The Great Apartment Search (January 22nd, 2012)

Most of you know that Skye and I will be moving to Trier March 1st for him to continue his research in the Trier archives. We started looking for apartments back in November just checking here and there for availability. So far, with Cologne as well, we have found that postings don't go up until about a month or 2 ahead of your desired move-in date. This is especially true in Trier because they have a major housing shortage. It is a small university town and they have too many students, and too little housing. Normally a town Trier's size (about 100,000 people according to wikipedia) would have very cheap housing. But because of the shortage, apartments are comparable to Cologne. Luckily in Cologne we found our apartment decently priced as a sublet at 600 euro per month. This, for Cologne, is a great price. Especially for the size and location of our apartment. Anyways, this 600 is about all our budget will allow at this time, so it's been quite difficult to find anything in Trier for the same price that will also fit a couple. Not to mention, we have guests coming and going literally from the day we move in through the middle of May, so we would prefer a guest friendly apartment. Since the beginning of January, Skye has emailed nearly 100 people with apartment inquiries. Only 3 of them replied with a positive answer. THREE! Everyone else either never responded, or rejected us because we're a couple or because we only want a 5 month lease.

Here are some dimensions to give you an idea of what we're working with. Klaus's apartment (our apartment now) is about 44 square meters (about the same size as our Madison apartment). It's a good size apartment for 2 people. 

The first response was from a guy, and by this point Skye had stopped mentioning me because we'd prefer to be the ones to decide if a couple can fit in the apartment (though Germany would say otherwise, but we're starting to get desperate, and may have to settle upon a tiny bed and studio). This guy's apartment is technically in Feyen, just outside of Trier (about an hour walk uphill.....which we did....ugh) and is 32 square meters at 470 euro per month.

The second response was from a couple of girls who are both students. Their apartment is 647 euro a month, 54 square meters, and close to Skye's archives in Trier. They are looking specifically for a couple to move in, but require meeting us both in person. This one had pics posted and looked clean and very cute.

The third response was from a couple, Sara and Neto who live in Trier, a good location but slightly further from the archives. But, this one is 500 euro a month and 70 square meters!!!! In all the postings we have browsed through, NOTHING this big was this cheap! THIS WAS THE ONE! Or so we thought.....

Ok, so are you with me? We have the guy's, the girls' and the couple's apartments to look at. We had an appointment with the guy at 3:15, and an appointment with the couple at noon. Unfortunately the girls were unable to meet on the weekends, which means if we want to look at their place we have to make a trip to Trier during the week. It's 3 hours away, costs about 30 to 40 euro round trip and our schedules are ridiculous. We had decided on next Friday, until I remembered that's the day of my final for German class! So Skye has to miss either Wednesday or Thursday at the archives for us to get down there again, and they requested to meet us both, so we have to make another trip there.

We were hoping to get to Trier, see the couple's apartment (assuming it was nice and they weren't crazy), pay our deposit in cash, cancel with the guy and head back to Cologne with an apartment locked in and a weight lifted off our shoulders. But as soon as we walked in....it was cutthroat! Ok....that's maybe a bit dramatic. But there was a couple sitting on their couch who was also looking at the place. And during our tour, one other guy, and one other couple showed up. We even told Sara we'd take it today and that we had cash. She smiled and said they still had other appointments and that they'd let us know the next day....Sunday.....today.

Our appointment with the couple went well, we sat and talked to them for a while after our tour. Sara is a student, headed to Brazil for her research for 5 months (there's a plus! 5 month lease, just what we need and what they need). Her husband, Neto, is from Brazil and had been in Germany 10 months taking German classes (another plus....they are just like us! We have a lot in common). They were very sweet and we related to them well. At the end, we shook their hands, but my hand shake with Sara turned into a little hug! I GOT A HUG! The girl from the couple before us didn't get a hug (another good sign)!!! So...we left, disappointed and anxious for Sunday to come and to hear one way or the other.

The guy's apartment. Waste of time. After the uphill hour long walk to Feyen, we got lost in these crazy European neighborhoods. It was windy, rainy and cold. We were hungry, didn't really even want this guy's apartment, but with the uncertainty of the couple's apartment, we needed to cover all our bases. As I said before, Skye didn't mention me in his email inquiry. So to avoid being humiliated and yelled at by Germans (the guys parents were there helping show the place) I opted to wait outside while Skye checked it out. He was herded through with 3 other guys and then at the end they said, "here is the lease, who wants it?" Also, our guests would have to sleep on our air mattress in the kitchen. Skye asked if his wife could live there as well, and got a big German 'no freaking way, this is just for one person'.

We went back to Cologne feeling a little defeated. Not the result of the day that we had wanted. So...here we sit....1:30pm on Sunday afternoon, the phone in sight at all times, waiting....waiting.....waiting for them to call.

If they don't choose us, and it's likely they won't because both couples seemed very nice and clean as well, then we still have the girls' apartment to look at next week. Other than it being a little more expensive, I think it would also work very well. Now, if the couple's apartment doesn't work out AND the girls' doesn't work out.....I don't know what we'll do! We're back to square 1! Everyone say a little prayer that this will all work out!

It really is like waiting for a first date to call back! eeeek!

On a lighter note....or heavier, whichever way you choose to see it. I saw this guy at the Galleria the other day. Now, there are some interesting fashion choices in Germany, but this was by far the craziest I have seen in a while! It was even radical for Germany, as I walked behind him through the Galleria and noticed more than a few heads turn to make sure they weren't seeing things. He was about 250-300 lbs. He was wearing over-all shorts, a cardigan, tights, and wool socks sticking out of tan Uggs. This may be a little mean, but since he was in front of me on the escalator....I couldn't turn down the opportunity to capture this!

Oh look, I think that may even be a fanny pack of some sort!