A place to call home

Lets just start off by saying that for those of you that don't yet know- I have somewhere to live!!! Yipeeeeeee!

I'm not sure there is really a huge amount to tell.  This weekend I visited 2 flats, but remember I visited 8 when I came out here with Mum before.  Rather than waste your time telling you about the one I didn't pick I'll tell you about this one!  I'm living in a 2 bed flat with a girl from France that is working out here.  I have a nice room which I have added my own touches to after a trip to Ikea! (Quite exciting getting a flat pack desk, a chair, a rug, a mirror and other bits on and off the metro/tram!) I have internet (essential!) and a dishwasher, washing machine and dryer which is great.

Going to spend some time with Mum and Dad over the next couple of days.  I have to go to ISTI for a meeting on Thursday and they leave on Friday.

I'm sure there was plenty more for me to be telling you but it has escaped me so that will do for now :)

Night x

♫ Adieu, adieu to you and you and you ♫

The time has come for me to write my last blog post from the UK until I come back at Christmas.  Ideally I'd like to be writing this knowing that I'm off to Brussels to move in to my new home and can worry about other things like making sure I have a mobile phone etc but as you'll know by now that just wasn't to be!  Instead I'm off to spend at least a few nights on the sofa at the apartment my parents are renting for the week.  I have a few flats lined up, one tomorrow, one Sunday and one Monday so fingers crossed I'll be able to have one of them.

I'm looking forward to it all now, but I won't be happy about it all until I'm sorted out, I just want to get started on the basis that the quicker I start classes etc, the quicker it will be Christmas and the quicker I'll be home again (or so that is the theory).

I guess I don't really have anything much to say.  I don't know when the next post will be but it will no doubt be when I actually have somewhere to live- without that there won't be much point in writing!

Aurevoir Angleterre.

♫ It's the final countdown ♪

I'm going to have that song in my head for a long time now I'm sure but never mind.

In 2 days time I will be in London waiting for the Eurostar to take my parents and I to Brussels.  Luckily for my lack of housing situation my parents are coming out and staying in an apartment for a week so it at least gives me half a chance of finding somewhere and moving in without resorting to a hostel.  We've (and by we I mean mostly Mum whilst I've been in Stafford-Thank you Mummy!) been looking on all the websites we can find for rooms.  We've got one appointment booked up and have sent some more messages so hopefully another few should come out of it.  I'll spare you from the nightmare-ish stories I've heard about other people trying to find accomodation, but just put it this way, Brussels is not that easy for an Erasmus student only staying for 5 months- believe me!

I guess I better get started on the packing tonight, very unlike me to have done as little as I have so far but I just haven't been at home enough to do it- which I'm fully aware is my own fault, but worth it because I got to see Nicola, Katy, Henry and Luke before I leave which is nice.

I'm just looking forward to getting out there now, finding myself somewhere to live, meeting people and getting on with it!  The fact that I'm going to have to speak French at some point is in the back of my mind but it may come sooner rather than later as some of the adverts I've been replying to are just in French.  In fact I think my only confirmed appointment is French.... wish me luck!

Now you see it....now you don't!

Yesterday I recieved a message telling me that, despite the guarantee that the room was mine, despite the phone call and despite having sent me the contract my landlady-to-be had let my room to someone else.  The best part was that she said "I know you'll be dissappointed" "Good luck in your search" and sent me a link to a B&B website!  As if that is going to help me for 5 months....

Angry, upset, frustrated it doesn't even begin to cover it.

So, I'm back to square one and on the search again.  At least I'm making the most of my appartager membership that we paid for... Wish me luck everyone!

I will be in Brussels a week today.

Nothing is ever quite as straight forward as it seems...

This is going to be a quick one today but just to keep those of you that are interested in the loop.

I recieved a 7 page long contract, in French, for the room.  Well, I do say I want to go into Legal Translation, maybe it's a good start?  All well and good I thought, but some things are a bit confusing and a bit akward, one of them being setting up a standing order, easier said than done to an international account.  I also found out I've not seen a  picture of the room I will actually be having, so will be waiting a little longer. The rest of what I have seen looks really nice and I've spoken to my potential landlady and she sounds very friendly.  Fingers crossed all goes well, I should know pretty much by the end of the week!

As far as other progress goes I have a small pile of things to pack so far, not including anything essential like clothes. Leaving in 9 days and probably less than 50% ready!

The Brussels house hunt saga

So, this weekend Mum and I went to Brussels to visit some rooms and find me somewhere to live when I start at ISTI.  This came after weeks and weeks of searching a lining up appointments.  We left England with 4 appointments and actually managed to see 8 rooms by the end of the weekend.  However, did I have anywhere to live by the end of the weekend? Of course not.  This is how the weekend went...

Brussels Fact: It is 242 miles away from home if you drive, that makes it 36 miles closer than driving to Lancaster.  So much for a year abroad!  

The first house we went to see was amazing.  There are no other words for it.  It was a newly renovated  house (not actually finished yet) all brand new furniture, well decorated.  Perfect, we thought.  About half way through the viewing  the landlord tells us that he doesn't accept students.  So we told him that I am a student, he looks a bit taken-aback but continues to show us around and that its not really a problem.  We leave the house on a high.  This is the one.  So, once we're back at the hotel I text and email him to say we definitely want the room and we spend the rest of the evening waiting for his reply whilst planning what we're going to do with the rest of the weekend now we don't need to keep house hunting.  By the morning we still haven't heard back so we decide to call.

"Sorry Rebecca, it's not you, you're a lovely girl and I'd love to give you the room but I've got to stick to my rule of not taking students".  

He was dumping me before it had even begun, "it's not you, it's me" and he hadn't even had the guts to say it to my face.  With this, we were back at square one!  Onwards and upwards.  Didn't want your silly room with views over the city anyway...

Over the course of the weekend we saw a room with no windows and a sofa bed to sleep on, a room where "the plants (including a large palm tree) must stay, the flat is feng shui" and a room that was barely furnished amongst others.  Another really good room came along but they already has someone interested that wanted the room for 12 months.  We even booked a very last minute viewing just to have him cancel on us.

We left Brussels without having found somewhere for me to stay.  Typical.

Once we got back to England I checked my email, "You have a new message from an Appartager* member"
This message was from a lady I have been waiting for a reply from for over a week, I think she's been away, it was always a lovely looking house, big rooms.  In short I loved it.  She was offering me the chance to go and visit.  Now that I was back in England. Great.  I emailed her back, on the off chance that she will let me take the room without meeting her which I didn't think was likely.  But.....she said yes!  She is going to send me some photos this evening and then if that is all ok she will send me a contract to sign.  Watch this space but I might not have to borrow a tent or sleep in a cardboard box.

Lesson: No matter how much preparation you do, you still might not find what you're looking for.  Good luck to anyone else going out on their year abroad and sorting out accommodation.  To those of you who had a room sorted out for you by your school/uni/employer, I hope you appreciate how lucky you are!

Now for my last 11 days in the UK, scary times!

*Appartager is the flat share site I've been using to search for rooms.