I have counted up the number of roommates that I have had since I left the confinements of home and you’ll never guess...
7 in Iowa while attending Grinnell College (1 for an intro college week, 2 as roommates then switched across the hall with another hallmate, 1 of them was a bridesmaid, the other I’ve lost touch with, 1 left for a single room that became available, 1 moved in as a replacement because she couldn’t stand her own roommate),
6 in San Antonio + 1 (Matt)
and 13 since being in London.
Count them....13!!! That makes a total of 23...ouch! Despite what my mother says, its not me that’s the problem...it’s instead the fact that I don’t seem to be able to stick on to anybody in particular, but instead live with it and move on to the next thing....usually a better deal! Of course, being that I survived Matt I knew it was meant to be...and now we continue on this nightmare hopefully ending soon!
When we moved into our flatshare it was a vibrant dancing gay Indian guy, an English highly educated (so he said) black gentleman, and our landlord (so he says) singing Indian that lives in the attic space....him being the only constant flatmate since. Over the last year we lived with 1) a nice German couple that was here for a couple of months before moving to New York for school, 2) a nice Spanish couple that had too many friends and was kicked out for smoking in the room, 3) a Swedish chic that couldn’t keep her nose out of our own business, 4) a Samoan couple with a 3 year old kid, and now 5) a Russian couple that can’t seem to have a nice quiet evening without talking to one another!!!
Our annoyances thus far:
1. Washing our dishes....only for me to rewash them because they obviously don’t know how to use soap and scrub.
2. Using sharp utensils for all pots and baking dishes as to scratch the wonderful coatings on them bare.
3. Putting wet dishes away in the cupboards causing all scratched pans to become rusted and unusable.
4. Taking long baths (a. our bath takes about 20 minutes to fill, b. they don’t know how to wash the ring-around-the-tub off!)
5. Leaving a TON of water all over bathroom floor...I made less mess as a child!!
6. Stacking every single condiment and spice and tea bag on the white counters to the point I have to clean before I cook!
7. Taking out wet laundry (not just damp, but dripping wet!!) out and leaving it on counter for whoever...usually us...to reclaim it so they can do their own laundry. The fact that it is soaking wet is due to the event that the filter is clogged and water does not drain, and thus clothes do not dry. Solution: I have to clean out drain!!
8. Does not tell us when the washer is required to retrieve our clothes...just removes them and stuffs them in a bag.
9. Leaves food in our fridge and forgets about it only to rot until we clean it out.
10. Consistently looses own house keys so we are forced to open the door for their entry.
11. Breaks our wine glasses (4 of them thus far) and does not mention it, but substitutes them with cheap champagne glasses.
12. Refuses to buy toilet paper...until we refuse to replenish it for them.
13. Anytime we’re in the kitchen (not a big space mind you!) and the other couple needs to use it, they just squeeze right in and do their thing...whether it be washing up, cooking a 4 course meal, or making a cup of tea.
14. They constantly scurry from their bedroom to the bathroom wrapped in a towel, bedspread, neglige, or whatever they can find...to the point that Matt has nicknamed them the Towel-E-Ban.
15. Attic flatmate loves to brag about latest financial grab whether it be a new cell phone, crappy embroidered robe, scholarship, girlfriend/fiance snatched up in <6>
Anyway, we are basically sick of the entire situation and are looking for a place to live. I dread having to end up in the same situation, so we’ve decided to find a flat with our wonderful American friend (co-student of Matt’s) to a flat on the southside of the river...closer to where I work. We know her faults and strengths, she knows ours, and I think it’ll be a whole lot better of a situation knowing that Americans tend to have a different outlook on life and the respect of space that no European seems to have. Wish us luck and hopefully we won’t have to sell a liver or a lung to find something descent and in a good location.
We’ll hopefully see you all for Christmas, but if not we can’t say we didn’t try!
-KD