As I write those lines (April 2nd), I’m still living in a terrible flat. I moved to Saint-Chamond for work in March and every day, a new problem arises and makes me want to run away. From my first week as a tenant here, I knew I had to look for another place. This experience inspired this article about the importance of having a proper home.
Home Sweet Home
I see a lot of quotes about travelers not needing a home and saying that always being on the move, sleeping in a new place every week and never settling is the best. Well, I disagree.
On one hand, I am a very organized person: I plan things and I like having some kind of order. Decluttering my house or room feels like I’m decluttering my brain as well. But I need some kind of balance. Because, on the other hand, when I travel, I like stepping out of my comfort zone, discovering new things…
However, in order to be ok with experimenting new ways of living and challenging myself, I need to have a safe place. This way, when I am fully exhausted, I have a home where I belong and where I can recharge. It’s like what they say about children, they need to feel safe in order to explore.
Even here, in a small city in France, I haven’t been able to visit my surroundings because all I can think of sleeping and keeping my belongings safe (the door doesn’t close properly and I feel like anyone could enter and steal my stuff.
Finding The Right Housemates
I have shared several houses and seen a lot of weird people. Finding the right people is as important as finding the right place.
Sharing A Home In Alicante
In Alicante, there was a Canadian guy who thought that someone was coming to the house to take out the trash. It took him weeks to realize that we were the one doing it. Also in Alicante, a very hairy Chinese guy was leaving hairs everywhere in the bathroom, especially around the toilet. There was a circle of hairs around it… Ugh.
Locking My Room Door At Night
In Reggio Emilia (Italy), I lived in a room on the first floor of a house. One night, I woke up and my landlord (who lived in the basement of the house) was in my room, drunk. He seemed a little bit high too. I don’t know how, but I remained calm, I turned on the light, asked him what he was doing there and left to go to the toilet. When I came back, he was gone. Scary. From that night, I always locked my room.
Home Is Where The Heart Is
I am telling you the worst things, but I also had some of the loveliest persons as housemates. A Sicilian girl in Bologna, who taught me a lot about Italian history and politics. A French housemate in London who shared the same sense of humour as me and cooked delicious meals. A Bulgarian girl who loved fashion and design, an Indian girl who was always smiling and very caring.
There is a quote “Home is where the heart is”, and I tend to agree, even if it’s not always enough.
Misadventures In My Quest For A Good Home
The Internship From Hell
During my first trip to Italy, I was living in a flat chosen and rented by my boss (I was an intern). The previous tenant was a prostitute and a guy came to see her, there were cockroaches and ants, and my workplace was 2 hours away. You can read more about this particular experience in this article “Venice, My Safe Haven“.
However, all in all, I don’t remember that many problems like this happening in the houses where I lived abroad. Maybe because it didn’t bother me as much since I knew I wouldn’t be there forever. I had more problems in France, actually.
Student Home
When I studied in Angers, I was living in a university residence. The room was nice, but all the rooms’ air vents were connected and it regularly smelled like cigarettes, especially at night. Also, my room’s bell was just near the button to turn on the light and it was not rare for people to get confused. I would jump in my bed, awakened by the bell at 2 am.
Arriving In Toulouse
In Toulouse, I found a good place that I shared with a Moroccan girl, who became one of my best friends. Still, there were a few problems, like mold on the walls and a really uncomfortable mattress. But still, it could be worse, I would tell myself.
Well, it got worse when Winter came in 2020. As soon as they activated the boiler to heat the old radiators upstairs, it started making a constant high pitch sound. They tried different things to fix the problem: cleaning the radiators, checking the boiler, they even tried to soundproof the wooden case above my room. And you know what? In that case above my bed, they found a mummified bird. We joked about the idea that maybe it was its ghost that was making the high pitch sound.
After not sleeping for a month, I moved out. Weeks after my departure, they found the problem.
Moving Home During Covid
Covid was not a good time to move out, but I felt like I had no choice. I couldn’t visit the flat, so the lady from the estate agency made me a video visit via WhatsApp. It looked fine and I signed. My first flat on my own. I was excited!
It didn’t last. In real life, the walls were old and badly painted, it was very cold (and I quickly realized that the heaters were not working – it was in December), it was not clean at all, the washing machine didn’t work and wouldn’t be replaced, there was a leak near the door and the microwave was dangerous (see below). I stayed there for two months, including the notice period. The first and last time I used an estate agency.
Finally Finding A Proper Home… And Moving Again
After this terrible experience with the estate agency, I moved to a new flat. The landlord was really cool and I stayed for 2 years. There was a bit of humidity and a tiny leak when it rained, but I felt at home.
And recently, I got a new job. So I had to move again. The job is great, but the flat… Oh my God! Most of the time, it feels like a bad joke. One of my friends said that, at this point, it could be a movie…
At first sight, the flat looks great, but everything has been built in a hurry and things fall apart. It started with the upstairs neighbor. He never leaves his house, he doesn’t work (he is handicapped) and he has the TV full volume from 5 am until 11 pm, sometimes midnight. There’s even a Sunday where he woke me up at 3.30 am. And there’s literally no sound insulation on the ceiling. So now, I sleep on an air mattress in the living room.
The landlord told me that there was a leak in the brand new shower they just installed at my place. They didn’t install it properly, so there was water in the walls… So, I spent a week without a shower. One evening, I came back from work and the plumber had forgotten to put the keys in my mailbox, so I had to wait 40 minutes for my landlord to bring them to me. And when I finally entered, I saw that there was no hot water anymore.
These days, they are doing some work in the flats downstairs and in front of mine, so there’s a lot of noise starting at 8 am. And the sound insulation is bad between my flat and the one beside it. I know it because my new neighbor sings when he showers. I hear the water running and the music and him singing.
On Sunday, I got a “yes” from a landlord and I’m hoping to move out next week (April 10th).
To read more thoughts, you can access the page Thoughts.
