Le Rabot

After looking over my blog I've realized that thus far it is mainly one long rant about how rude the French are which would lead you all to believe that I am not enjoying myself, which is not accurate. So I have decided to describe my residence.

Basic Facts about my residence:
1. It is on top of a very large hill. It takes approximately 10 minutes to go down and 20ish minutes to walk up.

2.The hill is steep enough that I have to stop and gasp for breath several times if my bag is heavy. Though my legs are already more muscular and I do not gasp nearly as much.

3.There are just under 350 steps (346) to the entry of my residence plus quite a long steep section of paved road in the middle

4. My residence has 5 floors, I live on the 5th floor which can only be accessed by one stairway at the very end of the building.

5.The bathrooms are reminiscent of those one would expect to find in a developing nation.

6. The entire residence is full of character (Some may call it run down, I prefer to say full of character).

Now that you are all aware of the basic facts I will attempt to describe some of its most interesting facets for you. The aspect that most surprised me initially was the lack of toilets. I do not mean that there is nowhere to go to the washroom, just that there are no toilets like those we would expect in North America. This is where the part about the developing nation comes in. Le Rabot has kindly provided us with squat toilets (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squat_toilet for more info). Although they have been kind enough to provide indoor plumbing, soap and toilet paper are up to you.

The showers are also quite unique and do not provide hot water reliably. I could deal with tepid or somewhat cold water, but before I found out which were the 'good showers' I was treated to a glacial stream of water. It woke me up instantly with the kind of cold that puts hair on your chest. I have now discovered the good showers ( all on the 1st and 2nd floor) and now make the trek down the stairs and then to the end of a 150m hallway before showering. The lights are also turned off in the bathrooms and the kitchen between 12am-6am so if you want to shower between those times you had best bring a flashlight.

In the same vein, the kitchen is distinctly student and has a chronic smell issue. It was particularly bad the first day I arrived. The people on my floor were making Raclette ( bread dipped in Raclette cheese) which has a smell similar to the one you would smell if you didn't wash your feet for a week. We usually remedy this smell issue by opening the windows, which means you freeze while cooking. I haven't quite decided which one is better, as opening the windows never quite seems to eradicate the smell. The hot plates are also quite temperamental. Last night while I was eating at the table in the kitchen, I witnessed a friend get shocked. The hot plate emitted a very loud band, much like gunfire and we all jumped about a foot. On the bright side I have not yet burnt a meal as vigilance is important whilst cooking.

Though one might think from these descriptions that my residence is the lowest of the low ( and you wouldn't be wrong) there are two key reasons I really enjoy living here.

A. THE VIEW IS AMAZING, I wake up every morning and on a clear day I have a 260 view of the mountains and the city. It makes the hike worthwhile.

B.The people on my floor are very nice and I really enjoy the atmosphere.

Also, my room is nice. Though very simply furnished it has tonnes of storage and I have my own private sink which I love. Oh, did I mention rent is only 168 euros a month (about $220 CAD) and the laundry is very cheap.You sign up every monday night and for 1 euro you receive 2 hours of washing time and 2 hours of drying sometime later in the week.