Living out of a suitcase

Hello my faithful readers:

As promised here is my blog about finding new temporary housing. I have been here in Leuven since August 13th. Counting today I have been here for exactly 12 days which is more than enough time to be living out of my suitcase. My suitcase living will end on September 1st when I move into my new studio. In the meantime here's a little bit about the adventure I had when I moved out of the guesthouse I was staying in during my first week here last Friday (August 21st).

Initially I wanted to travel during the weeks between moving into my studio, but a visit to the City Hall here in Leuven quickly dampened my plans to see any countries other than Belgium. Our Visa only allows a single entry into Belgium and until we get our residence card we're not allowed to travel outside of the country (technically). This bit of news was a huge bummer for me because I really wanted to get to see some of my neighboring countries before getting bogged down with classwork. Last night some of my fellow classmates informed me that they were able to travel to Morocco with no problems for their honeymoon this past week. It should be noted that the lucky groom has an Italian passport which might have worked in their favor.

As a substitute for my (imaginary) trip to Amsterdam, Germany and maybe France, I'd planned on doing a nice leisurely tour of Belgium (yes I know it's a small country)!! Quickly I realized that:

1) I'm not working full-time anymore which means I have no more regular income
2) I'm not fully comprehending the fact that I'm spending euros right now and not US dollars
3) I wasn't going to find an inexpensive hotel that was up to my lofty standards in such a short amount of time.

Back to the drawing board and I'm scrambling last Friday to find temporary accommodations here in Leuven. I needed something that I could move into that very night because if you read my blog yesterday, the folks at the guesthouse were eager to have me move out so the next guest could move in.

I had a few options to choose from. One of my classmates (a fellow American) generously offered to let me crash on her couch. There is a property in town called Condo Gardens which is basically temporary studios and apartments where I knew some of my classmates are staying. K.U. Leuven (college that our MBA program is a part of) Housing Service has a listing of temporary housing that is called summer rentals which is a list of landlords and students that are subletting their rooms, studios and apartments during the summer vacation months. I decided the best option was to try to find a room since I needed a place to stay until September 1st (essentially 11 nights). I called and e-mailed a few places (Condo Gardens and places from the summer rentals list and finally got a call back from one of the summer rental landlord's after about an hour. I took the place over the phone (BIG MISTAKE) without going to see it because at this point I just wanted to move into something immediately - the clock was ticking for me.

I have some of the best classmates in the world because a couple volunteered to help me drag my bags to the new place. We arrived and the address listed on the summer rental sheet was wrong because the number they had listed was the address to a "social services office." Not exactly the best first impression, but thankfully the landlord happened to be standing outside and asked if I was the person coming to take the kamer (dutch word for room). We hustle my 4 bags up the 3 flights of stairs and my first thought was wow this building has lots of stairs and it sure seems a little rundown. The room itself wasn't horrible it was at the top of the building, but the shared kitchen, bathroom (toilet) and shower areas she showed me made me nervous. I didn't think much of it and to be honest took it because I couldn't stomach the thought of dragging my bags all the way downstairs again.

I tried to get the woman to agree to the price of 100 euros for the week as listed on the summer rentals sheet, but she hedged and said that the price was normally 30 euros per night. She said we'd be able to work something out, but she couldn't come down as low as the 100 euros. I said ok and because we had dinner plans that night with the rest of the group we headed over to Oude Markt right after I grabbed the keys.

Later that night, I arrived at the new building and it was super dark. I didn't see any light switches so I just walked up the 3 flights of stairs in the dark. I got to my floor and fumbled around until I found a few switches that worked in my hallway. I unlocked the door to my room and flicked the light switch. It didn't work! I flicked again just in case there was some error on my part and it definitely did not work. Because it was so late (almost midnight here), I decided to just wait until the morning to let the landlord know about the problem. I used the bathroom, brushed my teeth and washed my face in the sink in my room by the light of the hallway.

I turned in after my nightly rituals and tried to go to sleep. I couldn't do it. I tossed and turned for about 30 minutes. Then I felt my neck and back start to hurt. Sleeping on that bed was like sleeping on a hardwood floor. I also kept hearing some sort of bee/fly/mosquito buzzing my ear every few minutes. By 3 AM I was wide awake and (angrily) texting my best friend in NYC about the situation.

