Day 65: 6/3/13
Today I spent the whole morning texting and emailing people about accommodation. Most never answer! I applied to different jobs aswell- sales, bar work, waitressing, call centres..... Anything that doesn't require experience!
Three accommodation people answered that I could view the places today. So I went. It was good to get used to the trams and trains aswell.
The first two were near each other. The weren't near a main train station, but there was a tram near them.
The first one was in a new apartment block. There was a Venezualn guy showing me round and he was sharing with a Mexican guy. There was a Columbian girl that I would be sharing with if I moved in. It was $160 a week. The guy seemed to be nice enough, saying that they liked to spend time together at the weekends and treat each other as a family. He said they give each other lifts, cook food for each other- the kind of stuff you would expect housemates to do. They had some house rules- respect everyone in the house. There was a rota for cleaning every week and they all meet on Sunday to clean. Also, they had a no sex in the house rule. It makes sense when people are sharing rooms! The place seemed fine really but sharing a room would be the problem.
The next place was in an older street, with a Catholic Church and schools near it. From the outside you could tell it was filthy but I said Id have a look for the craic! It was exactly like the house I lived in in college- the exact same layout, even though our college house was a million times cleaner! It was an old enough house in my eyes, but ancient to the Australians! The guy that had the ad up and showed my around, was 50 if he was a day. He was going around in shorts and bare feet like he had just gotten out of bed. The room that had been advertised was gone but there was another one coming up in a few weeks so he showed me that. In the mean time, if I wanted, I could stay in another bed in his room- no less!! His room was like an episode of Hoarders! There was stuff very where- books, CDs, jars, a stethoscope.... God knows what else!! Needless to say I won't be taking that place!
I went back into town then and had about an hour to kill before the next place so it gave me time to get my bearings in the place. The last place was in a new building right in the middle of the city, near one of the main stations. There is an Italian guy living there. I'd say he's in his late thirties and he's doing some work or research for the university. The place was lovely but it's $200 a week and he wanted $2000 dollars upfront, so I don't think I can afford it. I'll have to keep looking anyway.
It was after nine by the time I got back to Laura's house so it was almost time for bed. I couldn't sleep for a good while so I was reading a good bit.