Turning 25 y.o. in Enschede, a nice restaurant ?

This is just to give you a glimpse about having a birthday abroad, far from your family and best friends, and also in the middle oh hectic week of projects (and also because it is my birthday so I am allowed to write whatever I want). Usually I am not that excited about birthdays (my own ones), but this time I was kind of nervous because I would be turning 25, which is a crucial age for Indonesian culture. Females in my age are normally already been 2 years married or starting to get married. My own best friend is having her little baby last year and more of them are in the process of engagement or at least to have the reception next January. So, I could not lie if it also stresses me out that this age is really a sign that there is no room to be childish anymore. For, me this is like a new point where I need to be more serious about everything, and behave more properly (of course without losing the inner kid I have). 

Well, turns out that yesterday I got so many surprises from my classmates, my neighbors and my Indonesian fellas. In the morning, it started with the well-made videos which was a compilation of my Indonesian friends in Czech Republic (I went to Prague for last semester) greeting me. Then after class, my classmates booked a room and bought a lot of snacks and ordered food from near-by kebab shop which was surprisingly delicious. We ate a lot and we had 2 cakes. Christine gave me a very delicious spring roll from the canteen and It was so nice. They even got me nachos and cheese sauce without knowing it was my favourite. The girls bought everything the day before in the city, I mean, between the work load and the weather, it was really a sweet effort from them. Here in Twente, you can book room and they seriously have thousands of rooms you can use to study or everything. We were super full with all these delicious food and snacks. Then we played Jenga block but we were lots of people so we played werewolf instead. This game really suits us well and we were all Oscar actors and actresses while playing this in every occassion. 

After, I went to to have Colloid group work until 6 PM then went to city center with an Indonesian girl to have a proper dinner in an Asian restaurant called Asaka. Oh my God, the interior was so nice and felt like Korean grill interior. I regret not taking the all you can eat package for 25 eur per person because all the food are so nice. I mean, most of sushi place in Europe I tasted so far was kind of fail but this one is perfect. We ordered beef udon, salmon sashimi, salmon sushi and tuna rolls. Their services are also so warm, friendly and fast. I dropped my chopsticks then the waiter politely replace it. I feel like in Indonesia. We were happily full that night and stolled along the city center a little bit. It was bad that nothing is opened except the block where we had restaurants and pubs. I mean, it would be extra perfect if we can stil also go to the shops.

We went home by bus and took our bike from campus. I did not expect that my neighbors are cooking and preparing surprises for me. They are so sweet! They wanted to buy a cake at Albert Heijn but it was rainy today. My neighbors are from India mostly, Vietnam and Egypt. I invited them to the second birthday dinner the next day also. From now on, we decided we will cook together every Friday night. I feel like the series I watch about cohabitation is real now.

The second day, I did not go to the Enschede farmer's market as usual because I was too lazy. I woke up late and spent the morning calling my friend in Portugal and finally have the motivation to understand again my colloid paper and write something about the answers. Then I wrote a blog post before catching the bus for our dinner. It is Poco Mucho Argentinian grill restaurant in city center. Unfortunately, my classmate and my neighbors could not come, so it was only me, Ana, her boyfriend, Tristan and Christine. Actually, it was supposed to me girls night out at first. I had to reserve the place and yes it was so crowded and the interior was so warm and nice. Ana ordered Argentinian speciality which is the Argentinian signature's chorizo, Tristan ordered spare ribs and I shared a mix plate with Christine which has literally everything. I have to say that everything was so nice, the salad, the french fries, the potato, the sauce, the kebabs, the pork medallion, the ribs, it was so nice and was only around 17-20 eur per person for this high quality grills. At the end they even gave us free chocolate which is also good. The services were so nice and polite. I will surely come back to poco mucho. You can find the menu here: http://pocomucho-enschede.nl

We then strolled along the city center for awhile and then went back. I always feel guilty after spending time outside so I tried to study mass transfer for awhile. So far, Enschede really proposes a lot of restaurant and people here enjoy eating outside. Almost all places are full so I can tell that they are good restaurants if they survive until now in a little town like Enschede. I have to admit a really had a blast on my 25th birthday, before coming here I thought that it would be so dark and dump but I was wrong. Looking forward to taste new restaurants in Enschede. I am truly grateful for this master program and all the cities that have welcomed me in the past year. 

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