Peace, Love, and Lutefisk: Adventures i Norge

and what a party it was! I brought in my 24th year of existence with an amazing party last night. A Monday night none-the-less! I was so happy to be with so many friends from all over the world.

The party started at Rachel's apartment which was newly decorated. The candles were lit and everyone had a great time snacking on chips, pretzels, and the butterfingers my family sent in the mail. It was so cozy and fun! Everyone from my house and a bunch of people from my course also came to the pre-party. We all enjoyed lively conversation and drinks as well as some great presents! It was so meaningful to get presents from all of my great friends. I know they are like me, living like students, always trying to save money, so to get gift from all of them was a great surprise. In typical Norwegian fashion, I received wine. 4 bottles worth! In addition to the wine, I received an all purpose jack knife, a set of candles, a nerf blow gun and comic books (maybe I'm not that old), an American cookbook from my housemate Stian who now expects results, a huge bottle of Coke, a backscratcher, the book "Dude, where's my country", and an original painting drawn by Rachel. Such creative and fun friends!

After almost two hours of "pre-party" we got the group moving and headed to my favorite bar: Blå Rock! Blå rock (blue rock) is a rock bar and on Mondays they have cheap beer and a DJ playing music like the Shins, the Beatles, the Clash, Madrugada (Norwegian rock guy), and much more. The walls there are covered with posters from different bands and the clientel is always slightly alternative and very laid-back. There is even a small dancing floor, although I think that it only is used when I come! We had about 15 people come from the pre-party to the bar and I was so excited, and slightly surprised, to find so many more friends at Blå Rock! We ended up filling up the entire top floor with about 40 people. It was such a diverse, interesting groups of people, and it made me so happy to see all these different friends from different contexts all hanging out together and having a good time. From Russia to Peru and Finland to Ghana, the party definitely is the most international I have ever experienced! It's hard to pick a highlight from the great evening, but when Daniel from Italy requested the Shins on behalf of Rachel, I got excited and sang along to the whole song. That was great. It was a lively evening and I managed to stay until the bar starting closing at 2.30 am, talking to everyone and even getting some dancing in. Oddly enough, my Norwegian teacher named Odd and three other Norwegian friends were the last ones standing. Norway again shows its party strength.

I walked home in the crisp, Tromsø "spring" air very satisfied. I had an amazing birthday! To make things even better, I'm continuing to get birthday wishes in the mail so I can re-live it every day! It's great to realize how many great people I have met thus far here in Tromsø. I'm very thankful and content to be 24 in Tromsø.