When William and I first arrived in Germany, we were faced with the daunting task of finding a place to call home within a month. Complicating matters further, we didn’t have a car initially, which made exploring the area quite challenging. Thankfully, we discovered Kleinanzeigen, a German classifieds platform, which helped us identify a few promising apartments. After renting a car, we set off to visit these places, hopeful that we would find our perfect match.

Fun Fact: Some online classified platforms close down on Sunday to encourage people to take a day to rest.

The entire process was stressful, especially considering that my husband’s military obligations left him with little time outside of work to focus on apartment hunting. Despite these challenges, we persisted. Our perseverance paid off when we found an apartment in Landstuhl that seemed to fit our needs and budget.

Or so we thought.

After reaching out to the military housing office in Kaiserslautern and going through all the necessary paperwork, we were assured that the monthly rent would be 1200 euros. We asked twice to make sure. After several confirmations and assurances that this information was correct, we signed the lease and moved in, eager to settle into our new home. However, our relief was short-lived when we received a call from an understandably-irate landlord the following month, demanding closer to 2000 euros. Shocked and dismayed, we contacted the military housing office in Kaiserslautern, only to be met with a dismissive response which amounted to basically, “It’s in your lease, and its your fault for believing us.”

The apartment was perfect for us, despite the issues we had. It was located in Landstuhl, which was 10 minutes away from William’s work and only 20 minutes away from Kaiserslautern, a more urban town with several bars and shops. The apartment was a one-bedroom on the second floor of a small apartment building, which was in line with what most people in town had. Mithrandir ran around trying to determine the highest spot he could climb. In the beginning, it was William’s shoulder, although we quickly found him a huge cat tree to lounge on.

Needless to say, this unexpected financial burden cast a shadow over our impression of Germany. Despite this setback, we persevered, determined to make the best of our situation.

The apartment had one large “great room” when you walked in, with access to everything off of it. There was a small storage room, a bathroom with a separate bath and shower, and an adorable little patio. We also had a separate room for our kitchen, which had always been a dream of mine. The only downside of the kitchen was that there wasn’t a lot of space for storage, but with several grocery stores within walking distance, it wasn’t too big of an issue. Additionally, the apartment came with basement storage (the storage area was almost larger than our apartment!) which we used to store both our luggage and a few furnishings the landlords left behind, which didn’t match what we were looking for.