Settling in
I really like it here. There are, of course, all the normal ups and downs of life in general, and of adjusting to life in a different country, but no matter how I'm feeling about the rest of my life, my physical location is really all I could ever ask for. I love my apartment.
Walking to and from my apartment is a joy. It's in the centre ville, the city center, which in Europe means both the downtown where the stores are and the place where everyone lives (not just the poor people), so walking down the street all the bottom levels are stores and things and then the higher levels are apartments. Very typically European, I think, and a set-up that I'm very fond of. Aside from the fact that I just like the idea of having a centre ville, the particular part of the city that I'm living in has a feeling that I like very much. I'm not sure quite why yet, but it seems very alive and yet laid back at the same time, and just walking through the neighborhood makes me happy.
The apartment building itself is great. I'm not sure that it's anything really special for Europe, but to me it's amazing. I don't know exactly how old it is, but I think it's pretty old (i.e. pre 1906, 'cause I'm from the Bay Area). It hasn't got an elevator, so when I come in I walk up 6 flights of stairs to get to my door. I think that's exactly the right number of stairs to have to walk up. It's enough that it's a little exercise, but not so many that I can't walk up them even when I'm dead tired.
My favorite thing about the building, though, is the way that it smells. I can't describe it. I just smells old. It smells like something that's been around long enough that all of the smells it's seen have settled in and become something stable.
I love my room. I think I'll have to save describing it, and the rest of the apartment, for another post. Maybe by the time I get around to it you'll be lucky enough that I'll have set up a photo tour of my room, or my room and the apartment, or even my room, the apartment, and my neighborhood (although that will almost certainly be asking too much)...
Walking to and from my apartment is a joy. It's in the centre ville, the city center, which in Europe means both the downtown where the stores are and the place where everyone lives (not just the poor people), so walking down the street all the bottom levels are stores and things and then the higher levels are apartments. Very typically European, I think, and a set-up that I'm very fond of. Aside from the fact that I just like the idea of having a centre ville, the particular part of the city that I'm living in has a feeling that I like very much. I'm not sure quite why yet, but it seems very alive and yet laid back at the same time, and just walking through the neighborhood makes me happy.
The apartment building itself is great. I'm not sure that it's anything really special for Europe, but to me it's amazing. I don't know exactly how old it is, but I think it's pretty old (i.e. pre 1906, 'cause I'm from the Bay Area). It hasn't got an elevator, so when I come in I walk up 6 flights of stairs to get to my door. I think that's exactly the right number of stairs to have to walk up. It's enough that it's a little exercise, but not so many that I can't walk up them even when I'm dead tired.
My favorite thing about the building, though, is the way that it smells. I can't describe it. I just smells old. It smells like something that's been around long enough that all of the smells it's seen have settled in and become something stable.
I love my room. I think I'll have to save describing it, and the rest of the apartment, for another post. Maybe by the time I get around to it you'll be lucky enough that I'll have set up a photo tour of my room, or my room and the apartment, or even my room, the apartment, and my neighborhood (although that will almost certainly be asking too much)...
posted by N at 1:40 PM
1 Comments:
dude, anything pre-1906 IS old. 100 years is old, end of story. I'm glad you like your room/apartment/neighborhood.
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