Moving Into My First Shared Apartment

August 15, 2022. On a sunny Monday, Mascha, Tobi, and Antonia had the day off, and together with Jule, they helped me move. Mom was on early shift, and Lauri was out with friends.

In advance, I had packed everything into moving boxes and dismantled the table, wardrobe, shelf, and bed. A few days earlier, I had rented a spacious van with a loading volume of sixteen square meters, which was completely filled when loading my belongings. After about two hours, we finished loading. I had also taken a monstera plant and two wall paintings from Mom to decorate my new apartment. Then the journey to Hannover began. Since I didn't have a driver's license, Tobi took the wheel while I sat in the passenger seat, helping Tobi navigate. Jule sat to my right, holding the two cacti she had given me as a move-in gift. Behind us, Mascha drove in the VW Touareg with Antonia, following our route.

"Turn right onto Hinüberstraße," I informed Tobi, pointing to the right. Tobi steered the car into the side street, where, as if destined for us, two parking spaces were free side by side.

"So, what floor is the room on?" Mascha asked, already out of the van with Antonia and approaching the transporter.

"We have to go up to the third floor," I replied with a broad grin, as if relishing it.

"Oh crap," she exclaimed.

"Let's get started then," Antonia said, opening the doors of the van.

I took the opportunity to go upstairs and open the apartment door. Upon my arrival, Claudia and the cat Mo greeted me.

"Hey Claudia! How are you?"

"I'm good. Do you need help?"

"Don't worry, we'll manage. After all, there are five of us. But could you please lock Mo in a room for now, so he doesn't disappear into the stairwell?"

"Sure, I'll do that!"

As I bounded down the stairs, Antonia was already approaching me with a cabinet door in her hands. "Take the left door right at the entrance. That's my room," I explained to Antonia, hopping down further.

"The door on the left when you enter," I said to Jule and Tobi, who were carrying two boxes one floor below Antonia.

Mascha had already placed the furniture parts at the entrance of the stairwell against the wall.

We gradually carried everything upstairs. Board by board, box by box, a stack of clothes after another, the overly heavy spring mattress, the air purifier, the dish box with flat and deep plates as well as bowls, a large flat-screen TV I had found in the garage during my cleanup.

By now, I was completely sweaty and with my last bit of strength, I dragged my extremely heavy PC upstairs, my upper arm muscles trembling with exertion.

"Finally done," I sighed in relief as I entered my new room.

Antonia, Jule, and Tobi were already in the room, admiring the spacious, light-filled room. Claudia was busy in her own room.

"Can I use the bathroom?" Antonia asked.

"Of course, just go through that door," I explained, pointing the way.

"The room is really huge!" remarked Tobi.

"Yeah, it's thirty square meters," I confirmed.

"It's large, but you don't have enough furniture yet to use all the space. You definitely need a sofa," commented Mascha, who had just come in and was looking out the window onto the street.

"I might get the sofa later. Right now, the bed is enough for me," I replied.

"And there's the passage to another room," observed Tobi.

"Yeah, exactly. I need to get foam to dampen the sound in here. Would you like something to drink?"

"Yes, please! I thought I was going to suffocate carrying the mattress," replied Antonia, who had just returned from the bathroom.

Together we went to the kitchen.

"Oh, Mascha, could you take the cups back to Mom? We already have a hundred cups here," I remarked as I took glasses out of the cupboard.

"And half of the glasses too," I added.

"Can we take a look around the apartment?" Jule asked.

"Of course, I'd be happy to give you a quick tour."

"So, as you can see, we're in the kitchen," I joked. "Luckily, we also have a dishwasher."

"Does a cat live here?" Antonia asked, pointing to the cat tree in the hallway.

I opened Hanna's bedroom door, and the black Mo was already lurking outside.

"Yes, that's Mo the cat. He belongs to Hanna, but she's not here right now."

"This is Hanna's bedroom. Across is another room, which will probably be her office. She moved in a month before me."

"And here we have the bathroom. It has a shower, a whirlpool, and even a bidet."

"Ew, it stinks in here! Antonia!" joked Tobi.

"That was probably Mo. His litter box is here next to the washing machine," I explained the unpleasant smell and took a look inside.

As we left the bathroom and returned to the hallway, everyone curiously stopped in front of the only door that hadn't been opened yet.

"Oh, and there's Claudia's room. It's as big as mine. She's studying computer science and is probably busy right now."

