Routine Pleasures

At the Institute of European History, we have a pretty posh set-up. That is, of course, if you don't take into account that we live in one tiny room and share a kitchen and a bathroom. Fortunately, we're not laden with belongings. And, believe it or not, I've never trekked down to the shower with all of my toiletries/shower items and found someone already in the shower. Naturally, it helps that there are only four girls on this floor, and sometimes only two.

As for the "posh set-up" I spoke about, we have two washers and two dryers in the basement...and they're free! We also have free wireless internet. That's certainly helpful when you have little to do. However, even more exciting is that we don't really have to do any cleaning. Every morning (except Saturday and Sunday), a maid comes to clean the bathrooms and kitchen. Then, once every two weeks, she comes to clean our rooms. The concierge comes every Monday to take our soiled hand towels and give us clean ones. And finally, the first and the middle of the month marks the time for clean bedding, at which point we put our soiled bedding downstairs for washing. So, I'll say it again: We have a pretty posh set-up.

There is, unfortunately, one thing that rains on my parade: my least favorite chore. Everyone has to wash and dry their own dishes. Ugh! I'd clean the toilets over washing dishes. And, of course, we do our own laundry. But, all in all, I really can't complain.