The Great Flat Hunt

You know how sometimes you know something to be true, but you don't really understand it until you go through it? That's how I feel about finding an apartment- er, a flat- in London. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but now that I've been at it for a week and am no closer to moving out of Fen's bedroom than I was when I got here, I'm frustrated.

Fen had assured me before I arrived that I wasn't going to find anything like I had in Atlanta. In Atlanta, my roommate and I had a fairly spacious, two (large) bedroom, two bathroom apartment, with a large kitchen (that never had a kitchen table the whole two and a half years we lived there), a porch with a view of the city skyline in the winter, and a very small yard, with a very quaint wooden swing, very close to Midtown and all for a very reasonable price. Fen warned me I would pay a lot more for a lot less. She wasn't kidding.

What I've found while out looking at flats is that many places don't have living rooms- those have been turned into an extra bedroom to keep the cost down. And with the kitchens being so tiny, it kind of keeps you locked up in your room all the time, and some of those rooms were smaller than the closet in my last apartment. And that's not an exaggeration, I had a really big closet.

But a few days ago, I thought I had it. I found a large room in the top floor of a house in one of my top choice of neighborhoods. It was in an attic, which made me feel at home, since my last place was also a former attic. Not only did it have a living room, but the room was big enough to have a sitting area as well. And Grayer definitely approved, since I would be acquiring four British men as my new housemates. Unfortunately, only three were present when I was shown it, but when I talked to the landlord the next day, he said the guys were "quite positive" about me, and we set up a time to meet him on Saturday.

In the meantime, I dragged Fen to a "speed flatmating" event, which is exactly like it sounds. Like speed dating, only for finding a place to live. We weren't quite sure what to expect, but it was definitely worth it. I talked to a few people whose flats I was interested in, and I talked to a few guys whose flats I wasn't interested in, but who were cute. I might do it again, even after I've found a flat. I looked at a few more flats, but didn't see any I liked as much as the boys' house.

Unfortunately on Friday, while I was in the bathroom, I got a text from the landlord of that place that they had already given it to someone else. I was pretty crushed. I got the same disappointment I got when someone I was planning a date with cancelled. So I did the same thing I do when being cancelled on, or dumped: I listed all the bad things about it. The treacherous stairs that probably would have broken my neck on a midnight run to the loo. Sharing the bathroom with 4 boys. The impossibly tiny kitchen. Who needs it?

But I do need a place to live. As much as I love Fen, I don't want to share her bed forever, and I know she doesn't want to share it with me forever either. Although if she talks about Microsoft Office in her sleep again, it might be worth it.