In Search of Your Abode

It’s difficult finding a place to live in this city. I don’t mean to make it sound scary, but especially as an exchange student, there are so many factors working against you in the pursuit of somewhere warm and safe to spend the time you’re not in class or out doing other, fun stuff.

I remember it being a huge source of stress when I first arrived. You’ll probably get here with the understanding that rent is going to be pretty expensive, so the first criteria you set for yourself is to limit your scope to places that fall within your budget. That’s factor number one. Beyond that, there’s location, whether or not a potential landlord will be happy to take you on without a credit check (we’re not as big on that in Australia), and the number of other students arriving at the same time and vying for the same places you’ve found and fallen in love with.

The experience of the last point was at first, super discouraging. I remember arriving at places, thinking I’d been scheduled for a personal introduction to the house, and there being between ten and fifteen other hopefuls there to see the room, all trying to sweet talk the tenants and make as good an impression as possible. At one place, they had us congregate in the living room and drew a raffle to decide who got to stay. They gave the rest of us consolatory Starbucks vouchers as we left.

It’s when you start to notice the same, other students at a couple of different places that you realize how tough it really is. You can tell they’re realizing the same thing, as you start recognizing and acknowledging one another with exhausted, knowing smiles and raised eyebrows. The only thing to do is to take the bull by the horns and use the situation to your advantage. Team up. Make friends with these people. I ended up finding a pretty decent place through a Danish guy I exchanged details with. We ended up becoming good friends, too, and met other fantastic people through him. Be more eager to introduce yourself to new people than you ordinarily would. It’ll probably happen naturally, and is one of the best things you can do for yourself here.

I know I’ve made it sound tough, but I don’t mean to be discouraging. The overall point I’m making is that we’re all plenty capable of rising to the occasion, and that that type of pressure is beneficial at the end of the day. I’d never been in a similar position before. There had never been as much riding on finding a place to live and the absence of something or someone to fall back on. Coming out on the other side of it, I’d be perfectly confident traveling to any new place and doing the same thing. It’s strengthened my ability as a competent adult and has quenched anxieties that in the past, might have held me back from picking up and going somewhere new for a while, which is a beautiful opportunity that many young people of today have and really should take advantage of. It’ll be tough, but like so many other things in life that are ultimately positive and lead to personal growth, it’s all about having the right attitude.

Beau d'Avoine
beaudavoine@gmail.com
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