i was looking for a place to stay for a couple of nights in Oslo. I googled and i found a hostel which i liked. i tried to book online but there was a problem with my card. when i checked the hostel's website the following day, it was fully booked. i was so annoyed. i still had one hostel in mind but it's a little outside of Oslo already. so, one day, i called the hostel in the heart of Oslo city, the one which i really liked, and asked if they still have an available bed for their "shared-room". happiness swept over me when the woman on the phone said yes. voila! she arranged a booking for me!
now came friday.
it took me at least an hour to find the hostel. i have no sense of direction, alright! and when i found it, i was, mmmm....i felt quite weird. i buzzed on the door and i was in in a flash. i didn't like the smell. old cigarette smoke smell. but, well...i didn't mean to be so judgmental. besides, it was the only place which i can afford to pay. okay. proceed...i got my key from the receptionist and went straight to my assigned room.
the room was wide enough for the 5 of us who will be sharing it. i got the widest bed in the room. oh, what a treat! i was the first one to arrive too! i wanted to hit the sheets already, since i had a headache and i needed the rest for the exam the following day. but i thought better of it, grabbed my jacket and went out again. it was only 4 in the afternoon, after all.
i got back to the hostel at 6. i took a shower and got ready for bed. i fell asleep around half past seven. an hour later, a was awakened by the clicking sound of the key on the door. oh well, here comes my roommate/s. they tried to be as quiet as possible when they got into the room. whispering like old chinese women. they didn't even put the lights on. how considerate. they didn't want to wake me up. i wiggled on my bed and tried to figure them out in the darkness. holy cow! they were male species! guys, men, lalaki! and there were two of them! panic attack! i covered myself with my comforter. i didn't know what to do. should i run out of the room and ask the receptionist, WHY are there men in my assigned room? should i get my pen, the only deadly weapon that i had in my bag and have it in my hand throughout the night? i couldn't breath under the sheets. i felt trickles of sweat on my forehead. i didn't move until i could hear their silent whispers no more.
i tried to gather my thoughts. is this the way all these hostels in oslo work? was i just ignorant about these stuffs? what should i do?
after a long time of thinking and just staring blank at the wall, i decided to just go back to sleep, relaxed my mind for the exam the next day, resolved to the idea that all humans are, in nature, good. and those two guys would do me no harm.
i fell back to sleep until 3 in the morning when a loud sound woke me up. i thought it was my alarm. already? i needed more sleep! my subconsciousness wavered. i realized the loud sound was the fire alarm. i didn't panic or felt scared. i felt really annoyed! i wanted to sleep! but the alarm was just going and going and going. so i got up and by then i realized that there's another man in the room. it was me and the three of them. they weren't bothered by the alarm at all. i got out of my bed and opened the door just when someone shouted "false alarm"! i let out a loud "urggghhh!" in annoyance.
it was in light of saturday morning when the strangers and i acknowledged each other. i said "good morning" to them and went out of the room in a rush. what else was there to say to strangers whom you've spent a night in a room with?
there will be no next time. that's for sure!
No comments:
Post a Comment