All I want is a room somewhere...

Far away from the cold night air
With one enormous chair (and bed, table, wifi, and a sane roommate)
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly?

So apartment-hunting is well and truly on and has been keeping me quite busy. I've mainly been looking at expat forums and going through owner-direct channels but it's been quite a challenge. Who knew that there would be so many scammers out there, posting up apartments or rooms for rent, sending you photos, and then only to say they're not in Paris so you can't see the apartment but ask you to send money first in order to guarantee the place. They have all conveniently relocated to the UK to study or work. Smells dodgy to me. Why would anyone send money first?! But I have managed to find a few people that are actually happy for you to visit.

Visit Attempt #1 was a share-apartment in a nice area of Paris. Cher & Matti were going to come along but then just a couple of hours beforehand I was told the landlord had already given the room away to a friend. Too bad. I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Visit Attempt #2 was last Saturday at an apartment also in a really nice area - 1st arrondisement near the Louvre. But the girl (my would-be room mate) talked SO MUCH...TOO much. She kept going on and on about how she was an artist-slash-scriptwriter-slash-model-slash-actor...about how she met Johnny Depp and how she was going to ask him to be in her screenplay. It took 20mins before I was shown my room and another 40mins for me to get out of there. I decided that despite the fairly nice apartment and nice area there was no way I could live there, or with her. I think I would seriously go crazy. The apartment also smelled like smoke - and not the kind that you can get rid of with a bit of Glen20 but the stale kind that's seeped into all the carpet and furniture. Loverly.

So the search continues. But it's all part of the fun right? Wish me luck because I'll need it and lets hope I don't end up homeless in Paris.

In other news, the highlight of last week was definitely getting to hang out with some of the Parisian SWAT team. It's not everyday that you get to talk with snipers, negotiators and the like. They were very insistent on teaching me how to hold the guns and rifles (unarmed of course) properly which I though was so funny. All the while I was thinking to myself: when am I ever going to need to know how to use this? But they were all really nice and happy to entertain me whilst I asked stupid questions like 'do you ever get scared?' Funny night and very interesting to say the least!

Spring has decided to go on hiatus this last week. It's been raining most days and hovering around 12-14 degrees. I'm missing the sun.

I found out something pretty interesting about the French public holidays today. When a public holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday (like today) they do what is known as faire le pont, which literally means to 'make the bridge'. On these instances companies give workers the Monday or Friday off so that they get a 4-day long weekend. Awesome! And I thought we had it good with our 3-day long weekends. I think the Europeans are onto something here...can we please adopt this back in Australia?

Today is exactly one month since I've been in Paris. Time is flying. Though not everything has been perfect, what's there not to love? Everyday is a holiday and everyday is an adventure. La vie est belle.