So I'm finally back home after 4 days of appartment craze which involved a lot of time wasted waiting, driving around. It was about time I got back home because I go crazy over a very short period of time when I'm at my parents'. I just didn't have a good rythm in my life when I lived with them and New Rythm can't measure up to Former Rythm over an extended period of time!

So, in chronological order:

Saturday
My father had said he wanted to leave home around 9:30 that morning. Because I was having friends over Friday night, I couldn't drive down to their place that day, so I got up at 7 on Saturday and arrived at my parents' at 8:30. And of course we winded up leaving just a little before 11. Murphy's law.
Once in the Gatineau-Ottawa area, we wandered a little around before stopping in a Zellers in order to get a map. I was the one directing my father, who was driving, with the map, so let's say in the 3 days we spent there, we both got very familiar with the region. Whereas my mother is still clueless. But she only came with us that one day.
We stopped at my father's cousin's, where we stayed for about an hour. He's a very kind man, and there I went through the appartment for rent section of the local newspaper he had. I made two useless phone calls before one lady picked up the phone and arranged with me for us to visit the appartment.
It was an amazingly huge and beautiful appartment in a 6-appartment building. I litteraly fell in love with it, but it was much too far away from where I'll be working - 40 minutes of bus. Which, if you're born there, isn't that far away, but if I'm going to bother moving in order to work there, I might as well choose a place a little closer.
It was 5 o'clock when we finished visiting so we thought it wasn't a good time to make phone calls... and then we realized it was a Saturday night, too. So we spent the rest of the evening driving around in different areas, observing which were nice and which weren't. We also went to see the building where I'll be working, and then proceeded to trying to find a motel. Which we didn't. And we got so far looking for one I suggested we just went home. My father agreed, saying we'd come back on Tuesday, and we went home, making a rapid stop at my appartment so I could pick up some more clothes and thingies. I hadn't brought that many things with me as I was expecting to come home on Monday.

Sunday and Monday
On Sunday I went shopping with my mother. On Monday, we paid my grandmother a visit. Those two days were pretty boring.

Tuesday
Again, my father had said we'd leave around 8 or 9 on Tuesday morning. Again, I got up at 7 and was ready by 7:45, but then we heard there was horrible traffic in town so we waited. I vowed I'd never get up early for my father ever again. We finally left at 10. Still caught impressive traffic, but never mind.
Once in Gatineau, we drove around a little again and I decided what area I wanted my new appartment to be in. I also decided if we didn't find anything interesting that day, I'd take the humongous appartment we'd seen on Saturday.
We visited three appartments that day - out of a ton of phone calls made, can you believe it? The two first we saw were nice places. The second one, although in a nice building, was located in a crappier area. The third one was out of the question the minute I saw it. Pretty ugly neighborhood, with the dryer located next to the fridge in the kitchen and the washing machine in the corridor, behind a closed door. By 7 at night I got tired of making calls and visiting, so I picked the first appartment we'd seen that day. I called the landlord, and he said he couldn't be there to sign the lease that very night, and he was working on Wednesday, but we could meet at his place at 6:30 pm. I agreed because I didn't really have a choice (NO! YOU CANCEL WHATEVER YOU HAVE PLANNED AND YOU WRITE ME THE DAMN LEASE!) and because we figured we wouldn't have anything to do all day Wednesday, my father and I again decided to go home and return the next day.

Interlude musical approprié: Mardi matin, l'empereur, sa femme et le petit prince/Sont venus chez moi pour me serrer la pince/Comme j'étais parti le petit prince a dit/Puisque c'est ainsi nous reviendrons mercredi

Wednesday
On Wednesday my father and I left a little before 2 in order to spare ourselves the traffic. We did catch a little traffic once in Gatineau, but 5 minutes of slightly slowed down driving doesn't count in my book.
Again, we drove around a lot before it was 6:30, I signed the lease and took another look at the appartment in order to get the measurements and a more specific idea of the room I have and what I can make fit in it.
And then we went home.
At first we were supposed to take my car that day to get to Gatineau, but it turned out something's wrong with a bearing and my father said we might be able to save it if we took care of it right away. Right away meaning today (Thursday) morning. I informed my father I most definitely intended on going home that same night because I really missed my things, so it was decided I'd take my father's car to go home, he'd fix mine when he'd have time and bring it to me afterwards. So I went home in his red Cabrio, which I really hate because even my Accent is a smoother drive. I also hate it because it's American so the speed is indicated in miles per hour. But it is a red car (see Quartz's Ongoing Fantasy Since the Age of Three) and it has the most entertaining key which activated the anti-theft system, locks all doors and even shuts the windows still opened when you use it to lock the door.

That's it for now, I'll talk about my new appartment in more details some other time.