Wednesday, September 20, 2006

fed up with housing situation

Hi everybody,
sorry for not keeping you updated so often, but one day is like the other here: I work long, go to the gym or meet with the other interns, go to bed, go to work.... I realised that I have seen all of the sightseeing in and around Copenhagen, so not much new impressions only this: last weeekend some of the other interns and me went to Christiania, the free town in Copenhagen. It was "funded "in 1971 when people occupied an empty miliary base and turned into a "social experiment" how they called it. In this Hippi community more things are legal than in the rest of Copenhagen (but when it started it was much than today), everybody is living his/her life and contributes something to the community. They produce a lot things themselves, e.g. bikes, soap and vegetables and live an alternative life. We had a guided tour there and the guide, who also lives there, explained a lot and told some funny stories. Christiania is in danger because the governement wants to close it and build apartment buildings there which the Christianian people of course don't like. So they are having "100 open days of Christiania" to present alternative concepts than closing it down.
Work is going ok, whenever I have time, I do research for my project, which I really like. The rest is not as good at the moment, I am not happy with my housing situation- again-. For everything I have to ask, I am not allowed to use the phone, to turn on the heating without paying (it is getting colder and in the evenings I am usually wearing 2 sweaters in my room) or bring friends. Today I learned that I am not supposed to put any dishes in the dish washer and that I have to collect all my waste in my room and must not use the trash bin in the kitchen or the bathroom. I even had to remove a newspaper that I put on their paper to recycle-pile. Argh! That's no life, I feel like caught in a cage, a small cage for 400€. Obviously my renters do not feel comfortable that they have a well payed job, a large appartment, a new car and charging a poor intern infront of others, because the women told me that I should not tell anybody at work that I am living with here and on Sunday they had guest and they told them that I am only staying here for a week. I am really looking forward having an own room in a nice shared appartment back in Fulda. But I can tel you, my housing situation is not the worst, compared to the other interns': one is living with an alcoholic, it's son which tells the mother that he's going to break her arms, another strange son who tries to touch her all the time and various other strange guests. Another interns is also living with an alcoholic and another lives in a house where every free space is rented out, even the living room (but which is still used as living room by the landlady). The other day I said to my intern colleagues that we could write "the collected housing stories of Copenhagen". Obviously only really strange people are renting out rooms in Copenhagen...
Sorry for all the negative news but as you can read, I do not feel very comfortable here and I'm already counting the weeks till I am back in Germany.
Alright, enjoy your freedom at your home,
bye
Vera

3 Comments:

At 1:38 PM, Blogger Andrea said...

Oh my God, I've just realized once again how lucky I am with my shabby-dingy-but-so-very-lovely flat (including the exploding toilet flush and a big kitchen to cook, sit in and work on our cute autonomous dirt-and-waste-collection) and my dear flatmates...
Keep a stiff upper lip, Vera!
:-)

 
At 4:14 PM, Blogger ICEUS said...

Herrje, das klingt aber gar nicht gut!
Wie lange musst du denn noch aushalten? Es kann nur besser werden!

Liebe Gruesse von Bruessel nach Kopenhagen!
-Marie-

 
At 5:59 AM, Blogger Bec said...

You should say something when you or find out why your landlord is being so secretive. This is not a very good environment, and niether are the places the other interns have.

How long have you got left to live there? Is it worth it? Yes it yould be a lot worse but it also can be a lot better too. You have rights.

Oh and btw

Hallo Vera! Hope you are well despite the apartment problems.

 

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