To This Day

My boyfriend showed me this TED-talk by Shane Koyczan. It's more of a poem and it surprised and touched me very deeply.

Burning Out

Hardship number 3.

"I can't keep up with my health"

I suppose that was the thrid obstacle on my list of troubles a month ago. Things have gotten somewhat better in between but let me clear you that.

I've been a bit worried about my personal health this autumn due to the fact that I often feel dizzy, sick, have headaches and at times pass out. It has followed me since I was 15-or-so and sometimes it just all darkens in my eyes while standing up or during a workout. I was told by my school nurse then that it's all normal to young women and that it'll go away with time.

 I wouldn't have concidered it dangerous, yet I also have some kind of light "epileptic" shaking during those intervals. Just some uncontrolled movements nothing too bad really. It wasn't until lately that I've had more of those stronger "attacks". On one of these cases I passed out at a house party, cracked my head apparently onto the sink while falling and the drunken strangers had to call me an ambulance since I kept losing conciousness when they tried to wake me up.

It scared me I admit. Enough to get appointment to a doctor and finally get my skull searched. I've had the last meeting of three yesterday and the EEG and MRI pictures didn't show anything abnormal. According to the 2nd doctor I just suffer from a deficiency in blood circulation and have a low blood pressure that might also explain the shaking. No brain tumour, no epilepsy.

Second health thing is more of a psychological one. I've been terribly stressed because of university for over a month now and suffer thus from sleepless nights and occasional panic attacks. I had a lovely time at home at new years but now the stress has doubled as the exams are closing in. I feel like I can't keep up and make no progress. It takes all my power to try and remind myself that it's not so bad. That the world won't come down even if I can't make it.

I just cannot give up. It's this typical Finnish stubborness and morbid persistence that keeps pushing me to try and be perfect. I won't stop trying until it kills me. I wish I knew when to stop or had someone to take the wheel at times. To tell me when it's time to surrender. I kind of wish that somebody would put me to a hospital due to any reason at all as long as it included  peace of mind.

I think I'm close to the low point where I was 2 years ago.
It's that bad I admit.

Rich Kid's Blues

Aaaand here we go again. The explainatory but hopefully a bit more positive this time as I've managed to bring some things together.

Work
I've taken up too much extra work for this Semester due to a defect in brain  a misjudgement. I really thought I've got enough time to get more into my studies and ended up scribling 5 pieces none-the-less of optional courses into my calendar. On top of this I took up a job at the University by becoming a Tutor, a kind of personal assistant, for one of my professors. As if this hadn't been the wake-up call I signed up for becoming an active member of the student council. HA! Allow me to be amused of this overly exaggerated overestimation of my own nerves and talents. WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING?! I probably just forgot that I've also got my old job at the handicrafts store. Of course I would've managed everything if it wasn't for that (Notice the heavy irony here.)

Money
Oh yes, the Undying Monster tormenting students around the world. I'm basically financing my life here entirely with the monthly 500 euro student loan, I'm receiving from the Finnish Government since the beginning of my studies. I don't ever have to pay it back, however the downside is that I don't get any support during the holidays, which in the summer lasted about 3-4 months. At the beginning of this Semester I was pretty weak on my bank account, you can imagine. I basically have to save all year to get through those summer months.

Problem this time? Well there's this itchy bitchy condition to the loan: I have to get enough Credit points and show progress in my studies. They want their money's worth ey? Since my faculty is a bunch of artists, we had most of our Spring/Summer Semester's exams after the holidays, in the beginning of OCTOBER. This means that I  received my results and grades for the courses half a year later than expected and the Finnish Studentloan Center interpreted that I'd been slacking off the whole Semester and thus CUT DOWN MY ENTIRE STUDENT LOAN. On top of other Stress, I now had to roam around after my grades, write an explainatory letter to Finland, pray for their mercy and dine porridge and rice for a few weeks before things got settled.

Luckily it was all worth the gray hairs and wrinckles it and I managed to clean my reputation and proof the improvement and hard work I've done in here. I'm now getting paid normally again. Such sudden developments just take a lot of energy, scare the shit out of me and made me realise that my future of studying and living in Germany is entirely in the hands of someone else. I can't afford to go on this current life, no matter how unglamorous, without the Government support. My wages couldn't cover more than my rent.

I feel semishitty for complaining about money when I'm living a dream of so many kids battling with  REAL poverty.  

