So I was invited to a dinner party in the flat across from mine tonight, and it was really nice to meet people and have fun. 🙂 Three of them were straight from China, my friend Natalie from Singapore, a Sri-Lankan girl, and a Russian guy. It was surreal to hear so many foreign languages being spoken around the table: Natalie would often translate Mandarin into English for us when our Chinese friends couldn’t find the right words in English. I said a couple things in Korean and Japanese. Our Russian mate taught us a bit of Russian and Norwegian because he could speak it. Cantonese. A bit of French. It was great because everyone mainly used English to make sure everyone was included and understood at the very root of the dinner conversation. Plus the food was delicious. I was given a lot of different Chinese treats that I had never tried before.

(ASIAN FOOD. There was more than this – I should have taken more photos! Next time.)

The people themselves – all studying for their master’s degrees – were all very friendly and great to talk to. I’m finding the international students a lot easier to connect with than Norwegian first years for sure. I can’t wait until next week where I’ll be able to meet with more people from the international community. Plus swing dancing on Monday! 😀

There will be more dinner (and baking parties) for sure as the weeks go on. As my Norwegian room-mate told me, in Aas, since there isn’t much to do, it is the people that bring life to the town and campus life.