A Long Post About The Art of Flatting

In Sweden, only hippies do the flatting thing. It is called "to live in a collective/commune" and in Swedes' eyes almost always means having an organic veggie garden, protesting against capitalism every Sunday and sporting dreadlocks. Also see the movie Tillsammans.

In New Zealand, flatting is how you do it, unless you are filthy rich.

My first flatting months were a bit of a shock. We had a lovely house and my flatmates were all sweet. But there were EIGHT of us. Always someone around, always someone that hears everything that's going on in your room, always someone cooking something in the kitchen. But also - someone that makes you a cup of tea or want to have a glass of red together on Friday nights.













Since we were renting the room from a girl that was always going to come back, we had to move last week.

And now we're in flat number two. The room is bigger and lighter, the house is darker and moldier, the flatmates are older and the kitchen huge and much cleaner.

So, how do you chose a flat?

I have lost count on how many flats we viewed, but it's definitely enough to generalize around a few signs.

* Messy kitchen/bathroom. An instant no. If the flatties are too lazy to even clean up before potential flatties come around, it's not very likely they will EVER clean up anything.

* Creative stuff like music instruments, board games, sport equipment lying around. All signs of a house with people that A) don't hide in their room at all times, and B) don't spend all of their free time getting smashed.

* Why are the previous tenants leaving? It is a very good idea to find out, especially if the reasons are in any way related to the room or the other flatties.

* Never go flat hunting just before uni starts for the semester. You'll have to use both your wits and fists for the good ones. Or do like Raquel, settle for one of the slightly less perfect flats.

And as for flatmates - the first impression almost never lasts. But a big warning sign is when they say "Oh yeah, don't worry, it's very quiet and no one is ever around really". As long as they are smiley and seem a bit interested in you, they will probably be sweet.

With our new best friends Mr. Heater and Miss De-humidifier, I'm pretty sure we'll be happy in our new flat too.