With an official end date on my lease in Karlsruhe and a full-fledged apartment hunt on in Munich, I've spent lots of time reflecting on my close to two years in my flat, what I liked, what I do not like, and what I am looking for in my next living situation as a student in a new city. As an American, I dream of a grand, high-ceiled, European-style flat in an old, but renovated building with French doors that open onto a terrace overlooking a colorful street with a market down the road. I know this is nothing but a dream, as with apartment hunting in the more cosmopolitan U.S. cities: rent is high, the market is competitive, and compromises must be made.
Currently, I live in a shared flat, called a Wohnungsgemeinschaft in Germany, or more commenly, a WG (vay - gay) with three male German roommates for the fantastic price of €277/month + €25/month for a weekly maid who cleans the common areas: living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I do not spend much time with my roommates outside of passive interactions. It's not that I do not like them, but we are all very different people, in very different places in our lives, with distinctive interests, and unique friends, so we do not make plans together. My only tiff is that my roommates cannot seem to clean up very well after themselves (much less open the dishwasher) in the kitchen and it makes me a little crazy sometimes as cooking in a dirty kitchen gives me the heebie-jeebies. Any who, last time the Putzfrau came, I made sure to snap some photos of the apartment looking squeaky clean to share with you.
Let my Karlsruhe apartment tour begin...
You've made it, after hiking up four excruciating flights of stairs! Catch your breath and come on in. Upon entering the flat, the only one on this level, you will see two doors ahead, those are two of my roommates' bedrooms. On the wall, you will see an old love note that my roommate, the main renter, did not paint over. The entry to the left is the living room and to the right leads to the kitchen.
We are very fortunate to have a huge living room and a TV, which cannot be said for many WGs. I know, Americans, it's hard to grasp but tons of people don't own televisions, much less have one in every room. I thought this would be difficult to deal with, but it really wasn't once I realized everything aired in Germany anyway ;) . Through the doors is a small terrace that faces the street. Off this room is my third roommate's bedroom. This room definitely has some funky personality with its eclectic furniture mix and pink-streaked wall. I find it all the stranger knowing my straight, male roommate decided to decorate it this way, but it definitely adds some pizzazz. Honestly, I spend very little time here, maybe only even entering twice per month, but it sure has been helpful for dinner parties, dance parties, and game nights.
This kitchen and I have a serious love-hate relationship. Germany differs from the U.S. in many ways, but one I find most interesting is the apartment moving process. It is very common for people to take everything with them when they go, including kitchen cabinets, counter tops, light fixtures, stoves, everything. Therefore, WGs often have pretty thrown together kitchens since the usual WG inhabitant is on a budget. Some apartments do have built-in kitchen and those are definitely something worth paying for. Nevertheless, our main renter did a pretty stellar job putting something together. It's a large kitchen with decent counter space and I could not be more thankful for the dishwasher living with four men, even if I'm the one always emptying it. The gas burning stove is small, but functions well and baking is no longer impossible in the 1-8 heat setting oven now that the Freund bought me an oven thermometer. The washing machine (no dryer) is also conveniently located in the Küche.
The bathroom, which includes a shower and sink, is off the kitchen. The door does not lock, but fortunately I've avoided any awkward encounters up until now. The toilet is in a separate space (not pictured), which is always nice with roommates and guests, and also located off the kitchen.
Alas, my Zimmer! Through the kitchen and passed the guest toilet lies my apartment, far on the other side of the apartment. This is obviously my favorite space in the apartment and I am entirely too content spending loads of time here. My bed was formerly a Hochbett, accessed by the ladder to the left leaning on the wall. With the help of friends, I sawed it down for it to be more accessible, yet still allow tons of storage. It's about the size of an American double bed. Old buildings do not have closets and mine is no exception. I found a nifty solution from Wenko. At €30, I saved a ton of money by not buying a wardrobe closet. The room also has a wood/coal-burning stove for extra chilly nights, a high-ceiling, and two windows. My bed, desk, dressers, desk chair, and coffee table are courtesy of none other than IKEA (although I was lucky that the previous tenant left the bed, blinds, and coffee table behind). The blue sofa is part of a sectional that I snagged off the street on heavy trash day #shameless.
Probably the best, and most necessary part of my room, is my little private toilet and sink. It's a good escape as the only female in the flat. I majorly lucked out here!
I hope you enjoyed my little apartment tour!
27 comments
Thanks for the apartment tour! You are lucky to have your own toilet! That is pretty great in a WG! Your room looks very comfy! You really have a lot of space in your WG. Good luck for the apartment hunt in Munich, I know it is pretty challenging there.
ReplyDeleteI cannot even imagine what would have went through my head if I moved into an apartment and there weren't any counter tops or cabinets! Ha! Here's hoping you find the perfect little place in Munich, counter tops included.
ReplyDeleteIf only our dreams of our amazing European flats came true! I have gotten so use to not really watching tv I think it will be strange to be back home where we have a tv in several rooms.
