A la recherche d'un nouvel appartement

Well, I've been meaning to blog about this but just haven't found the time yet.  As I believe I mentioned in December, we are going to be moving.  I finally had enough real pay stubs for us to send our notification to our landlord to say that we planned to move.  And we finally received a letter back informing us that he had in fact received our letter and that we have to be out February 28!  This is great news because we have been living for two and a half years in a horrible, tiny apartment.  I was beginning to think we would never leave, but the end is finally in sight and I couldn't be happier.  It's one of the few things I have to look forward to right now.

So what is so bad about our current apartment?

• 20 m2 studio for two people
• freezing cold and cannot be heated 
• broken windows - glass broken in the kitchen window, window that won't open in winter in the main room, wooden windows that are falling apart
• untreated wooden windows that absorb water and change sizes depending on the weather
  
• heater in the bathroom doesn't work
• practically no ventillation
• the ventillation that exists is just holes to the outside (makes it very cold in the winter)
• extremely humid - water even collects on the wall that faces outside
  
• mold grows everywhere, including the bathroom ceiling that we can't even reach to clean
• tiniest shower in the world
• wall outlets that don't work
• no hood over the stovetop so the humidity and grease from cooking just goes everywhere
• have to climb over the toilet to get into the shower
• bathroom sink with pipes that leak
• very small water heater and therefore not enough hot water for two full showers
• window drain that freezes closed and so the kitchen floor gets covered in water that overflows from the windows
  

I think those are the main problems with our apartment, though every day I feel like new problems arise.  But we have started looking for a new place.  We are hoping to either stay here in the KB or move to the city next to us.  That way we still live on the metro but we are paying a little less because we live outside of Paris.  We are hoping to get a 40-50 m2 with one bedroom somewhere in our price range.  And I'm hoping for a decent kitchen, a bigger bathroom with a decent sized shower or even a bathtub, an apartment in decent condition, and maybe even a balcony!  We are also hoping for something a little closer to a metro stop and something that can be heated in winter and that doesn't grow mold.  I don't think we are asking too much, but I am worried that in France this basic apartment won't exist!!!

We visited one apartment this weekend.  It was a little smaller (36 m2) than we wanted and so we aren't going to turn in our dossier.  But it felt good to get out and actually visit something.  It made it seem more real, more like we will eventually move!  We were supposed to visit a second place this weekend, but weren't able to because someone had turned in a dossier at the end of the week and so they are waiting for a response.  If they aren't taken then we might be able to see it next weekend.  We also have some more calls to make to set up some visits for the end of this weekend and for this weekend.  Hopefully we will find something soon because I want to get a lease signed so we don't have to worry about settling for something we don't want because we need a place to live.

Once we move I am looking forward to buying a washing machine so I never have to go to the stupid laundromat again.  I am also looking forward to getting my dream couch from IKEA so that my friends and family can visit us in France and have somewhere comfortable to sleep when they stay at our apartment.  After those two items are purchased, I hope to do some other serious shopping for random little furniture and kitchen supplies so I can finally feel like I'm living a decent life for a 26 year old with a Masters degree.  Up until now I feel like I have been living in a condition that is worse than when I was in college!  And I thought that once you graduated and got a real job, your mode de vie was supposed to improve, not get worse!!!

Here's hoping we find our dream apartment and fast!!!