Pretty deceiving outside and... well... not so pretty inside...

I can now officially say that I have joined the house/ apartment/ townhouse hunting bandwagon. For the past two days I have literally worn holes in my shoes (well at least the right one… and its only in the netting but let’s ignore that for the sake of my argument :) ) and searched high and low for a place. And now, two days later I have nothing to show for it but a hole in my shoe and images in my head of a wide spectrum of places. Today my housing experience fluctuated from a mold filled, dingy, black hole of a place to the tallest residential building in the world http://www.q1.com.au/home.html. I know two days is not that long but when I am paying so much for a hotel room I just want to find a place already!!!

The second place (Q1) is AMAZING and I would love to live there but I have several reservations about it and the people I would be living with. I met three Canadians at orientation and then it turned out that they were in the same hotel as me so we all went to look at this place together. I am sure they are very nice people but I am not 100% positive I would want to live with them and for the price… I would want to be 300%. It would be perfect if it was with people that I already knew I could get along with. I already told Jan that she should drop out of school and we could live in this place like royalty for a year… she was tempted but I guess I still have to sweeten the deal.

My guidelines have also completely changed. I started looking at places for a certain price and only with girls. The next day I started looking at the same place but with girls and guys. Today I started looking at places for $50 more a week and all my gender bias has gone out the window… The upside is that I have started getting a handle on the bus system. Of course I still have to ask how much the fair is as it changes per “zone” but I am getting there. The bus drivers are not exempt from the “Australian niceness” disease and so they always say “yes dear” or “that’s ok love” whenever I ask them a silly question. One of these days I will be able to answer someone else’s question and say “yes, your beaut (great).” When that day comes I will know that I have truly settled in… whether that be in another hotel room or my own place… Cross your fingers that tomorrow will be more productive folks! :)