How'd you like my selfmade pictures this time? I feel good by just holding my camera for a change.

Barely Hanging in There

 It seems that my last post troubled some of you readerdearies (thank you for your concern ♥) and I'm sorry for that. I really didn't mean to sound so dramatic but wanted to quickly convey why I'm not blogging normally and that there's a bunch of stuff going on at the moment.

As I've gotten a few of private inquiries about what's up I thought about blogging about it in public to make matters clearer. Who knows, maybe writing it all down also makes me feel a bit better :)

Studies
University has turned serious on my 3rd Semester and every single week is a Battle of Survival for me. We basically have to turn in a Presentation or somekind of Proof of Progress, in multiple subjects weekly. I'm suffering of lack of motivation, inspiration and selfdiscipline. It feels like I'm drowning as I try to keep up and work hard but the amount of projects never gets less or any easier. On the Contrary!

It get's me down that I cannot fully give my 100% for any subject or interest as I then would fall behind somewhere else. Therefore I'm scrambling around in a daze & panic, handing in mediocre results which lead to unsatisfaction on both sides and since the next weeks chore is based on the post labour, I'm fucking up the foundations of the final outcome here!

This continuous maschine fire of slavery and studying is finally taking the hold of me and I cannot keep myself focused any longer. I've slipped out of the rhytmn and now I'm forced to do it the hard way. I'm battling for the last place in the Rat Race it seems.

Principles
Why am I doing this? Why am I studying this? Is this really what I always wanted? Am I happy with my work, do I want to do it in the future? What have I learned? Is there something better out there?

I don't have the time to question my current life, yet I notice myself doing so almost daily nowadays. It is hard to see the big picture while whiping your nose with the map and concentrating on particulars. Come on!

Ideally you're finally done with school, where you were forced to learn the same stuff as everybody else. Now you're a grown-up set free in the world and you can decide what to do with your life. This is where everything goes wrong: hell-no you can't open a small Café or work in the grocery store! You have to STUDY to get a SUPER JOB to get MONEY to get a WORTHWHILE LIFE and to BE SAFE. No other options jackass. Call it group pressure but remember to count your relatives in.

Now say you did want to study and are basically finally able to choose your interests yourself, starting from the place to live. Think again silly! It's a war out there. You have to fight to get into THE BEST UNIVERSITIES, to choose SUBJECTS WITH HIGH EMPLOYMENT RATE and QUICK GRADUATION SCHEDULE. Forget about arts and hobbies and laid-back student life. Actually you're expected to show results, graduate fast and get that well-paid job to be truely happy.

The punch line of the Joke: no-matter what you study, no-matter how successful you feel, there is no guarantee you won't end up as a taxi driver.

 Personal Problem with the Above
Wait a second! I'm a grown-up now, it's my decition to study at all and I'm paying for the fun anyway, so basically I'm supposed to be the one to decide what to do with it all. It's my life! I can study all my life if I like to, take as many semesters as I need, change faculty, take the courses that interest me and think that would benefit me personally!
When did it get to this blind desperate hunt of Credit Points and executing only the compulsory courses to get my Bachelor as soon as possible???
I'm supposed to enjoy this part of life too! Especially as a student in my early twenties!! I don't want to wake up one day from my books and realise that I've missed my life, using it to get behind an office desk! Why do I want to work hard to work hard!? Where are we heading to with such haste!?!!? Okay I'm trying to calm down with the exclamation marks. Seriously: the road is the goal.

Oh whoops, I've written a book here. Let's continue some time in the future with the List of Shit okay? Roadtrip pics via X

Dear Readers,

 as I mentioned in my last post I am leaving tomorrow for Spain and staying till Friday. I'm travelling with my boyfriend's mommy to visit her sister somewhere near Bracelona on her birthday. For the past 2 years I have been mostly travelling between Finland and Germany, whenever I had enough time or money to spare, and cannot remember when I had my last Holiday to any destination more southern than Frankfurt. Therefore I am going to enjoy this amazing opportunity to it's fullest and leave mobilephones, Internet and blogging behind for a week. The B-Day-Auntie has reserved some action, sightseeing and beach for us during our whole stay and if I do have idle time, I've prepared myself with books, magazines and drawing gear to entertain and relax miself. (Boy o boy do I need that!)

