Florentin Apartment

I've been lazy in updating this blog. Without my camera, I had less incentive to write. You read that verb tense correctly! My camera is working again, thanks to an international warranty and a local repair shop. I still need to tell you about a wonderful trip to the north I took organized by Fulbright Israel. For now though, let's start with some pictures of my apartment in Florentin.

This post should gratify my family, who thinks I live like a squatter in tiny apartments in order to save money for books and travel. I'm not completely denying the charges, but as you will see, this place is up to code. My building is only a few years old. I would have preferred to live in one of the original Florentin apartments with beautiful tiling. However, these often separate the public areas by function instead of having large combined spaces like the one shown below. I really do prefer the new layouts. Feel free to click on the images to see details!

These first three pictures are of different parts of the main space, which functions as a kitchen, dining area, and living room. The far end shown here gets lots of light in the morning. The rectangular assemblies above the windows contain an exterior hard curtain made of plastic strips that can be lowered by a fabric belt inside. I'm not sure if these have any security benefits, but they do block the sunlight while watching TV. An example of Haneet's (my roomate) arts and crafts seems to float near the ceiling. Of course, all the furniture and equipment belong to her. The pink slippers are not mine either.

The dining room table has a lot of empty space around it. We have not come up with a solution yet.
I've been riding Haneet's bike to school. It is a little small, but very fancy. I've never had a bike with a full suspension system!

The kitchen is large enough for two people. You need to light each burner on the gas stove (on the right) manually with a match. Two of the four burners do not work that well. Still, I really like cooking here.


The bedroom has only the primary tools for studying and sleeping. Can you hear the bare walls beg for my friends in urban design to email artwork ASAP?


Yes, the mirror that extends into the shower is a little stange. I choose not to judge free home furnishings very harshly. The washing machine in the next room attaches to the water tap next to the toilet and returns dirty water into the bath tub. Why?! Designing an apartment with separate feeds in another room cannot be too complicated for a country with an internationally recognized high-tech sector.



Israeli's call this a "safe room" because it is reinforced. The far window actually leads to a public corridor with elevator and stair access. You can see the small washing machine I mentioned earlier in the far right corner.