This past week still brought plenty of anxiety regarding my search for an apartment. In addition to the issue of the guarantor, my work contract provides two further difficulties: (1) I have a 1 month trial period, in which I am currently, and (2) the contract is only guaranteed for 2 years. At the end of the week, there was a burst of communication with Amallia, which was quite relieving and informative, and allowed me to see that I cannot expect a quick resolution to my apartment hunt. While this is disappointing, it is mostly a relief to now have secured my current housing until mid October.
While this should yield higher productivity at work, a persistent hindrance is the inconvenience of French society (yes, I prefer to but it bluntly as such). Most stores are only open during work hours – so the other things I need to do to settle down still require me to do something during the day – or compete with everyone else for the 1-2 hours after work which they may still be open. Thus, if a store is open during lunch hours, this can be a great time to try to get some business done – but that can be a big if.
I’m trying not to take my housing woes personally, but at the same time, I cannot escape some sense of personal assault. That is, I well understand that housing is difficult for the French, and that there are advantages, such as having a guarantor, that are again, not a personal thing. Nonetheless, I should appear quite stable and trustworthy on paper, but somehow people find a way to deny me housing. It leaves me feeling…as if I’m in someone else’s shoes.
As a stress outlet, I was able to go climbing during the week, after work, at a local climbing gym that is very close to where I work. I went with the Columbian couple (Alejandro, in the red shirt, and Edna in the grey hoodie) that are staying in the same house, and although we were three people to a rope, we were not in any rush. This also allowed us to become comfortable with each others’ belaying before going climbing outside, which we did on Saturday.
We had thought to potentially combine climbing and hiking on Saturday, with the most optimistic plan was to spend a night at a hut (refuge) and hike on Sunday. However, with our schedule, and wanting to not miss the shuttle back to Grenoble, we ended up climbing (at a relaxed pace) all day Saturday. A fourth person, Clara (red hair), joined us on Saturday, and with two in our group being relatively new to climbing our choice of easy climbing was well received. I was content to be away from the stresses of Grenoble, outside, and in climbing shoes.
Many thanks to Clara for the pictures!!
Charles à Grenoble 
Have you looked on leboncoin.fr for apartments? Most of those are rented out directly by the landlord and you don’t need a guarantor, nor do you pay any agency fees.
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Yes, I have looked on leboncoin.fr. Perhaps if I were to do this over again, I would have pursued that route more fervently.
While I certainly understand that the rental agencies are a hassle, my real qualm has to be with the relocation agency. That is to say, my employer is paying people to find housing (and deal with agencies / landlords) such that I should have to do almost nothing. Despite France being known for its housing difficulties, this group has served others (working where I work) well in the past (allowing them to move in within roughly a week of arriving) but they have really fallen short of expectations for me and another of the most recent hires.
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