That whole experience was enough to make me realize that I was going to have to find another room. I remembered during one of my text rants that another man had called me in response to one of my e-mails shortly after this woman so I woke up and matched the number from my call log to his number on the summer rentals sheet. I took a shower (at 7:15 AM) and the shower confirmed to me that I needed to move! The shower didn't drain properly and for me that is a big no-no. I hate it when the water just sits there around your feet - the last time this happened to me was at a horrible hotel in Detroit and I didn't pay for that room.

I waited until 10:03 AM to make the call to the other guy. We agreed to meet so that I could take a look at his place for 11 AM, luckily it was less than a block away from my current room. I walked over and arrived about 8 minutes early I was so eager and he showed me my potential room and I took it. It was very clean, modern and not too small. The landlord seemed like a nice guy and I took it without even asking what the price was...the big bonus is that he only charged me 85 euros for the rest of the month (roughly 8,5 euros per day). This room has a shared kitchen, bathroom (toilet) and shower which I have to walk two flights of stairs to use, but I have slept like a baby in this room since Saturday night. I like this space and I don't mind making the compromise of walking up a few flights of VERY narrow stairs to use one of the most magnificent showers I have ever experienced. I'll miss it when I have to leave and end my few weeks of living out of my suitcase.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach

Banking in Belgium

Hello my faithful readers:

It's Sunday here in Leuven and now that I finally have a semi-permanent home (for the next 9 days) I have a little time to blog. Last Friday was the day that I had to check out of my guesthouse room and they knocked on my door at approximately 7:42 AM. Luckily I was awake because I knew that I had to check out by 11 AM and I had an appointment at the bank for 9 AM. I was already starting to pack my things together and the guy at the door wanted to get in and clean. AT 7:42 AM!!! I told him that I had an appointment (at the bank) for 9 AM so I'd be leaving my room at 8:30 and suggested he come back for then to start his cleaning. I got everything packed back into my suitcases and jumped into the shower so that I could make it to the bank on time.

I made my way to the bank where I ran into one of my classmates who was also setting up his account. If I hadn't seen him there I'm not sure I would have realized that the bank is also a branch because at first appearance it looks like it could be, but you can't see any of the office areas because they have a wall that pulls down overnight. The only thing visible to us customers is the bright orange wall and a weird door. This entrance also houses the ATM machines.

After walking in I visited the Info desk where the young woman told me to have a seat while I waited for my personal banker for the day. Just to explain a little about the process, I began the process of opening my accounts by calling the ING Expat Center; they were very helpful here for a fee of around 30 euros. The expat center required scans of my passport, rental contract and letter of registration from the school before they could set me up with an appointment to open up my account at the branch here in Leuven. The man helping me to open my account was very nice and we spent an hour with him explaining everything to me (he also shared some of the potential scenarios/fees for taking out insurance with ING - they offer renters, fire and car insurance to their customers in addition to their banking services here in Belgium.

Banking (at ING) seems to be slightly different here in Belgium than in the US. The main differences are:

-- they don't have routing numbers here - their numbers are called IBAN and SWIFT codes
-- banking online (especially for ING means something different as well (particularly for ING you have to download special software to your computer and you have to pay a fee if you want to bank online from multiple computers
-- bills are paid by wire transfers more often here and I haven't heard mention of checks at all
-- ING can receive transfers in multiple currencies and keep them in that currency (e.g. US$) should I choose to set my account up in this manner

One special note for my Indian friends considering opening an account with ING - one of my Indian classmates called the ING expat helpline and was told that all Indian expats have to go all the way to Brussels to open up their ING accounts.

Getting my banking situation straightened out it was a great relief for me and at the end of my appointment I had successfully opened my current (like a checking account without checks it seems) and savings accounts. So far this was the only thing that I could open without having moved into my permanent accommodations. I couldn't register yet with the city because I haven't moved in, nor could I set up the data plan for my blackberry so opening my bank account was a huge boost for me. After opening the bank account I hurried back to the guesthouse to move my bags into one of my classmates room. I needed to leave them there until I figured out where I was going to stay for the next few weeks. After moving my bags I went to check out of my room and settle my final bill with the guesthouse. I spent the rest of the day finding a temporary room here in Leuven. So that's exactly what I did.

I'll share a little bit more tomorrow about my new living situation, that's a whole new blog topic! Tonight I'm off to another round of dinner and drinks in Grote Markt with my new classmates. Did I mention that I'm loving it here in Leuven???

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach