2013

It seems that most people didn't have a good 2013.
But then again, I remember last year on this same date people saying they had an awful 2012. And this happens every year to be fair.

2013 for me . . . it was extreme. I had the best and the worst times.
Nevertheless I choose to focus on the best, and learn from the worst.
It was the first time since 2010 that I spend such a long time in my hometown, Athens, Greece.
At first it was so hard to adapt that I was severely depressed for a couple of months. Things got better when I visited London for holidays, but the moment I returned I got worse.
Then, when I thought there was no hope for me in Athens; when I had already decided I was gonna seclude myself and I was distancing myself from my friends, something happened.
Things changed.
I met new people, I reconciled with people I wasn't so close to and I came closer to my mates, I got a job and I started enjoying my summer.
I quit the job and I experienced some really bad behaviour from a couple of people, but I didn't pay attention or energy to that.
This summer was one of the best summers of my life. I can only compare it to the summer of 2008 which was the peak of my lifetime in Greece so far. 
However, I had to leave again, even though I had just started adapting and enjoying myself; even though I had so many people around me I didn't want to leave back -again.

People don't realise how hard it is to be the one that leaves. When I moved to another Greek city for two years -for my studies- it took me months to adapt. I was travelling back to Athens at least once a month on the first year and every week on the second year. I hated the people in that city and I didn't think the city had anything to offer me. I got bullied and mistreated all the time, and I didn't even like what I was studying so, I left. But then I had to leave the friends I made there behind.

When I left was when I decided to move to London -for studies. I left in January 2010 and I think it's one of the hardest things I've done in my life. I was crying throughout the whole flight. Imagine I had just turned 21 and I moved to a foreign country without any help, without any friends there. I don't think my friends in Greece realise how much I missed -and miss- them at times when I'm in London. My first year in London I was very depressed and I didn't really enjoy myself that much. Thankfully things changed on my second and third year. I was lucky to make really good friends whom I consider family. 

When I returned to Athens I was missing my London family a lot. Many people have asked me: -But aren't you used to it by now? Missing people since you are in London for a couple of months and then in Athens for the rest of the year. 
No, it never gets old, you never get used to it. I miss everyone equally and constantly when I'm away from them.

So 2013... I returned to London once more for a masters degree. That night on the 5th of September when I had to say goodbye to my crew in Athens I was ready to cry. Well, I was already crying inside. It's an awful thing to grow away from people you care for. You both go on with your lives and follow different paths. There's always that danger that your paths will never meet again even if you return. It has happened to me before and believe me, it's unbearable.
The first months after my return in London have been a roller coaster: accommodation problems, struggling with my masters, trying to adapt once again, partying, crying, depression, drama, reunion of the family...

I have no clue what 2014 is gonna bring me. I'm hoping a masters certificate and health first and foremost. 
But I don't even remember why I started writing this :P
Anyhow I wish for all of us to be healthy, happy, and learn how to focus on the positive things in our lives.

To all my mates in every fucking country they might be right now:

Be extreme and don't give two shits. Love yourselves and take care!

Rave on! :D

Freedom

Freedom can also be a person's choice to experiment on their perception, body, and soul; an effort to expand their consciousness; an attempt to evolve spiritually and explore their universe.

New beginnings New problems

After what happened to me in Bayswater I hoped my new accommodation would be better.
To be fair I moved in with one of my best mates, an Italian guy and a bulgarian guy -who were his housemates from before- and another one of my best mates moved in with me so, I thought things would be amazing.

I'm not gonna refer to every little detail but to cut a long story short:
-The bulgarian guy:

• Never follows the cleaning rota -aka has never cleaned the house in the 3-4 years he lives here
• Always wants things to happen his way no matter what -and he uses manipulation to achieve that very effectively
• Is abusive and violent towards his girlfriend (she confessed her story to me and even if half the shit she told me is true, this guy has to be arrested)
• Hosted his father for 2,5 years in his room without paying rent or bills for him for the biggest part of his stay (even though the landlord forbids us to host people for more than 3 weeks)
• Has trapped his girlfriend into our house, not allowing her to leave for the past 6 weeks without paying for her share of the bills or rent ofc (again the landlord forbids couples to share the same room in the house)
• Has bullied one of my best mates in front of my very eyes 
• Fights with his girlfriend all the time and sometime the screams, crying and yelling coming from the room are extreme
• Devalues education and has questioned my choice to do a masters degree very rudely
• Believes he is the shit because he's a builder and thinks anyone not working the way he does is worthless
• Judges me and my best mate for personal choices that are non of his business
• Has been extremely rude and provocative to me even though I'm 100% civil and typical towards him (and believe me it's not an easy thing for me to do)