 I inted to take a shit.. -ton of photos on my trip and tell you guys about it the whole next year later, yet I am a bit worried about to my camera. My 5-year-old Nikon hasn't been working too well since last week and I cannot understand the reason for it. It makes horrible squeaking sound sometimes while trying to autofocus it refuses to take a photo no matter what I do! What a Nightmare! Me and my baby, will attend the Camra Doctor after I return to Alemania aka Germany. 

 Other than that, I am slowly recovering from University life. Last week was PURE HORROR and Stress with capital S due to miscalculation and sudden changes in the plan of handing in my homework before leaving Darmstadt. Since last Saturday I have slept 3-4 hours per night, barely eaten daily and been on a constant run when not glued to my drawing desk. I have sketched, measured, drawn art work and blueprints, read House contruction bibles, written a presentation, presented it all, taken care of my weekly shift at work, cleaned my room, packed my bag, built my models, written emails, made phonecalls, copied, glued, paid my bills and gotten myself a German Healthinsurance. All without a pause. You can imagine how exhausted I am. The last days I have sweat and cried, pepped myself up again and beaten myself to continue to give my 101% to survive the Semester with good grades. I am SO PROUD of myself of pulling it through, I have to say. Of course I had some friends to help me out, so thank you Benny, Sven and Anna Lena especially, for the helping hand. Thank you, my dearest boyfriend for listening to my helpless crying at times of despair. Thank you mom, for cheering me up and thank you my roomie and customers for listening to my nagging. OK, this sounds like an Oscar speech so I'll just wrap it up with thanking the Spagetti Monster, my fans, my manager and wishing World peace  here.

weheartit.com pics

So far so good, I am currently safe and sound in Hamburg, have partied till dawn with Lasse, visited the fleamarket this morning and dined with the family Grandmas today. The weather is cold, gray, rainy and all the better for leaving this Land for Sun and Heat.

Take care people,
don't forget to be awesome
and remember...
..I'll be back..! 
 

Waste Tip

I feel really upset at the moment and all because of dirt and untidiness.
I've been battling a longer time now with my roomies about the order and cleanliness of our flat. I don't care what they do in their rooms but I do think that everyone should work together to keep the shared square meters (kitchen, bathroom and the hall) nice and decent for everyone to use. Sadly my boys don't seem to agree..

As the two of them are against me, we don't have a set cleaning plan nor shifts at the WG. This leads to me nagging every week to one of them about something small & troublesome and me using an unlimited amount of time and work to keep things hygienic.

I came from work today and found things yet again a huge mess in the kitchen. I just can't understand why the hell it's so damn difficult to clean up your dishes and throw away the food you didn't eat!? Cleaning your mess, is part of the cooking process! Like wtf, if you can't remove your shit, then you don't make any!! 
You think I'm overreacting? Well I've kept my cool for some days now, asking them nicely to do their share, but when the same dishes lie around for over 3 days I'm starting to loose my temper.

I know they don't care and live totally happy and careless in this pig flat but what about me? Is my life, time and well-being so worthless to them? As if I had all the time and fun in the world to be their servant and work extra for all of us?  
This disrespect makes me want to puke!

I think these things have their limit and when their actions make other people cry again, we are over the boarder. At the moment we don't have any clean plates, knives, glasses or small kettles left. I had a friend over yesterday and cooking since last Thursday has been impossible due to lack of space and utensils. 

How do you think it makes me feel when my boyfriend tells me, that he doesn't want to cook with me in our kitchen anymore because it makes him feel sick? That his first comment when he enters the door is that it stinks in our place??? What are my options? How can I make these people to understand?

Please Don't Leave Me

I've been swimming in the sea of bureaucracy today again. About a month ago the social insurance institution of Finland sent me nasty letter calling it quits with me and my social security, because I'm part of the German working world now.  Due to that fact, I'd have to send back my personal Insurance Card and the European Health insurance card and buy myself into the German Health Insurance System!

You can imagine deep this letter made my heart fall. I really panicked as the letter says I'm no longer part of the Finnish social security since 10.6.2010 which to me translates into "We'll take away all your current social security benefits from Finland and you'll have to pay back everything since summer of 2010". Holy crap! I almost pooped my pants and started crying as imagined my life without the 500 euro student loan and how many thousands of euros I'd have to pay back the Finnish Government. Luckily I was wrong.

