Italian PhD student looking for flatmates

Hey, dear potential flatmates, thanks for stopping by! I am Alice, a 24 years old Italian girl. I will be moving to Garching in September to start my PhD at the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The PhD is a regular job, with a three-year contract and a fixed stipend. My contract starts on September 1st, but the date of moving in is flexible. I currently live in Milan, Italy where I am completing my Master's degree in Astrophysics.

I am looking for a room in a shared flat to rent for the next three years. I am a very open-minded and friendly person, the typical Italian girl! I will be out of the house for the majority of my time during weekdays if the pandemic situation will allow me to go to the office, but I would love to have dinner together and spend the evenings chatting, playing board games, watching tv shows or movies together, going out for a beer if it's allowed or whatever we feel like doing. I really like to hang out with people, which is the reason why I would be super happy to live in a friendly and warm environment, but I also enjoy my time alone very much and I am very respectful of other people's personal spaces. I am looking for more than just a place to sleep in, and I hope we will be very good friends!

I am a creative person and I like to spend my free time crocheting or sewing, especially making my own clothes/accessories (scarves, hats, socks...). I also enjoy movement: I love going to the gym, running, biking, roller skating and hiking, I am fond of nature and I like being outside - be it for a simple walk in the neighbourhood or a trip to the mountains on the weekend.

I would like to live in a nice house with big common spaces. Ideally, I would like to have my own bathroom, but I am open to share it. However, I would prefer if there was one bathroom for every two flatmates. I don't mind sharing the flat with more than three people, as long as the house is big enough for us all to be comfortable in it. Also a terrace, balcony or garden would be great but it's not a necessary condition. I would prefer my flatmates to be between 20 and 30 years old; I don't have any preferences on gender or occupation, but I would like to live with people who have a life similar to mine (i.e. university students, PhD students or young employees).

I like to live in a clean and tidy space and I am very organized. I am obviously willing to share the cleaning of the common areas in the house - actually, I love cleaning while listening to music! You will most likely never find my dirty dishes in the kitchen or personal things around the house, if not agreed with you in advance.

I love pets! I have two kittens here in Italy. Unfortunately, I won't be bringing them with me, they will stay here with my family, but I would be super happy to live with pets if any of the flatmates have any. I am mostly used to cats but I love all animals, so pets are really not a problem for me - on the contrary, they add value to the house!

I am a native Italian speaker and speak English fluently. I currently don't speak German, but I plan on starting to study it by myself before moving to Germany so that I will hopefully be able to have basic conversations by the start of my life there. After moving, I will attend a language course provided by the institute I will be working in. Learning German is a priority of mine so I would be glad to practice it at home with you if you are German speakers!

I am used to cooking and I love making traditional Italian dishes! I would be happy to cook for all of us from time to time: we could have pasta or pizza night, cook lasagne or tiramisù together - you name it! I would also be very happy to learn about your culture, your traditions and typical dishes and so on.

I don't smoke and smoking really bothers me, so unfortunately I am not open to sharing the flat with (even occasional) smokers. I have an Italian driving licence and I have been driving almost every day for six years now, but I haven't decided whether I will bring my car with me. However, I would be able to drive should there be any emergencies.

I am totally available to meet and get to know each other more before making a decision on the room - actually, I would prefer to do so! We will probably have to meet and visit the flat virtually, but I hope I will be able to come to Germany on an exploring trip before moving in the next months. If so, I would love to meet you and visit the apartment in person!

Last, but not least: I got the first shot of the COVID vaccine in March and I will have the second one in June, so I will be vaccinated when moving in.

Thank you very much for reading my presentation, I look forward to hearing from you!

Alice