Yeah for residence

Alright – one thing to check off the list….we have residence!! The confusion over tuition fees and residence fees was resolved and Friday we went to register for CROUS services ….which entitles us to residence. That same day we were given our keys and shown our rooms.

The residences here are organized in what are called ‘villages.’ So each residence is a series of buildings in a circle with a courtyard in the middle and that makes up a village. Lenny and I are in Village L and the other girls are in Village H. Our new friends are really sweet and want to find a way for Lenny and I to move over to Village H (so we can all be together) but I really like my room and my village and would rather stay there. Not to mention that I have now invested a good number of hours cleaning and it would be sad for that to go to waste!!

The rooms here are not cleaned after they are vacated at the end of the school year. The students just leave, sometimes they even leave things in the rooms with the intention of picking them up again at the start of the school year when they move into another residence. When Mass (our friend and convienently the student rep for housing) was showing us the rooms, the first room we went in to was filthy!! The floor was almost black….there was garbage all over the place…it looked like the last occupant left in a huge rush! The other rooms needed less work but still required some TLC.

Mass decided for us that Lenny and I would be in Village L and Genet, Raff, and Annie would be in Village H. And poor Annie offered to take the really grungy room (not having really taken a propoer look at it the first time in). But in the end Mass found another room for her, so on Monday she can take that over!

As it was, we all spent the first night in our rooms trying not to touch anything! Yesterday (Saturday) we spent the day cleaning and unpacking! It took a good 3 hours of hard scrubbing and dusting and sorting junk to make the rooms feel liveable! But now they are great. I really like my room.

When you walk in the door you are standing in sort of a little entrance. To the right there is a gap in the wall that leads in to the shower/sink area. To the left are two big closets built in to the wall. You can then walk straight into the main room. There is a bed, a desk, and a shelf system hanging on the wall. It is fairly sparse but definitely liveable! I’ve already got some pictures up and with the help of the concierge (Cheik) I hung my mosquito net. Today we went in to townfor a big shopping trip to get fans,wall decorations, tea making supplies etc.

It was kind of exhausting wandering around Saint Louis with five of us making purchases, Joel and Mass (who came along to help with the bargaining) and Luigi (an Italian man here doing research for his PHD)!! But we got most of the essentials!

Now all that we have left to do is actually register and begin courses! That shouldn't be too big of a demand for the week. Although, we have learned the hard way to always set your goals of accomplishment low...then when you acheive more it is extra exciting!