Concise summaries aren't really my thing...

Well I've been here two weeks now and haven't gotten past blogging about like the first 4 days so I really need to speed this thing up! So Monday was when I visited my school and Tuesday was mega mad stressful day where I finally found a place to live, huzzah. We visited a studio in the morning, and were almost going to just take it as the stress of not having somewhere was starting to freak me out, but really I had to admit to myself that I did not want to live alone in a tiny studio barely furnished and with no guarantee of internet. So, after that we went to the Espace Des Jeunes and I really started phoning people and organising flat visits. I really hate making phone calls in French, it's so much harder to communicate over the phone than face to face, but somehow I managed to drum up two rendez-vous at colocations, which I could add to the one that I had arranged (or rather my aunt arranged for me!) via appartager.com. So with three rendez vous to do that day (besides the studio) I was feeling a bit better. We went for a coffee, then waited for like an hour at the Phone House trying to buy a phone with them taking sooooo loooong about it that in the end we had to leave without one. The first flat rendez vous was on Rue De Vieux Sextier which was a really beautiful street, very central with lots of pretty boutiques. The flat itself was really nice, and would be shared with two girls who were both assistants. Me, parents and aunt were all really keen but unfortunately there was also another girl at the rendez vous who wanted it and she ended up getting it, leavng us all feeling really deflated.

The next rendez vous was in a tiny side street, something du Pont Martin I think. The street looked a bit dodgy and we just weren't really feeling it after seeing the last flat. In the end the guy who was meant to show us the flat never turned up, so it was on to our third and final rendez vous of the day. This was in a totally different location, near to the train and bus station but 'extra muros' (lit. 'outside the walls', as there are ramparts surrounding 'central Avignon' and then greater Avignon is outside the ramparts.) It's still only 10 minutes walk to the centre though. We found the place without much bother even though I wasn't that sure of the name and just knew the name of the larger street and that it was 'the first little street on the left'. We found the street and it was in fact very close to the station, and the house and garden looked huge! After pressing the buzzer we were greeted by the Madame of the house, and I got my first look at one of the little tortoises in the garden!

The arrangement concerning the house is that it is split into different appartments, 4 in all- one for Madame herself, one upstairs two bedroom appartment, one downstairs two bedroom appartment and one downstairs one bedroom appartment. There is a strict rule that only one person stays in each room, and no boys (although in fact the downstairs single person appartment is lived in by a man!). I was shown the two rooms of the currently unoccupied upstairs appartment- one was a smallish single room and the other a larger double, both featuring a bed, a tv, a wardrobe, a desk and a chair, the larger also has a bookcase. There is a shared bathroom (very small) and kitchen (fair size, with oven, hob, micro, frigo, freezer, bin, worktops, cupboards, plates, cutlery etc and table and chairs) for the two people in those two bedrooms. After discussing the particulars- was it possible to get CAF? (Yes) Could friends visiting from Scotland stay? (Yes) Was the rent all inclusive? (Yes) Could I pay in cash? (Yes) Could I get internet? (Probably) I decided to take it!

So this is my pad:
There is a short story about how I got my roomate but I'll save that for next time!