Hey guys,
It's been a little while, but it was time to update a bit.
So I'm now all moved into the new apartment with my new roommate, Alejandro. To be honest, it was a very stressful week, and not just because of moving stuff, but it's done and these last few days have been much better, if not perfect.
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But a little about the moving part: So I had to have all my stuff out by midnight on the 29th (as per the request of my crazy/paranoid/rude/bizarre landlord. And being the poor students that we are, we just put what we could in our suitcases and bags and lugged those from one apartment to the other..making about 5 trips. We no doubtedly looked ridiculous all laden down like we were on the metro, but whatevs, it was much cheaper than renting a moving truck or whatnot.
Unlike my last apartment, which is kept solely for the purpose of being rented out, this new one is normally lived in by our landlord. She's renting it out to us for the next three months while she's on a trip through southeast Asia. There's pros and cons to this:
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Pros:
-She has just about all the home supplies we could want
-More home-y feel
-Because it's actually lived, it's been updated over the years (fairly new floors, tile, walls)
-Her CD collection, half of which I'm going to rip onto my computer
-Recipe book collection, some of which are exotique
-Wifi
-Has a semi-big tv
-Washer
-The shower has a shower head holder!
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Cons:
-Even with all the home supplies, she doesn't have a coffee maker or spaghetti strainer (apparently not a coffee drinker, which is verrry rare in Paris)
-The more home-y feel is due in part to all of her stuff that she left behind, which hasn't left a lot of room for ours..
-The apartment gets steamy really easily for some reason, even when the heater is off
-No couch, and
-She has a pretty large table for the living room, but as we're only two and that's also where Alejandro sleeps, it's kind of annoying
-Wifi sucks half the time (shares with a neighbor and the modem isn't in her place)
-The tv has no cable and only a VHS player=useless/takes up more room
-I'd almost prefer a dryer (=jeans that don't sag easily)
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I'm going to be perfectly honest now about the whole having a roommate again: I definitely miss my alone time. I suppose I've always been more of a independent person who can deal with solidarity well and enjoyed cleaness, plus doing what I want, when I wanted it. Alejandro is no longer in school here and is instead looking for an intership or job, which means that so far, I have yet to be in the apartment all by myself because he's always here.
But having a roommate again is kinda nice, too. I hadn't realized that I'd begun to really miss daily interaction with a fellow American--not to mention fellow Washingtonian, as Alejandro is from Spokane-- (something I hadn't had as often last semester). And we have similar interests, big one being Hispanic food (he's also Cuban, which isn't Mexican, but close enough). He may not be as neat or cook and clean as well as I can, but I think I just need to keep being insistent/persistent. (He's already gotten better on a few things.) As for the alone time, he told me just earlier that he has a job interview lined up, so hopefully that will give him something to do. Also, it's just been nice having someone to sit down and have dinner with every night.
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Now, just gotta hope my old landlord gives me my deposit back and/or doesn't take money out from it. She'd orginally said she come back at the end of February, but I guess she couldn't be bothered, so now it's either the 11th or 15th of March. Only about another week or so to go..
Wish me luck!
Rachael
Showing posts with label roommate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label roommate. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
Oh snap a cold snap
Greetings to everyone :)
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Just checking in, I assure you, despite the freezing temperatures that Paris has recently gotten, I'm still alive (though barely leaving my apartment...or my heater for that matter).
It's a chilly--if sunny--27 degrees F right now. There hasn't been enough precipitation for snow yet, but that's expected to change sometime in the next few days. It's been over a year since I've seen snow in Paris, so it should be nice. And as I don't have to drive, and the metro is underground, even better!
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I'm a few days into my break now, and I've got until the 20th of this month to laze around. I'm kidding, actually I want to make this as productive as possible, especially since I ended my semester strong. (I did pretty good on my French finals:) ) Last night, I made myself go over some of the review packet I'd made a few weeks prior. Because what's the use of acing finals if the slate is wiped clean a few weeks later?
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I mentioned that I was planning on moving, and now the date is set. I have to be out of here by the end of this month, though unfortunately I have yet to strike lucky in finding a place. The good news though: I've now got a future roommmate. His name is Alejandro and he's also part of the ISA program, but was attending the business school. He'd been wanting to switch to independent living for a while now, so when I decided to move, it was perfect. I have to admit, that at the beginning of the year I was really happy I'd gotten my own place, but over the course of the last couple months reality kind of sunk in and I realized that having one's own place is more expensive than sharing, especially in Paris. But as I know Alejandro well enough and I'm not getting placed with some random person, the economical factor is definitely worth it.
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However, finding an available and decent 2-bedroom apartment hasn't been easy. I must've e-mailed about 20 different owners already, but all of them have replied that the place had been rented. We kind of have a suspicion that maybe it's because we mentioned we're foreigners in our e-mail...;/ Regardless, we both need a place by the end of this month, and so will probably have to actually call some of the people and hope for a more favorable response. (And hope that our French is good enough and/or that the person doesn't speak too fast..)
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Well, maybe I should go out and do something, despite the chill. I can at least take advantage of the couple hours of daylight, right? The bookstore and then maybe a cafe sounds like a nice idea..;)
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Love you all,
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Rachael
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Just checking in, I assure you, despite the freezing temperatures that Paris has recently gotten, I'm still alive (though barely leaving my apartment...or my heater for that matter).
It's a chilly--if sunny--27 degrees F right now. There hasn't been enough precipitation for snow yet, but that's expected to change sometime in the next few days. It's been over a year since I've seen snow in Paris, so it should be nice. And as I don't have to drive, and the metro is underground, even better!
-
I'm a few days into my break now, and I've got until the 20th of this month to laze around. I'm kidding, actually I want to make this as productive as possible, especially since I ended my semester strong. (I did pretty good on my French finals:) ) Last night, I made myself go over some of the review packet I'd made a few weeks prior. Because what's the use of acing finals if the slate is wiped clean a few weeks later?
-
I mentioned that I was planning on moving, and now the date is set. I have to be out of here by the end of this month, though unfortunately I have yet to strike lucky in finding a place. The good news though: I've now got a future roommmate. His name is Alejandro and he's also part of the ISA program, but was attending the business school. He'd been wanting to switch to independent living for a while now, so when I decided to move, it was perfect. I have to admit, that at the beginning of the year I was really happy I'd gotten my own place, but over the course of the last couple months reality kind of sunk in and I realized that having one's own place is more expensive than sharing, especially in Paris. But as I know Alejandro well enough and I'm not getting placed with some random person, the economical factor is definitely worth it.
-
However, finding an available and decent 2-bedroom apartment hasn't been easy. I must've e-mailed about 20 different owners already, but all of them have replied that the place had been rented. We kind of have a suspicion that maybe it's because we mentioned we're foreigners in our e-mail...;/ Regardless, we both need a place by the end of this month, and so will probably have to actually call some of the people and hope for a more favorable response. (And hope that our French is good enough and/or that the person doesn't speak too fast..)
-
Well, maybe I should go out and do something, despite the chill. I can at least take advantage of the couple hours of daylight, right? The bookstore and then maybe a cafe sounds like a nice idea..;)
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Love you all,
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Rachael
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