I have finally found a new apartment! Whohooo!!
I moved to Oslo from Tromsø in August 2003 to start working for Opera Software. When I moved here, Opera provided me with a shared apartment to stay in temporarily while looking for a place of my own. A year and a half later, I found myself still living in an Opera apartment.
The benefits of living in a company apartment are plenty; no security deposit, no extra bills for electricity and such, no need to buy furniture, in short; everything is just laid out for you. The biggest problem for me has been that when Marianne has come to visit, we have really wanted a place of our own, for several reasons. There is also the TV issue when you share with other people; it’s not always easy to find common grounds for what to watch, and you can’t plan to watch a show or a football match in advance since you don’t know if the TV will be available when you come home. All in all, it’s been nice living in a shared house, and I’ve learned a few things about myself in the process. However, it’s about time to move on.
Last week I saw an ad about a small apartment being available for rent right next to where I currently live (which is about 5 minutes walking-distance from work).Since then, things have happened quickly: I went to see the apartment on monday, got a telephone later the same day from a woman telling me that I got the apartment, signed the contract on wednesday, got the keys thursday, and started moving on friday.
Right now, I’m waiting for some people from IKEA to call me so I can run home and help them carry in my new furniture: a loft bed, a sofa, a table, and some other stuff. The grand total of my IKEA shopping spree was 7500 NOK, and I still have some more stuff I need to get. Moving is expensive!
So, I will soon be the proud tenant (wish I could replace tenant with owner) of a 22 square meter apartment. I know, the size will be a problem, but there’s a storage room in the cellar, we’re buying a loft bed, and Marianne and I both have our mind set on doing the best of the situation. The biggest pro is that the rent is only 4900 NOK pr month, so we’ll be able to set aside a fair amount of money each month and save up to buy our own apartment in the hopefully-not-so-distant future.
Congrats with the new appartement! That\’s a prety big change in such a short amount of time! \r\n\r\n4900 for 22 square meter? That must be 22 beautiful meters!
Thanks!
\r\n\r\nIt\’s really expensive for such a small apartment, but it\’s 4 minutes from work, has a 6 square meter storage room in the cellar, and has good standard, so it\’s fair enough. Also, now that I have such a small apartment I finally have a good excuse to throw out the old 19\” CRT and buy a new 17\” LCD instead 
And when you get a larger apartment, that would be an excuse to upgrade for 17\” LCD to 19\” LCD…
Congratulations on your new shack!
*sniff* *sniff*\r\nI smell a PARTY!!!