A Love Letter to My Kollegium

A quick preface: I know I said my next post would be about ranking my solo travel experiences — don't worry that's coming very soon! I've been traveling for spring/Easter break and I've come to realize that every time I'm away from my roommates for more than a few days, I start to miss them! So this is a little appreciation post for them — and for Nimbus, the kollegium I live in.

Dear Nimbus,

It’s 7:30pm and your kitchen is loud in the best way. The table is full with laptops, notebooks, groceries, half-eaten meals, and no one is really doing just one thing. We’re (hardly) working, cooking, venting, laughing. No one planned to be here at the same time.

Suddenly it’s 9:45pm and Gustav realizes he needs to get groceries to make dinner before Netto closes at 10pm. He comes back with a pack of tortellini.

It’s just past 10pm and we’re still sitting around the table. This might be one of my favorite parts of studying abroad.

You make life easy in small ways. You’re sandwiched between two Nettos, which makes grocery shopping so convenient. There’s a shortcut to føtex that, to me, feels like a life hack because it makes the bike ride just a minute shorter. You’re in a quieter neighborhood, one of the more affluent ones, and there’s something about coming back to you after a long day that feels calm in a way the city center doesn’t. You’re close enough to everything. A 15-20 minute bike ride to class which is just enough to convince me to bike instead of taking the metro. And on days I don’t feel like it, you make it easy to compromise. A 5 minute bike ride to the metro and I’m on my way. You’re right next to Frederiksberg Gardens, which still doesn’t feel real. I can walk there when I need a break, run when I feel motivated (this has only been twice...), or just people-watch. And there are elephants that you can see from the zoo!

But more than anything, you gave me the right people. I guess this is also a love letter to the people you brought into my life.

Lena, for being the kind of roommate people hope for but don’t always get. For making a shared room feel so easy. For being so thoughtful and kind in the small, everyday ways that matter more than anything else. I still remember when we first texted each other, and how surprised I was by how similar we were. It felt like a good sign, and it definitely was.

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Lauren, for always being down for anything, whether it’s cooking something new, going somewhere random, or being my guinea pig for a class project. You bring such energy that always brightens the space and makes everything feel a little lighter.

Gustav, for making this experience feel more local, more real, and more grounded.

Matthias, for introducing us to gypsy jazz, for being just a little older and a little wiser, and for the fact that somewhere, no matter where we are, we’ll keep our Duolingo streak going (don’t break it or the owl will come for you!).

At the time, I didn’t know how much those application answers would matter. But I see it now — in the people you brought together, and in the way everything here just works. Now, our flat feels like the center of everything. It feels lived in, with a fridge covered in magnets from around the world, a whiteboard with drawings of all previous residents’ faces, a Trainspotting poster, a love guru poster (this one’s very weird), and other random things I personally would not have added myself but have come to love.

Most of my favorite moments with you aren’t monumental by any means. They’re the kind that repeat themselves until they become a habit. Sometimes we’re all just sitting around the table doing work. And for some reason, that’s one of my favorite feelings. It reminds me of being a kid, doing homework at the same table my mom worked.

You became the kind of place where I can walk in excited about my day, or exhausted and annoyed, and just say it. Whether it’s something important or to complain about how the dryers are always broken.

Some memories stand out more clearly. Like when we went to an Argentine tango class. Dancing With the Stars made it look easy. It was definitely not. (It was even harder when your partner also didn’t know what they were doing). Or going to Reffen, sitting around a fire and talking. I’m usually skeptical of street food but it was actually so good. Or dinner at Gustav’s home, where we got to meet his family, see the school we went to, and eat the best ice cream cake I’ve had in a long time (thank you to Gustav’s mom!). Or signing Gustav’s cast during the last few days he had it. He very intentionally let us do it only when he wouldn’t be around people, but even he admitted that it turned out great (you’re welcome, Gustav).

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I know I still have a month here (but it's only a month!!). I'll be sad to leave because I won’t just be leaving a place. I’ll be leaving a version of everyday life that I didn’t even know I needed. 

The kind where it’s 7:30pm and everyone somehow ends up at the table. Where dinner turns into conversations that last hours.

I also know that this isn’t the end — we’ve already talked about seeing each other again, being in the same place over the summer, and continuing something that started here.

Nimbus, you were just supposed to be temporary study abroad housing.

But somehow, you became home.

Love,

Jessie