought Tim his much deserved 21st birthday beer. I know that 21 isn't a very big deal in Holland because the drinking age is lower, but I still felt like it was the least I could do, given it was his birthday and everything. We had a really nice night there with Elif, Richard (another Dutch friend), Mike, Ray, and another German lady named Julia who is apparently in Tim's "buddy" group, though I ended up spending more money on alcohol than I have in quite some time. I bought Tim his beer, of course, and then myself a Jack and coke, followed by a White Russian (insanely delicious), and lastly some Dutch beer recommended to me by both Tim and Richard, apparently called Hoegaarden. It was very light, and apparently more of a summer beer than a winter beer according to Richard, but it was very good.

Today was much slower, mainly because Tim and I may or may not have stayed up too late upon getting home talking about random nonsense over tea and coffee, so I got a late start. I managed to buy some of my books for classes next week (which put me back 400kr just for two textbooks, it's insane), then met with Tim and Mike at the school cafeteria for lunch. I'm really impressed by UiO's university menu to be honest; the food is always ridiculously good and of a very high quality. Today was a chicken curry day, I think, with just enough spice to give it a nice kick, but not enough to burn my mouth. Anyway, afterwards Tim and I embarked on the Laundry Adventure today, which was unnecessarily complicated given how bizarre the laundromat here at Kringsjå is--but we have emerged victorious, and are currently waiting for our hallmates to stop dominating the kitchen so we can make an attempt at cooking dinner. ("Cooking" being... well, turkey, cheese, tomato, and cucumber sandwiches, really. Nothing complicated.)

I've settled into a nice routine here in Oslo after initially struggling to carve a niche for myself into a university scene that does not seem much conducive to introducing students to new people. But I have managed to make some very good friends here, namely Tim, Elif and Richard, and even Vincent when I see him, and I think when July rolls around, I'll be very sad to part ways with these people.