Bittersweet

Today wasn’t too exciting. The International Student Union (ISU) had a second hand market for international students at 2pm. If you know me, then you know that I love to thrift store shop. My philosophy is if you need something, then why not buy it used and support organizations with the money you spend. Additionally, there are many jewels to be found like the legitimate Coach leather purse I found at a thrift store once for $10. At the second hand market, I paid a small price for a bag I could fill with as many things as I could. I didn’t find anything too exciting, but I did find some clothes that were cute.

One of my goals from the second hand market was to find skinny jeans. In Norway, almost everyone wears skinny jeans whereas I wear flare jeans. This difference in dress attire makes me stick out like a sore thumb. Wearing skinny jeans would allow me to better fit in on campus and with the Norwegian culture. I do have one pair of skinny jeans, but I have decided to embrace my own fashion. It’s only superficial and there is more to who I am than what I wear. And plus, who knows maybe flare jeans will come back to Europe again.

Later in the night, the ISU showed a movie in the administrative building on campus. The movie was “Across the Universe” which is a favorite of mine. If you haven’t seen it, it is a movie that uses the Beatles’ music as a backdrop to a love story that takes place during the Vietnam War. During the movie, I thought a lot about my boyfriend David and home.

On our walk home, Callie and I discussed the challenges we would be facing while in Tromsø for the semester. Luckily we have each other, and now I understand why God sent both of us together. Before heading home, we stopped at the Coop, a grocery store, right next to our hostel to grab some food. At this point we still had not bought groceries since we did not have access to our money at the university yet. Fortunately, I still had money that I acquired in Fargo before the trip. With the money I bought yogurt and bread.

At the store we ran into a friend named Adnan, another international student from Pakistan who is pursuing his master’s in geology at the university. Since Adnan also lives in Stakkevollan, we walked back with him upon which he invited us over for dinner. The dinner was fantastic and it was great way to spend a Saturday night.

That night a prayer was answered. While in the grocery store, I realized how expensive the food truly was. I am very frugal so the thought of spending all that money on food was overwhelming. However, the meal I had at Adnan’s with Callie was reassurance that everything will be okay. I have already made my budget, and I plan on sticking to it.