Bad Summer Placements? How to Avoid Them

[streeters]

Oh god I'm on a summer placement at a synchrotron and it has quickly turned into a hellish experience.

I rent a room from a woman (who lives in the house too) and she is crazy. Once she got my rent money up-front, she started laying down all these rules like:
*I'm not allowed to speak in my room
*I'm not allowed to walk around too much in my room
*I'm only allowed half a shelf in the fridge
etc.

I was taking a shower the other day, and as soon as she heard me start the shower she turned off the boiler. The water goes cold a minute later, so i go to see what is wrong with the boiler and she starts complaining that I use too much water. (i only have one shower a day).

And what I didn't know until after I moved in is that she babysits dogs. I get home and there a 3 dogs running around and jumping on me. They stayed for over a month. The whole house smells of dog urine. Argh.

I've had enough now and am leaving. It means that I've had to finish my placement 3 weeks early because I couldn't find alternative accommodation.

MORAL OF STORY: don't do placements in a country where you don't speak the language. Would have been so much easier to arrange alternative accommodation had I stayed in the UK.

 

[Vanadium 50]

C'est la France.