After a panic phonecall to my mom, who called the Insurance Institution we found out that the Break-Up doesn't concern my student loan and there's a chance to complain about the decision. I've been asking all around German opinions to my new battle and how I could prove the Government to be better off in the Finnish System. The thing is, I have very little against the German Health insurance but it costs to students about 80e per month and my Finnish one a round zero. It wouldn't really pay to work at all, if it means I'd have to spend half of my salary on an insurance I could get for free without working. Sad as it is, I really enjoy my job at the handicraft shop, feel like I'm finally making some improvement and getting friends there too.

This is what I have been doing today. My mom went through a huge googling operation to find out some legal arguments to invalidate the decision and make them concider again. I've been composing an official complainment explaining how I must belong to the Finnish System since my wages are below the German income limit, how I therefore don't have to pay taxes here nor do I then belong to the Social Security System. In a nutshell. Hopefully it's enough. I'm falling behind in my studies and don't really have time for this extra work.

procrastination pictures via weheartit.com

That's that for now. We'll keep our fingers crossed and you tuned into the news of my health insurance battle. Nighty night birdies!

Smiles

Last night I missed my train in Frankfurt. My way home took me altogether a little over 2 hours and I was in bed around half past one. This cost me to sleep over my lesson in Communication Psychology this morning thus I feel like skipping the whole day now.

Yesterday, in the night train short before Langen, this man stopped at my side, turned to me and said "Entschuldigung aber ich muss Ihr sagen, der Winter naht." and with these words and a wide smile he got off the train. Guess what book I was reading?

Playing Hooky

You know the feeling when you wake up and the day is all wrong already? That's why I still didn't get up today although I've woken up first at 6:45 then 8:50, 8:14 and lastly 10:08. Still in bed, still in pyjamas. It's stormy, gray and cold outside and I just couldn't get up. My body and mind decided not to have this day at all. I was hungry some hours ago but not anymore, not enough to move at least. I've been lying and thinking about things while watching the trees bend in the wind outside my window. Cried a bit.

I'm homesick as hell. I miss my mom very much, maybe the most. Or maybe it's too painful to even think about my siblings. I miss all of it. To be me again, to feel home again.

You see, there is a difference in what I am here and what I am at home. It might not be visible to other people but to me those are two different people. I sound different and am different depending on the surroundings and especially the language. The Elli speaking English is braver, funnier and way more relaxed than the German Eli, forced to keep up the positive & social image, limited with words and means to express herself. But whom I miss the most is the real me, the Finnish Elina, the one I always was but am no more. Now I'm some chameleon hybrid of all those three. Someone I don't like, someone feeling lost.

I miss home but am also troubled with it. I was away so long that some things have inevitably changed. I am no longer an active part of the lifes of my friends, and it never caught me before. I thought I'd come back and everyone'd be waiting for me but instead they have moved on, one way or another. And it's good and it's great but I feel more alone than ever. I've landed in some strange middle space, not being home here or there. The friends I still meet when at home are decreasing by numbers and we no longer send emails regularly to know what's going on. When in Finland, I cannot follow the recent events in politics, TV, music or in my (old) social circle. I cannot follow gossip as I don't know the people we are talking about. I've missed out on parties, sleep-overs, birthdays, hardships, break-ups, engagements and funeral. I haven't been there for the good nor the bad. I haven't been able to be the friend to give support at hard times nor to celebrate the achievements or happy moments of my loved ones. And it hurts for I have missed out on the life that I should have been a part of. That I wanted to be a part of.

photos from the movie The Terminal

Now I'm hanging loose being a stranger in Finland and in Germany. The odd one out where ever I go. Like Peter Pan flying off to Neverland, having his adventures for years, thinking his parents would always be waiting with the window open for him to fly in..

Soul Cakes

 irrelevant video

I'm pretty stressed at the moment with University, up-coming Christmas and some issues with my roomies. Long story short: somebody forgot to tell me that our home phone isn't any cheaper when calling to mobile phones. Thus I just ended up paying 50 euros extra for OCTOBER only and we're still waiting for the huge bill of November & the beginning of December. Not to mention my mobilephone bills. Fucking Fantastic.

I have about 15 days to go before my holiday in Finland, which is truely great believe me, but also sets me a time limit with homework and finding Christmas presents. My room is a mess, the flat is a mess, I have finally money but no time nor the equipment to get myself a bed and some cupboards. (I'm still living out of cardboxes piled up in my 13m²). It stresses me to have so many unfinished unorganized things around me. I mean, I haven't had the time to shop for groceries in 2 weeks! I'm exhausted and can't think straight or plan ahead at all atm.

