Moving Out

By Reita Hutagalung, Global MBA student 2012-2013, Indonesia

Ok… so this is just to tell a little story about my experience of moving out from the student residence to an apartment in Paris, right before the IIP. Many factors counted in my last minute decision to move out. For those who plan to move to Paris after some time in Cergy, my advice is to plan a loonnngg way ahead! In my case, well, I had only more or less a week before going, so my nerves were tested to the max.

My starting point was easy: I just needed a room and not an apartment so it’d be easier on the administration. After getting some advice from my friends who had moved out before, I registered on this website called “Appartager.com” where you could advertise your room needs: budget, preferences, etc. Next step was more research as I didn’t know which area to live in. Well after reading several blogs and asked for advice, I preferred the arrondissements that are not too way out. I guess this is  apersonal view and many people could have different opinions; but for me I like to feel secure (I guess I’m easily scared hahaha..). Then, the real thing began. So on the website, depending on the plan we registered (basic or premium), we could show interest in other people’s advertisements. As I had so little time, I just applied for the premium account to be able to contact the people advertising their rooms either through email or phone directly. I started to browse the advertisements, looked at the profiles of the other person living in the apartment (don’t want to end up with some creepy people, right? Hehe) and checked the location on Google and metro maps. Not only is the number of metro stations you have to change and its distance to the apartment important on the day of moving out when you have to drag your big luggage all the way through the long underground tunnels and up the stairs of Paris Metro, but also I believe it’s important for those days where you need to make a run to the classes. ;P

After several rejections and getting more and more desperate, one day I just got this email from a person who didn’t even put up her profile picture or any picture of her apartment. “Ok, this is a bit suspicious” I thought; but at least not as suspicious as this one guy who kept emailing his advertisement on and on again although I’ve sent him the “not interested” flash message. So after letting Chen know where I was going to check out the apartment, I decided to visit it. Well wasn’t I very surprised! The lady was so nice, the place is decent, the area looked nice and clean, and I just liked it. I wouldn’t feel satisfied if I haven’t done any comparison so I also looked out other places, but finally I made my decision to accept the lady’s place. My next big task was to pack all my stuff, divide some that I’d take to my IIP project and other to be stored at some other place. I thank God that the lady is so nice she even let me put some stuff even though I’d start my contract when I get back from IIP. But unfortunately even with what I thought was “not-so-much-stuff”, there were still many things that need some space! Thanks to my friends, my packing mess turned out ok just-in-time and I could finally sleep with relief on the plane going to my IIP place.