Our first full day here started off well - we both had slept almost 12 hours (very much needed!), and we'd had the foresight to buy some cereal etc the day before so we'd have breakfast. I woke up ravenous, which you'd probably attribute to jetlag if it were anyone but me.
We decided that we would call around a few real estates to book in viewings, so I spent a little bit of time going through the properties we had saved. I called two who didn't answer, but on the third call I had success - the lady said the unit we were interested in was still available, and if we were around we could go look at it that morning (along with a few others she thought we'd like). So that was that, our easy settle-into-things-get-over-jetlag morning turned into quickly-get-ready-and-go. We had to again navigate the public transport, but by then Mr was fairly confident with what to do. We caught a train then a bus, and got to our appointment early. Two of the properties the agent had wanted to show us had been let out before we got there (they do go very very fast here apparently!), so we were left with three to visit. As we have no transport of our own, the agent kindly drove us around to look. The first one we looked at was the one I'd called about - it had only been advertised the night before and already had a dozen viewings booked in. We liked the looks of it because it is walking distance to my school and to the train for Mr, as well as walking distance to the town centre. Upon inspection, we liked it even more. The kitchen and bathroom were both lovely, and both the lounge area and bedroom were big enough for us. Being on the top floor meant we wouldn't have anyone above us, and being at the corner of the block meant only one direct neighbour (though the block of units next door were so close we could pass sugar between our kitchen windows if needed). The property came complete with a grassy outdoor area, one we may or may not use depending on the weather.
Deciding we liked this place, we went off to the next one not particularly concerned about what we'd find. What we did find was an absolutely delightful ground-floor unit, already furnished in very pretty furniture (including a dressing table with mirror in the bedroom!), as well as an extra bedroom which would be handy for visitors. Mr was quite concerned about the inclusion of a bidet in the bathroom, and I wasn't too keen on the bedroom and lounge windows opening directly onto the slightly-off-street parking. The furniture was all nice and new-looking, but there seemed to be no room for the TV in the lounge. It had very high ceilings, which theoretically should lesson the noise coming from the people living upstairs. The land lady was there to show us around, but she was a bit pushy. Overall, this property was warring very closely with the first for our choice of favourite.
We viewed a third property, but discarded it almost immediately due to the oldness, smell, damp through the ceiling and walls, and (oddly enough) the fact that it was significantly larger than the first two. We did only want something small, as we're only here for a year or two and don't need excuses to collect more random stuff we don't need.
In the end, we decided we liked the first property best, even though it was unfurnished. We filled in the paperwork back at the real estate then headed off to explore the town centre. We discovered a delightful second hand furniture store (which we will return to next week to choose some pieces for our new home - they deliver!), and had lunch at a burrito place. By the time we'd finished lunch, we received a phone call to say our application had been accepted!
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the town centre (which is surprisingly huge), then relaxing back at the hotel. We'd bought some spaghetti bolognese for dinner to avoid eating out again, and ate that while watching random British TV.
We never expected to secure a place to live on our first day, but we move in on Friday!
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