I'll be visiting my boyfriend's family in Hamburg again this weekend. I love it, and wouldn't change it away but I'm already feeling quilty and troubled with all the things I SHOULD be doing instead. There just isn't enough days in the week or power in my body.

Soooooo.. to inspire myself from week to week in this cold, dark and wet "winter". I focus myself on small pretty little things each day. Like christmas decoration and burning candles.

I'm normally not into Christmas albums from any artist and think they're a sign of a dying career, but when it comes to my all-time-favourite artist, Sting, I have to disagree. For two years now, throughout November till January, I've been listening to "If On A Winter's Night" with awe. The man is a genious, what else is there to say? The album is a collection of old folk music, celtic sounds and churchy hymns in a new wrapping. Take it or leave it. This music helps me to catch my breath from the rat race.

Another thing to cheer me up is the O-sO-deliciOus home made Pear Marmalade from some relative of my honeybun's. (Help me out here, Josi?) Nevermind what kind of dubious bread you managed to score with your last copper, this jam will rock it.

..and so I feel like the Queen of England again, ready to start another battle day with my nice cup of tea and welsh corgis!

Hedgehog Moment

This University shit is hard..
All of our homework, miniature building and learning is building up rapidly and today I feel like I'm drowning. Either I'm stupid or my German sucks but I'm struggling to understand our assingments. It's seems like there is ALWAYS something crucial I don't get, which later costs me 8 hours of extra work!

AN EXAMPLE!
I had developed a real nice concept to one of our bigger projects this term, the Room of Silence. I'd processed it here and there, done googling, sketched my ass off all Sunday and even discussed about the possible materials with my dad! Then today I go to the lecture, ready to show my product to the teacher: BOOM he doesn't even want to check the sketches - our homework, BOOM the glass wall in my building is against the assingment regulation, BOOM the roof cannot be diagonal and BOOM the measurements given were the only ones allowed and not the maximum size of the room. In a nutshell: I need to start ALL OVER AGAIN!

from weheartit.com

And ladies and gent's this was not the first time.. you can guess how I feel at the moment. If I hadn't got the huge pile of work on my back, I'd call it quits for tonight, crab myself a mug of Glögi (kiddy non-alcoholic Glühwein aka Glogg) and crawl between blankets & pillows and watch a period drama with my stuffed bunny Risto.

Pride and Prejudice would do the trick.. I love Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

2 much Text, 2 few Pictures

 Almighty right.. Due to the lack of time I'll break this post into 2 pieces. The first one is about Darmstadt in general and the second one about finding the right WG
On 20th August directly after work I left to Darmstadt in order to look for a room in apartment-sharing community (seriously is this the best translation for "solu" oder "WG"??). I knew from my boyfriend's experience that finding one would be hard and the competition for the best ones a nerve breaking task. Being smart enough hohoho I prepared for it by checking in WG-gesucht.de some announcements, then sending +25 applications to various people, calling few of them and trying to make appointments to see the rooms.

I think I got altogether 9 replies in the end:
four of them saying "no thanks" and the rest I happily arranged to meet on Sunday and Monday. I had been seriously lucky, like I learned later from another girl, who'd applied for 60 flats and only gotten 2 positive replies. However my mind still wasn't at ease, as the highest price for ONE ROOM was 360 euros, meaning I'd be financially K.O in just 2-3 months. Being afraid of being left completely homeless I was ready for any hole I could crawl into.

Sunday's handicraft market

Darmstadt, my lovelies, is a small city of approx. 145 000 citizens and is located on the map under Frankfurt in the Bundesland (federal state) Hessen. The size of it pleased my small-town-girl's eye and heart immediately and I was happy to discover the smaller buildings, friendlier architecture, tram and good shopping possibilities of the place. I'm now on better terms with Hamburg but it's size and weather still don't please me a bit. According to Wikipedia Darmstadt is said to be the sunniest city in Hessen but also to have snow during winter time so I'll welcome the facts gladly.

shopshopshopping

My boyfriend was kind enough to accompany me on this scary mission of meeting my new home. We met in the train from Frankfurt to Darmstadt and slept at a friend's place during our stay. Thank you, Anna Lena & Dörte. Without you guys I would have ended up paying a small fortune for the fun!

