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Published: February 5th 2012
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So February 1
finally rolled around, and I was
finally able to get the keys to my apartment! It was a super hectic day, but it all got worked out in the end, thank goodness, meaning I have my own super beautiful place!
The morning of the first, I had to move out of the hostel and take my luggage with me to school, because I couldn't get my keys until 2pm. So I'm rushed, panicking (just a little...) and trying to corral all my things and get out and get to class for 9am. So this is fine, except when I lug all my worldly possessions on this side of the world to the bus stop, we have a problem.
In Utrecht, 1/3 citizens is a student. That's right. In this enormous city of 300,000 (enormous for me, coming from Red Deer and Leth Vegas), almost 100,000 of the people here attend post-secondary. Unreal, right? This means that the public transport system that goes between Utrecht Centraal Station and De Uithof, the campus, is amazing. At peak hours, busses run every 5-10 minutes. They are also crammed. I've basically had to sit in laps already.
So I'm
kitchen
looove the kitchen, really tiny but functional. that dick, in a bus crammed so full people can't even move, with my carry-on (enormous lululemon gym bag), MEC backpack, and suitcase. Yup. Nothing says, "Hey, I'm super foreign!!" like me, Wednesday morning. Good lanta. So I finally make it to campus, and have to drag my belongings up three flights of stairs to my classroom, only to realize after I'd accomplished this feat (yeah, my biceps are huge, what of it?) that there was an elevator right behind me. My mood at this point is not so hot.
At 1pm, class let out and I headed down to the Short Stay Housing office beside the Faculty of Law and Society, which I have class in. I can't even describe what it looked like in there. It was packed with international students and all their luggage. People were sitting in every available chair, beanbag, leaning against walls, sitting on the floor, waiting patiently and not-so-patiently to receive their keys.
I finally got my keys and headed to my tower - Bisschoppen. It's right behind/on top of the Faculty of Law and Society. There are 18 floors, and the first is a lobby, the next three belong to
hallway
i love love love the coloured doors. the Faculty (offices, maybe?), and then 5 - 18 are for international students. So I get on the elevator with another Canadian who was on the 18th floor and head up to the 17th. I wander down the hall and find my beautiful, bright pink door, and put in my key. Home at last!!
JUST KIDDING. The key doesn't work. My roommate is apparently not home. I can hear the tumblers falling and I know it
should be working... but no dice. After trying in vain for the better part of ten minutes to avoid the trek back to SSH, I gave up, hoisted up my backpack yet again and headed back. I'll admit I wasn't all that polite to the very nice lady who offered to help me. I was tired, and irritated, and pissed about the key. So she comes back up with me and opens it. First try. I don't understand the trick, but I'm soooo glad to be in my apartment, finally. We had to wait until the 1st at 2pm because the previous tenant had to be out by 10am and then they could have time to clean it. Jokes. My apartment was not
time machine
just kidding, it's an elevator, but it looks the same! clean. I guess the Spanish girl who lived there before me had very long hair that was left on everything.
Since the lady from SSH was with me, she sent someone back up to clean, and I got to move in!! It's perfect here, and I love it so much! There's a sink and a mirror in the room (not in the bathroom, so no one can hog it - genius!), a bookshelf, a desk, a wardrobe, a nightstand, a little table and chair, and a decently comfortable twin bed. SSH wanted 52 Euros for a bedding package, but I decided to decline and find Ikea on my own - has to be cheaper, right? In the rest of the apartment, there's also my roommate's room (her name is Stacy and she's from Russia), a bathroom which is a toilet and a sink in what I would call a closet, a washer and dryer, and a beautiful shower that has unlimited hot water! UNLIMITED HOT WATER!! It's a dream come true after the hostel.
So that's the (very long) story of how I finally stopped being homeless but continue to be in love with my European life. 😊
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