Apartment Life

I love my apartment.  It is in a good location, not too expensive, and has some great qualities.  We have a microwave, a new washing machine, and a flat-screen tv.  I live right off of Appia Nuova, the new Appian Way. How many people get to say they live on the Appian Way?  Kind of cool.  The landlord is very nice and easygoing.  The neighborhood is nice and safe, and I live across the Appian Way from the grocery store (kind of a big deal when you have to carry your groceries.  Olive oil, wine, and a massive tub of mozzarella di bufala is heavy).  Dozens of clothes stores, coffee bars, and restaurants are nearby.  The huge park across the street occasionally has ponies.  

I mention these good qualities so I don't sound unappreciative with this next bit. Although it is great, there are a few quirks we have to deal with.

There are 7 people living in this 5 bedroom apartment.  Francesca and I share a room.  Two Portuguese girls, Carolina and Andrea, share another double.  Daniella and Federica are from Napoli and they each have a single.  Matthias is a German doctor doing his residency in Rome, and he has a single as well.  There are three bathrooms (Francesca, Matthias and I share the largest while the pairs of girls split the other two).  

The only common space we have is about 10x20 ft and includes the kitchen, table, and tv.

We light the stove and the oven with a lighter.  Occasionally this is dangerous when making a groggy morning espresso.

The washing machine is in our bathroom, so everyone is constantly running in and out.  Annoying when trying to get ready for work and someone is fussing with laundry for 10 minutes.

The shower overflows.  The hot water also runs out, and then you are stuck with a freezing shower.  

Never, never, never use the microwave while the washing machine is on.  The power will go out.  

If washing clothes at night, keep as many lights off as possible, or the power will go out.

When the power goes out, go down 5 floors, walk outside onto the terrace, and flip the breaker.  

Everything going on in every room can be heard.  Even with two closed doors between you. 

Everything.

Our room is freezing!  The balcony door/window leaks air.  To deal with this we have shoved foam in cracks, taped a tablecloth to the window, and taped a pair of pants to the border.  Francesca and I pushed our beds together in the middle of the room (to keep away from cold walls) and wear multiple layers to bed.  The bathroom is freezing as well, so in the morning we turn the shower on hot to steam up the bathroom.  

The intercom doesn't work.  So when people continually buzz our apartment we can't ask who it is.  The choices are 1. let a random person into the building or 2. potentially ignore a roommate/friend.

Until we received the new washing machine last week, the old one randomly wouldn't drain and occasionally turned clothes green.  Even if there wasn't anything green in the wash.  

A couple weeks ago the sink broke and would not turn off.  We resorted to filling pans with water and dumping them out in the bathroom to avoid an overflow until figuring out how to turn it off.  Until it was fixed, we had to reach under the sink every time we needed water (then we could only use hot or cold).  

You need to open three doors to get into the elevator.  

I'm not really complaining because nothing is too bothersome (except for the cold.  I don't know how we're going to deal with that).  These are just some of the quirks!