I keep
telling how was the week in Leuven: P
The second
day started as the day before, with rain and more cold than warm. Typical of
Belgium :P After having breakfast we went back to the Housing Service to continue
looking for accommodation for September. That morning I made the first visit to
a room by myself. Once I found the street I enjoyed the Belgian psychology
again, this time in relation to the number of houses in the street. After
having gone crazy looking for the house I understood how they were distributed
the numbers of the houses. I´m not sure if it was my Spanish mentality or what,
but I really do not understand the why of that sort. You see, on a sidewalk are
even numbers, while in the other the odd, until there is nothing strange for
me. However, the order of the numbers changes. While on a sidewalk are in
increasing order, on the other are in decreasing order: S If a Belgian reads
this, I would like to tell me if there is any reason to put the numbers like
that xD
Well,
anecdotes aside, once I found the house on a street perpendicular to
Vlamingenstraat, I joined a group of students there who had also been summoned
by the landlord to see the two rooms that were still available. The landlord
arrived with some delay, and after told him that I did not speak Dutch, he moved
to English to talk to us and show us the house and rooms. Well, the rooms were
on the top floor of the house and they were not bad at all. However, what I did
not like were the common areas. That is, bathroom, shower and kitchen. They
looked really dark and half prison / barracks, the walls painted gray, with no
windows looking outside and just illuminated with the poor lighting of a
florescent light. Furthermore, only had a shower in the house, which had 16
rooms ¬ ¬ The landlord told us it was enough, because some would shower in the
morning and others at night and ... NO. I couldn´t imagine an entire year
living there, so I almost dismissed this room.
After lunch
I had two more appointments. The first in a house in Vlamingenstraat, but when
I got there and see no one I rang the intercom to ask if there was someone and
they said that the room had been rented ... Ok, next room xD
The third
room was on a street near Oude Markt, so I would have the bars really close :P
The lady who showed me the rooms spoke English, but with a strong Dutch accent.
However, we managed to understand (I think so). The rooms were not so bad, they
were repairing and painting, so by September they would be in pretty good
condition. The common areas were not bad, except for the showers, which were
located just up the stairs of each floor and privacy of the residents was
protected only by a simple shower curtain. That said, no privacy. Another thing
I didn´t like is that you had to pay extra if you were at home on the weekends
too. Translation: a way to charge more to students from outside ¬ ¬ The best
came when the landlady show the kitchen, when I see the lady started going downstairs,
grabs a key, GOES TO THE STREET, opens the next door and ... there was the
kitchen ¬ ¬ Pretty good start, more or less new, with a table and chairs, but on
the next door. Mmm ... I could imagine going to the kitchen in winter with the
cold and rain to make me dinner xD So no, I left the house and went with David
to see a couple of studies that had an appointment. Leave a picture of
"The house with the kitchen on the porch next door":
The three
studios we saw were not bad at all. The main drawback of the first was that the
heating was electric and the electricity was not included in the price. I think
that it must be expensive in a city where is quite cold in winter, and more for
someone who comes "from the far south" as I do :P
We saw two
more studios after have tasted the famous Belgian fries, which are delicious, I
must say XD Live up to their reputation: P The landlords of these studies were
the owners of the shop where we ate those French fries, so in these studios you
could enjoy the smell of fried food in the morning, afternoon and evening, by
opening the window . I do not know how much I would like that. Moreover, the
studios were not so bad. Pretty cheap (about 400 € the big one) and I remember
that was all included. The bad thing, to give any addition to the smell of
French fries, is that they were some distance from the center of town (if you
can say "far away" in Leuven), located on the edge, near the ring
that circles the city, so that I was somewhat far from my faculty.
None of the
studies convinced us, so as we walked back downtown to have dinner and drink, I
decided to go to the agency Globiss the next day, just to see what they could
show us.
After
meeting with Truus and some Spanish friends, we went to have dinner and a beer
at the Oude Markt, where we laugh and have a lot of fun before returning to the
hostel to rest that night.
Coming soon…
"Third day: renting a studio"
P.S: Sorry
for my English and forgive Google translator :P
Health and
rock 'n roll! \ m /