ReplyDeletei love the living room! it's just so pretty! i love that the love note is left unpainted. i think this is a pretty great space and I'm excited what your munich space will look like!
ReplyDeleteI loved living in a WG but I'm hoping to live by myself from now on. Such a great place you have there - I hope you get something just as nice after the move!
ReplyDeleteomgsh it's so cute. I am SHOCKED how much stuff you have as an expat. It's making me feel a lot less guilty about how much I want to take back to INdia. I go back in 4 days and think I'm going to check 2 bags.
ReplyDeletei always love to see where other people live :) i bet this place holds sooo many memories for you. i've been living in my own place for 7 months now. as a semi-retired nomad, i highly appreciate a place of your own. tee hee. good luck with the apartment hunting in Munich!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tour! Nice place and pretty typical of what I recall of Euroflats
ReplyDeleteChuckled about the dishwasher & TV comments. Recollect a problem similar to yours with your roommates between you and myself.
As for the TV, did without as a teen for a couple of years & didn't miss a thing besides the useless school chatter about 'Star Trek', 'I dream of Jeanie', etc, etc, ad nauseum.
Continue to chase that which makes you happy. More experiences and less stuff is good.
Love, proud of, and happy for, you.
Daddio
Your apartment is pretty cute! I can't believe people take EVERYTHING with them - crazy! Luckily in Russia people are compulsive holders so always have extra stuff to leave behind.
ReplyDeleteYour room looks so cute and cozy! And really, I love the cobbled together kitchen. I've always loved the feel of lived-in mis-matchy places so much more than the cold feeling magazine page kitchen. Your place reminds me a bit of the two main apartments from Friends! :)
ReplyDeleteLove seeing it - and congrats on the big news! A bit late the party. I blame America and hot dogs.
ReplyDeletePrivate toilet! Woah, lucky! Also, I'm pretty sure we have the exact same blinds in our bedroom :-)
ReplyDeleteIn my final year of uni, I lived with 2 guys. I feel your pain on the not cleaning up after themselves thing! I WISH we'd had a cleaner! One housemate never washed the mug he used for tea EVER! He'd come in from uni, grap the mug he'd had a cuppa in that morning and make a fresh cup without even rinsing out the old tea. Eeeew!
What Alex didn't mention is that they even take the lights! Seriously... we moved into a flat with bare, bulbless WIRES hanging from the ceiling!
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I'm a sucker for apartment tours :) And um, YEAH, I would take the smallest, crappiest room of all if it came with a private toilet. I love the Wenko solution, never seen anything like that before. Luckily there are HUGE Ikea wardrobes that came with my flat but I would definitely look into something like that if there wasn't.
ReplyDeleteYou've done a great job with your part of the apartment and you've avoided a hot pink swirly wall! Thank goodness for having your own toilet and sink though. : )
ReplyDeletehow nifty that you have your own little toilet! it's definitely convenient what with all the male roommates - guys tend to have the grossest bathrooms.
ReplyDeleteYes!!! Ok. So we have been apartment hunting fairly recently too and this whole no kitchen thing is just ridiculous. WHY would you want to take a kitchen?! It makes no sense to me unless you've spent a serious amount of money, and then usually you'd probably own the house. It just seems like a huge expense for renting, but I guess that's why they rent longer here.
ReplyDeleteWell and why would you take the kitchen when it is SO likely that your new kitchen is a completely different space and size. And what a pain in the ass to uninstall cabinets and stuff. It's so strange to me because in the US, the kitchen is a huge added value and people renovate right before they move out to raise the value - so they never even enjoy their new kitchens!
ReplyDeleteYes, roommates often tend to raise the question of WHO RAISE YOU?! That cup story is something else...
ReplyDeleteHaha so true Bev. Fact is, I had a wire hanging in the middle of my room for the first 3 months because I didn't know how to fix it. This might be the sole reason I found a boyfriend ;) ;)
ReplyDeleteThat statement alone just made me have a flashback of my favorite episode when the guys win the Rachel and Monica's apartment and they're like NO THIS IS A GIRL'S APARTMENT! THE WALLS ARE PUPRLE! Anyway, thanks!! It's definitely got the old Europe thing going for it :)
ReplyDeleteTwo trips home per year over three years, plus visitors bringing me things, added up quicker than I could've ever dreamed. I'm already overwhelmed thinking about how I am going to get it all to Munich, but it sure does feel a lot more like home now that I have every thing I need here and real possessions of my own.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope so, too, the apartment hunt in Munich is already wearing me down. It's too hard to shop for a place when you don't live somewhere.
ReplyDeleteThanks Katrin! I am going to see a couple places this week so I hope one works out!
ReplyDeleteExactly! Even when I'm home I find myself still watching things on my computer.
ReplyDeleteRIGHT??? I really don't understand it... That said, I am pretty jealous of your kitchen (ok actually most kitchens I see) since our kitchen has no windows and can fit 3 people.
ReplyDeleteGerman sure has it's share of strange kitchens. I've seen things all across the board apartment hunting in Munich, including flats with no room for a kitchen table ANYWHERE.
ReplyDelete