Moving On

After two weeks of looking at online listings, using the UQ Accommodation website to find local ads, and spreading the word among my friends that I'm looking for a place to live, I finally have living arrangements!

I had visited several houses in St. Lucia that were near where I had been living, but none of them seemed too keen on me staying for such a short period of time (7-8 weeks). Most people wanted to leave rooms open for people that would be living for 6 months or more. And since tenancy laws in Queensland are very strict, it's almost too much of a hassle and risk to sign people on for such a short period of time. At one point, I considered living on a futon in the corner of the living room of some people that I had only met once before because rent would be so cheap.

About a week ago, before deciding on a place to live, I decided to head down to the Accommodation Office to see what my legal rights were as a tenet and to let them know that they were facilitating the ads of the person that was putting me out on the street. They told me that she was one of those rare cases that they always hear about, but still more sane than some other people in area, which was mildly consoling. But, in my conversation with the people there, they told me that a person in one of their houses recently moved out. Apparently, the university owns houses that are right next to campus that they don't tell anyone about, but reserve to help out students that would have issues in finding a place to stay or finding a place that would suit their disposition. In other words, not me. But, since it would be such a short stay and they thought I might have a hard time finding a place to live, they offered it to me. It sounded good to me, so I told them that I'd probably take the room.

Then, my friend referred me to a friend in her building that was willing to let me stay at his place for a few weeks if I needed to. He, like most Australian's, felt really bad about my circumstances; both the moving out at bad time, and having to live with a deranged 50 year-old woman. After meeting the guy, his flatmate, and seeing their beautiful apartment, I had basically decided to live with them if the rent was going to be reasonable. But then he told me that their lease ended May 30th and I'd have to find a new place to live after that.

At this point, looked to my schedule. Classes end June 4. The next week is a study week. My first exam is on the 19th. I'll be leaving Brisbane after exams on the 26th. Maybe I should take a trip after classes and before exams? Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. But I still need to find a place to live. So, I asked around some more for people that would let me stay at their houses for the month of June. To this, my French friends, Amelie and Alexandre (fraternal twins) answered with an offer for me to stay at their house from June 1 through the point at which I leave Brisbane. They have extra places for people to stay and it would be a lot of fun for us to hang out, since we basically had been seeing each other every few days since I arrived.

Things were starting to look good. I had basically found places to stay from when I moved out of Alice's house until I would leave Brisbane for a road trip. Then, this past weekend, I went over to my friends' apartment. While, I was there, they asked about my move out situation and offered for me to sleep on their couch if I wanted to instead of going to the other apartment first. Seeing as I had known them for several weeks, they are American, and their apartment is twice as close to campus as the other apartment, I decided to live with them instead.

So, two days ago, I packed up all my stuff, cleaned my room as best I could, and moved out of Alice's house . . . finally. It only took two trips, but I made it. And, after two nights, I would say that things are looking up. I just need to worry about passing my classes now.