-The manager:

• Is always polite and says yes to everything which leads to the bulgarian guy having an attitude like he owns the place
• Promised to tell the bulgarian guy off on the cleaning thing and the hosting people for months thing, but he chickened out and didn't say anything last night (we had a housemate meeting)
• Knows -for sure- what kind of shit person the bulgarian guy is and I'm also sure he suspects his abusive behaviour, and he says the couple's fights and lifestyle create an awkward situation, but says he doesn't like confrontation (ffs grow some balls fucker)
• Says this is a family house and we should be a family, blatantly ignoring the situation with the bulgarian guy
• Has taken him more than 3 weeks to give me and my mate the contract and now that he did our other mate is away on holidays so we have to wait for him to come back for all the housemates to sign -which means I don't have proof of address and I can't register with a GP, so if I get ill, I'm screwed
• In general doesn't recognise part of his responsibilities as a manager
• He has everyone pay the same rent even though his room is twice the size of the second biggest room in the house
• Didn't tell me we had a mouse problem before I moved in
• Hasn't fixed the kitchen ceiling in more than 1 year, so water from the shower drips close to the light bulb in the kitchen (we could get electrocuted)
• Hasn't fixed the ground floor toilet in more than 2 months 
• Hasn't done any proper maintenance for the house at all

(the bullet points that have to do with maintenance also have to do with the landlady that doesn't give a shit about anything but the money)

Update: i spoke to the manager and he said he wants me to stay so we came to the agreement that I will stay, but will not even have to speak to the other guy. Let's see how it goes.

Update 2: Things are not looking good. My mates and I are not even talking to the prick and he declared to the manager he wants us out of the house. He thinks it's us creating problems. Even though he has been playing mind games on us and tries to intimidates us -and does whatever the hell he wants- all the time. His girlfriend is living here still, secretly though and he said he's gonna host his father again! The manager says he's gonna move out by May which means the prick will most probably become the new manager. Therefore I'll have to find new accommodation before May, less than two months before my deadlines!

Update 3: It's March already and the bulgarian guy has been hosting his father for more than a month. Now he's hosting his brother as well. I decided to move out now rather than wait for May. So, I'm now trying to find a room in my uni's halls. Never lived in south London before, it's gonna be an interesting experience.

Update 4: I'm worried about my deposit. In this house you give the deposit to the one who left prior to your arrival. Hence I gave my deposit to the lady that rented the room before me. However, if the manager leaves by the end of the contract who is there to ensure the next tenant will give me my deposit? Also, the situation in the house is unacceptable. It's turned into a bulgarian commune! The bulgarian guy offered us 20 £ each for bills, but are you serious? His father has been living here for 2 months without permission and his brother for 3 weeks! Ofc we didn't accept the money. Moreover there are no cleaning products in the house and the ones that we have have expired since 2012! When I told the manager he promised to take care of it, but he didn't. The manager -after he found out everyone is moving out after the contract expires (and the fact that I want to move out sooner)- has been a little sneaky bitch; not that he wasn't before, but now it's way too obvious. He complaints about being a manager and not making anything out of it, even though he pays 300£ less on the rent he should pay, since he makes us all pay the same amount of money without taking under consideration the sizes of our rooms. Also, he charges us 120 £ each for bills, but we've never seen a receipt of the costs of the house. Bare in mind we also pay for cable tv even though he's the only one watching and I had to pay council tax even though I'm a full time student -which means I shouldn't.
My nerves are breaking down and I can't study in this house. I need my space and until I get it I'll go crazy. It's not easy to concentrate on my studies while no one here has consideration over me being a student. The manager told me the other day: "Relax and party, why study?". WTF MAN!

