Where We Live Now: Sky Rainbow International Hotel

After my last post, I received many messages asking for pictures. It took me three days to figure out how to get my pictures up (VPN and internet weren't sufficient, so I had to go about it in a round-about way). 

I don't much like where we're staying, but hey, it's included in Michael's tuition. Here it is:

Sky Rainbow International Hotel. A.K.A. "Sky Rainbow Internation Hotel."

Shanghai, not Vegas. So. much. gold. Confusingly, stores, too. And smokers.

The view coming into our room. Hope you like leotard gold!

Our new bed (we had two twins). Obviously we moved it to make room.

Scary gold bed ruffle that I stuffed under the mattress.

The desk. How to have two people working comfortably at once is beyond me.

Coat rack purchase=good. Door shoe hanger=yet to be found.

Bathroom. Shower and tub. Don't know why.

Why yes, that was a window you saw in the bed picture.

Here's the window between room and bathroom again in daylight. Awkward.

I have to keep asking myself, "Why a hotel?" People from Hult keep assuring us that it's going to be great and that there's just an adjustment period while they figure everything out in this new location, but I don't think that most of my strikes against hotel living will go away.

 Why hotel housing is a bad idea for students:

1. There's not enough storage. Especially for a couple.
2. Hotel rooms make you feel like you're forever traveling (especially when there isn't room for you to unpack two of your suitcases). Long-term, that's not comfortable.
3. Knowing someone could come in at any time--when you're sleeping, when you're showering, while you're out buying food--is creepy.
4. There's not much that can be done to personalize the space.
5. There's confusion about who does what. For example, who does something about rooms that are too dark--the university, students, or the hotel?
6. If something goes wrong, you have to wait for someone else to fix it, and they'll fix it to their standards, not yours.
7. Similarly, waiting for the cleaning day to have something cleaned up is lame. (You could get cleaning supplies, but where the heck would you store them?)
8. There's no easy way to cook. Sharing kitchens means that you are susceptible to food disappearing, cookies burning, messes made by other people, and the lack of peaceful meals.
9. Living creates more garbage than visiting. Yet we can't empty our full garbage cans anywhere.
10. Security isn't any good. (We've already received prostitute cards under our door.)
11. Hotel rooms are too dark for studying. (Or at least these ones are.)
12.  Hotel guests are the priority.

I have to keep telling myself: it's better than paying around $1000/month after already giving away everything for tuition, and better than having to find housing and furnish said housing ourselves. It's only eight months. I can stand this housing that long, right? (Moral support greatly appreciated.)