Home sweet home!!!! :D

Yes, we found it. The 9th apartment that we saw in 2 weeks is finally ours. Well not quite ours, it's rented for the next 7 months. After that, we shall see what happens. Although, judging by the fact that this has been the longest moving process in my entire life (3 days just to carry things here, and another 3 days to have "fluent" Internet and to make the TV work), I might get tempted to say that, at least for this, if not for everything else, I should not only remain in Italy for the rest of my life, but at least in THIS apartment for the next half of it.
I have learned a lot in this home-search process. First of all, once again, PATIENCE is key. But this shouldn't surprise us here in Italy, right? And they say people from the North and Milanese especially, are fast. Pff...

During the 2 weeks that we dedicated to the apartment search, we met all kind of people, from the landlords who always postponed meetings with us, to the real estate agents who always postponed meetings with us, to the real estate agents who couldn't wait to just get it done. Second of all, NEGOTIATION is key. People are hungry these days, we know. But to pay 1000 euro of commission to the real estate agency for a tiny matchbox in Sesto San Giovanni worth 400 euro of rent a month??? Seriously??? Neeext....!!

But what was really funny was the negotiation with the real estate agency that rented us THIS apartment: take one piece Romanian girl, add one piece Italian guy (ex - real estate owner), and, for safety, add one and a half piece Italian father. The combination of forces proved to be more than lucky. Why? Because renting an apartment in Italy if you're a stranger is more like a job interview. Or a visa interview. You have to look (and prove with papers) good in terms of possibility to pay the rent. I did. With papers. Not so fast... once this step accomplished, you have to have an Italian person guaranteeing for you. I had two... but what if I came here to study ABSOLUTELY ALONE? The thought gets me scared and makes me aware that, once again, no matter how high you consider yourself in terms of position in your own country, you might realize, once you start living abroad, that you're seen as absolutely worthless just because you're a stranger. And God knows I am not worthless (nor modest :D) So given this combination of forces, the fun starts. The agency owner starts talking about how he is running this family business (the agency) with a tradition of 30 years on the market, and how the prestige of the agency doesn't ALLOW him to lower the commission. We start to argue on fairness and value for money and other stuff like that (actually the guys, not me... :))) And after 1 hour of such life stories, they finally agree to make us a discount of (drums, drums, drums... ) 80 EURO!!! As in, from the total amount, of course. Total amount representing 3 months' rent in advance + their commission.

Anyway, we liked the apartment so much and I was SO bored and tired of searching, that we finally made the deal. Before I knew it, the contract was signed last Friday, and we had the keys the next day. I like the fact that the contract is not that kind of heavy "4 years" contract with a heavy "6 months" notice in advance if you want to leave. In our case, it was clear from the beginning that we might leave in September so if we want to stay more, we will just extend the contract.

Now enough with the administrative side. We can finally enjoy our little crib, 20 minutes by metro away from the university (YEY!!! no more drive-train-metro-change metro-walk to get a book!!!). Just get in the metro and, before you know it, breath the cool air under the Duomo of Milan (I was trying to be poetic here...) and drool over the cool shoes in the stores... What can you wish more from life? (maybe just... to buy those shoes?) You don't even feel you're in a suburb, given that the suburb is a town in itself named "The Sixth Saint John" - how many Saint Johns are there in Italy??? The even cooler side is that we have the panetiere (bread shop) downstairs, the creperia (crepes shop) downstairs as well, the fish store across the street, and a few cute bars around. Ah, and Esselunga 5 minutes away from home. And Carrefour Express on the street behind. BUT the COOLEST side of all is the Saturday market which takes place on the intersecting street each Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. 1 day markets are very popular in Italy and they have everything from fresh food products that make you drool, to (bad looking) clothes. Of course, I'm a fan of the fresh food products. Which is why the idea of having this market 50 meters from our door really makes me happy. Ah and the fact that it's on Saturday, a normal day when normal people can actually BUY something from it, and not Wednesday as it is in our former residence paesino.

No, I changed my mind. The market is not the coolest thing. The fabric store across the street from the metro station is the coolest thing. And it's actually even more tempting than the shoe store  in the center of Milan, at San Babila. And it has discounts, too...

As for the inside, we have everything... and I am NOT a demanding person in terms of comfort. After 2 weeks of seeing horrendous caves, all I wanted was just an apartment that doesn't look gross. I was tired of seeing schifezze (gross things) that the agents were presenting as "very comfortable arrangements", "generous spaces" and other shitty phrases. But THIS apartment has it all: it is clean, renovated, nicely furnished, it has a washing machine, a little balcony, and the room is split into 2 areas: the day area and the night area, separated by a piece of furniture which is almost like a wall, while in the same time being perfect for hosting all my sewing supplies (including all the fabrics and the sewing machine) and books. Ah, and all the home appliances are functional and did not need to be changed and they are clean.

We call it La Casa Del PesceRana (he is Pesce (=Fish), I am Rana (=Frog) and I'm almost afraid to be happy about it too much because high chances are that we will leave it too soon (hope not, though...)

Love,
La Reina Rana