READING: University Digs
When you fly the nest to go to univerisity, you never know
where you might end up living... 
Interviewer: When you first came to Santiago of Compostela to study, what were your digs*? Did you share a flat, or did you live in halls*?
Ana: Oh a flat
Interviewer: Describe your first flat in Santiago to me.
Ana: It was terrible! The rent was very high, the flat was awful, and we had the landlady* from hell. The living room was small, the furniture was shabby, and the carpet was threadbare. The living room was so gloomy, because there were no windows. And the wallpaper was hideous, the pattern being huge tasteless flowers. The bathroom was big, but grotty*, and old-fashioned, and as cold as an icehouse.
Interviewer: Did you have central heating?
Ana: Oh yes, thank god! My bedroom would have been unbearable without it. In the bedrooms there were floorboards that looked quite rotten, and they were hidden by various ugly thin and worn rugs. The wall near my desk had green damp patches. I complained to the landlady, but she said that all Santiago flats had damp, because it rained all the time, and there was nothing she could do. I was told that I was lucky to have central heating, and that this would help to keep the damp from getting worse.
Interviewer: What was the worse thing about your first flat?
Ana: My landlady! She was so nosey, and bossy. She lived on the floor above us and spied on everything we did. She would know exactly what time we came in froma party, or if we didn't get up for a lecture.Went we went home at the weekends, she would let herself in the flat, shut windows that had been left open, or open those that had been left shut, roll the blinds up, and even threw away some milk from the fridge. When we asked her about the milk as we knew it had to be her she said: " you young people are so used to having mummy clean up after you that you do not know how to look after yourselves" "you are more interested in parties than housework". She didn't tell us why she was looking in the fridge in the first place when she found the "stinking milk" We really wanted to move, but we had signed a contract, and had to stay the whole year.
Interviewer: What about when you went to study in England for a year, what were your digs like?
Ana: I had a stroke of luck, and met two really nice English girls, that were looking for a Spanish girl to share their rented semi-detached house. It had a lovely garden and a flowerbed. I had the boxroom which was anything but spacious. However, it was cosy and warm, and had a large bay window which made the room bright and airy. As it was a housing estate, there was no noisy traffic. We also had a clothes line on the lawn, which made quite a change from when I was in Santiago and had to dry my clothes on the radiator.
Interviewer: And what about now, do you have a nice flat in Santiago?
Ana: Yes. I am not innocent in that sense anymore! I looked at many flats before choosing one. I now have a spacious flat in the new town, which is very modern, and not too expensive. Best of all, I only say the landlady once when she came to mend a burst pipe in the bathroom. I am very happy with my digs now.
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Vocabulary
*Digs: rented room/flat
*landlady/lord: person that owns rented accomadation
*Threadbare: worn out
*Halls: (halls of residence) univeristy accomadation
*Grotty: dirty
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