the apartment search continues...

This last week Kara, Emily and I have been working really hard to find an apartment. No luck just yet. We have called and emailed for at least 100 apartments and have gone to see 7. Even though Paris is a big city and you would think there would be hundreds of apartments available at any given time, there are thousands of people looking for places to rent just like us... most owners of the apartments we have seen say they get hundreds of calls after posting an ad. Overwhelming.

On top of the race to beat others to the perfect place, we have to make sure that it is 1) furnished, 2) the right price, 3) right size, 4) in good condition, 5) in a good location (...location, location), and 6) that the owner will accept dogs (Emily's petit chien Fozzie).

So far, we have found several apartments that we liked. The first one: the owner decided she didn't want roommates living together (the French are funny about things like that). Second: we decided we liked it enough after we found out we couldn't get the first one, but when we called someone had already rented it. Shoot. Third: a cute little apartment in a building that is rented out mostly to students. Clean, good size... BUT on the edge of the city. And Paris is big, so a metro ride anywhere from there would take forever, and we aren't sure it would be worth it.

Finally: we are waiting to hear back from a man who is trying to rent his apartment in the 4th arrondissement. We LOVE it. However, when we went to visit, he told us that he chose four people out of the hundreds who called him to view the apartment and that he and his wife will decide who they choose to live there. We visited it last night and he said he will let us know Monday morning what his decision is. The problem is that we love this apartment so much and have decided to wait to hear from him, but if we (knock on wood) don't get it, we are back at square one and lost this whole weekend to be looking at other places. So please pray for us to get it! It is in a beautiful, central, and safe location and the apartment has everything we need. We will just have to wait until Monday to see...

The apartment search has kept us really busy lately, but we have still had time to wander the city. I have taken some pictures, but I will have to upload them later; my computer doesn't have internet at the place we are staying now.

Also, I have been studying for the LSAT a lot lately, and I take it TOMORROW! I'm a little nervous but very ready to just do my best and go from there... it has been hard to enjoy Paris with that and not having an apartment looming over my head.

I start teaching soon, so I'll explain more about that when it comes time! I am getting nervous but I look forward to starting my job and getting into a routine.

Skype me: jennadalynn. I would love to hear from you/see your face via videochat!