Sunday started with my first ever room viewing and roomie interview. I was feeling small, humble and scared yet decided to start on my own and leaving my bf outside. The viewing was over a 19m² room in a 2 people WG. I had seen some photos of the flat already and wasn't expecting much of it to be honest. To my own surprise Roscoe the roomie turned out to be a really fun guy and we shared a lot of similar interests like photographing, architecture and videogames! The flat wasn't as dark as I had thought and the room seemed quite okay too. The only thing that stopped me then later to choose this WG was the lovely price of 360e per month. It's just not manageable, as I still have no idea about my student allowance, and with my savings only I'd be done after 3 months.

19m² and full

This guy has PS2, Nintendo and almost all the same games as I do!

Short before chatting with Roscoe I got a phone call from my cheapest/best option of a room. They had already given it away to an acquaintance so I needn't to come. Thus we sat in the rain with my mister about 6h of nothing ahead of us before the last WG viewing of the day. I felt miserable and a bit hopeless. There was nowhere to go and kill the time as Sundays everything is closed. What to do?

The grand idea came from my lovely dovely darling: let's have a look on the internet. Quickly he found something reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally interesting nearby with his smartphone: an announcement of a free WG-room. There wasn't a phone number so we couldn't call but an adress nevertheless. The decision was made in an instant as the place was just around the corner and we had nothing to loose.

a lovely café next to the Castle

After a short walk we ended up on a promising street with lots of greenery and little traffic. Well, matter of fact, no traffic at all. Seemed like the cars just liked to park on the street. Handy enough the door bell was equipped with a tiny note "the WG" with a small arrow pointing at it, so I needn't to wonder long which one to push. The guy answering the door bell seemed a bit confused at the other end when I annouced my name. I added quickly that it was raining and we were let in. Upstairs I clumsily introduced myself and honeyhon, with a wide grin of victory on my face and appologicing the randomness. I felt drunken with my own boldness, spontaniousness and the fact that our desperate attempt had actually managed to get us in.

Unrelated street to show some building design and size

The more surpriced I became when I discovered to my eyes the vast room of 14m², the super clean & nice bathroom (I was so afraid of a shitty one), lovely big kitchen and the miraculous price of 220e per month! after talking with the roomie nr. 1 Jan I was totally thrilled about the WG. Okay there wasn't a living room nor dining room (you don't fit to eat in the kitchen actually) included but hey come on: two hundred and twenty euroes with all treats of electricity, internet, water, cellar, balcony and a washmaschine. What luxury! Did I mention that the location is genious? Not far from my school, near the city center, near grocery store and still on a quiet little street! This must have been the coolest, cheapest, most wanted WG of Darmstadt!

Jan proved me right: more than a hundred people had applied for the room, they had only taken 15 lucky ones to see the flat and meet the roomies. My enthusiasm sank A BIT but I tried to keep cool and positive. As we popped in, there was a girl already viewing the appartment. I felt sorry for have ruined her chance to give her best. She was there first you know and I had cheated my way in. Nevertheless I was allowed to stay with my honeybum and view the WG too. After chatting, getting to know each other and going through the basics for about 40min we wondered if it was time to leave. Jan, however, had a one hour break till the next visitor and offered to make us pancakes. Well who'd say "No" to pancakes right? Thus we ended up staying yet another hour and it was quite merry in the kitchen while it rained outside.

Frankfurterstraße next to the park. Lovely though not my street.

After leaving the WG I felt somewhat sad yet a tiny bit happy as well. Sad, because I thought I had no chance of getting the room. I was too criminal, a first-year-student, a random babbler, a girl and a foreigner. Why would two older guys, a physics student and a political scientist <--sounds grand in English lol, want to live with an unexperienced rascal like myself? Happy as I had really enjoyed myself and meeting new nice people, and on top of that I felt proud of having giving it a try.

Park <3

Somehow the magic happened and my long lost luck came back. The following morning I got an SMS from Jan telling me I was in the final four to be interviewed by the other roomie, Dennis. We met on tuesday after my Uni enrolment and got along real nice. A relaxed and friendly Fellow with capital F. After sweating the day and hoping for a miracle the waited phone call finally came and I was told that I got the room. They had chosen me...

celebrating with ice cream

I'm still smiling when thinking about it. I can't wait to move in.