The past week was a whirlwind of life happening. The good news is that I’ve learned that I can manage through crappy situations as a resident of Europe. The bad news is that I ran into a number of crappy situations in the first place! I’ll just point out two, because the first relates to the title of my post, and the second is just an example of on-the-fly craftiness, ha.
- I was about to sign a lease for an apartment near the EU Commission, and as I began to tell people my good news, a) colleagues had worried looks on their faces and told me which streets to avoid, and b) the landlord asked me multiple times for cash (not cool). At about 5 p.m. after talking with one more colleague, I broke down and decided that this apartment wasn’t for me after all. I told the landlord I just was not willing to do business with them. (Sidenote: I considered blogging the nasty response I received from the landlord’s rep, but at the end of the day, the response made me that much more certain that I didn’t want to work with them.)
- After realizing that I needed to be back on the market for apartments, I had to work late on Monday, which resulted in me being over an hour late for my French class. On my way home afterwards, I broke my shoe. I was literally a half-an-hour away from home, with a broken sandal. Fortunately I had many bobbypins in my hair that day, so I used them to “pin” back together my sandal and made it home. Crafty, right??
Okay, so you’re sitting there thinking, “Steph! Get on with it! Why is this post titled ‘Home, at last’?”. I’ll tell you why: after spending all day yesterday online looking at advertisements, playing with different search options, trying to respond to French advertisements in French, I received a phone call. The woman was calling about a place I had sent two emails to, and she mentioned that she had a tenant-couple lined up and who were haggling slightly too much about the conditions of the lease agreement. She said, “I would much rather have you if you like the place, because then we can talk about Chicago!” And boy, did we when I viewed the place this morning!
I’ve pasted a few pictures here for you to get a sense of the apartment. I love it, I really do. In fact, at one point I got so happy that I nearly cried. It just felt like home. You know? The landlord additionally offered to give me a day to think it over, and to come out to my office at the end of the day tomorrow so we can sign. Then I get the bank agreement on Tuesday, we schedule the “professional assessment” for Wednesday, and I move in at the weekend, as the soonest.
So, at the end of the day, I ask you to please keep your fingers crossed. I really like this place and it would be a big disappointment if it didn’t work out.
