emo nemo

was talking to T over lunch and somehow stockholm crept into the conversation. putting it in context, the only other time i've lived away from home was for that six glorious months in 2009. 

i was in a completely different place then. it was the first semester of final year, i had a job waiting for me, and all i had to do was pass two (!!!) classes at stockholm uni and i was home free. it helped that the classes were taught one before the other, so at any given time, i was only studying one subject. what a luxury! and we had something like six hours of contact time a week. as you can imagine, my time in stockholm was literally a six month long party. having next to no responsibilities was the best. plus, being able to speak english made me the one eyed man in the land of the blind so classes were really manageable. in retrospect, two years on, i think i'm still partied-out from stocks!

now, i'm living away from home again but this time my academic performance really matters! and that's not something i'm used to, having somehow associated living abroad with hedonism and not much else. so i need to stop comparing this with stockholm because that was an amazing experience never to be repeated. but i do miss my stockholm flat and housemates so. this lot is a far cry from the swedish coordination and efficiency i enjoyed. over here, i've to pay to use the on site laundry room. grumble.

posted this in november 2009 and glad i did because they were a really good bunch :)

spontaneous feeding frenzy

i really like my corridor.

according to Kjell, the corridor-dad because he's lived here three years and counting, we really lucked out this time. every single corridor dweller is nice. and while nice is never enough (if you're looking for a soul mate or something) it pretty much suffices for communal living. all the horrors of college dorms somehow don't exist in our little piece of stockholm. the kitchen's always impeccably tidy, the corridor elf (we take turns so it's only your turn every three months) does its duty with aplomb and our inter-personal relationships are cheery. everyone gets along, no politics, just a lot of good-natured ribbing. it's a circus every night at 8ish when we congregate and get in each other's way, in a good way. Kjell tackles Ayumi-san, Piotr restrains Kjell, someone helps locate Ayumi-san's misplaced slipper, Fariba rolls her eyes at our childish antics, i'm cowering somewhere trying not to watch the latest slasher flick on tv. good times :)

and like tonight, Krishna very kindly cooked me tandoori! i didn't realise how obviously i'd been lusting over his dinner but he offered to make me chicken and i couldn't say no. and he made 1kg for me :D so i've plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow, maybe even dinner. mhmmm :) we cook in ways that reflect our individual cultural heritage - indian Krishna cooks curry, japanese Ayumi-san does miso soup, swedish Kjell does swedish caviar on hard bread with cucumbers, Yulan's brother cooks delicious smelling chinese stew, polish Piotr eats something salty (tonight he helped me eat my zucchine e panna because i'd gone a bit heavy on the salt and couldn't stomach it myself) and i steam / fry / boil pork that's pushing expiry.

i wish i'd more time with them but i don't stay in as often as i should. that's one of the reasons why i cherish my sundays so. it's the one day i don't go out / talk to anyone / do anything. i nua at home, pig out on chocolate and chips, gulp tea by the gallon, read trashy magazines and while the day away. i love waking up in the morning and knowing that there's absolutely nothing i need to do. talk about the absence of responsibility! amazing stuff.

what's one thing you learnt living away from home? i'd love to be clued in.