real life house-hunters international - no fluffy reality tv here

Aix Cathedral - credit:
  http://www.provence-luberon-news.com/ 

First episode: Oh So Naive
Viewers meet freelance writer Kami Rice who is amazed to have the unexpected opportunity to study French for the fall semester in beautiful Aix-en-Provence, France. In late June, from the comfort of her happy apartment in Music City, USA, she begins her housing search online. She first thinks she can get off easy by renting from a friend's landlords, but the location of their house isn't going to provide the immersion experience Kami is searching for as she embarks on the quest to move beyond elementary level French and to write from within this old, inspired city in southern France. She turns down that first place in early July after thinking she has found the "perfect" French studio apartment in the large 18th century home of an artist. In email exchanges--with lots of Google Translate assistance for Kami--the painter says the studio is available. Within hours, Kami replies that she wants to rent it. [close-up of happy, excited, hopeful and NAIVE Kami]

Episode recap: Dejection
It's been three weeks, and Kami still hasn't heard back from the painter. She doesn't know how business works in France, but she doesn't think the deal has been sealed yet. Now in the midst of packing up her happy Nashville apartment, she's getting worried. She finally asks a friend to help her call the painter. The painter doesn't know who Kami is. The studio is no longer available. Thus Kami is launched into weeks of Google Translated emails trying to find housing. Her French is not good enough for making phone calls. The only replies she receives are from landlords whose places are already rented. Watch this episode online for all of the dreadful ups and downs and hours and hours and hours of behind-the-scenes footage of Kami viewing what seemed like every apartment available in the city of Aix. All the cute places she saw online back in early July seem to have been replaced by dreary, tiny, ugly, windowless compartments that are completely uninspiring for even the most uninspired writer. The one happy point in this episode came when generous donors told Kami they want to cover tuition for a second semester of French classes. She can stay in Aix until June! But this also ups the ante on housing.

Episode recap: Dead Ends
On the ground in Aix! Kami is sure her housing search will turn a corner now that she can view apartments in person. Along the way she has learned cultural tidbits such as that the French prefer to do business in person or on the phone. Email is not their strong suit. She tries to fight back against dejection by viewing all of the dead ends as a cross-cultural exercise that any true expat/world traveler must go through eventually. This only helps a little. A new French friend calls lists of apartments for Kami, to schedule appointments, but only manages to schedule two appointments after leaving many messages, encountering full voicemail boxes, and finding that many places have already been rented. French housing is reported to be always difficult. On top of that, again and again, Kami hears that housing in Aix is especially tight this year, so tight it's made the news. 40,000 students descend on the city this time of year. Kami's student visa and poor French are no match for them.

Episode recap: In the Heart of Centre Ville
46.5 hours after arriving in France, Kami steps inside her first available apartment for a viewing. A friend of a friend has come with her to translate with the landlord. Kami is already taken by the location deep in the downtown/center of old-town Aix near the ancient cathedral. Despite all of the "very old" surrounding the studio, the inside is refreshingingly new. Very new. Completely redone. No one has ever slept on the futon before. The kitchen and bathroom are beautiful - especially compared to the awful pictures Kami has seen again and again. The space is small but lit up beautifully by two large windows that welcome sun from late morning until late afternoon. The landlord says 27 people have viewed the apartment!!! [sped-up shot of many people entering and walking through the apartment one after the other] However, he's particular about who he rents to. He wants someone who will take care of all the newness. He's only considering 3 of the prospective tenants. Kami makes the cut.

Episode recap: Waiting
Kami and her helpful new friends call the landlord the next morning to tell him she would like to rent the place. The day goes by and he doesn't call back. The friends say that the French typically keep their work and personal lives separate, so if the landlord doesn't call back by supper time, most likeky he's chosen someone else because he won't call once family time begins. Kami views another apartment. It's fine but not as nice, and the friend who goes with her is concerned about the poor security of a ground-floor window with no bars on it. Kami then wanders the centre ville the rest of the afternoon/early evening, her first chance to explore without being on a mission to get somewhere. She falls in love with it a little more. She walks down the street near the cathedral to check out the first apartment's location again. But she's no longer hopeful it will ever be hers. As the sun sets, she wanders into a cafe to order her first French coffee on her own. [insert funny clips of Kami trying to order a vanilla latte and ending up with cinnamon hot chocolate instead] She checks her borrowed cell phone for the time. What? A missed call from 7 minutes ago? The landlord's number?! She calls him back. He tells her something in French. She apologizes that she doesn't understand. Can she have her friends call him, she asks? He switches to broken English and asks her to bring documents to a meeting with him tomorrow. She thinks she understands the documents he's asking for. She finishes her hot chocolate and stops off at the ATM to collect the first round of cash for the deposit, in case he wants it now - she's hopeful but senses that this apartment is not a certainty for her yet.

Episode recap: Patience
As Kami walks through "old-town Aix" today to meet the landlord, she discovers that the weekend flower and veg/fruit market is just minutes from her hoped-for new home in the middle of the narrow labyrinthine streets of the old city. "THIS is just where I've hoped to live," she sighs in the voiceover. She arrives at Number 16 and begins chatting with the landlord in a mix of English and French while waiting for her friends to arrive to help translate the fine details. The landlord drops the news that she is not the only candidate for the apartment. [shot of Kami's face falling] The number of renters he's considering is down from 3 to 2: Kami, who is looking for a 9-month lease. And a student who wants to rent the place for 3 years. [Audience groans. Of course the student will win. What landlord wants a 9-month renter over a 3-year one. But wait...] Then he tells her that her desire to pay cash makes her competitive against the 3-year person. [Take that, you mystery competitor.] He also likes her personality and seems intrigued by her writing work. [Wannabe writers sometimes take pity on real writers...like the time Kami was pulled over by a cop who had been a creative writing major.] He seems to want her to have the apartment but has to check over everyone's paperwork. He says to bring financial records for Kami and the friends who have agreed to serve as her guarantors (very common requirement in France) to his office on Monday. On Wednesday, he will call to say "oui" or "non."

And that, folks, is where we stand. Plenty of real-life suspense going on here. Will the next episode be "Moving In" or "Resuming the Search" or "Giving Up and Returning to the U.S."? Stay tuned to find out.