Update 5: The bulgarian guy hosted his girlfriend as well for a couple of days, plus has turned our house into a construction site! Even though the contract states clearly it's illegal to deliver any part of our business in/ from the house. Now his brother is cutting wood using a very loud and dangerous tool!
Moreover the landlady came by today and had a talk with one of my mates (and housemates) and he told her about the situation in the house (plus the repairs that are needed) and she had no fucking clue! Which means the fucking manager has been lying to us all along! I NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE OR ELSE I'M GONNA TURN PARANOID!

Update 6: It's the end of March and today the landlady found out about everything. EVERYTHING! We spoke on the phone. She's coming today to evict the prick and talk to all of us.... Stressful!

Update 7; She didn't come, but the 'manager' who isn't actually the manager and had no right to make us pay the same rent even though our rooms are way smaller than his-as the landlady told me on the phone-, told us we will have to leave the house by the end of the contract with no right to leave beforehand. So I'm trapped in this shithole until the 17th of May. Which is 1 month before my deadlines... Just great. Also we won't get our deposit back until the end of the contract. Plus the bulgarian guy verbally attacked me -as he did with the landlady on the phone today- and tried to blame me -with no argument ofc. The fact that I'm the only woman in the house makes him think I'm the easy target as he's a sexist and misogynist. I can't live here no more seriously. the landlady chickened out and didn't come, the 'manager' almost cried today during the meeting and my two mates just can't be bothered with this situation. I'm on the verge of paranoia! I can't be disrespected like this and accept it! I wanna move out as soon as I can and fuck everything else! I got a fucking degree to fight for! And in this house it's just impossible!

Update 8: The noisy work is still taking place and when we confronted the bulgarian guy he lied about getting permission from the 'manager'. I need to get the fuck outta this place...

Update 9: The landlady came by today. The Bulgarian guy promised to stop all the shit. And I just found out my other housemate and 'manager' of the house isn't the manager and has been living rent free stealing money from the rest of the housemates.... Oh and the landlady's husband who's a prick as well said -concerning the money thing: "Well, at least you learnt something from this."
What a fucking bellend. Why are landlords in London such scumbags?

WTF

Update 10: We confronted the 'manager' and expect to see receipts and proof that he didn't steal our money.. let's see...

Update 11: It's early April and the manager is trying to involve the landlady who isn't really into it. Also hopefully I will move out next week.

Update 12: The 'manager' said he will only show us the receipts of the bills -to prove that what we've been paying reflects the bills and rent of the house- only if the landlady is there. She got ill so she couldn't come to out scheduled meeting on Friday. Then one of us asked the 'manager' to bring the receipts and when he did and the other person tried to read them the 'manager' flipped and started screaming that he's gonna call the police. He's disappeared ever since. I called the landlady just before the incident to ask whether I'd get my deposit if I left the house 1 month prior to the end of the contract and she said it's ok and if we all want we could just leave now and we'd get our deposits. She doesn't like that we're questioning the manager and she told me on the phone: "Why do you care about all that stuff? Why now? Why don't you all just leave the house and leave this?! No one has ever questioned the way money is managed in the house before!"
The little bitch thinks we don't know she had a secret 'arrangement' with the 'manager'. We're not stupid though and we realise they're both scum and the 'manager' has committed fraud.

Update 13: On Wednesday we got a meeting with the 'manager' and the landlady. Fucking hell is this never gonna end? On Thursday I'm moving out and hope I won't lose my deposit.

Update 14: The landlady revoked her permission for me to leave even though we had an arrangement and an agreement since last week. I have already booked a new place though. Just great...

Update 15: There is so much that has happened these days... I feel so weak and tired... I can't even begin to tell you about me and my mate going to civil bureau, then calling house shelter for advice, then me going to my uni's housing advice service, then having a housemate meeting with the landlady -and her husband- present.... In the end she will deduct the last rent from my deposit and I won't have to pay for bills and stuff. At least that's what she said. Let's see how it goes. We also confronted the 'manager' and he proved that what we've been paying is right (for 2-3 months). There's a lot more proof needed, but for the time being we have to wait. If all goes well, I'm also moving to my uni halls today.

Update 16: I moved out. So far the Halls of my uni are not that bad, but people here are a bit unfriendly and antisocial. On the 16th of April though, I will have to go and clean my room in the previous house and give the keys.