2 much Text, 2 few Pictures

 Almighty right.. Due to the lack of time I'll break this post into 2 pieces. The first one is about Darmstadt in general and the second one about finding the right WG
On 20th August directly after work I left to Darmstadt in order to look for a room in apartment-sharing community (seriously is this the best translation for "solu" oder "WG"??). I knew from my boyfriend's experience that finding one would be hard and the competition for the best ones a nerve breaking task. Being smart enough hohoho I prepared for it by checking in WG-gesucht.de some announcements, then sending +25 applications to various people, calling few of them and trying to make appointments to see the rooms.

I think I got altogether 9 replies in the end:
four of them saying "no thanks" and the rest I happily arranged to meet on Sunday and Monday. I had been seriously lucky, like I learned later from another girl, who'd applied for 60 flats and only gotten 2 positive replies. However my mind still wasn't at ease, as the highest price for ONE ROOM was 360 euros, meaning I'd be financially K.O in just 2-3 months. Being afraid of being left completely homeless I was ready for any hole I could crawl into.

Sunday's handicraft market

Darmstadt, my lovelies, is a small city of approx. 145 000 citizens and is located on the map under Frankfurt in the Bundesland (federal state) Hessen. The size of it pleased my small-town-girl's eye and heart immediately and I was happy to discover the smaller buildings, friendlier architecture, tram and good shopping possibilities of the place. I'm now on better terms with Hamburg but it's size and weather still don't please me a bit. According to Wikipedia Darmstadt is said to be the sunniest city in Hessen but also to have snow during winter time so I'll welcome the facts gladly.

shopshopshopping

My boyfriend was kind enough to accompany me on this scary mission of meeting my new home. We met in the train from Frankfurt to Darmstadt and slept at a friend's place during our stay. Thank you, Anna Lena & Dörte. Without you guys I would have ended up paying a small fortune for the fun!

Sunday started with my first ever room viewing and roomie interview. I was feeling small, humble and scared yet decided to start on my own and leaving my bf outside. The viewing was over a 19m² room in a 2 people WG. I had seen some photos of the flat already and wasn't expecting much of it to be honest. To my own surprise Roscoe the roomie turned out to be a really fun guy and we shared a lot of similar interests like photographing, architecture and videogames! The flat wasn't as dark as I had thought and the room seemed quite okay too. The only thing that stopped me then later to choose this WG was the lovely price of 360e per month. It's just not manageable, as I still have no idea about my student allowance, and with my savings only I'd be done after 3 months.

19m² and full

This guy has PS2, Nintendo and almost all the same games as I do!

Short before chatting with Roscoe I got a phone call from my cheapest/best option of a room. They had already given it away to an acquaintance so I needn't to come. Thus we sat in the rain with my mister about 6h of nothing ahead of us before the last WG viewing of the day. I felt miserable and a bit hopeless. There was nowhere to go and kill the time as Sundays everything is closed. What to do?

The grand idea came from my lovely dovely darling: let's have a look on the internet. Quickly he found something reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally interesting nearby with his smartphone: an announcement of a free WG-room. There wasn't a phone number so we couldn't call but an adress nevertheless. The decision was made in an instant as the place was just around the corner and we had nothing to loose.

a lovely café next to the Castle

After a short walk we ended up on a promising street with lots of greenery and little traffic. Well, matter of fact, no traffic at all. Seemed like the cars just liked to park on the street. Handy enough the door bell was equipped with a tiny note "the WG" with a small arrow pointing at it, so I needn't to wonder long which one to push. The guy answering the door bell seemed a bit confused at the other end when I annouced my name. I added quickly that it was raining and we were let in. Upstairs I clumsily introduced myself and honeyhon, with a wide grin of victory on my face and appologicing the randomness. I felt drunken with my own boldness, spontaniousness and the fact that our desperate attempt had actually managed to get us in.

Unrelated street to show some building design and size

The more surpriced I became when I discovered to my eyes the vast room of 14m², the super clean & nice bathroom (I was so afraid of a shitty one), lovely big kitchen and the miraculous price of 220e per month! after talking with the roomie nr. 1 Jan I was totally thrilled about the WG. Okay there wasn't a living room nor dining room (you don't fit to eat in the kitchen actually) included but hey come on: two hundred and twenty euroes with all treats of electricity, internet, water, cellar, balcony and a washmaschine. What luxury! Did I mention that the location is genious? Not far from my school, near the city center, near grocery store and still on a quiet little street! This must have been the coolest, cheapest, most wanted WG of Darmstadt!

Jan proved me right: more than a hundred people had applied for the room, they had only taken 15 lucky ones to see the flat and meet the roomies. My enthusiasm sank A BIT but I tried to keep cool and positive. As we popped in, there was a girl already viewing the appartment. I felt sorry for have ruined her chance to give her best. She was there first you know and I had cheated my way in. Nevertheless I was allowed to stay with my honeybum and view the WG too. After chatting, getting to know each other and going through the basics for about 40min we wondered if it was time to leave. Jan, however, had a one hour break till the next visitor and offered to make us pancakes. Well who'd say "No" to pancakes right? Thus we ended up staying yet another hour and it was quite merry in the kitchen while it rained outside.

Frankfurterstraße next to the park. Lovely though not my street.

After leaving the WG I felt somewhat sad yet a tiny bit happy as well. Sad, because I thought I had no chance of getting the room. I was too criminal, a first-year-student, a random babbler, a girl and a foreigner. Why would two older guys, a physics student and a political scientist <--sounds grand in English lol, want to live with an unexperienced rascal like myself? Happy as I had really enjoyed myself and meeting new nice people, and on top of that I felt proud of having giving it a try.

Park <3

Somehow the magic happened and my long lost luck came back. The following morning I got an SMS from Jan telling me I was in the final four to be interviewed by the other roomie, Dennis. We met on tuesday after my Uni enrolment and got along real nice. A relaxed and friendly Fellow with capital F. After sweating the day and hoping for a miracle the waited phone call finally came and I was told that I got the room. They had chosen me...

celebrating with ice cream

I'm still smiling when thinking about it. I can't wait to move in.