The Great Apartment Search

Despite having flown across the Atlantic, trekked through Lausanne carrying approximately 9 billion pounds of luggage, and stayed awake for nearly 30 hours, Ben and I found ourselves wide awake last night (I blame it on nerves and coffee). Rather than fall asleep and give my body some much-needed rest, I stayed up well past midnight, reading articles and combing through housing ads.

Ben and I both woke up around noon today, which quickly eliminated the plans I had made last night to spend the morning taking care of logistics at the EPFL.  Ravenous, we decided instead to head to the local grocery story, Coop, where I made the expensive mistake of grocery stopping hungry.  I wanted to buy every warm loaf of bread, every block of new-to-me cheese, and more fruits and vegetables than I can carry! Ben was a bit more practical however, and we ended up with the makings for scrambled eggs and rice.

scrambled eggs with cheese, peppers, and onions.
bonne appetit!

We spent the afternoon viewing apartment after apartment after apartment. As I mentioned before, our flat right now is nice, but is only meant to be temporary lodging as it is much, much, much too small and much, much, much too expensive. It does however, have a wonderfully inspiring view.

the first thing I saw when i woke up this morning. 

front of our current apartment building.

The first apartment we visited was, in a word, charming. It was in a beautiful part of the city, where older buildings had wrought-iron balconies covered in pots of colorful flowers. Many areas of Lausanne have more modern (and in my opinion, considerably less attractive) architecture, but this apartment was surrounded by old-world beauty. The inside was lovely as well, with two small bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Size-wise it isn’t that much bigger than what we have now, but what extra square feet it did have made a huge difference in how the apartment felt. I could easily see myself living there.

We never actually made it inside the second apartment! I found the listing on anibis, a sort of Swiss Craig’s list, and apparently, so did a lot of other people- there was a long line just to get in! Despite the lucrative description (fireplace, lake view, and triple the square feet we currently have for half the price) it was clear that, as non-Swiss citizens, there was no way we would be serious contenders for such a popular spot.

The third apartment was located a bit outside of Lausanne, in a quiet neighborhood perched on a hill. The falling sun combined the neighborhood's height made for incredible views of the lake and mountains at every turn. The apartment itself was great—two bedrooms, a small balcony, and a wonderful kitchen (it even had a dishwasher!). It didn’t quite have the same elusive charm as apartment number one, but the size, price, quality, and location were great. 

The final apartment was both the smallest, most expensive, farthest away…and most beautiful. It was in the romantic village of Cully, a short train ride from Lausanne and a bit closer to the lake. The apartment itself faced a old church, complete with beautiful crumbling stones and a gorgeous fountain. Inside, the apartment had wonderful wooden ceiling beams and counter tops, a spacious kitchen, and lovely stone counter tops —although it almost reminded me more of a beautiful hotel room than a place I would actually live. Despite the apartment’s beauty, Ben and I decided it didn’t make the cut. That, and it was directly over an opera singer’s instructional studio, which could make for an…interesting… alarm clock.

waiting for the train to cully at sunset.

Finally, the view Lausanne photos I do have, were a bit unfortunately, taken with Ben’s  camera—mine, no matter how much I charge it, refuses to turn on.

French phrase of the day: Bonne journee! (spoken by the check-out lady at Coop)