(Where) To live or not to live

One of the most annoying problems I had here was the search for a place to live. Finally I have found my place, but how many nerves I lost on my way here…

I don’t know when I started the search but it was early. I observed the market since summer, I wrote a lot requests, I asked people I know for tipps. I changed my strategy several times and I had a lot failures. I lost some money because I lost my patience and made one poor choice, and the room now is far more expensive than what I wanted to pay. I only will give you the highlights here, because it was really a long search and I don’t remember it all. So when you have the feeling I should have try something else, remember, next to the described cases I also tried Facebook-Groups, idealista.it, subito.it and some other similar websites.

During my search I found soon start-ups like Dovevivo where you pay a one-time-only fee of 150 € for their service. You do the search and go in contact with the landlord, who tells you stuff which wasn’t in the announcement, but sure, take my money for your service. On one of the site (which actually is cheaper) I seldom got answers for my questions and at one point I was just booking one of the rooms. And then I got some information, that even it was announced with all bills included, I should pay 150 € more each month and when in March I have to go out for ten days, I am allowed to let my stuff there. I was quite confused because the landlord referred that this informations are on the announcement and I didn’t saw any of this before. I found out that when you change the language of this site you get different informations. This information was only on the english version, but since I am german going to Italy I just checked the italian and german version of the site. I wrote a lot with the staff of the webpage till I got some of my money back.

After that I searched a bit more and in the end I decided to take an AirBnB-bed for a month. I also asked if it is possible to stay longer and the landlord told me yes. Soon after that he was saying something about, that maybe there will be some bed changing in march, because of some bookings for the upcoming cosmetic fair. At that moment I was just happy to have a place and I actually liked the flat and the area. But after a while I realized that no one in the flat was really talking to me. With the person I shared a room with I barely changed more than “ciao” every morning, the landlord often left the kitchen/living room when I got in for cooking. Since I was had to go out everyday for classes and met friends often, I tried to ignore that but because of the upcoming fair I decided to look for another room.

And I got lucky, I found a room for myself in the centro storico with two other girls, at least one in my age. Jackpot! I had paid the AirBnB till March the 1st, but the new place wasn’t free before March the 15th. So when university closed because of the virus I decided to do some traveling and went to Rome. The Hostel there was cheaper per night than the AirBnB and the Hostels in Bologna and I wanted to go there anyway so it seemed to be a perfect idea. (Yeah, now I think I was quite selfish at that point and that it was irresponsible because I could have had the virus in me. But to that time we all thought it’s not that bad.) First I was thinking about going somewhere else from there, but with the news getting more and more serious I decided to go back to Bologna. Actually I missed my new friends already. In Bologna I decided for some Hostel, which was more expensive than the one in Rome but it had very good reviews and free huge breakfast. People there were nice and I had a good time. We did some movie nights, ate together several times and talked quite often. But during my stay there the lockdown started and then I got information of the girl who wanted to sublet me her room that she can’t leave. At that point I thought about going home, because I was at the end of my optimism. It felt like it shouldn’t be. But at home 14 days self-quarantine wait for me and I really didn’t wanted that. So I was back on the search. And now, even that Erasmus students left the country as fast as possible and rooms should be available, their flatmates didn’t wanted to have new people in the flats. Or the students just left and hope to come back later. Even now it was nearly impossible to find a place. (Of course there are still some “easy” options like dovevivo, but then I have to stay for at least 6 months or find someone new (who has to pay again 150 €) and in the actual situation, this didn’t felt like a clever choice.)S

So again I checked AirBnB and there I found a spot. Three days before I needed it. Just around the corner of my Hostel. I needed to make some calculations because the room was more expensive than I planned, especially because I don’t know yet how everything will change in the next weeks. But then I decided that I am out of options and that I don’t want to search anymore so I booked and hoped I’ll be more lucky this time.

And what can I say? I am really happy here. I have a room for myself, which is bright and huge. My landlord lives with me and he is really nice. He talks with me and even the situation is not easy and he could loose his job, he stays optimistic. That helps me actually a lot and so does the balcony we have. He has quite some nice garden full of herbs there. When we eat together we talk about what is going on in our countries or even we already knew the answer, we ask each other every day what are our plans and what we have done. We even make jokes about doing the same stuff every day. He is a cook and since I love cooking myself I always ask him what he does and watch a lot to get new ideas for myself.

So. After a long, frustrating search I found a place I am happy in. I am even more happy than I would be in quarantine at home. Because here I have someone to talk to. Even someone nice and fun. And my adventure can continue!