House Search Continued

So today we continued our house search. The weekend everything was shut down (concerning relevant business; tourist stuff and restaurants are always open). Today we were able to resume our productive activities, sort of. It seems that very few people show up to work anywhere until 9ish o'clock. Then the all take an hour lunch that could start earlier than the posted time and may run later as well. Finally most businesses seem to close their doors at 4:00p.m. This has been consistent since we arrived.

The first thing we did after breakfast was go to New College, where Kerry met with his advisor, signed up for a research seminar, and picked up some necessary papers. This was a completely positive experience, though I was a bit worn out following him up and down tons of stairs. ORU has nothing compared to New College when it comes to stairs.

After that we headed to the accommodations office which is in the opposite corner of the city center from our hotel. We had to do this because we called a half a dozen times to find out when we could finalize student accommodations, but could not get the one person on the planet who knew anything about anything. Once we got there, it turns out that we can't finalize the accommodation paperwork until we see it and we can't see it until Thursday. We were upset so we asked about the other two places we saw online. One was already taken and the other was the same story as the first. I had happened to pick up a flier from New College (a habit that I have to pick up almost anything that is free). This flier advertised accommodation in an Oxford style college (like a shared mansion) next to the Royal Botanical Gardens just north of New Town. They had double bedrooms (housing for couples) as well as included Wifi. This particular place would be similar to a Youth Hostel or a dorm in that you pay for a room (not sure if bath is in suite) and have to share the kitchen and laundry facilities. The rent was nearly 200 pounds less per month than the university housing and all the utilities (except phone) was included. When Kerry called the guy he spoke to said that approval to stay would take about an hour and to just bring our luggage in the morning and we could try it out. At least, he said, we could stay there until we found somewhere else. The fact is that we would have to find somewhere else once the baby was born, but it would be good to have a semi-permanent residence in which we could start to work and live a little. We had given up on finding a pet-friendly accommodation or even being in the nicest area of town, but this solution would give us the opportunity to do both in a more laid back casual manner. Plus, the picture of this house was very beautiful and located in a great area of town. It isn't perfect, but we will end up making friends.

Now, some of you may be wondering why we are having such a hard time. In the US you walk up to an apartment complex, pick up a brochure, look at a room or not, and sign a lease in the same day. Here you cannot sign a lease until you can see the room. This includes University housing. There was no way possible to have accommodations before we came that we know of. Secondly, the agent will usually schedule you to see the place when it is convenient for them and show it to multiple people. I really don't know the steps after that, since we haven't gotten much farther than scheduling to see a place and then getting it rented out for under us before we can see it. It also seems that the Scots here keep talking of a lot of places available right now, but all the agency offices we pass and the websites we have looked at only have about three at a time ready to lease. Also there is no rhythm to when they become available or where they are located. So, in summary, this sucks!