The things I swore I'd never do again...

...but that I am doing anyway:

-using my credit card to make it until the end of the month;
-eating peanut butter for breakfast, lunch and dinner;
-wearing the same socks two days on a row;
-drinking too much on a Monday evening;
-shaving only once every four days;
-reading the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung while I should be studying;
-waking up on a Friday at 10.30;
-having a three day weekend;
-having coffee breaks five times a day;
-having coffee seven times a day;
-going Dutch on a bill;
-going to recruitment events;
-copying other peoples notes;
-having to share the bathroom with more than 4 four others;
-not making my own money.

I am a student, and it shows. Some things are just stronger than me....

My dorm is an endless source for stories. Not so much horror stories, but more the kind of stories that make you feel like we are back in the fifties. Taking into account that we are seeing a new sort of conservatism and romantic reveille in Europe, in which we tend to go back to old days, this seems to be a very normal phenomenon.

This weekend a friend of mine was coming to visit. Since he thought it was wiser to spend his money in a bar than on a hotel, he asked whether he could stay in my dorm, as my friends did when i still lived in Sarajevo.

Issue: article 8 of my house rules states that no-one can stay in my room after 22.00, and no-one is allowed to stay over, unless with explicit written permission of the 'lord of the manor'! So much for any form of spontaneous visits.

But since I knew my friend was coming, I wrote to the lord of the manor, requesting to make an exception to the rule, and whether it was, pretty please with sugar on top, possible to let him stay in my dorm. To days later I got a letter back. Initially I thought it was from a law firm- it looked very formal and legalistic. However, an exception could be made: congratulations.

As a jurist I like clear rules. Still, it feels a bit as if I am living with my parents again. However, they were never this strict on me, not even when I was in the difficult age of a teenager But if I am treated like one here, maybe I should start behaving like one as well. So me case, su casa est. Down with the system!!

Btw and on a serious note: I do not live in Bosnia anymore (sic!). It is a shame, because there are a lot of interesting political spiels going on right now. Keep following the news, I would say. I wonder whether the political situation in Kosovo will trigger any more tensions in Bosnia, but it would not surprise me. Coming months are interesting times in the former Yugoslavia...