House Hunting

 After arriving in Brisbane on Tuesday, we had about a week to find a place to live before orientation started. Technically, we had as much time as we wanted to stay in that hostel and continue living out of a suitcase. I was (naturally) more productive than the boys and managed to find a place relatively quickly. They are still searching. Finding a place to live in a new city is definitely an adventure, let me tell ya.

I started with my first showing for one bedroom available in a 6 bedroom house pretty close to campus. I started walking there with about a 30 buffer for a 15 minute walk. Well, good thing for that because I got completely lost. By the way, I didn't have a working phone or any maps or anything. It was basically like travelling on the Oregon Trail. Also, the street signs here are stupid and the roads are all backwards because they drive on the left and everything... it was just bad. Thankfully it is a very civilized place with many people walking about and I see a girl holding her phone (I assumed using it for GPS). I stopped her and asked if she knew how to get to Carmody st. To my surprise, she was heading to Carmody street as well. So we start chatting and I find out her name is Camilla and she is from Norway also studying at UQ for just one semester. Then I ask, "why are you going to Carmody street?" and she said "to look at an apartment". Well, sure enough, we were going to the same place with only one bedroom available. We continued to be lost and continued chatting and it was actually quite nice. After seeing the place we both decided it wasn't right for us. Walking home I asked if she wanted to meet up with me and the guys sometime to go out in the city (I figured they would love me because she is really pretty, typical Scandinavian, blonde hair blue eyes etc.). She said she would love to go out and sure enough, I had made a friend on the street. We have hung out three times since we met on Thursday.

After going to the bars Thursday night, I woke up Friday after minimal sleep. But I had to get up early because I had a big day! I was visiting two houses that seemed really promising. The first one was a really nice four bedroom house close to campus with a big bedroom. If you can't tell yet, this is the one I went with. But before I share the excitement of finally finding an apartment, I must tell a story about the other house I saw that afternoon.

It was quite the hike, but this time I had maps! Yes, paper maps. I am telling you, we are really crippling ourselves by becoming so dependent on our phones. Searching for a house in a new city with no GPS is probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my life thus far. Anyway, two buses, and a long walk (by now I am sweating) later, I arrived at the second house. It was in a nice quiet neighborhood. But the house was hidden by overgrown trees in the front yard and I started to get a bad feeling right away. Mind you, I was kind of excited about the place because the ad said "1 male tenant, 3 females, all students". Well, it was very misleading and my excitement diminished quickly. The person who greeted me was a 40 some old lady. She was one of the tenants, a graduate student (lame). The male tenant was her Dad (yes, the math should put him over 65). The other female was her niece and the last one was an exchange student from Saudi Arabia. Uhm, NIGHTMARE. I wanted out of there so badly, but I took the tour anyway. Dirty, cluttered and the bed room was hot pink. I was basically dying because I felt so uncomfortable. I couldn't get out of there fast enough and I quickly realized the house I saw earlier that morning was definitely the one.

The next day I called the landlady. I paid my security deposit on Saturday and moved in on Sunday. It feels so good to unpack and to finally have a home!

My new home!