A broad grin appeared on everyone's faces, as if they secretly suspected she was just as silent a ninja as I was. We finished our tea in my room, and everyone shared their suggestions on how I could best arrange the furniture.

"Unfortunately, we have to leave, Saschi. If you need any more help, just let us know," Mascha said as she put on her white sneakers.

"That's very kind of you. Thank you for your support! I know a great kebab place that offers delicious vegan kebabs. I'll treat you!"

"Vegan kebab sounds great, I'm really up for that," commented Tobi.

"Very gladly! We can come visit you in the next few days," said Mascha.

"Perfect! Bye, my dears," I said goodbye to Tobi, Mascha, and Antonia.

"See you soon!"

Jule stayed to help me assemble the double bed, wardrobe, TV stand, shelf unit, and desk. I was full of enthusiasm and energy. However, as we worked on the furniture together, Jule seemed somehow lacking in energy, demotivated, and very distant.

I spent the first few days at Jule's place because I wanted to slowly get used to the new sleeping place, surroundings, and the new roommates, Claudia and Hanna, as I only knew them from the flatmate casting. When we spent time together at her place, there was a lack of warmth and affection between us. Our kisses had lost all emotions and felt like touching an emotionless humanoid. It was obvious that Jule still had strong feelings for Shinshu, possibly even stronger than ever. She was probably in contact with him all the time.

Jule barely spoke to me at breakfast. We had nothing to say to each other. When I looked at her during breakfast, she just looked down askance and didn't even give me the stare of infinity. I had no motivation to work on the relationship and spent the whole time thinking about Mara. But with Mara, it was definitely over. She was already in love with another guy and didn't reply to me anymore.

Surprisingly, I wasn't sad about the relationship low. Somehow, Jule's coldness gave me more reason to focus my attention on other women.

The First Weeks in the Shared Apartment

August 2022. In the first week, I felt uncomfortable in the kitchen and bathroom of the shared apartment. Apparently, I had gotten too used to my mother's cleanliness. The cabinets were very dirty, the windows hadn't been cleaned in a long time, all surfaces were dusty, dried food residues stuck to the cutlery, the oven was unusable as it was burnt and had sticky food residue everywhere. The kitchen was still filled with the lunchboxes, cups, and kitchen utensils of the former roommate Chiara, who hadn't picked them up yet.

Fortunately, I wasn't alone in this opinion. Hanna was also dissatisfied with the situation, as she told me over a cup of coffee when Claudia wasn't around.

"It's unacceptable that she hasn't picked up her things yet," Hanna complained about Chiara.

"Yes, that's true... Let's do a thorough cleaning here and store her things, as well as anything we don't need, in boxes in the basement. If Chiara comes by, she can pick up her things there," I suggested.

"Good idea, let's start right away!" said Hanna, and after coffee, which I prepared with my French press by the way, we started our work. I fetched some of my moving boxes from the basement, and we began sorting out everything that was probably no longer useful due to its condition and dirtiness. We started with lunchboxes and cups, moving on to pans and pots, and even an electric portable oven that Claudia used because the gas stove smelled strange. No wonder, given the dirt...

"That's my frying pan, it should stay here," Hanna stopped me as I was about to put a pan in the box.

"But we already have four frying pans. That should be enough for three people. Do you really need it?" I asked.

"Yes, this one has to stay," Hanna insisted.

"Okay," I replied, surprised, and squeezed the pan into a drawer already full of other pots and pans.

Hanna also stopped me with the over twenty cups, so I wasn't able to implement my aesthetic preferences in the cupboard, but had to somehow cram the cups into the cupboard.

The work was very exhausting, and after six hours, we finally finished at ten o'clock.

"Well, I'm tired now. I'm going to bed," Hanna said as she put the full box in the hallway.

"I'm totally exhausted too. Let's just bring the boxes downstairs," I replied, also placing a box in the hallway.

"I don't have any energy left. I'm going to sleep now," she said, heading to the bathroom.

"Okay. Shall we continue tomorrow?" I asked from the hallway.

"I'll be at uni all day. We'll see if I have enough energy and motivation in the evening," she replied.

"I'll probably just continue on my own," I suggested.

"That would be nice of you. Thanks! Goodnight!" she said, closing the bathroom door.

"Goodnight," I called back, then brought the full boxes and the heavy electric oven downstairs.

After that, I was completely drained. After brushing my teeth, I got into bed and fell asleep immediately.

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