my ukie village apartment seems like a palace!!!

So yesterday we went apartment hunting. It did not go so well. We did see one very cute apartment. But it was unfurnished, and in France, unfurnished means UNFURNISHED, not even a fridge. For the short time we will be here, we did not really think that was worth it. One apartment finding service told us that we should consider renting a room in someone else's apartment. Since we are all really desperate here, we decided to give it a try. After paying another 120 euros, they gave us a list of numbers to call, and told us this one guy's apartment was the nicest. So we went there first. It was across the river (the 'bad' part of town, also where I am teaching). The guy turned out to be a pot smoking middle aged Moraccan dancer. Anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I am not the cleanest person (sorry mom, dad, siblings, Jaime, Joni, Kim, etc), but seriously, this place was GROSS. First of all it smelled like a bad mix of dirty apartment, pot, and some sort of ethnic cuisine that I assume is Moraccan, but having never eaten Moraccan food, I am not sure. He had a marijuana plant in the bathroom, and these random basement rooms that he used for dance practice, or some such thing. The bedroom, which cost 500 euros a month, was unfurnished, and super depressing. Needless to say, none of us took the room, despite being the nicest on the list. Even if the apartment was perfect, there is something creepy about a middle aged man sharing a room with a 20 something female. We are meeting again today to continue looking. Hopefully it goes a little better!