Well, after all my visitors I had to shake the vacation mindset and get to work. Honestly I did not realize the work involved in finding an apartment. It has been yet another reminder that I am not in "Kansas" anymore.
The decision was made for me to move to Bologna as soon as possible, so my plan was to spend a week in Bologna to get an apartment for the beginning of June...let's just say this was naivety at its finest. I headed to Bologna on May 5th, thinking I could be finished by May 12.
I will pause here to explain the process in finding an apartment. First all apartments are privately owned and the owner can either list them on their own or through a real estate agent, much like how we buy and sell houses. It is not like Dallas where there are apartment complexes owned by companies and you just have to see if they have one coming open. Instead you search in newspapers with classified ads, or in Bologna that would be online. You can also pick up magazines with listings, but those are all being rented through agencies, which means an extra expense of paying the agency price (usually 10% of a year's rent plus 20% tax on that). The other glitch is that one agent can't show you everything. Each agent, even if a part of the same agency, can only show apartments listed with them and their areas for showing usually only cover certain streets. So as I looked in the magazines and wanted to see different apartments I had to call maybe 8-10 different agencies. Then each agent had to check with the owner to see when I could see it. So the process of just seeing apartments can take weeks. It is a bit easier going the private route, but harder to find those type of listings.
By the grace of God I saw around 8 apartments in my first two days. At this point I thought I was sure on a decision. The apartment I liked was in a quiet neighborhood surrounded by trees and parks. I thought it would be a nice tranquil get away from my daily activities, but as I walked around the neighborhood one afternoon I was reminded that I enjoy the hustle and bustle of the city. I enjoy having a bar (in Italy that means a place to get coffee and snacks as well as alcohol) next to my apartment so I can get a morning cappuccino and get to know people in the neighborhood. I will not have a car in the beginning so having a grocery store and a bus stop near is also important. So I continued the search with a narrowed focus.
As my stress mounted by trying to make a decision immediately, through some wise counsel I decided to not force a decision but to return to my apartment (that I did not have to find...PTL) in Perugia to think about it. At first I felt a bit defeated, but soon I realized that visit was useful for acquainting myself with a couple of areas of the city and deciding the definite area I wanted to live in. As I had time to reflect, pray and be in my own space, I narrowed it down to 2 apartments.
I have now returned for the second time and feel good about both choices and am moving in the direction of making a contract on one of them. The process of the contract is another unknown to me so her goes nothing! Pray for guidance and wisdom as I take each new step!
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