I now officially have an apartment in Paris. I sent my deposit and agency fees today through cyberspace. I sincerely hope this agency is legit and I didn't just throw away a wad of cash. I have a good feeling though, it just seems right. After all the struggle to find a place, and useless anxiety this place just kind of happened. So what's it like? Well, from the brief description and three photos I was sent it looks pretty basic. It's 9m2, the "ceiling' is really just one wall slanted to meet the other a la attic/window alcove. It's contents are as follows: Bed (single), mini fridge, microwave, toaster oven, hot plate, shower, and fancy parquet wood floor. See anything missing? Yea. A toilet. But have no fear! It's just down the hall shared by the rest of the floor! It's like a ... bed and breakfast, yea? Whatever, I am so stoked I don't even care. Plus, a friend pointed out, in an emergency I could always just go in the shower. Paris is going to be SO glamorous!
I've officially chosen my wardrobe for Paris -- BIG decision! -- and it's all packed so that when I start wearing the same clothes for six months they seem exciting and new for at least the first bit. It's evolved a little bit, I did some shopping. Here goes:
What I Think I'm Probably Bringing:
- 3 Racerbacks
- 3 T-Shirts
- 3 Long Sleeve Shirts
- Black Jersey Dress
- Black Cardigan
- Huge Circle Scarf
- Full Length Denim Wunder Unders
- Denim 'Boyfriend' Capris
- Navy Cotton Chino-esque Dress Pants
- Grey Linen High-waisted Harem-y Capris (SO. RAD.)
- Skirt
- Black Opaque Tights
- Black Cable Knit Thigh High Socks
- Plaid Blouse
- 'Cashmere' Crew Neck Pullover
- 'Leather' Bomber Jacket
I'm pretty sure that's it... There might be more. I kept adding and subtracting and re-adding items over the last couple weeks and since I refuse to unpack it I am not 100% sure what all is in there... SURPRISE! I know I have enough though. I have a good 10 or 12 pairs of socks and a handful or two of underwear thrown into this little compression sac my mom got me. Fun fact: Socks compress a surprising amount once you take them out of the nice organised rolls.
I also bought a selection of Eurail passes. I was very unsure about Eurail stuff cause everyone was telling me the cheap tickets I could get last minute as a youth and stuff for planes and trains. But considering how much I already am leaving up to chance for this trip, I figured I'd secure that, no matter what, I can always hop on a train and be warm. So for the first bit I got a 8-trips-in-2-months kind of pass for Benelux (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) and France. Fingers crossed I don't accidentally use all that at once cause I don't understand the system. The other Eurail pass I got is pretty straight forward -- 3 months unlimited anywhere in the Schengen zone. SO STOKED. It's so freakin' expensive though, it took a lot of persuasion to actually spend such a huge chunk of my savings. Together they were just over 1800, which is just bonkers to me. To be fair, the cheapest train tickets I could guarantee via online investigation were around 100 bucks, so if I take 18 trains I'll have done pretty well for myself. ... I'm there for 6 months... I'm pretty sure I'll take at LEAST 18 trains. This week I'm having a little bit of separation anxiety from my hard-earned cash. So much is gone all at once! I have to keep reminding myself that I saved it up for this very purpose. Now the numbers of my account balance are going down instead of up and it's depressing!
I also ended up deciding on a backpack and a laptop bag as my luggage. Both I can take on board as carry on. The backpack is something like 32 L and the laptop bag is pretty standard. Fun side note, the laptop bag is this HIDEOUS reptilian embossed pleather, and I'm starting to really dig it.
I still have some consolidation of knickknacks and unnecessaries to do, but I'm feeling pretty good about all this! Besides being in complete denial that I'm leaving soon. Saying goodbye to everyone is not even starting to sink in, either. Bah. Oh look! Panic setting in!
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