And yet, here I am. It would have been a lot of extra work to try to find an appartment outside of ENS, so it was really not a hard decision to make.
For two of my collacataires, it is the first experience living away from home. For Morgane, this means a lot of adjustments to the comforts of home. Especially considering we live with two guys. For Alex, this appears to me to mean freedom! He has friends over every day (in a respectful way), but he is definitely benefitting from the social life. Sissoko, my other housemate is an International student from Mali. I almost never see him so I'm not sure what residence life means for him.
It is strange to be thrown into the same situation as first year where you don't know each other too well and have to establish certain systems and boundaries.
After three weeks my housemate's friend pointed out that my "laundry detergent" was in fact fabric softener. No wonder my clothes were really soft but didn't smell that clean...
I am adapting reasonably well, but for the purpose of getting it out of my system, here are my residence rants:
1. We attempted mopping with a broom this weekend. I put socks on immediately after getting out of the shower, otherwise the bottoms of my feet would always be black.
2. For the first week or so, I would end up with dandruff in my hair right after showering. It took me forever to realize the shower was actually making calcium deposits in my hair. Many of you know all too well what an effort it is for me to bother showering and so I ask you... WHAT IS THE POINT? Since then, I bought heavy duty multi-surface cleaner and scrubbed the shower down. Clean hair for the win!
3. Not all the personalities blend. This is normal and I totally didn't expect everyone to instantly become best friends, but sometimes there is unnecessary drama. My personal philosophy is to not take things personally and I like to think that I am easy-going. So for me, sometimes it is frustrating to be a mediator (in my second language) of the minor conflicts that become a big deal in our household.
4. I have a very limited supply of cooking utensils. I had to buy a pot and a mixing bowl, measuring spoons and cloths for wiping down the table. I borrow the pans and cooking utensils of my housemates sometimes, but I am currently collecting empty jars in an effort to be able to provide glasses for anyone that I host. I would classify this as "extreme student living".
Many of my International friends have housemates that brought tons of stuff with them (which is good for them because they wouldn't have been able to bring much, like me), but since we have two International students, Morgane is the only one that really brought that much. We have lots of common room space, but not much to put into it. And not that much that we can share.
5. We don't have an oven. The microwave is supposed to double as an oven, but I can't even fathom how that would work...
6. The French seem to be opposed to the idea of screens. We often have bugs in the house. (On the bright side, I do feel like there is more fresh air in the house without screens. Or maybe it's because there is no air conditioning so we don't have to keep the windows closed. This also encourages me to spend time outside. You should all know, I have a TAN!! By my standards, of course. I look like I emerge from my cave of darkness to see the sun once in a while! I think it's a good look.)
Now that that's out of the way, here are the positives of living in residence:
- I live two minutes from all of my classes.
- I live two minutes or less from most of my friends.
- I have my own room and bathroom (!)
- All my utilities are included.
- There are laundry facilities within the building.
- I am close to all of the school-run events.
- I have a door that opens into a tiny backyard, which is kind of cool.
- There is lots of common space to host friends.
- My room is bigger than it has been for the past 4 years.
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