Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

Today I learned the meaning of that word, leiekontrakt...it means, impulse buying of a new rental spot! That's right, after only being here two weeks, I am already moving.

It all happened so quickly, but I think it will be a great place to be. Four other students in my program were looking for a place to live and I decided it would be fun to live with them, so I told them that if a spot opened up I would like to join them. Well, today they got a lead so we all went to check it out. It is a 15 min walk from the University and from the town center. The landlord came and picked us up at the University. We got to the house and there were two people waiting outside to look at it. He said they had to wait, as we had made an appointment. Anyways, he talks to us a bit outside showing us the bike/storage shed and the yard/driveway with weeds and rocks, making it a little unclear what its purpose is. He's speaking Norwegian the whole time, way too fast for me, so I just look interested and nodded a lot. He opened up the door and showed us the mud room, laundry room, bathroom and living room downstairs which were all very nice. We then walked up a spiraling staircase and he showed us a few of the room. They were very kurslig as we say in Norwegian...very cozy! Wood floors, windows, fully furnished. We walked up another stairway to the third level to a few more rooms and a kitchen with two refrigerators, freezers, another full bath, and even a little porch outside. Well, we all looked at each other and knew that it was a great spot, especially for the price...only 2400 Norwegian Kroners which is about $365 a month. We knew that if we told him we'd tell him later that the next guys would probably snatch two of the rooms, so on the spot I'm handed a rental contract, leiekontrakt, and was signing my name and agreeing to...who knows what?! Three pages of Norwegian with all the rules and regs. I was assured by the others that everything was good, so I signed up and took room number 1, a room with wood floors, white walls, one window, a desk, wood shelves, and a white closet. So kurslig! So, just like that, I'm moving I guess! It happened so fast and I can move in starting tomorrow. Crazy.

The rental agreement lasts from now until 1.July, and I think it would be very welcoming for guests! The only downsides are that I have to pay for next month still on my old place which is another 3,000 NOK and have to pay a deposit of 2400 NOK...but hey, my new place is actually 600 NOK cheaper than my current place and as my mom said on the phone, it will probably save me the money I would have spent on a psychiatrist while living alone during the "dark period." I will be living with 6 other people, four of them are in the peace program with me, and two of them (one boy and one girl) have already been living there...so that will be a surprise. My friends who will be living with me are two Norwegian girls, Kjersti and Teresa, one Finnish girl, Marjaana, and one Norwegian guy named Stien. It will be very exciting and lively, and I hope it will help me learn more Norwegian and better experience Norwegian culture. I'm just looking at it as a return to the "cluster life" that I lived and loved while at Luther.

Well, after our quick purchase, Kjersti, Teresa, and I headed down to Sentrum and celebrated our future roommateness together with a hamburger and a coke while sitting on the water at the base of the mountains. My first rental and my first Norwegian hamburger, what a monumental day!

I'll post pictures from my new house as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is my new mailing address:

Scott Meyer
Stakkevollveien 60
9010 Tromsø, Norway