The Goods and the Bads 9-3-10

So there are some good things about my dorm and some not so good things. Which would you like first? Well, I guess I will try to be more positive and give the goods first. My room and the whole place, really, is clean. The walls are nice and white without damage or marks. The bathrooms are clean without any mold, etc. The lights and plumbing work just fine and most things look pretty new. The water is very clean, which is a huge plus! In Slovakia I never really felt clean after taking a shower but I can tell that the water is much cleaner here. I even drank a little yesterday when I was just too tired to go out for something to drink and I didn’t get sick or anything. The windows are nice double pane windows with one opening down from the top and the other two opening in like doors. The roll up metal window shutter on the outside closes so tight it could be night or day and you wouldn’t know the difference inside. This was very nice when I got here yesterday and all I wanted to do was sleep. The only problem with the windows is that there are no screens so, as I discovered last night, there are mosquitos in Padova. It seems like there are very little other bugs though, so that is nice. The room did come with a mattress cover, bed cover, pillow, pillowcase, and blanket. Unfortunately, the mattress cover was too small when I tried to put it on yesterday. I brought the small one down to the front desk and the lady had a larger one ready for me later in the day.

The room also came with a phone and an Ethernet cord. I can use the phone to call other rooms in the Copernico complex and, I think, outside lines. Pretty nice. I tried to get the internet with the Ethernet cord but I need a password from the University to use the internet. This is very disappointing! I found out at the International Relations Office later in the day that in order to get the password I need to have the registration and enrollment completed. They said that this could take up to 3 weeks! Thus, I will have to find an internet point and pay for internet until then or maybe I can get on the computers at school?

Another thing I am not very happy about is that the kitchen doesn’t have a stove or oven. How can you call it a kitchen if it doesn’t have a stove or oven? It has tables, chairs, a couple of microwaves, and refrigerators that aren’t turned on that stink. I had specifically emailed the SASSA accommodation service before accepting the dorm room asking if the kitchen would be finished and usable. A previous student had warned me that the kitchen was being redone and couldn’t be used last year. Apparently their definition of “complete kitchen” is different from mine. I will ask about a stove on Monday when the lady at the desk is back.

Also, I have noticed that the air conditioning isn’t coming on at all. I have switched the switches back and forth to see if it was off before but nothing makes a difference. The description of the dorm says that it has air conditioning. I got all bitten up by mosquitoes last night because I left the windows open to keep cool. Maybe I will just have to bear the heat to keep from getting eaten. I will also ask about the air conditioning on Monday.

I hope some of these things can get resolved soon. It doesn’t seem fair that I should have to pay the higher rent price for this room when all of the amenities that were promised are not provided. I guess I don’t know what the other dorms are like though so I can’t complain too much. Maybe they have the same problems?